9mm vs .40 Smith & Wesson - What happened?

[DizzyJ]

From this article: An Alternate Look at Handgun Stopping Power

TLDR: The author studied 1800 shootings to investigate stopping power of different handgun ammunition calibers. There isn't much difference between the effectiveness of the most common defensive handgun calibers (.38, 9mm, .40, .45).

A couple of brief excerpts:



Given the similar effectiveness, it makes sense for organizations purchasing large quantities of ammunition to use the most affordable option.

Good read.

 

[DizzyJ]

It is clear to me that the real issue is not the ammo calibers but the marksmanship of those that generated the statistics. FMJ or expanding rounds are both ineffective if they don't hit something vital.

They say you can't miss fast enough.

 

[Gas]

I bought two glock 22's from my lgs about a month ago for $275 each. Both police trade ins. One gen 3 and one gen 4. Original tupperware, night sights and three mags. The gen 3 came with two gen 4 mags and one gen 3. I'll never lose my $303 I paid on them. The literally look brand new, not any wear on the barrels, only thing that I can see is the trijicon NS are faintly rusted. That's it.

 

[dojiijii]

It is clear to me that the real issue is not the ammo calibers but the marksmanship of those that generated the statistics. FMJ or expanding rounds are both ineffective if they don't hit something vital.

I suspect more casual gun owners might go out and buy a "nine," then not be great at using it than the type of gun owner who'd buy something in .40. If the shooters' skill levels were equivalent then I'd expect higher accuracy among the smaller calibers, since they're easier to shoot. I know I get better groupings with my .22 than with my 9mm.

 

[BATTERY]

.40 is dead. You all know this. It can be alive in your heart but it died. I'm happy it's gone.

The best thing about a .40 Glock is a conversion barrel! Bear creek armory sells them for around $50.

Again. .40 died about 3 years ago.

Long live 9 and 10mm

 

[User 1234]

.40 is dead. You all know this. It can be alive in your heart but it died. I'm happy it's gone.

The best thing about a .40 Glock is a conversion barrel! Bear creek armory sells them for around $50.

Again. .40 died about 3 years ago.

Long live 9 and 10mm

That's right, it's dead, nobody go out and raise the price of ammo or guns for me by increasing demand.

 

[CLT65]

So what happens when a cartridge dies? Does that mean ammunition is no longer commercially available? Or does it mean that somehow it's less effective than it was before? I'm confused...

 

[CLT65]

.40 is dead. You all know this. It can be alive in your heart but it died. I'm happy it's gone.

I got really worried when I read this. You scared me for a minute, but I just checked in my safe and sure enough, my good old Glock 22 is still there, same as always, not gone. I won't know if it's truly dead or not, until I take it to the range to see if it still shoots.

 

[BATTERY]

You guys do understand what it means when a caliber does right? Lol.

Manufacturers will no longer make guns in .40. New guns will nit be chambered in .40 etc.... you can find .40 guns selling cheaper than 9mm etc...

Come on. I understand you are personally invested in what you spend money on. But you can't deny the caliber is dead in the civilian world.

They made a lot of them so ammo will always be available. Fudds around the country can shoot 50 rounds a year at a paper target and brag about stopping power. Lol.

 

[Pandaz3]

You guys do understand what it means when a caliber does right? Lol.

Manufacturers will no longer make guns in .40. New guns will nit be chambered in .40 etc.... you can find .40 guns selling cheaper than 9mm etc...

Come on. I understand you are personally invested in what you spend money on. But you can't deny the caliber is dead in the civilian world.

They made a lot of them so ammo will always be available. Fudds around the country can shoot 50 rounds a year at a paper target and brag about stopping power. Lol.

I bought two newly released to the world 40's last year, a Taurus G2C in 40 and a XDS40 Mod 2. You are not paying attention.

I don't understand that first sentence at all. What did you mean by that gibberish?

 

[Pete F]

I can tell you first hand what happens when a cartridge dies. Prices for ammo and reloading components skyrocket and you hoard all of the ammo that you can get at a reasonable price. Case in point my .41 AE's. The .40 S&W pushed them out even though the.41 has the same rim as a 9MM, handy for switching barrels, and has more power than the .40. The .41 AE even came out before the .40 S&W. I don't own a .40 and probably never will.

I am stocked up, but spend hours looking for my spent brass. At $1 or more for brass, it is worth not losing a single one.

 

[BATTERY]

I honestly had no idea I would upset anyone. Lol. I just did a simple google search and wrote .40 is......

This popped up.

That and I shoot a bit and have collected around 40 pounds of 9mm brass in the last year or so. I hardly see any. They must all reload? Also I shoot some competition. Somebody has to place 18th! Every once and a while someone has a .40. It can be months between sightings. 9mm yes.. 45 acp yes.. 38 special yes... 22 or yep.. but hardly ever .40

I'm not saying it's a bad caliber. I thought everyone knew the cartridge was struggling. Huh. You guys didn't know?

 

[BATTERY]

.357 sig is one of my favorites and it's more dead than .40. It never got going.

Lighten up folks and fudds. I was just having fun.

 

[CLT65]

Come on. I understand you are personally invested in what you spend money on. But you can't deny the caliber is dead in the civilian world.

Now you're just being silly. The .40 S&W is absolutely not "dead", despite your insistence to the contrary.

The .40 has fallen out of favor in many circles (including law enforcement), but it is far from dead. We car argue comparative merits and popularity of various chamberings, but "dead" is absolutely and beyond doubt an exaggeration. The .40 is still very, very common and popular. Ammunition and components are cheap and readily available. I find plenty of empty brass all the time.

 

[CLT65]

My son and I have collected over 15 gallons of 9mm brass in the last year or so, about 3 gallons of .40 S&W, maybe 2 gallons of .45 acp, and any other caliber is rare.

I'm glad to hear that you were just having fun. It seemed a little like you were ridiculing .40 fans. That's the problem with the internet; sometimes it's hard to recognize humor.

For the record, I'm not necessarily a .40 fan. I like them all, including the .40 S&W, but if I had to choose one, I'd choose a 9mm.

 

[BATTERY]

I wasn't trying to be condescending. I thought i was being funny. I thought this post was humor because .40 vs 9mm had been decided quite a while back. I only switched because 9 was cheaper and then .40 went out of favor.

I guess it's dead to me because I don't see them at my local gun shop like I used to. I don't find brass on the range anymore.. and I noticed hardly anyone competes with the caliber anymore.

I guess I hate .40 because it hurt my favorite caliber. 10mm

Think of all the cool guns we would have in10mm of .40 never existed!

 

[Certaindeaf]

40's are for drinkin, man.

 

[BATTERY]

I only switched for financial reasons and since then I started shootings a lot more.

I tease everyone I know that shoots .40 "friends" mainly. Because they don't actually shoot. It became a joke at work and when they came to the range with me. 50 round a year guys.

But you have to admit .40 had taken a massive dip in popularity. That's why I think it died. From where it once was

 

[CLT65]

So, I find probably 100 pieces of .40 brass for every 10mm I find. Does that mean that the 10mm is dead?

The .40 has definitely lost a lot of popularity, and the 10mm has been increasing in popularity, but I guess we simply have different definitions for the word "dead". I don't think it means what you think it means.

For me personally, the popularity of any given cartridge is completely irrelevant. I cast and reload lots of different calibers. I actually enjoy shooting truly dead calibers.

 

[oremike]

Lol, the wonder 9 boyz have been trying to "kill" the 40 short n weak since it was spawned from the mighty 10. But remember it was the wonder 9 boyz n girlz that thought the mighty 10 was too hard to shoot, too loud and too hard to wrack the slide so the 40 was invented just for them. Kinda reminds me of the dem-full-o-craps. Get what they want and still don't like it.