Why the lack of love for the .40?

AKElroy

I don't know for sure but I've had a few in that caliber but never seemed to hang on to them for very long. It's also kind of strange in that a number of gun stores I go to have plenty of .40S&W ammo available but next to nothing in 9mm. and .45ACP. One WallyWorld store I frequent had no 9mm. or .45, but they had 2 cases (40 boxes), of .40S&W neatly arranged on the shelf. Another store had nothing but UMC bulk packs of .40S&W on hand; everything else was sold out. Now I know .40S&W pistols are popular and probably account for a decent number of sales, but it seems very odd that there's so much more ammo available for it than all the other calibers combined.

It's the most-used caliber in USPSA by a large margin. Is that love?

9mm Fan here...

.45 ACP? not really

.45 GAP? a big plus

.40sw ummmm.. No comments

I like shooting 45's for the thrill and knock down power if needed, but I also enjoy shooting 9mm because of the capacity and reasonable knock down power.... I personally choose not to shoot the .40 (yet) because I started shooting 45's, then... since 45 is so expensive to shoot, I decided to get something cheaper to shoot... 9 fits the bill.... no reason to save a dollar a box of ammo and get a 40 when I can pay just over half the price of the .45 and get a box of 9mm.... It pretty much came down to convenience for me... nothing at all to do with the round itself... if I could bet .40 for 12 bucks a box, I would have gotten one by now...

Because 10mm can do the same thing that the .40 does but the .40 cannot ever be a 10mm.

well that's just what .40 is.. the in betweener.. I'd use a .45 if I needed takedown power.. and a .22 or 9mm for practice.. sure .40 could satisfy both reasonably well.. but that means I would only need one pistol for everything

Already had too many calibers when .40 came along.

Because 10mm can do the same thing that the .40 does but the .40 cannot ever be a 10mm.

Click to expand...

Besides splitting a few ballistic hairs, the actual answer is that .40SW can fit in a 9mm-size pistol, whereas 10mm requires a larger frame, magazines, and action (ie, same length as .45ACP). So one might say that that's something the .40SW "can do" but 10mm "can't do."

10mm was conceived as an ideal pistol cartridge by Jeff Cooper, but it was later downsized for the reasons above - and that full-house 10mm was a "hand full" to shoot.

Heck, many of the criticisms of the .40SW are that it's "snappy" to shoot, IE, it's still a "hand full" in a 9mm-size pistol.

In 90 years I will review the .40 and see how it has served those who carried it. Until then I will stick with the tried and tested. My choice is .45 but I have nothing against 9mm. both have proved their worth.

Well as the .40 dupicates the old 38-40 load but uses better bullets my guess is about 140 years of history tends to show why the .40 is so popular now.

.40 is weird.

I don't expect I'll ever buy a 9mm handgun, and I certainly enjoy my 2 .45's but I carry a .40SW every day. Plus if all three are options are loaded to standard the .40 has the most energy at the muzzle and the most energy down range. I don't know if the smaller lighter bullet of the .40 has the stopping power of the larger .45, but 2 spare magazines plus a loaded gun with my Glock 22 is 46 rounds, With my 1911 it's only 25, even with the Glock 21 it's only 40rds. I'm not a spray and pray guy but if SHTF I think more is better.

my own opinion on this is that if i wanted power i would go all out or since shot placement is more important, less recoil+that one more round= 9mm>.40

Nothing at all wrong with the 40...I just like 45 better.

Speaking for myself, it boils down to the fact that I can't think of a compelling reason to buy a .40 given my .45's and 9mm's. Add to that both of my .357's and there just isn't a good reason to buy yet another caliber.

It's not that I don't like the round, and if I were a first time buyer, a .40 would be a definite option. As it stands, I just am not interested in it. I can understand why others like it though. The ones I have shot seem to work pretty well, there are a variety of guns chambered for it, and it is relatively cheap to shoot.

I love my 9mm and when I want something bigger I go straight to the .45ACP. If your going to be a bear, might as well be a grizzly.

For a lack of a reason to love it.

There's nothing wrong with it, but I have no reason or desire to own a gun chambered for the cartridge.

I know .40 has been around for a while now and is fairly well proven. I’ve read the FBI shootout stories and glanced over the data, I understand the numbers and the justification, and I know .40 is an extremely effective SD caliber. With all that said... as a kind of old school guy I still think of .40 as a pimped out hot dog answer to a question nobody asked.

It just seems like a punk or gang banger caliber to me. I don’t want a “Glock fotay”, and I don’t want to be around “the only one who is professional enough”. I know this is all just perception and is really a little silly, but it is the way I feel.

The fact that a lot of .40 pistols were originally designed as 9mm and are therefore a little under built for the caliber doesn’t help either.

I love my 40. Yeah I said it I actuly like it. Glock 35. Holds as many rounds as my old bretta 92 only the rounds are bigger. Holds twice as many rounds as my 1911 but they are smaller, not by much. I still carry my 1911 cause I have faith in it but when it comes to IPSC and shooting the hell out of a pistol its a 40 glock for me. And if something went bump in the night and I endded up with my 40 not my 45 I wouldn't feel at all disadvantaged.

I own 9mm .357 .40 and .45. The 40 is the cc and truck gun the .45 is the nightstand gun. The .357 revo is the .45's back up. The 9mm is the plinker but I'd feel good grabbing any of them for protection. I consider the .40 as the best overall for what I use it for, not the best overall period.

Every police officer I have talked to in SC carries a 40, and all are impressed with the caliber. I guess I feel OK having one too, if guys who potentially face BG's everyday like it.

I don't need/want a pistol in that caliber. My .22lr, 9mm, .357 magnum, and .45 ACP covers all that I want and need.

I've had all three major calibers. Nothing wrong truly with any of them.
I prefer the .45. The main thing between it and the .40 is the recoil. Not that the .40 is bad, but the snap that it generates is sharper to me than the push the .45 generates. I just prefer the push. To me it is easier to manage.

Just my 2 cents.

I'm a .40 fan. Got four pistols in .40. Primary reason for fondness is CC. I also own .357's and .45's. I have faith in all three as SD calibers, my .40's just come in smaller packaging and I'm not a fan of compact .45's. Just spoiled on full sized 1911's I guess.
The 9's sure do seem to offer a lot of pistols in a variety of sizes and I'm sure they too are ok for SD, but the gang-bangers and spray-n-pray crowd have turned me off to the caliber. Plus I just don't see the reasoning in carrying a 9 if I can carry a .40.
Put me down for a .40 fan!