What is THE most powerful handgun?

[Classic]

I don't really consider round count relevant to the "power" of a handgun. Just my opinion.

If you did use round count a PMR 30 might be in contention. Also if a 5.56, AR based handgun were in the mix with a "C" mag it would be at the top as well.

 

[Bennettjh]

I read the WHOLE OP. That's a good question. My Ruger SR9 on my side is 17+1. Remington UMC FMJ (which is what I use mostly) has a ME of 335 ft/lbs and MV of 1145 fps. So total I have 6030 ft/lbs of ME. On a side note, Dirty Harry says the .44 Magnum is the most powerful handgun in the world.

 

[Rob377]

I read the WHOLE OP. That's a good question. My Ruger SR9 on my side is 17+1. Remington UMC FMJ (which is what I use mostly) has a ME of 335 ft/lbs and MV of 1145 fps. So total I have 6030 ft/lbs of ME. On a side note, Dirty Harry says the .44 Magnum is the most powerful handgun in the world.

Read the WHOLE thing??? And presumable post something actually responsive to it? That's crazy talk!!


Glock 19 NUFF SAID.

 

[Car Ramrod]

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9c_awug8EeA[/ame]

 

[parsimonious]

If you look at a handgun in terms of how much energy it has on board with one load, what is the most powerful handgun out there?

For instance, a hi capacity 9mm with 18+1 rounds of +P ammo (420 ft/lbs) has 7980 ft/lbs of energy at it's disposal. A Glock 21 with 13+1 .45acp +P (595 ft/lbs) has got 8330 ft/lbs of energy on tap. A Glock 20 with 15+1 of +P 10mm (1600 fps 135g @ 767 ft/lbs) is carrying close to 13,000 ft/lbs (12,272) of energy.

What's the most powerful handgun out there? The qualifier is that it's limited to the factory magazine it comes with, so drum or 33 round mags don't count. Any commercially available ammo counts. The 10mm round above is quoted with the Underwood ammo.

I like the way you think.

PTR PDW .308 WIN 20+1 of winchester 168 gr. silvertip 2659 ft/lbs at muzzle

21 rounds x 2659 ft/lbs =55839 Maybe a little less due to barrel length.

The pdw is a pistol, or "handgun". Now after the math, I really want one.

 

[88E30M50]

S&W 500 Magnum.

That might just be it. 6 rounds of S&W 500 Magnum, at around 1900 fps with 2842 ft/lbs of energy per round, comes out to over 17,000 total ft/lbs of energy in those 6 rounds. That thing would be a bear to shoot.

A .50 AE Desert Eagle has 7 rounds at 1663 ft/lbs per, giving it around 13,000 ft/lbs of energy.

Ok, there are some serious crazy guns out there like the BFR and teh Pfeifer-Zeliska, but I should have clarified that I was talking guns you could realistically carry on a daily basis.

 

[shawnba67]

has about 8000 ft/lbs at the muzzle x 6 = 48,000 ft/lbs. cc is going to be difficult on this one.

 

[singlestacksig]

.38 casull in a double stack....

 

[lucky4034]

A 50 BMG has over 13,000 FPE, so the 3 shot revolver would have over 39,000 FPE

Good luck squeezing all of that juice out of a 6 in barrel

 

[Bosshoss]

That might just be it. 6 rounds of S&W 500 Magnum, at around 1900 fps with 2842 ft/lbs of energy per round, comes out to over 17,000 total ft/lbs of energy in those 6 rounds. That thing would be a bear to shoot.

A .50 AE Desert Eagle has 7 rounds at 1663 ft/lbs per, giving it around 13,000 ft/lbs of energy.

Ok, there are some serious crazy guns out there like the BFR and teh Pfeifer-Zeliska, but I should have clarified that I was talking guns you could realistically carry on a daily basis.

S&W 500 only has 5 rounds on board.

 

[88E30M50]

Good luck squeezing all of that juice out of a 6 in barrel

While playing around with QuickLoad, I'm having trouble getting more than 1135 fps out of a 6" barreled 50 BMG. That's giving about 1800 ft/lbs energy with a 7% efficiency. I don't think it makes the cut.

 

[cbhausen]

.44 Magnum because Dirty Harry says so.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Xjr2hnOHiM&feature=youtube_gdata_player

Funny how I used to think stuff like this was cute until I learned a thing or two about guns.

 

[threedhuntr]

Good luck squeezing all of that juice out of a 6 in barrel

Talk about muzzle flash

 

[MikeDVB]

Talk about muzzle flash

Wouldn't the bullet leave the barrel before the powder was done burning? One hell of a muzzle flash...

 

[Car Ramrod]

Arsenal Double Barrel 1911.

18 rounds of 90gr RBCD TFSP with 828 ft/lbs puts it at 14,904 total.

 

[WileECoyotee]

has about 8000 ft/lbs at the muzzle x 6 = 48,000 ft/lbs. cc is going to be difficult on this one.

Not sure I want to CC this one either !

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ea_Q8C_67jY[/ame]

 

[JettaKnight]

Comes out of the box from CZ with a 27rd big stick, tuned for 9mm Major (124gr @ 1370fps) 516ft/lbs x 28 = 14,470 ft/lbs on board.

That does beat a .500 S&W mag revolver which comes in at about 10K.

 

[SideArmed]

Is ft/lbs even cumulative?? Is saying, that you have XXft/lbs of energy available to you because you have 15rnds of 9mm that are XXft/lbs each, even a valid statement?

I mean you can't expell all those rounds at once and actually apply that much force at once. So at best you could say, that I can apply XXft/lbs of energy X amount of times consecutively. IMO

 

[MikeDVB]

Is ft/lbs even cumulative?? Is saying, that you have XXft/lbs of energy available to you because you have 15rnds of 9mm that are XXft/lbs each, even a valid statement?

I mean you can't expell all those rounds at once and actually apply that much force at once. So at best you could say, that I can apply XXft/lbs of energy X amount of times consecutively. IMO

The discussion about the maximum amount of energy the firearm could dump across all rounds. It's not any more 'valid' than it's 'invalid'.

 

[Dead Duck]

10ga O/U Pistol





What I Win?






I really wish they'd change that SBS law for Indiana.