"The idea for the 45 rounds for military use was for "knock down" not necessarily for "killing" if you injury people that cannot shoot well and it ties up more people for someone who is injured then someone who is dead! So instead of killing one you injur one and take the time of 1-3 of the his/her companions!Food for though!"
The 45 caliber 1911 was adopted by the military to 'stop' the Moro guerrillas in the Phillipine-American war, replacing the then standard 38. The Moros were known to not only be fierce warriors, but were also known to get pretty wound up with drugs prior to a battle making them very hard to stop. Likewise, the .357 round round was developed primarily for the purpose (no kidding here, either) of stopping 'black people on drugs'...
This mostly concerns self defense and home defense, so my thought is still the 'two in the chest' and then the security shot in the head. The SOB at that point is simply not going to spring up behind you when you are otherwise occupied and take you out. What you mentioned here is good battle logic, where wounding soldiers does tie up to or three other soldiers, but isn't really applicable to home defense unless you are being assaulted...
I had a single action 44 Blackhawk for awhile and, while it is a nice gun in all aspects, really isn't the kind of gun you want to pack around for backpacking or back country use. The holster for it is huge. The gun is huge. If you use a leg holster, you are still forced to have to draw a very large barreled handgun. The shoulder holsters are more of the hunting holsters and tend to get in the way of almost anything else except for a belt pack. I picked the shorty 44 for both it's carry ability in a shoulder or clip on belt holster, the stopping power of the 44 round, especially with the 300gr magnum 'bear stopper' rounds, and the fact that I don't have to deal with the huge barrel. I figure that when I have to use this gun, it is going to be in a real emergency situation and I am going to need to get the gun out and a shot off very quickly. This advantage would be lost with the barrel length and weight of the Ruger(or any other) big caliber, long barreled gun.
If you figure that you are going to have only a few seconds in the backcountry to respond to an animal attack (ie, coming around a blind corner on a trail and stumbling on a mother bear and cubs, with the mother bear then immediately charging you), you are looking at about 1-2 seconds to acquire your gun, the target and shoot. Your next round is going to be against fur. Try doing this any combination of large frame/long barrel hand gun/holster, then figure in the fact that you also are toting a single action that also has to be cocked before you can fire a round and see where you are at with your comfort level. There are certainly people who can do this, don't get me wrong, but unless you are going to spend literally thousands of hours practicing your quick draw, cocking the gun as it is leaving your holster, etc, you are going to be screwed. Moving a large frame/long barreled gun around at anything that approaches speed, not to mention accuracy, approaches the impossible, unless, of course, you practice for hours with it daily.
I have practiced with my shoulder holster/44 stubby combo enough that I feel I would be able to get ONE critical round off and hit what I aimed at, hence the large caliber. The next round, should I still be able to pull the trigger, would be right against fur. I am by no means a quick draw shooter, but I am also not slow. I have practiced with a pack on in awkward situations in the woods enough to know I can do it....and still figure on only getting one round off....
Bottom line, it all comes down to what you want the gun for: distance and hunting or speed and protection. Look at the pictures of any of the guys that guide in Alaska with the grizzly bears. Just about all of them will either be carrying an easy to access 45, 44, or 50 in a short frame and/or a shotgun. The latter is usually cut down or in the 18" defense version. If they have a large frame, it is because they are hunting with it.
And you will also notice, especially if you are a Clint Eastwood fan, that even good 'ol Clint, however badsass and fast he was, doesn't get that 44 or 50 cal Desert Eagle hand cannon out from under his coat very damn fast, breakaway rig or not. If it was a typical "Oh ****!" backwoods animal encounter, Clint would be on the wrong end of the food chain.
Just some stuff to consider. Anything with a 4 or 5 in the caliber designation has a good chance of stopping pretty much anything, human or animal. Anything below that sometimes just pisses things off, again human or animal. 9mm rounds sometimes just bounce off automotive windshield glass if they hit at an angle and I have had them not penetrate car sheet metal or 1/8" copper. Animal skulls are a lot stronger and denser than either. 9mm rounds are also a lot faster than the 44, 45, 50 rounds and tend to simply make some nice holes rather than break bones or do significant tissue damage. Like I said, a nice round to plink with, and, of course, no one really wants to get shot with anything, so there is going to be a bit of an intimidation factor if you are going to simply threaten someone in your house rather than put them down. I am all for the 'put them down like a rapid dog' approach, myself. Not going to be doing any threatening here, just some trigger pulling until I am the only one twitching...
Scene from the past, 1988: I was living in a house in the foothills that the owner had up for sale. The agreement was that he was going to call and make arrangements to show the house. I hadn't been feeling all to good, so I had gone to bed early (late afternoon). I am woken up by the sounds of someone coming in through my front door right as it has started to get dark. The bedroom door opening was very close to the front door. I grab the 45 I had and when the door opens homey steps into the house, I had the 45 literally under his nose and was in the process of pulling the trigger. Turns out DS door opener was the house owner, who hadn't called or even knocked on the door. He had two prospective buyers with him, a guy and his wife. Well he stopped for sure and I pointed the gun at the ceiling. Prospective buyer's DS wifey goes "Oh my! Is that loaded?" Well, no ****, DA...I simply pulled the trigger and put a round into the ceiling and out the roof. Needless to say, he didn't sell the property to these stupid people and he never again tried to sell the property without first making sure that I knew about it. I hadn't even gotten mad yet, either....
Speaking of guns...
. They also make an ultra compact version known as the 329PD Alaskan Backpacker. It's got a 2.5" barrel opposed to the 4" on mine.
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For me price and availability supersedes my need to feel Manly... Then again, I'm a lady so I don't really need to feel manly either!