It seems like auto's not in 9mm, or 45, is being sold off cheap by dealers

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.40 has definitely taken a nose dive in popularity for many reasons, not the least of which was the susnset of the AWB making normal capacity 9mm guns available again, and the huge jump in CCW, where 9mm is on the ragged edge of what is manageable in and doesn't destroy true pocket sized guns.

I have one, a S&W 4006, that I own because it is part of my S&W 3rd gen spread. Otherwise, I prefer 9mm for concealed carry and plinking, 10mm for camping, hiking and hunting sidearm. Even at the current prices, another .40 doesn't appeal to me, which seems to be the sentiment among many shooters.

FL-NC said:
I've noticed this trend too. Waiting for the ammo to become cheaper than 9mm.
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Not gonna happen. 9mm has economy of scale, and .40 requires more brass, lead, copper and powder per round.
 
Balrog said:
Also at some point in the next 10 years, there will be another ammo crisis. When there is, 9mm and 45 will be the first 2 calibers you won't be able to find at wal mart. 40 will probably be on the shelves.
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If this is true (and I believe it is) it would seem that now would be the the time to be stocking ammunition.
 
Likely it will all come full circle at some point. Paul Harrell's youtube video "9mm vs .40 S&W" from March this year is pretty eye opening. His testing shows that even new 9mm ammo can't perform (or very very marginally performs) to meet the post miami shooting requirements (or were they just goals?) set up by the FBI for service pistols.
 
I probably never would have owned a .40 except my wife asked me to carry a .40 because (at the time) .40S&W. was cheaper than .45ACP.

I got a CZ75B in .40S&W (because when SWMBO tells you to buy a gun you listen.) but even then it was more that gun that I liked than the round.

When I decided to consolidate down to one caliber for handguns a couple of years back the choice between 9mm and .40 S&W was pretty much made for me by my wife's arthritis. We shoot 9mm.

The only .40S&W handgun I kept was a S&W 4006 and even then it's more that gun that I like than the caliber. My wife bought herself a Glock19 yesterday so barring unforeseen circumstances I'm pretty sure our gun buying days are over. I don't see anything on the the horizon that I just gotta have but if I did I'm pretty sure it wouldn't be a .40?
 
I prefer 9mm Luger for subcompact carry pistols but I still like .40 S&W in mid-size or larger pistols. Shooting .40 S&W from an all-metal SIG P229 is quite pleasant and at this point I perceive very little difference in recoil from my 9mm pistols. The price for .40 S&W ammo has come down in recent years and can now often be found for little more than the cost of 9mm ammo. So yes, it is a good time to pick up a pistol chambered in that caliber, if you like shooting it.

I just bought a like-new, no-rail, CPO SIG P229 with German frame in .40 S&W last week.
 
I'm keeping my .40 don't know if I'll add another, but I've come across .40 ammo on sale cheaper than .45acp and that's a good thing.
 
My frail womanly hands and wrists prefer the 9mm. So does my wife. I still keep a couple 40s just because. My EDC is usually a G27 loaded with Gold Dots. It is a straight shooter. Then again, so is the G19.

M
 
Trunk Monkey said:
If this is true (and I believe it is) it would seem that now would be the the time to be stocking ammunition.
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Now is the time to stock up, but seems like when an ammo shortage develops, gun owners still want to buy ammo, even the ones who are stocked up.
 
If you get the same emails that I do, from various gun and parts suppliers, most don't even mention the 40 caliber guns other than what's on sale. the EMP "countour" for instance, is a hot ticket, you probably can't find one in 9, but 40 is available. Kimber doesn't even make a 40 in the hundreds of combos thay make. The EMP i owned, I sold, mainly because the recoil blew out the night sight twice, and it was no fun to shoot. My thoughts are if you carry a sub compact, you probably are short of rounds to begin with, so getting 1 or 2 less brings you down to a 5 round J frame. If I am going to carry a pocket carry gun, I may as well take my 5 round xds,in 45, with 2- 7 rounders in my belt it is small enough to still pocket carry.
But if you have a shield, you want the extra rounds since it is not that small in the length of the grip to begin with. And actually a Glock 26, with a +2 on it or an M&P sub compact both have 13 rounds and will fit in your cargo pants or my gym pants in a remora.But not in a 40, the gun gets too heavy and bulky to pocket carry. If you are using "Liberty Civil Defense" ammo, it will cut half the weight off your ammo weight. Suprisingly the Glock and Shield are not that much lighter or smaller than the sub compact models of the same brands. Why carry a 43 when a 26 is really about the same size and not much heavier, if you use the Liberty ammo, you can almost make them weigh the same compared to using say a,115 or 124 grain DPX in the 43. Notice Glock didn't make the 43 in 40. It would never sell as a 5 round gun and be way out of spec if they tried to put 6 rounds or more in it. For you guys with a 40 shield I think you know what I mean when I say they are just not any fun to shoot, having tried one when they first came out, it was annoying and hard to shoot follow up shots with. So 40's need to be in a Glock 23 sized gun to be really funtional, which they are in a 23, i had one before my 19. A gen 2, and I could never shoot it as well, or as fast as the 9. A gun with that much power needs weight, and a very strong pair of hands, and good technique, to control it when firing fast to stay accurate. I found the 45 does this betterfor me.
 
george burns said:
If you get the same emails that I do, from various gun and parts suppliers, most don't even mention the 40 caliber guns other than what's on sale. the EMP "countour" for instance, is a hot ticket, you probably can't find one in 9, but 40 is available. Kimber doesn't even make a 40 in the hundreds of combos thay make. The EMP i owned, I sold, mainly because the recoil blew out the night sight twice, and it was no fun to shoot. My thoughts are if you carry a sub compact, you probably are short of rounds to begin with, so getting 1 or 2 less brings you down to a 5 round J frame. If I am going to carry a pocket carry gun, I may as well take my 5 round xds,in 45, with 2- 7 rounders in my belt it is small enough to still pocket carry.
But if you have a shield, you want the extra rounds since it is not that small in the length of the grip to begin with. And actually a Glock 26, with a +2 on it or an M&P sub compact both have 13 rounds and will fit in your cargo pants or my gym pants in a remora.But not in a 40, the gun gets too heavy and bulky to pocket carry. If you are using "Liberty Civil Defense" ammo, it will cut half the weight off your ammo weight. Suprisingly the Glock and Shield are not that much lighter or smaller than the sub compact models of the same brands. Why carry a 43 when a 26 is really about the same size and not much heavier, if you use the Liberty ammo, you can almost make them weigh the same compared to using say a,115 or 124 grain DPX in the 43. Notice Glock didn't make the 43 in 40. It would never sell as a 5 round gun and be way out of spec if they tried to put 6 rounds or more in it. For you guys with a 40 shield I think you know what I mean when I say they are just not any fun to shoot, having tried one when they first came out, it was annoying and hard to shoot follow up shots with. So 40's need to be in a Glock 23 sized gun to be really funtional, which they are in a 23, i had one before my 19. A gen 2, and I could never shoot it as well, or as fast as the 9. A gun with that much power needs weight, and a very strong pair of hands, and good technique, to control it when firing fast to stay accurate. I found the 45 does this betterfor me.
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Lot of calibers don't make good choices for compact pocket carry. I don't think that has ever killed a cartridge, and don't think it ever will.
 
Balrog said:
Lot of calibers don't make good choices for compact pocket carry. I don't think that has ever killed a cartridge, and don't think it ever will.
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It's when manufacturers don't make guns in that caliber, any more that starts to cut down the use. Like Kimber, even CZ, says thier guns run better in 9mm. Them more companys that stop offering guns in that caliber, the less popular it becomes. That may take a decade to transpire, but we are seein it now in offerings from Sphinx, CZ, Kimber, Remington and many more, in their civilian and police models. Here is that ankle holster, for 10 bucks, on slickguns Amazon does the fullfilment, I got one and it is probably the most comfortable ankle holster I ever had, even the ones that were 10 times the price, https://gun.deals/product/veego-ank...neoprene-elastic-wrap-concealed-1019-free-sh-
 
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CZ brought out the Tac Sport Orange in the last 12 months, and it comes in both 40 and 9 (and I bet they sell more in 40, because it's mostly designed to be a Limited class USPSA/Standard class IPSC gun). CZ still makes .40s.
 
george burns said:
It's when manufacturers don't make guns in that caliber, any more that starts to cut down the use. Like Kimber, even CZ, says thier guns run better in 9mm. Them more companys that stop offering guns in that caliber, the less popular it becomes. That may take a decade to transpire, but we are seein it now in offerings from Sphinx, CZ, Kimber, Remington and many more, in their civilian and police models. Here is that ankle holster, for 10 bucks, on slickguns Amazon does the fullfilment, I got one and it is probably the most comfortable ankle holster I ever had, even the ones that were 10 times the price, https://gun.deals/product/veego-ank...neoprene-elastic-wrap-concealed-1019-free-sh-
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Just saying, sooner or later, the pendulum will swing again in favor of the 40.
 
rskent said:
I don’t think so.
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Give it some time. There will eventually be a police shooting where the 9mm will be perceived as not having performed well. Police agencies will have forgotten why they decided to drop the 40, and decide to go back to it. Its a cycle and it is inevitable.
 
Nothing new there. Those are all 2nd or 3d tier pistoles with the exception of the M&P, which I have been seeing for even less on flash sales. $439, plus rebate, last week on slickguns. You aren's seeing Sigs or H&K's or Sphinx pistols, execpt for a SIG 229 that was new loaded with the SRT and night sights for 599, lasted 1/2 hour
 
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I think you may have missed the ironic tone of my post. Of course the 9mm is not in trouble or about to be phased out. My point is that finding some guns in X caliber on sale is a very poor (stupid, even) indicator of a caliber that is about to be obsolete. That's just silly.
 
I think that can tell from this post and several others, that the 40 has been declining in demand, for several years. It just recently reached a level that everyone has noticed. No one said it was going to be obsolete, perhaps you misread the post?
They are just dropping the prices because the guns aren't selling and stores can't affore to tie up cash in inventory that doesn't turn over. Weather it gets popular later on or not, they can't afford to sit on these guns for a year or two and wait to see if they come back into fashion.
 
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I have always like .40 & I still do. I tend to like 9mm for subcompact pistols. If it is a mid sized or full sized pistol I like .40 or .45.

George Burns you mentioned the Sig 229 in your post. I seem to keep finding myself lusting one of those. Who knows I may wind up with one one day. I should probably try to find one to rent first though. My only DA/SA experience was with an old Ruger P series & I was never thrilled with the manual of arms. I would like to see how different the Sig is.
 
The sig p229 in 40 is one of the best guns made in that caliber. Shoots and feels like a 9mm compared to other compact 40’s. The usp compact is also a great gun in 40. I like 40 but don’t see myself buying many more in the near future. But then again I don’t see myself buying many 45’s in the near future as well. I really only want 2 or 3 more 9’s then I’m gonna start collecting more revolvers in magnum cartridges. If I run across a great deal on a 40 caliber gun that I like I would not hesitate to buy it. I don’t buy into the cartridges being dead hype that seems to plague the 40 s&w
 
Hurry the herd is running fast, sell your .40 lest you be thought not part of the herd.

Anybody see a BOGO sale on new Glocks? Maybe a 23, 27 package?
 
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