Why is it so hard to find 40 S&W handguns lately?

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Heir Kommt Die Sonne

Heir Kommt Die Sonne

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Been wanting to add a hammer fired 40 S&W semi auto to my collection. I'm set on a Sig P239, but today at the LGS I saw a CZ-75 compact In 9mm. As you can guess, my first instinct was to ask if there's one/if they made one in 40 S&W. I instead just looked it up on my phone and yea there are .40 versions of those. Mighty good pistol, I might settle for one of those instead of a P239 but this is where the dilemma comes in: It's not a scenario where I can easily choose something else and go for that. Can't find any hammer-fired .40s in my area, only the Glock 23 but I already got striker fired platform covered.
You'd think with how unpopular .40 is right now that we'll be finding lots of them locally but I'm restricted to just online. .40 is so cheap that is why I want to get a handgun for it. Money wise I'm still gonna have to sell my 1860s pinfire revolver before I can buy any other pistol.
 
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I guess you missed the news that 40 S&W is completely obsolete. Nobody makes pistols in 40 anymore. Maybe you can find one in C&R, or a museum. You see, apparently with 'modern ammunition ' that is only available in 9mm, the europellet is so capable that no other cartridge is required.

Or, here's a rather fetching stainless 75, preferable in my view to the Orange Tactical Extreme Operator models that seem so prevalent...

https://www.gunbroker.com/item/835830564
 
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There have been a lot of police trade-in 40 caliber pistols for sale in the past year or so.

My Sig P229 is my favorite of the several that I've bought.

The Ruger P-series is usually pretty easy to find for $200-$250, and they are good pistols, if a bit clunky.
 
40 SW guns are Everywhere. But as you say hammered fire are so yesterday. Most are striker fired.

Look harder they are out there.
 
Give it some time and 40s will be back. Police departments have switched to 9mm in droves. After they use 9mm for a while and have a few failures, they will decide they need to switch to 40 again. Its just tax payer money, after all, so might as well switch up guns every so often.
 
cmon don't we think we are exaggerating here a bit. Many still produce the 40S&W -- pistols are still made in this caliber. Now getting it in to your local shop is something different meaning I have a shop 2 miles away with a ton of brand new 40 because they are moving off the shelf. The shop 10 miles away says they can't move 40 so they are not ordering anymore.
 
Not sure where you are looking. But i have been seeing alot more 40's then 9 for sale. At 50-100 dollars less then the same pistol in 9mm. I have been buying up a few for pretty good prices. Like a brand new glock 23 for 399 and a walther ppq M2 5" for 389. Some serious 40 deals out there. And might be buying a FNS 40 with night sights this week.
 
Guess it depends where you look. Where i'm from, the LGS stores focus mainly on appealing to the locals- self defense handguns, ARs, then there's a big box gun store. Lots of people own guns around here, just not many go around in 'circulation'. They probably feel they won't sell as many .40s so they don't order them, like the latter mentioned example from Mr.RevolverGuy.
In this situation it's best to take our business online.
 
All the LSG around here appeal to locals either. 40 is not as common as it was. But does not mean they all dried up. Seems like all the gun stores i have been in. Has about the same amount in 40 and in 9. 45 and 357 sig were pretty uncommon.
 
Many stores selling for very low prices because demand is much lower. Now is best time to buy. LGS’ may have sold out a lot of theirs and aren’t refilling their inventory too much because the round is useless, but they’re easy to get cheap online.

P.s. take it easy, that’s sarcasm about being useless. Although with cost of 10mm coming down and it’s rise in popularity along with improved 9mm ballistics and LE’s adopting, one can understand the drop off.
 
There have been a lot of pretty good deals on used .40 S&W's lately - particularly for police trade ins. I just got a Stoeger Cougar in .40S&W from a local shop for $250 a few weeks back. A smidge less than they sell for online but I didn't have to pay shipping or transfer so it made it a lot better.
 
I don't know why but I could never warm up to the .40 S&W. I bought and still have a Glock 22 chambered for it. Over time the wear between barrel and slide caused accuracy to suffer but I installed a Wilson match barrel in it and that tightened the groups back up dramatically.

But as pistol cartridges go and just speaking for my own personal preferences, I default to 9mm for CC and .45ACP for OWB carry or range plinking.
 
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