James Yeager's latest .40 sucks video.

Not a fan of the cartridge. But its not going to die in my lifetime. Is this guy credible? I've never heard of him until now.

It's pretty difficult to escape the practicality of the 9mm. As to whether .40 will be around in the near future, all I can say is I would not invest in a .40 cal. anything right now, even if it were for some strange reason a caliber I liked. It's already expensive, and the writing is on the wall that it's going to get more expensive as time goes on. If I were a betting man, I would wager that it will remain readily available for quite some time, but I would also suspect that 20+ years from now it will already be getting somewhat difficult to find, as in they probably won't have it at Walmart (assuming Walmart is still in business and still selling ammo in 20 years).

Three options I have for carry: Glock 19 - Glock 22 - Glock 21
I carry the 22 or 21, not the 19
Why?
http://www.le.vistaoutdoor.com/wound_ballistics/load_comparison/load_comparison.aspx
Federal applied the same technology to 40 and 45 HST as they did 9mm
Heavy Clothing
9mm 147 gr. 12.5'' / .69
40 S&W 180 gr. 12.5'' / .80
45 acp 13.5'' / .87
My goal being stop an attacker ASAP it would not make sense to select the bullet that makes the smallest hole.
Didn't watch video, 40 still makes bigger holes than 9mm, apples to apples, or Gold Dots
Heavy Clothing
9mm 147 gr. 14.9'' / .57
40 S&W 180 gr. 13.2'' / .70
My average 2nd shot (split) time using SD ammo in Glock 19/23 is an insignificant .04 (four hundredths) second - consistent over time.

I'm not a 40 fan either but I don't hate it.

I'm not sure who this guy is but his video wasn't very good. His argument was weak, and he cited no evidence other than many law enforcement agencies are going back to 9mm.

What he ignores are the many factors that the FBI and others look at when they make decisions. Some are excellent, other are horrible and many are political oh wait that's redundant with horrible!!!!!

If I had the money and a good trade in came along at the right price I'd consider it. But I don't and I have enough other things to worry about that it's not even worth considering.

Soooooo my take is with all of the 40s already out there this guy is wrong. Sure it'll be an even less popular caliber than it is with law enforcement not buying as many (any?) but I suspect saying it's death is coming is very premature.

As we know many once popular cartridges that are no longer popular still have cult followings. So 40 will exist in some form as there will be some fans that will keep using it, loading for it, etc

So bad video and no 40 isn't dead yet. And no it doesn't suck, it does what it was designed to do. If you don't like that fine, but that doesn't make it suck.

I don't care for it, and I have one I could live without. But its too established to just die in the near future IMO.

There are far to many guns chambered in 40 for the cartridge to die any time soon.
I do tend to favor 9mm for carry these days and it's a bit cheaper to reload, but I still shoot a lot of 40's.

I've seen some of Yeager's video's, he seems to target the juvenile tacticool market.
This photo is from a Yeager training class. It is what it looks like, a live fire drill with a photographer down range.


After receiving criticism for it he posted another video claiming no rules of firearm safety were broken by having the photographer down range.

I pay no attention to anything that comes out of James Yeager's mouth. Here is another beauty from this egomaniac.
As for the cartridge itself. One after another, LE agencies across the country are moving to 9mm and have been for over three years. ATK has done demonstrations at our facility proving they can get the same performance from a surprisingly wide variety of calibers. It's all about the bullet design. If the 9mm performs the same as the 40 and gives more capacity while costing a lot less, what's not to like?

Mn Fats said:

Not a fan of the cartridge. But its not going to die in my lifetime.

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I agree.

Is this guy credible?

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Well...

I've never heard of him until now.

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If you're a gun person (even if you're not), it almost seems as if you'd have to make some effort to not have heard of him, either good or bad. He is the king of bold/controversial statements and positions and his YouTube stuff has been all over forums for years. He's even been interviewed on network news programs, mostly because he's so outrageous.

James Yeager is even more opinionated than Larry Vickers, quite a feat indeed! As for the .40, while I prefer other calibers, I wouldn't want to get hit by one.......

People who live and die by notoriety and views need to keep the views coming by posting stuff that gets people clicking.

So pick a topic that's been bashed around in the gun world for the last 10 years at least, pick a side at random to argue for, make an overheated video about it stating a bunch of old news and rationales as though the ideas are yours, and new, and interesting, and as if anyone cares... and presto! Pick up a hundred thousand more hits for your youtube channel.



Remember, just because you think someone's a dingus, loudmouth, bad representative of our sub-culture, and wrong in his opinions -- doesn't mean he isn't making money off of you watching the crap he puts out.

I have been following the caliber wars for 30 years. They are cyclical in nature. About every 10 years, the popular round becomes unpopular, and the unpopular round becomes popular.

Here is my view of what the "whats hot and whats not" of various cartridges was by decade. This is mainly based on personal experience from talking to other shooters, reading, and when the internet finally came along, reading what others were saying. It might not compare with sales data, but its what the cool trendy gunpeople were talking about by decade.

70's:
Autos are viewed with suspicion, and 9mm is regarded as same or slightly less powerful than 38 Special. 357 Magnum is considered the pinnacle of achievement in handguns. Everyone wants a Colt Python, but few can afford one. People wish they could use a 44 Magnum instead, like Dirty Harry, but no one likes the size of the Model 29 or recoil for every day carry. 45 ACP is regarded as the cartridge you grandfather didn't like when he was on Iwo Jima because it jammed when he tried firing it after dropping it in the mud a few times.

80's:
Wonder 9's are introduced, Mel Gibson assures everyone 9mm is great with his superbly deadly use of it in the Hollywood documentary Lethal Weapon. Gaston Glock explodes onto the scene with the "plastic fantastic". The 9mm rises from the ashes of being a weak European invention carried by men who prefer Capri pants to a weapon as powerful as the Hammer of Thor, and is adopted in the late 1980s by the US military. Some people still like revolvers.

90's:
Clinton gun ban temporarily derails the 9mm. Also, someone gets shot by the police with a 9mm and doesn't die, prompting everyone to decide 9mm is not the Hammer of Thor. 10 mm gets some notice, but cannot become popularity because of the metrosexualization of America. 40 became popular in this decade because of the magazine limitations of 10 rounds, perceived weakness of 9mm, perceived over-poweredness of 10mm, and a desire to fit a bigger cartridge into a 9mm sized automatic. 45 ACP sees a resurgence because you are limited to a 10 round magazine, and might as well use a 45 because it will knock you down and blow you out the window if one even passes near you. New 1911 manufacturers spring up, offering various levels of jam-o-matics to US gun buyers..

2000's :
In the early 2000's everyone tells me my 9mm has become weak and useless, but then 9mm starts gaining popularity again because of expiration of the magazine ban and perceived improvements in 9mm hollowpoints. 45 is back on top, and 40 S&W is adopted by many police agencies. It is over for revolvers, but a few dinosaurs still quaintly cling to them, mainly out of nostalgia for the good old days, prompting armchair commandos on the internet to roll their eyes. Really compact 380 ACPs are introduced, and viewed suspiciously.

2010's:
9mm is now back on top. People make YouTube videos of Jello being shot with the new generation of 9mm hollowpoints, and man that Jello is getting killed, even when they put 2 layers of heavy denim on it. 40 S&W has become a whipping boy trashed by most talking heads. Police flee from the 40 in massive numbers, because they can't handle its massive recoil, which had previously gone undetected for a decade, and decide they need the extra rounds of a 9mm because their accuracy rate is so poor. 357 Magnum and 38 Special have fallen into a niche roles. Lot of people switch to a 380 pocket auto after making the astute discovery that it is easier to fit a 8 oz 380 in your pocket than a 48 ounce double stack service auto. Numerous reasons are then developed to justify carrying a 380, which has previously been considered only slightly more effective than throwing rocks.

I only recently bought a 40. I didn't want to add another caliber to my loading bench. I bought one mainly so I would have a gun to shoot 40 in should it be the only factory round I could find. One lesson from the banic is that when all the 9mm has flown off the shelf there might still be some 40 available.

I was surprised how little visual difference there is between 9mm and 40 when sorting brass, and how well a 9mm case can wedge itself into a 40 case and how well tumbling media can lock the two together. Arrgghhh...

One of the main reasons many organizations are moving back to 9mm from 40 is the pure economics of scale. 9mm is cheaper, significantly so when you buy thousands of rounds per year. And people who appreciate a couple more rounds in the mag...

The upside of this switch is that there are some real bargains to be had in police trade-in guns. And because gun people tend to be such faddish, herd-driven folk, the prices of used 40 guns are often $40-50 cheaper than their 9mm counterparts. I picked up a sweet Beretta PX4 compact with three mags for $299 because the dealer told me "40 is a dead caliber." I actually started a thread about that interaction back in the winter. https://www.thehighroad.org/index.php?threads/40-is-a-dead-caliber.814003/

As for me, as long as there are police agencies selling their once fired brass it will be a viable option.

but I would also suspect that 20+ years from now it will already be getting somewhat difficult to find, as in they probably won't have it at Walmart (assuming Walmart is still in business and still selling ammo in 20 years).

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I don't think it will ever be any harder to find than .38 Special is now. All those "police" surplus guns being sold cheap and a slow bit steady demand from box or two a year shooters will keep it worthwhile to have some stock on hand.

During the worst of "the shortage" if you could find handgun ammo in stock it was usually .40S&W being a bit out of the mainstream can have some advantages.

I love 10mm and have no 40's. I don't see any benefit for me over 9mm for carry and range use.

Having said that, I always viewed 40 the same way as 38 sp. it's a lighter counterpart for a smaller package to carry. (I know that isn't how either round came about.)

I know some guys HATE 40 mostly because they say most 10mm loads have been watered down since the 40's adoption. I can't speak to that directly but there are several warm to nuclear factory loads available.

Agencies adopting 9mm again has more to do with cost and capacity. That's about it, although bullet technology has narrrowed the gap.

James Yeager sucks. He's an angry little dude. One of those over-compensating, high-strung macho types that you'd hate to get stuck on an elevator with.

If James Yeager says something, the burden of proof immediately shifts onto the "side" he is taking. That guy is fairly constantly wrong, yet never lacking in certitude.

grampajack said:

It's pretty difficult to escape the practicality of the 9mm. As to whether .40 will be around in the near future, all I can say is I would not invest in a .40 cal. anything right now, even if it were for some strange reason a caliber I liked. It's already expensive, and the writing is on the wall that it's going to get more expensive as time goes on. If I were a betting man, I would wager that it will remain readily available for quite some time, but I would also suspect that 20+ years from now it will already be getting somewhat difficult to find, as in they probably won't have it at Walmart (assuming Walmart is still in business and still selling ammo in 20 years).

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This is completely baseless. I'm not a .40 fan and don't own one. If I want something bigger than the 9mm I go with a .45. However, thousands upon thousands of .40's are already on the market and are still being produced. The ammo will NEVER go away in our lifetimes. Ammo is not expensive either. It's right in between the 9mm and .45ACP, where it should be. Which also tells us that it's popular enough to be priced comparably to the other two.

I support Yeager's right to say what he says but he still sucks.
His video's reinforce the anti-gun crowd's stereotype's of gun owners.
He has to know this but doesn't care, he is making money.

Also, it puzzles me that people care about the "available at Wal-Mart" test. The internet and e-commerce have made all kinds of previously-hard-to-get things readily acquired at the click of a mouse. Unless your habit is truly only ever to buy ammo on the way to the range and then shoot it at the range and then go home with 0 ammo on hand, awaiting the next spur-of-the-moment trip to the sporting goods store (for more ammo) and range trip... how does this even matter?

If .40 somehow migrates into the "long tail" during our lifetimes - a dubious proposition at best - that will not be a problem in any meaningful sense.

NOTE: I do not own a .40. I do, however, own a couple of 10mm's and a .41 magnum, so I know all about semi-oddball calibers and their ammo.

entropy said:

James Yeager is even more opinionated than Larry Vickers....

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The difference is Larry Vickers has credibility.
James Yeager is a moron

ATLDave said:

Also, it puzzles me that people care about the "available at Wal-Mart" test. The internet and e-commerce have made all kinds of previously-hard-to-get things readily acquired at the click of a mouse. Unless your habit is truly only ever to buy ammo on the way to the range and then shoot it at the range and then go home with 0 ammo on hand, awaiting the next spur-of-the-moment trip to the sporting goods store (for more ammo) and range trip... how does this even matter?

If .40 somehow migrates into the "long tail" during our lifetimes - a dubious proposition at best - that will not be a problem in any meaningful sense.

NOTE: I do not own a .40. I do, however, own a couple of 10mm's and a .41 magnum, so I know all about semi-oddball calibers and their ammo.

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Exactly! I have two Walmarts 15mins in either direction and rarely buy ammo there, or go there at all for that matter. Buying guns strictly according to Walmart's ammo selection has to be the lowest common denominator among shooters.

It's just crazy to care about brick-and-mortar availability of ammo (unless some ill-conceived law makes it illegal to have ammo shipped where one is). Guns - sure, you want to touch and feel and inspect before buying. But ammo? It's a commodity, it ships perfectly well, and is something you generally know you need days or weeks or years in advance... it's basically the perfect internet-purchase item. You really have to be very, very, very out of touch and set in your ways to give a single fig about whether Wal-Mart will carry X or Y ammo at some hypothetical point in the future.

One other thing: I think a little level-setting is in order in terms of what constitutes a "rare" or "uncommon" caliber. I would guess that the volume of .40 shot/bought in the last year versus 45 (long) Colt and/or .30-30 or .30-06 is huge... and with vastly more 40 than those others. Probably orders of magnitude more. Yet I've rarely heard anyone assert that one shouldn't get a .45LC or .30-30 or .30-06 because they are rare, hard-to-find cartridges.

CraigC said:

Exactly! I have two Walmarts 15mins in either direction and rarely buy ammo there, or go there at all for that matter. Buying guns strictly according to Walmart's ammo selection has to be the lowest common denominator among shooters.

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I buy ammo at Walmart every payday at least -but then, I work there.