Is 40 caliber being faded out?

[Bill Siegle]

Personally I like the 40S&W. Obviously it has fallen out of favor with LE agencies switching to 9mm but that hardly means it doesn't work just fine. One positive affect for buyers is that the guns are being sold very low. Two Glocks in the case, a G19 @ $500 and the same size gun in the form of a G23 @ $300. Pretty easy decision for my needs. It doesn't hurt that I also reload The Sig Sauer 226 in 40cal at $350 is a sweet shooter!

 

[Tony617]

I still shoot my HK USP 40 that was designed around 40 S&W. I also own an XD40SC as well and shoots quite well for a 3" barrel. I carried my XD40SC for years and am using Barnes TAC-XP 140gr Hollow Point 40 S&W. For my 40 USP I use Speer 180gr Gold Dots or Federal HST 180gr.

 

[Cavedweller]

Didn't the federal government place an order for a billion rounds of .40 S&W a while back, contributing to the ammo shortage by doing so? There's going to be a lot of it around somewhere for a while.

The Department Of Homeland Security Is Hard At Work With One Billion New Bullets

www.businessinsider.com

 

[MacReady]

Part of it might be the many police departments across the US switching from .40 to 9mm influencing this perception of fading out? Because ya in that regards it has been 'faded out' to some degree. But the sheer number of guns chambered for it means it will never go away especially since a lot of those police trade ins are now in the general public's hands. And thats the interesting thing for me about firearms, its not like computers or pretty much any other tech, even supposed obsolete stuff will stick around for decades if not centuries. My personal bias against the round notwithstanding lol.

 

[Ducati_Meister]

Can't say the .40 is my favorite round, but it does have its place I think in the gun realm in general. Only .40s I have are my USP .40 and old school German Sig P229. As many said here, it's not the cheapest round to shoot and not all like the snap it produces.

 

[Tony617]

SGAmmo has a lot of Federal HST 165gr 40 S&W rounds but I prefer 180gr for my USP 40. Not sure did they get a deal on it by police other agencies converting to 9mm guns instead?

 

[The Heretic]

The prevailing internet "factoid" (it's on the internet... it must be true) is that 9mm round technology has continued to advance to the point that any advantage the .40S&W might have had is now "moot". Because... as we should all be aware... there was a secret ban put in place well over a decade ago that prohibited any advancements in bullet technology from being manufactured in .40.

Who knew, right!!??

The plain truth... if myths are repeated often enough... they become fact and .40 has fallen out of favor by the internet bred masses.

Agreed - I am not aware of any 9x19 ammo tech that is not also available in .40

For the OP, a few facts:

1) .40 S&W ammo is still just as available as 9x19 - indeed, at times, I have noticed that .40 ammo was both more available and less expensive than 9mm.

2) A number of guns that are available in 9mm can be converted to .40 and vice versa. All of my SIGs (except 227s), can be converted back and forth - 226, 229, 224, 2022 all can be converted. I have both 9mm & .40 slides/barrels for my 226s and 2022. I need to buy either a conversion barrel or slide/barrel combo for my 224.

3) IME/IMO, the .40 has the same ballistics for 180gr as the .45 ACP has for 185gr, yet the .40 has less recoil and I can shoot it faster - almost as fast as the same gun shooting 9mm. Also, IME, the .40 has a wider selection of projectile weights (than 9mm) - from 115gr up to 200gr (check Underwood).

4) Some pistols that shoot .40 S&W can be easily converted to .357 SIG by swapping the barrel (and maybe recoil spring & sights might be off). Some people like the .357 SIG. Personally I don't find it that appealing.

 

[tkdguy]

I will reconsider buying another .40; just purchased a Ruger Blackhawk 357 in 4 5/8 inch barrel a few hours ago. Maybe a Glock 40 cal. ?

 

[ma96782]

Read that Handgun-Cougar thread? Page 65. Maybe now, more people will re-gain their faith in the .40 again.

Mountain Lion Defensive Pistol

Man stops mountain lion charge with one hit/shot with his .40 pistol. https://newstalkkit.com/yakima-man-lucky-to-be-alive-after-near-cougar-attack/

www.northwestfirearms.com

Aloha, Mark

 

[whiskeybill]

Nearly twenty years ago the 10mm Auto was declared dead and gone. Not so much these days. Though I don't shoot my old Glock 20 much, I still like my 40 S&W Beretta 96. The Glock is kept for wanderings in bear country.

 

[Cerberus Group]

To go back to the OP's question "What's Next"? I just bought a Gen 4 G-32 in 357 Sig and have a drop in barrel in that caliber for my M&P 40 Shield. After load development and testing I'll be adding that caliber to my line up of ammo. Right now my first impressions are that it's a fun zippy cartridge and kicks less than 40 S&W in the same platform. So that might be something to consider. Another in between caliber you might look at is the 38 Super. Basically it's a 9mm bullet in a 45 acp length case. Not quite as zippy as a 357 Sig but still more than a 9mm. I don't know why Glock doesn't make a gun in this caliber but they should.

Super 38 = 9mm Long

380 = 9mm Short

 

[MikeInOr]

I thumbed my nose at the whole .40 S&W fad when they first came out and for years after. I decided to put together a Glock 26 clone and after much consideration went for a Glock 27 (in 40S&W) instead with a second 9mm barrel to fit the 40 S&W slide. I have so many 9mm's that I couldn't see getting another. I am quite impressed with my first 40 S&W! It shoots very nice. I remembered 40 S&W being a bit more snappy when I last shot one a decade or so ago. I guess between shooting a micro DB9, a 50ae and a 44 mag revolver I am less recoil sensitive than I was back then.

The whole reason I decided to buy a Glock clone was because I have so many Glock 9mm magazines for my PCC's that I figured I should get a pistol that can use them too. As much as I considered it I decided to pass on adding the .357 Sig barrel to the kit.

 

[Certaindeaf]

The sad trombone of the cartridge world.






hide

 

[TTSX]

 

[L84Cabo]

Yes. It's a dying caliber.

Although it will take awhile given that it was popular for so long and there are plenty of guns out there that are chambered in it. But I'm not sure why anyone would buy a .40 at this point unless you just really like the caliber for some reason or are a competition shooter where it seems to have use due to power factor scoring...I think.

All the cool kids are shooting 9mm. A few of the REALLY cool ones are shooting 45 acp.

 

[Jay Walk]

This thread just gave .40 caliber a nice little boost in sales

 

[NeoBlackdog]

All the cool kids are shooting 9mm.

It has been my experience in life that most of the 'cool kids' are utter douche nozzles.
I'll stick with my un-cool .40's, thank you very much.

 

[Jay Walk]

9mm is about 12 cents a round cheaper in factory ammo. Most shooters their wallets choose their caliber.

Sucks to be them.

 

[The Heretic]

9mm is about 12 cents a round cheaper in factory ammo. Most shooters their wallets choose their caliber.

It may be cheaper now - but during the not too recent past, when there were ammo shortages, .40 S&W was less expensive and more available - IME anyway. I have twice as much .40 ammo as I do 9mm ammo. When demand is high enough, more popular ammo (and in handguns, 9mm was the most popular, with .40 being second, with .45 being a distant third - from an industry poll of sales). That may be a one time thing because at the same time LEOs & security orgs were switching back to 9mm from .40, so some surplus of .40 S&W may have played a part in that - but I think .40 will continue to be popular enough to not become an "obsolete" cartridge like the .357 SIG.

Look what happened to 10mm; for a while it "faded", but then surged in popularity again as some found it to be useful for various purposes - not necessarily the ones it was originally designed for. In short, shooters may come around to see that .40 is superior to 9mm while being almost as easy to shoot (if some pundits and youtubers would quit parroting the idea that it is difficult to shoot).

As I pointed out, having both during hard times (whether it is just inconvenient like the recent past, or a SHTF scenario) is not a bad idea. For defensive handguns, as a prepper, I have 9mm, .40 & .45 ACP and I have sufficient ammo (both defensive & practice) for each - between the three, I have more than sufficient ammo.

I believe .45 is ballistically superior in the heavier projectiles (200gr and up), but takes more practice to shoot fast and shoot well - I also have several handguns that can handle .45 Super (IMO as good as or better than 10mm) without excessive wear - nice for woods carry where I may encounter aggressive wildlife.

I prefer .40 S&W because it is ballistically superior to 9x19, yet not significantly harder to shoot quickly and accurately. I consider it a good compromise between ballistics and recoil.

I have 9x19 in the same guns as .40 S&W, because it is the most popular self-defense caliber (good for SHTF where ammo sharing may be necessary), is sufficient for self-defense against humans, can be accurately and quickly shot by most people (except one member of my family), has more capacity in the same sized handgun/mag. For lighter/smaller guns (e.g., my 224 or a SIG 365), it is easier to shoot than the .40 or .45 ACP.

 

[Mikej]

All the cool kids are shooting 9mm. A few of the REALLY cool ones are shooting 45 acp.

If everybody is doing it, it quits being "Cool".

This thread just gave .40 caliber a nice little boost in sales

Cool!