The 'stopping power' argument is likely to always be with us, like entropy. That being snarked at, the 1911 (Mine's by Kimber!) is almost the archetypical 'modern gun' for a lot of people - myself included.

Being of a mind and budget to allow myself to possess guns in a number of exciting and varied calibers, I... still don't have a 9mm. But the .45ACP compares favorably to anything I routinely pull out of the gun safe with a '3' in the beginning of the dinglehoob, and is a joy and a pleasure to shoot.

Until it gets below 20 farenheits or so and everything freezes together, and you can't shoot more than one round without manually racking the slide.

But that's OK, that's why Smith & Wesson make revolvers in such fun sizes as .460..

Gryph, if you're ever Anchorage way, I'd love to go out with you and put some ammo downrange - maybe your gun of the week could be something truly absurd then.