What's up with the .40S&W ammo dump going on?

[Quacky88]

Powder and bullets will get you to about 40 dollars.

The brass you can collect as you shoot so that equals the cost of the ammo purchase.

You can get a kit from RCBS or Hornady, single stage press and most of the needed items for loading for around 2-3 hundred.

Dies run about 40.

Initial start up is about 3-5 hundred depending on what set up you get.

Progressives are a whole other story.

Thanks for the detailed breakdown Reno. A reloading station is on the short list when I become a property owner. Are you self taught or did you attend classes/workshops ect. To get acclimated?

 

[Certaindeaf]

Powder and bullets will get you to about 40 dollars.

The brass you can collect as you shoot so that equals the cost of the ammo purchase.

You can get a kit from RCBS or Hornady, single stage press and most of the needed items for loading for around 2-3 hundred.

Dies run about 40.

Initial start up is about 3-5 hundred depending on what set up you get.

Progressives are a whole other story.

Yea, my $40 quip was to reflect today's prices for me.. casting my own slugs.
But I was lucky enough to have bought a bit of primers and powder just before the bad where my costs come out to like $25/1000 but I don' do .40.
Reloading is a fun hobby by itself for many and can kinda cushion the crazy times a bit..

 

[nehalemguy]

I've never owned a .40 and never will but what I'm trying to say is you can reload about any center fire handgun for like $40/1000.......

Please show me the math in your $40/1000 reloading formula.

Primers alone would consume most of that budget.

E

 

[Certaindeaf]

When I got my stash, primers were $18/1000 and powder $80/8.. be that as it may, you can still get primers for around $30 and powder goes a very long way.

 

[Just Jim]

Just a thought, and my thoughts are not worth much but the government ordered a billion rounds of 40 so under the rules of supply and demand there should be lots of cheap 40 out there. Having read that the FBI is going back to 9mm I suspect the manufactures will be pumping out tons of 9mm with the public able to buy what the government leaves us.

 

[nehalemguy]

When I got my stash, primers were $18/1000 and powder $80/8.. be that as it may, you can still get primers for around $30 and powder goes a very long way.

Even using your 1985 pricing it would still be a challenge to reach $40/1000, except for the fact that you are considering your bullets to be free since you cast your own.

I can get almost 1000 rounds out of a pound of Power Pistol for the .40 S&W. At current prices, that pound costs around $28. Then add primers which best case have been running $30 per thousand and I have already busted your $40 budget by $18...and I still have to acquire bullets.

E

 

[Certaindeaf]

I bought my stash in 2013 or whenever SH happened. Oh, and you can sure get more efficient and economical powders than PP.. and yes, I said I use my own slugs.. and convention holds that brass is considered nil, as it's reusable many, many times.

 

[Certaindeaf]

Even using your 1985 pricing it would still be a challenge to reach $40/1000, except for the fact that you are considering your bullets to be free since you cast your own.

I can get almost 1000 rounds out of a pound of Power Pistol for the .40 S&W. At current prices, that pound costs around $28. Then add primers which best case have been running $30 per thousand and I have already busted your $40 budget by $18...and I still have to acquire bullets.

E

And as I said, I was just roughing it and gave my actual numbers.. if you want to quibble and think you've "won" over a guestimate of around $5 or whatever dollars, go right ahead. lol

 

[Joe13]

Hell, at $90/1000 .22lr, I would be stoked to get 1k rounds for any of my calibers for less then $100.

 

[Member 34319]

I could turn 80 bucks into 1000 rounds of 223. That's because I already have the powder and primers and brass.

I think what he meant by 40/1000 was if you have everything from bulk purchases in the past. Upkeep today is not too horrible. Up until having to replace components.

 

[CHLChris]

...And the dump continues. I also have seen people dropping a lot of 45acp lately. Is the move to 9mm even starting to affect 45acp? I don't know, but there are record numbers of people selling their guns in the infamous 40S&W.

I still have a couple in 40, which I won't be dropping anytime soon. If I didn't hate the round so much, myself, I'd be trying to buy up the supply...

 

[etrain16]

I have one gun in .40, which I'll be holding on to, no plans to sell it, just so I have a gun I can shoot if we have another time like we did after SH, when only .40 was readily available. As for the future, I've got no plans to purchase any other .40's. Nothing out there really interests me at this time.

As for .45acp, I've got no plans to dump that caliber. And I've got a short list of guns I'd like to add in that caliber, some day. Just don't have the funds to do that now.

 

[Classic]

I never understood the 40... 10mm was too much for the feds so they reduced the power and the 40 was born. Me, if I'm feeling cheap I shoot my CZ 75BSA (9mm). If I want more, 45acp does the trick. 40 is just the bstard redheaded stepchild of the 10.....

 

[CHLChris]

And now almost all of the 10mm is being downloaded so as not to knock the pants off unwary shooters. Most 10mm loaded today--unless specifically marked for hunting--is barely above 40S&W specs even though it could be loaded MUCH hotter. In fact, I think I'd rather have a Glock 20 and carry downloaded 10mm's than a Glock 22 with hot 40's.

I'm just amazed at the number of people trying to sell their 40's. Seems to me that the market value of those is going to have to go down for them all to sell...

 

[U8395279]

I see ad after ad selling off large chunks of 40 ammo. I'm one of them. I just happen to have "too much" of a certain kind. But it looks like tons of people are dumping their whole stash, as if bunches of people are leaving the 40S&W platform all together.

Am I right? Are people going back to the 9mm in droves?

This sort of talk is what is known as rumor, hearsay, and conjecture.

.

 

[CHLChris]

^^ You must not be watching the Handgun Classifieds very carefully. I watch it very closely, and often. It isn't hearsay when I am merely reporting what I see. And 6 months ofter I started this thread, I am still seeing the same dump of 40.

 

[U8395279]

^^ You must not be watching the Handgun Classifieds very carefully. I watch it very closely, and often. It isn't hearsay when I am merely reporting what I see. And 6 months ofter I started this thread, I am still seeing the same dump of 40.

Now you are completely changing your story. You originally said that people were dumping .40 S&W ammo. Now you are claiming that people are selling off their .40 S&W pistols.

And I see nothing in the Handgun Classifieds to support your opinion. What data did you compile, to come to your conclusion?

Your credibility is only going further downhill, in my opinion.
.

 

[CHLChris]

My credibility? Data? Seriously?

What sort of forum do you think this is? This is just a friendly conversation, not an academic journal. Relax a little bit, sir.

 

[Meridian7750]

I'm just amazed at the number of people trying to sell their 40's. Seems to me that the market value of those is going to have to go down for them all to sell...

Completely subjective, and you seem to have a bias against .40...
That's fine, but don't go throwing around opinions as if they were facts, merely to fit your beliefs.
And speaking of facts, I did a brief survey of the last 3 pages of the Handgun Classifieds, here on NWFA.
Here are my results...
.40...11
.45...29
.380...11
.357...10
.38...5
Other...11

Oh yeah...your vaunted 9mm, the caliber that all others are switching to?
25.
Looks like .40 is here to stay...sorry for the bad news.

 

[CHLChris]

I don't have any dog in the fight. 40's sticking around is good news. The more calibers that remain popular, the less pressure on supplies of any particular caliber. Good, I'd be glad to hear if my thesis is proven incorrect. People might just love the 40S&W and it is more popular than ever!

Since data is apparently so important to this discussion of opinion, how about a summary of listings based on caliber for the last month, cross-referenced to the actual percentage of ownership of each said caliber? If 9mm represents, for example, 35% of owned handguns, but represent only 25% of listings, then 9mm is underrepresented and, by extrapolation, more desired. Come on, data folks, run the numbers.

I, for one, don't care about the numbers. I'm just wondering if there is a general movement out of 40. I think there is. We're just having a friendly conversation about our opinions.