Comfort level to shoot regularly, control/ability to follow up with some predictability and comfort, and, wait for it...
Placement, Placement, Placement.
Ultimately, any caliber that is carried and accomplish all of that is better than the biggest caliber in the wrong hands or not carried.
To me the one thing that gets overlooked the most in these discussions, yet is ultimately the most important point to be addressed, is how one will react in a life or death situation.
All the general training in the world cannot replicate an actual incident when you come right down to it. We can train and prepare and basically, hope we do it right. But one never knows. Very much like "buck fever" experienced by a hunter, when the moment comes, will we be able to perform that which we have learned?
I've stared down the barrel of gun a couple times and it ain't fun. Neither time was I armed and both times I was able talk and "escape" w/o incident. Frankly I was happy I wasn't armed in either case, 'cause I honestly don't want to shoot anyone. I will if it's life or death, but I won't pull only as a last resort. Being a 6'-4" male helps and keeps me from being a prime target. A lesser physical target doesn't have my advantage so their strategy is different. But no matter the physical size, escape without having to pull a weapon should be the first priority.
If escape is out of question, the ability to pull and shoot as quickly and as accurately as possible is the point we're needing to prepare for and will decide if we survive.
What I'm saying is, carrying a 380 because it's small and comfortable to shoot doesn't give me a warm and fuzzy feeling about the ability to shoot in a life and death situation. We argue ballistics when we should be discussing the ability to act under duress. The "Ultimate Bottom Line" so to speak, is the indian, not the arrow.......
