A 9 mm bullet can travel even farther because it's smaller. "A 9 mm can travel 2.5 to 3 miles, sometimes a little further depending on the shape of the bullet," he said.
A 9mm bullet can potentially cover up to three miles. At that range the bullet will not retain remotely sufficient kinetic energy to reliably incapacitate a human-size threat. And while a 9mm bullet may travel three miles under optimal conditions, whatever it actually hits at that distance is totally up to chance.
In fact at the 100 yard mark the bullet will have dropped -12.0311 in (over a foot).
What is the approximate effective range of a 9mm short pistol? The round, through a 5″ “full-length” pistol barrel, was designed to be lethal at any distance out to 50m. Most defense experts consider the round to be “effective” (as in it's not only lethal but can be easily kept on target) out to about 25m.
It depends on the gun
Experiments using ballistic gelatine to mimic the human body suggest that a 9mm bullet from a handgun will penetrate about 60cm through human fat tissue. A fully jacketed bullet from an assault rifle, such as an AK-47, will go much further and can easily shoot through a brick wall.
The 9mm round has about a 34% chance of stopping an aggressor with just one shot.
The 9mm version fires a 147-grain bullet 1,120 feet-per-second (fps) and produces 409 foot-pounds (ft. -lbs.) of energy at the muzzle.
Distance Shooting and Competition
Most 9mm carbines are accurate out to at least 100 yards. PCCs are also in their own class in USPSA competitions. So those of us that enjoying competing can use our PCCs for that too.
Can a target be hit at 150 feet with a 9mm? Yes. That's 50 yards, which is a longish shot for a pistol, but I've shot that far with a 1911.
A .22 LR bullet is capable of traveling 2,000 yards (1,800 m), which is more than 1 mile (1.6 km). Rimfire bullets are generally either plain lead with a wax coating (for standard-velocity loads) or plated with copper or gilding metal (for high-velocity or hyper-velocity loads).
A 9mm is destructive enough to kill you easily if you are hit in an important area. A 9mm JHP is very destructive against soft targets. The impact energy of a 9mm going 1100 fps is pretty much the same as a 45 ACP going 800 fps.
10mm is a very flat shooting cartridge that has minimal drop out to 100 yards.
Which Pistols Can Shoot Long Ranges? The Ruger Super Redhawk pistol was designed for use with a scope, so it's capable of shooting long distances. The Glock 23, Walther P99, and Les Baer Prowler can shoot accurately up to about 100 yards, with the Walther slightly outperforming the Glock.
Standard pressure . 38 Special only produces 264 foot-pounds of force (147-grain bullet at 900 feet per second out of a 4-inch barrel), while standard pressure 9mm can produce 365 foot-pounds of force (124-grain bullet at 1,150 feet per second). This is 38.25% more energy at the muzzle in favor of the 9mm.
Projectile weight is normally 8 grams (123 gr). The AK-47 and AKM, with the 7.62 × 39 mm cartridge, have a maximum effective range of around 300 meters (330 yd).
"A 9mm bullet travels around 1500 ft/s. It will travel around 2500 yards before it falls."
Pistols are often firearms used at roughly 50-yards max. 50 yards is about as far as you can take a pistol. That's not to say pistols can't reach beyond that, but it takes an extreme amount of skill.
The 9mm and the 0.40 S&W provide nearly identical accuracy, drift and drop, but the 0.40 S&W has an energy advantage. The . 40 S&W was designed such that it could be retrofitted into medium-frame (9mm size) automatic handguns. So most .
As we can see from the chart above, 9mm bullets have a higher muzzle velocity than 45 ACP bullets do. Combined with the 9mm's smaller size than . 45 ACP, that translates into deeper bullet penetration. A higher muzzle velocity and lower weight also means that the 9mm usually has less vertical drop than a 45 does.
The 9mm round is the 147 grain Hydra-Shok JHP by Federal. It penetrates 17.8 inches on first shot, and has a five shot average of 17.7 inches.
All that having been said, the margins between the performance of . 40 cal vs. 9mm are close enough that in a real world situation, the damage done by each round is — for practical purposes — about the same.
The 9mm bullet fired from the handgun has a much smaller exit wound. In this scenario, with immediate medical care and minimal bleeding, the victim has a chance at surviving the 9mm shot to the chest. The bullet from the AR-15, however, causes torrential bleeding that is quickly lethal.
Many pistols, including the 9mm, . 357 Magnum and . 45 ACP, have the capability of penetrating a human skull and causing serious injury or death.
Will a 9mm bullet go through a skull? It can and it WILL penetrate your skull. A 9mm round at 200 yards will be moving at about 900 feet per second. It will have about 200 ft/lbs of energy.