Availability of .40 S&W.

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Trey Veston

Trey Veston

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No, not a caliber debate thread, God willing. Just strange observations and conversation at the LGS today.

LGS had been closed for 6 weeks due to the virus (even though they were ruled essential by the governor) so they had a chance to stock up on everything. I stopped by last week looking for powder and primers and they had nearly everything. Didn't pay attention to ammo as I was stocked up, or so I thought.

Bought a new 1911 in .40 S&W, which I reload for, but thought it prudent to run a couple of boxes of factory ammo, so I stopped by today to grab a couple of boxes.

They had tons of 9mm and 5.56, .45 acp, 10mm, etc. But only two kinds of .40 S&W. Blazer aluminum and Blazer brass.

I haven't found either particular accurate in any of my other guns, so didn't want it. I looked and they didn't have any empty slots on the shelf. Just the Blazer and CCI shotshells.

IMG_20200519_170458874.jpg

And the prices were ridiculous for bargain ammo; $19 for a box of Blazers??

This store has a huge selection of ammo...

IMG_20200519_171033958.jpg

They had more selection in 10mm than .40 S&W...

IMG_20200519_171044721.jpg

So I asked the clerk where all the .40 S&W ammo was and he said it was by far the most sought after ammo the past couple of months since the pandemic hit.

Which is the opposite of what I saw during the Obama ammo crisis. 9mm was hard to find while .40 S&W was plentiful. Weird.

Anyway, I bought some Hornady bullets and some more primers and will just have to roll my own I guess. They are the only place in the area that sells pistol ammo now, so I will have to road trip in order to find .40 S&W, which just blows my mind.
 
Ordering it from SGAmmo is bound to be cheaper than road tripping to another town just to buy a couple boxes of ammo. It's odd- as you say back when everyone had their panties in a twist over Obama's election 9mm was virtually all gone as was .22LR but you usually find .45 ACP and you could get all the .40 you could carry. Maybe the current state of affairs is due to agencies dumping the .40 in droves on the way back to 9mm? Lots of very cheap used Glocks and Shields.
 
Walmart was giving 40S&W away for $7.50 per 50 and it was the last caliber to sell out. That was November of ‘19 before it got popular. Again.
 
I imagine .40S&W ammo production has been reduced because there aren’t as many large institutional orders for it nowadays.

And now the pandemic has caused a bunch of people to go out and buy a gun because they suddenly think they need to have one in the house. 40S&W pistols have been fairly cheap recently, again because of the reduction in large institutional orders for them. I imagine they are popular choices for those new gun owners.

Seems like a recipe for a supply:demand mismatch.
 
You do realize for the last few years .40 caliber pistols were being sold for a song. Combine that with all the folks who already owned .40s add in a sprinkle of “the last panic I was only able to get .40.....” and here we are.

.40 is still the second or third most popular pistol cartridge by far.

All that said the moral of the story is when the panic comes you better have what you personally want or need stocked in your house well before vs thinking I will just buy X cartridge because nobody buys it.
 
You never know. Like someone else posted, 40 was the last thing to go at walmart. yesterday I was in academy sports, and all they had for pistol ammo was expensive 9mm HP, 44 mag, and 357 sig. They did have some 200 round packs of 223. Also plenty of typical hunting rifle ammo and shotgun ammo- except no buckshot.
 
Plus many who stocked up the last 10 panics still have all that ammo so they don't need 9MM and 223. So they moved on to 40 this panic I guess

And yes the G22/226/229/M&P/USP trade ins that flooded the market don't help. Excellent guns for half their 9mm counterpart
 
I just checked MidwayUSA and Graf and Sons websites and they both show having 40S&W ammo in stock. The selection isn't as good as it was but still in stock.
 
My local sportsman's warehouse implemented a box limit at the beginning of all this, and everything priced MSRP. I haven't needed ammo, but I I've picked up a few boxes to replenish the factory ammo I've shot. Even with the restrictions, 9mm has been limited -- maybe one or two target options. There have been more 40 options, but yesterday it was down to three. Of the three primary service calibers here, 45s the safest bet, followed by 40 and then 9mm.
 
I haven't bough 40S&W ammo in years. I have 4000+ rds ready to go and enough bullets and powder to at least double that. I really need to start shooting 40S&W with my new Limited gun again in USPSA competition rather than my Revolver.... COVID-19 is making getting to a USPSA match difficult around here.
 
Watch the police trade in sights. (LAX and recoil gunworks are good. Or at least have been to me) . I've bought Winchester ranger 155s. Ranger165 bonded. And 180T series. The most I've paid is 16 bucks for 50.
 
OP, now that you mention it, I was at my LGS recently and one of the clerks commented about the unusual number of phone calls they received from people looking for .40 S&W ammo. I really didn’t think much of it at the time as I don’t use .40 S&W.
 
People are fickle.

Two weeks ago, I visited one of the largest LGS that is reasonably close by specifically looking of a Glock 23 or 27. Nope. No .40 Glocks at all, salesman said they had sold all they had both new and used, had people calling to ask for them, wished he had more to sell, and a few weeks earlier they were gathering dust.

I had to "settle" for a 9mm pistol. lol

He had some .40 S&W premium ammo, but not much. Same with 9mm ammunition.

.40 is far from dead, despite the internet proclamations.
 
sparkyfender said:
People are fickle.
.40 is far from dead, despite the internet proclamations.
Click to expand...
The internet is right, even when it contradicts itself.

This has been one peculiar time. In March, April and so far in May we've quantitatively sold more guns than all of last year. Our three showcases of handguns was rapidly, in the first couple of weeks, reduced to two sparsely populated showcases. We've restocked a good bit since then but are still down to just two showcases.

The heartening thing is that there has been a huge increase in the number of guns in the public's hands, many to first time gun owners who were at least borderline antis at the start of the year, and there isn't the expected (by the media and lefties) slaughtering of the populace. Bodies do not litter the street. At one point Miami had the first six week period of not one gun death in decades. Perhaps people are becoming aware that the leftie gun zeitgeist is not based in reality.
 
Trey Veston said:
So I asked the clerk where all the .40 S&W ammo was and he said it was by far the most sought after ammo the past couple of months since the pandemic hit.
Click to expand...

Asking a question of the average chain store gun counter clerk is like asking questions of a tree.

Having spent considerable time on both sides of the counter I will say it's extremely rare to find a knowable clerk in a chain store. Hell, it's not that easy to find one in an independent store.

Buc-ee's pays more than most gun stores around here.
 
sparkyfender said:
No .40 Glocks at all, salesman said they had sold all they had both new and used
Click to expand...

There are still great deals on used ones like new. 300 dollar G-22 and 360 for 27.

FlSwampRat said:
first six week period of not one gun death in decades.
Click to expand...

Maybe thats because they all bought 40 and we all know it's woefully inadequate for killing power. All those people only got wounded instead of killed. It will go back up when they buy 9MMS and 380s because of "advances in bullet designs" that the 9MMS got that the 40 didn't.......

Yeah, I'm done. I've carried a .40 for 20 years btw
 
Road trip to buy ammo? Surely must be in a state (location) where ammo can't be shipped to an individual.
Its a shame that everyone doesn't have the option to conveniently have ammo delivered to their door.
I like 40 S&W - Glock 22, 23 and 35 have been (are) my most frequently carried.
 
AIM Surplus sells a lot of police trade ins, they've got .40 Blazer brass for $14.99 and Privi PPU for $13.95, in stock.
 
I have owned around... eight, I guess, 40 caliber pistols. Three were not LE turn-ins. Seriously, if I could get a seldom-fired Glock for $300 OTD, or a Sig for not much more, it seemed like a no-brainer.

Luckily I prefer to keep a fair amount of ammo on-hand. I'll easily be able to feed the beasts for the time being.
 
crestoncowboy said:
Maybe that's because they all bought 40 and we all know it's woefully inadequate for killing power. All those people only got wounded instead of killed. It will go back up when they buy 9MMS and 380s because of "advances in bullet designs" that the 9MMS got that the 40 didn't.......

Yeah, I'm done. I've carried a .40 for 20 years btw
Click to expand...
No, it's because there weren't any shootings. You picked one part of my overall point about more guns on the street and fewer shootings to make an unrelated point that you carry a .40 and it has sufficient power to kill. That wasn't my point at all.
 
Most LE agencies are replacing their 40 caliber pistols with 9mm when they reach 10-15 yeas old. Most of those guns are still very much serviceable and are being sold dirt cheap. I can see a time in the near future where very few new pistols in 40 S&W are being built.

But there are a butt load of pistols out there. At one time I'm thinking about 80% of LE used 40 S&W and they were very common among others as well. All of those guns are still out there and will still require ammo for them. I don't foresee any long term shortage of ammo for them. At least not in my lifetime.
 
Wish I woulda known .40 was getting scarce. Couple weeks ago I picked up 600 rounds of various factory ammo from a buddy who didn't need it anymore. Gave it to my dad since I don't own a .40, then my brother in law asked if I could get more so I bought the rest he had...another 350 rounds. Then was at Rural King and picked up 2 more 100 round boxes for him. They had several boxes of Winchester and Browning.
 
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