Nomercy, I don't recall anyone talking about penetration as much as we're talking about expending energy to stop an assailant. You pretty much showed in your post how the .45 does this much better than the 9mm.
I also noticed that the "legend" is flawed, the big bullets of the .45acp were effected to a greater degree on average than the 9mm's, the 9mm out penetrates in bodies AND winter coats
Again, maybe the larger frontal area of the .45 caused the lack of penetration. I don't want it to penetrate all the way thru. I want it to do deep, and expend all of it's energy. This is why the 9mm isn't a great manstopper. It overpenetrates and doesn't expend the energy that the .45 does in the target.
45acp loads have dropped from 460ft.lbs. to 400ft.lbs. (speer reloading manual with a 230grn gold dot at 900fps), a 9mm has dropped from 434ft.lbs. to 333ft.lbs (124gold dot at 1250fps),
Again, proving the point. .45 acp is better as far as energy goes.