40 s&w and panic buying

It doesn't say anything about the .40. It just means that the two of the 4 cartridges flying off the shelf are the .223 and 9mm

(the other two are the .308 and .22 long rifle.)

The .40 is HUGELY popular with law enforcement and not so much with civilians. The civilians are the ones doing the panic buying.

I have a P229 in .40 and during the last obama ammo shortage I could usually get .40 which was nice to be able to still do some shooting and my P229 is a pleasure to shoot in .40.

I just switched from the 9mm to .40 S&W two weeks before all this stuff happened. I did it for two reasons. 1) ammo is usually in stock and 2) like the ballistics better than the 9mm. Now I'm really glad I switched! although the .40 ammo is selling during the panic, I am able to find what I want either online or in stores. Also, I was able to order a couple of M&P .40 Pro Series at great prices from Bud's.

Surprising the .40 SW and .380 ammo were still available in Walmart and Academy. Although they are diminishing by the day . The common 9mms and .22 LRs are gone for good.

I personally like the .40 SW as i carry a glock 23. It is one nice package to have.

Some .40 pistols like the SIG P226 and P226 can shoot 9MM with a Barto 9MM conversion barrel that are extremely high quality. Usually the conversion barrel drops right in but Bartso says about 3 out of 10 require minor fitting.

It is recommended to not use a conversion barrel for SD though most everyone says that their SIGs are 100 percent reliable with them installed. Otherwise the .40 barrel can be put back in for SD needs.

Of course right now they are a little hard to find.

http://www.topgunsupply.com/bar-sto-barrels/

That's one of the things I like about the 40. Personally IMO the 9 and 45 are the more popular calibers

Since when did Police stop being civilians?

The only police that aren't civilians are MPs.

TennJed said:

I can buy any make and model of 40 s&w I want to right now, not so with the 9mm

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Just standby ....

From what I saw, at first it was Glock magazines that were in demand. Since I had (over the last few years) bought what I wanted for my Glock pistols, I looked at Ruger for my "panic" buying. Lots of Ruger magazines all over so I got what I feel I needed for my wife's SR9 and SR9c and our two KP90s. Now the SR9/c magazines are either gone or prices have risen precipitously.

Have you checked CDNN Sports' website? They shut it down just a few days after the rush took off and it's still that way. Obviously, nothing is available from them and they are one of my primary websites. However, they did ship my post-shutdown order so I'm happy.

C0untZer0 said:

Since when did Police stop being civilians?

The only police that aren't civilians are MPs.

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LOL my bad.

The few .40s I've had kicked like mules. Albeit they were light, polymer framed guns, I prefer the 9, .357 Sig, and .45 in terms of practice and fun.

I guess the general public isn't that fond of the .40. The 9mm and .45acp have been here for 100 years.
I became quite fond of the 40 S&W in the last year or so. I can load it down to capare to a 9mm and load it up to compete in USPSA.
Like the Sig, my M&P's can convert to 9mm with a simple barrel change.

All that said, I see more and more guys showing up on the pistol range with .40 S&Ws' all the time. I get a lot of free brass that way..

I ve never heard of a .40 SW until i was at a local pawnshop in 1994. They had several Smith and Wesson handguns with .40 SW on the slide. At the time .40 was still an exclusive LEO round .

My local Walmart for the last week...



Makes me glad I decided to add a .40 to the family.

.40 S&W is more expensive then 9mm may be one reason people aren't buying as much. Additionally if you've never owned a gun before and ask a KNOWLEDGEABLE sales person, most will direct you to a 9mm, .38spl, etc. for a first gun. Most folks who have a .40 S&W pistol are either shooters with a few rounds under their belt, or someone who asked for the same gun their local LEO's use. As an LEO I hate that our administrators make a gun store commando look knowledgeable and require us to use .40 S&W (at my agency at lest) without anything to back it up besides "it's a forty!"

-Jenrick

I never liked .40 S&W it tends to "snap" it makes a loud pop and sharp recoil. and I think it was a solution in search of a problem, 9mm is perfectly good as a defense round. .45 ACP reduces mag capacity yes, but not by too much.

My guess is as mentioned above, Civvies and the military shoot 9, most cops with the exception of most California departments or New York City PD who carry 9, carry .40

civilians are a much bigger market then the police

I added a p229 in 40 last spring because I knew something like this was going to happen in the coming year after the election.

Problem is....unlike the great scare of 2008/9 there's no 40 on the shelves this time. Still plenty of 357. Looks like a revolver is in my future.

Jenrick said:

.40 S&W is more expensive then 9mm may be one reason people aren't buying as much. Additionally if you've never owned a gun before and ask a KNOWLEDGEABLE sales person, most will direct you to a 9mm, .38spl, etc. for a first gun. Most folks who have a .40 S&W pistol are either shooters with a few rounds under their belt, or someone who asked for the same gun their local LEO's use. As an LEO I hate that our administrators make a gun store commando look knowledgeable and require us to use .40 S&W (at my agency at lest) without anything to back it up besides "it's a forty!"

-Jenrick

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If people's buying sprees were based on price per box Walmarts should have mounds of .45Auto and it is harder to find then 9x19. Part of the reason is that they probly order more .40S&W then any other centerfire pistol rounds with exception of 9 Luger.

.40 S&W is more expensive then 9mm may be one reason people aren't buying as much. Additionally if you've never owned a gun before and ask a KNOWLEDGEABLE sales person, most will direct you to a 9mm, .38spl, etc. for a first gun. Most folks who have a .40 S&W pistol are either shooters with a few rounds under their belt, or someone who asked for the same gun their local LEO's use. As an LEO I hate that our administrators make a gun store commando look knowledgeable and require us to use .40 S&W (at my agency at lest) without anything to back it up besides "it's a forty!"

-Jenrick

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I agree. I sold my first .40 shortly after buying it. The gun was too small for the cartridge in my opinion, or the shape of the grip/backstrap didn't agree with me. Either way, shame on me for not shooting it before buying. Live and learn.

Fast forward 3 or 4 years, and all my auto pistols are 9 and .45. I enjoy shooting the two calibers because they are both relatively soft shooters in mid-full size guns, especially for casual plinking with 115gr 9mm and standard 230gr .45. That first .40 put a bad taste in my mouth, and I had no desire to buy another. Then one day I decided I wanted a Glock 19 to compliment my Glock 26. I had shot a friend's and felt the size/capacity/grip of the gun was perfect. Then I did some research on the Glock 23/32. Same exact guns as the 19, but chambered in either .40 or .357sig. The advantage to these guns however, is that with simply swapping a barrel (and mags for 9mm) I could choose to shoot 3 different calibers out of the same gun. With the ammo crisis still in my mind from '09, and the foresight that it could, and eventually would happen again, I opted for the .40 cal 3-guns-in-1 G23 over the 9mm only G19. I now have a 9mm conversion barrel for cheaper range blasting, and train/carry the gun in .40. Recoil is surprisingly manageable. In fact, compared to my 9mm carry ammo (+P) the .40 feels almost identical. Weak 115gr FMJ in 9mm is great for the range, but not for carry. So you really need to compare +P 9mm to the .40 anyway. At any rate, I'm looking for a factory Glock 32 barrel as we speak, so that I can sample the .357 flavor and see if I like it better for carry. It certainly looks good on paper...

I always thought the 40 was too snappy and never would have considered buying one until I started reloading. I bought an XD40 a year ago an I really like it. I get more power out of it, and a 180gr bullet with a charge of HS-6 just feels like shooting a stout 9mm.

"Snappy"

Somewhere around 1967 or 1969 I bought two semi auto pistols: 9mm BHP & 45 ACP Llama 1911 form. But until 1991 when I bought my next (Glock 20), most of my shooting was 357 and 44 Magnum. I eroded away the forcing cone of my Ruger Redhawk to the point where I needed to have it fixed or get something else. I used it for partial payment on a trade for a Ruger Super Redhawk 44 Magnum. Loading records show that for the period 1970 - 1990 I fired just short of 30,000 full power rounds. I shot a lot of silhouette matches in those days and just loved the buck and roar of an "Earschplittenloudenboomer".

Cutting your teeth on a big revolver gives you a whole different perspective on what heavy recoil is and what it isn't. And if you move up to a 454 Casull you get to recalibrate all over again.

The Wal-Mart near my house has 4 main stream calibers left for sale, 40 S&W, 30-30, 357 magnum and 12 gauge. Those 3 are always available at the major sporting goods stores here. 9mm, 308 and 223/5.56 always fly off the shelves.

Wal-Mart even has the 40 S&W Winchester White Box stuff available at a really good price.

The 40 S&W when launched was supposed to be like so many other calibers that combination of bigger than (9mm) but smaller and more controllable than (45acp). Like the 357 magnum 41 magnum and maybe even a few others in handgun or rifle calibers the 40 S&W was thought to be the do all and end all caliber. While it has become the choice of law enforcement here in the USA it has not been accepted at all by military forces anywhere. Therefore unlike the 9mm or 45acp there is virtually no surplus ammo available for the 40S&W. While I own and reload for the 9mm,40S&W,45acp,380acp, and even the venerable 38special I will say my least favorite caliber is the 40S&W. I think that the initial fervor for the 40S&W has worn off quite a bit and thats why there are so many available as compared to the 9mm or 45acp. Plain and simply it's not all it's cracked up to be.