30 Super Carry vs. 9mm: Which One Should You Have Concealed?

It’s only natural to compare the 30 Super Carry vs. 9mm. After all, the .30 Super Carry was designed to offer gun owners a higher magazine capacity than the 9mm and better ballistic performance than the 380 ACP.

Is that actually possible? Can a new cartridge outperform the time-tested 9mm Luger? Or should you stick with the tried and true concealed carry option?

Let’s find out!

30 Super Carry vs. 9mm

The Federal 30 SC is a new cartridge that aims to fill the capacity and performance gap between the 9mm and 380 Auto.

Many self-defense enthusiasts have preferred the 9mm over the decades. Has its reign finally ended?

As we continue, you’ll discover the differences and similarities in cartridge specs, recoil, trajectory, accuracy, stopping power, and other important categories. We’ll finish it all off by crowning a winner.

Technical Specs: 9mm vs. 30 Super Carry

As they’re designed to fulfill a similar purpose, it’s no surprise that the 9mm and 30 Super Carry have similar characteristics.

The much older 9x19mm was based on the 7.62x21mm. Federal Premium claims that the 30 Super Carry is an original handgun cartridge design. It resembles the 7.65mm French Long, .30-18 Auto, and 7.65x20mm Long.

The 30 Super Carry’s bullet diameter is 0.312 inches, compared to 0.355 inches for the larger 9 mm. The case lengths vary slightly, with the Federal 30 SC being marginally longer at 0.827 inches and the 9mm at 0.754 inches. The Federal .30 Super Carry also has a higher maximum pressure: 50,000 psi, as opposed to the 9mm at 35,000 psi.

Both cartridges have an identical overall length of 1.169 inches. The smaller base diameter of the 30 SC helps shooters differentiate the two cartridges.

Recoil

Recoil is an important consideration when purchasing a new cartridge or handgun, as a heavy recoil round is more difficult to control and slows the rate of your follow-up shots. You’re also at an increased risk of flinching when firing heavy-recoil loads.

Felt recoil is subjective, differing from shooter to shooter and depending on the firearm, stance, handloads, or factory ammo. However, free recoil is a more objective measure of the amount of kick a cartridge delivers. It is based on four factors: firearm weight, muzzle velocity, propellant weight, and bullet weight.

Neither cartridge is known for heavy recoil, as this (along with increased capacity) is why many shooters opt for 9mm over 45 ACP for self-defense. Since both cartridges are chambered in the same pistols (Smith & Wesson Shield EZ has a 9mm version and a 30 Super Carry version), we can objectively compare the recoil of each.

The 30 Super Carry is consistently considered to have less felt recoil than the 9mm. This is thanks partly to the 30 SC’s lighter bullet: 100 grains, as opposed to the 9mm’s usual 115-147 grains. The 9mm only has 4 ft-lbs of free recoil; however, the 30 Super Carry has 3.8 ft-lbs of free recoil.

Though the 30 Super Carry has slightly less recoil than the 9mm, it’s not significant enough for you to notice a difference while firing the rounds. This section is a draw.

Accuracy

Many factors determine a round’s accuracy, including (but not limited to) the shooter, bullet design, trajectory, firearm, recoil, and shooting conditions.

Since these rounds are so similar in many respects, it ultimately comes down to the shooter. The 30 Super Carry cartridge has less recoil by a hair, but I don’t believe this difference is significant enough to affect your accuracy.

Most shooters will find the 30 SC and 9mm to be accurate. I’m very accurate with my 9mm pistols within 25 yards, which is the range most self- and home-defense situations play out over.

This section is a draw, as both rounds are similarly accurate.

Continue reading 30 Super Carry vs. 9mm: Which One Should You Have Concealed? on Ammo.com

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:thinking:

Introduced in 2022

So then who’s making guns for it and what are they?

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I bought a S&W in it not too long ago. It’s one of them calibers that’s not needed but i bought it anyway. easy recoil but not overly impressive. it would get the job done but 9mm will too at a cheaper price on ammo.

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Post some pics, and let us know the capacity, that seems to be part of the idea from what I understood.

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Mine only has 10 round mags. i did post target and pics on full30 but ya know. I think they have extended mags for them but no clue how many. my thoughts is the round won’t make it.

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You got ripped it seems, according to the article:

The advantages of a .30 SC carry gun are the higher magazine capacity (2 more rounds) for a pistol of the same size as a 9mm pistol and the slightly reduced recoil.

Unless your S&W is a small gun?

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Mine is the smaller compact

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ahh, does look small so makes more sense :+1:

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They may have exended mags for it now, they didn’t when i bought it. i won’t buy any though. with all that i would not buy another 30 super carry.

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The 30 SC doesn’t carry any more than my high cap 9mm’s do, one carries 17+1 and the other 19+1 so they trump this 30 SC… 9mm will always be here, the 30 SC maybe not so much.

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I think you guys have it right. This was a “shot in the dark” for a calibre change. That end of the market is already well covered by the two 9’s - 9X19 & 9X17. The little 9X17 has gotten a big boost from getting a locked breach recoil system, a la all the other centerfire pistols…Previously they were blow-back designs. Those were hard slides to pull as recoil springs increased in strength to handle hotter and hotter .380 rounds. Now with the locked breach, the slide is once again easy to pull, making it a woman’s great SD weapon. SD ammo is to be had firing 96 gr bullets at >1,000 FPS - very near a 9’s ballistics. And all with notable less recoil, not the piddling difference between 9mm and .30 SC.

New pistol cartridges have a hard row to hoe. The current selection is quite large, going from .22 to .50 A&E. Hard to squeeze in there with something people will find useful. Just look at .357 Sig, which I think is THE best SD cartridge out there. It’s like a 9mm Mag in ballistics. Street experience has it as the best stopper out there, akin to the legendary .357 Mag 125 gr round. Yet it hasn’t really caught on outside of some “crazies” - like me. That is one of two calibres I usually carry; I only carry 9 when I am wearing my Enigma holster rig so I don’t need a cover garment. And since I am usually cold, a vest is great to wear all summer long for me. Yes, the outside IS hot, but spend any time indoors here in TX and you’ll freeze your cohones.

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The 9mm is the better choice by sheer virtue of the fact that it’s guaranteed to remain in production for the rest of your lifetime. Whether the powers that be will always allow you to get your hands on it is a whole different and endlessly depressing story.

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Meh. There are enough 9 mm cases floating about for the reloaders to go to town for the better part of a century. And were the government to restrict it, there would be an instantaneous black market for it. NOT to worry about banning that round.

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