re: Mass vs velocity? What are your thoughts? .45 superior to 9mm

I know hundreds of stories of people getting shot up and still fighting. That's not what I'm saying. Breaking a human arm isn't some amazingly difficult thing to do where the .45 is going to be vastly superior to the 9mm. Our bones break pretty easily when struck with bullets. And with pistol calibers, that's about the best you can hope for on an arm to incapacitate it is to shatter that bone. Both will do that. Both will also deflect at the wrong angle. And there's not going to be a lot of difference between them in what that angle is.

The arm thing is just not a good enough reason to pick one caliber over another one. The scenario that was invisioned by the OP is simply so obscure it's not worth worrying about when you weigh it against other factors. Which is more likely? You need to break that arm and penetrate for a perfect heart shot that only the .45 was capable of at that particular angle at that particular moment or you needed another round instead of having to change magazines? One of those happens more often than the other. Considering the insignificance of differences in terminal ballistics of the two rounds, I'm wanting more rounds before I have to reload. Because one thing is a constant with pistols in a gunfight, they aren't accurate for shite. Those extra rounds might just be the thing that keeps you alive.

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The arm thing is just not a good enough reason to pick one caliber over another one.

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I agree but it was the question I asked. I knew I would get comments about shot placement and bullet type but that only leads us off course. There are too many variables to cover in any shooting so i figured I would concentrate on one variable and two calibers. I was hoping to hear some comments on sectional density and not how a 5.56, a round I did not offer as an option, would make out in this fictional scenario.

I fairness to Rumbeard, and several other people who have posted in this thread, he did answer your specific question.

No offense, but your specific question was "What are your thoughts on this?"

He gave you his thoughts. And he correctly pointed out that the differences in terminal ballistics between those two calibers are pretty insignificant.