I guess people want a .40 now......

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Yeah...when I was backpacking once, a large wolf walked past my campsite about 40yds uphill. At the time, I was carrying a G23 loaded with hot Underwood ammo. I never once thought “gee, I wish I had a 9mm”. The nine is a great round, which I got interested in because my dad, a veteran of WWII in Europe, seemed to have a lot of respect for, even though he himself owned a .45.
The .40 makes for a great woods cartridge.
 
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Egads, all this testosterone over who uses what CALIBER? Jeez, all that chest puffing... it's all about choice, plastic, aluminum, steel, 9,40,45,10, and about shot placement, something the overwhelmingly vast number of us will never need to know unless we're shooting gun games.

Y'know dissing a choice for larger calibers because the herd went the other way gets old, so... Just for fun as a dyed in the wool larger caliber guy...

A. Who trusts their life to a round which a parrot can poop bigger than?
B. There's no excuses for a bigger hole size.
C. 11/12 rounds or 18/20? if you plan on missing a lot... take the 20 that's cool.

As far as... "but 40 is just fine too. I can't say I'm a huge fan of it since it doesn't really excel at anything."

No? Really? NOT ANYTHING? Entry hole and scoring means nothing? I'll bet you haven't been to several hundred matches in various disciplines... If you have, you weren't watching.

On a windy day and poppers set not to blow over fail to go down with the cartridge that won the heart of ms Bambi secret agent (and diminutive men of which I am) some don't lose on those grounds.

Bang, clang --- bang bang, clang clang --- bang bang bang, clang clang clang, and maybe THUD.

At a pin match when there's two empty 18 round mags on the loading table and "dead wood" still of the table, the .40 is more forgiving of less than wonderful shot placement. Note a bowling pin is 3 pounds 6 ounces not a man's weight (but a good representative of a CNS hit) and pins are not shooting back, only the clock, you and and your gun.

So much for "knockdown" power. :)
 
Antihero said:
So......nothing at all? Your gut is the end all and be all? Magical gut you have there.

Most people on here have "shot enough" too, me included. All the service calibers are around 400ft lbs and are pretty much universally anemic compared to any other option.

There's no difference no matter what your gut says
Click to expand...

I carry both the 9mm and the .40 S&W. I think the 9mm is adequate, and I had the same view as you. But I saw this video a couple of years ago and found it to be a breath of fresh air in the endless debate between 9mm and .40 S&W. Paul explains the history of the 9mm and .40 S&W evolution in law enforcement and then shoots two identical pistols in several scenarios to highlight the differences between 9mm and .40 S&W. He does so in a way free of hype, emotion, hyperbole, or chest-thumping. It is pretty obvious that the .40 S&W delivers substantial more energy to the target.

I still carry a 9mm most of the time, but I do not lie to myself about it being just as good as the .40 S&W. The cinder block and "meat target" tests were very enlightening.

 
Im not a competition shooter .. 90% of my handguns are for SD purposes...my logic.. a 23 is the same size of a 19 .. I carry the 23 .. the 27 is the same size as a 26 .. I carry the 27 ... The 40 S&W is a handful in the G2 format.. I carry a G2 9 .. My Shield is 9 ...
The 9 is not as powerful as a 40 ... the 9 was readopted because of ill trained officers .. that could adapt to increased recoil ..

I don’t stick out my chest and huff and puff .. Im just tired of hearing these lies and misinformation..
.400 inch 180gr HP that was designed for expansion
In my mind will work

But ... 90% of the time .. I carry a revolver
I don’t feel I need 15+ rounds on 9mm
Even though I own a half a dozen 9 mm semis
D9FDDDDB-9BA9-49DB-8BEB-F0A7C1D6D1E9.jpeg
 
Trey Veston said:
I carry both the 9mm and the .40 S&W. I think the 9mm is adequate, and I had the same view as you. But I saw this video a couple of years ago and found it to be a breath of fresh air in the endless debate between 9mm and .40 S&W. Paul explains the history of the 9mm and .40 S&W evolution in law enforcement and then shoots two identical pistols in several scenarios to highlight the differences between 9mm and .40 S&W. He does so in a way free of hype, emotion, hyperbole, or chest-thumping. It is pretty obvious that the .40 S&W delivers substantial more energy to the target.

I still carry a 9mm most of the time, but I do not lie to myself about it being just as good as the .40 S&W. The cinder block and "meat target" tests were very enlightening.

>>SNIP<<...
Click to expand...

Good video, I'm not a fan of soda jug testing, most any caliber looks good on them.

I've written this before.

Dateline 1966 new officer out of the academy to training officer:

Sir, that 4" S&W .357 and spare loaders are too heavy, bulky and recoil too much, can I use another firearm?

Training officer to new officer...

"Son, that's what we're issued, I accept your resignation.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dateline 2013 new officer out of the academy to training officer:

Sir that .40 S&W 4006 is too heavy and it recoils too much, can I be issued something else?

Training officer to new officer...

Officer, as we speak we just approved the lightest least recoiling highest capacity handgun we can find. Go see the armorer and get one issued.

Training officer to self...

See you at the funeral :)

But in summary... I'll take bigger, and I think remedial training for Bambi secret agent is in order :)
 
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After reading this thread, I decided to bring my G23 along for some shooting time yesterday. It was great to shoot it again after a 3-4 year pause. I have many Glock's, but this was my first and I used to shoot it exclusively for several years, so with well over 12K rounds through it, it's stock trigger is the best of every Glock I own.

I mixed it up between lots of 9MM, and honestly didn't realize it's really not much more recoil. Was shooting FMJ, commercial 9MM (115 gr) and commercial .40 (165 gr).
 
GeoDudeFlorida said:
So, now the question becomes, will the Charter Arms Pitbull encourage Ruger to come out with a .40S&W LCRx or SP101?

Not kidding. To my way of thinking Ruger is far more likely to try and squeeze a smaller competitor out of the market than Glock. As evidence I give you the Wrangler.
Click to expand...

Charter Arms - already has the rimless revolver mechanism established.

Model # 74042
Finish: Stainless Steel
Frame: Stainless Steel
Grip: Full
Barrel length: 4.2"
Capacity: 5 Shot
Caliber: .40 S&W
Hammer: Standard
Weight: 22 oz.

74042_2048x2048.jpg
​
homer-simpson-drooling-25.jpg



​
GR
 
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Buckeye63 said:
Im not a competition shooter .. 90% of my handguns are for SD purposes...my logic.. a 23 is the same size of a 19 .. I carry the 23 .. the 27 is the same size as a 26 .. I carry the 27 ... The 40 S&W is a handful in the G2 format.. I carry a G2 9 .. My Shield is 9 ...
The 9 is not as powerful as a 40 ... the 9 was readopted because of ill trained officers .. that could adapt to increased recoil ...
Click to expand...

9mm - does have a place.

FY7A8649-Edit-Edit.jpg
​
The 147 gr. std. pressure - has adequate performance and very manageable recoil in a micro.




GR
 
I always figured the 40 as an inbetwern pistol. I already had a few 9's and a few 45's and those 357's and 44 MAG'S. I watched ammo at various LGS through the last panic and the 40 was the last ammo to leave the shelves. Couple that with I reload and had saved about 10K fired brass just because. The next time there were any good deals on 40 pistols I purchased several just because. I load and have accurate loads and shoot them OK but they mostly stay in the safe. All but the Hi Point. It lives in my vehicle just in case.
 
Funny thing is, back about 5 years ago I planned on getting away from the 40 S&W. Then I had 1 handgun and 1 carbine. As of Tuesday, I should have 3 handguns and a carbine in the 40 cal. I wasn't searching them out. They just kept getting offered to me.

BTW, @Buckeye72 , those Pitbulls have intrigued me since I first read about them.
 
You want ammo? 10mm and .41 magnum were the only handgun cartridges I consistently saw during the pandemic buying frenzy. Coincidentally two of my favorites.
 
Antihero said:
So......nothing at all? Your gut is the end all and be all? Magical gut you have there.

Most people on here have "shot enough" too, me included. All the service calibers are around 400ft lbs and are pretty much universally anemic compared to any other option.

There's no difference no matter what your gut says
Click to expand...
Obviously you don't shoot much, the .40 always moves steel around far better than the 9mm and 38 and frankly even better than 357 Mag. You focus too much on numbers, bigger bullets cut bigger holes, expand larger and hit harder, so yes there definitely is a difference between them.
 
DR505 said:
You want ammo? 10mm and .41 magnum were the only handgun cartridges I consistently saw during the pandemic buying frenzy. Coincidentally two of my favorites.
Click to expand...

Do you know how whales are able to spend so long, deep under water, between breaths?

Unlike other mammals, that are triggered by rising CO2 levels...

Whales - are triggered by the presence of Oxygen.

Upon breaching, when Oxygen is present and plentiful, they are driven to aggressively hoard it, gradually relaxing as they dive, as O2 is slowly depleted and the CO2 level rises.


I'm like that w/ ammo.

:D




GR
 
Yeah, I like the "it hits harder" too. The mass difference makes a difference. Does it make a heavy bullet a magic bullet? Obviously not. But for me I'll take large & heavy, thanks very much. I drank the 9mm Koolaid years ago, carried a G19 for more than a decade. Then went back to .40, or, preferably .45. I've seen the 9 fad before. I'll be glad when this one eases off a bit.


Cat
 
Catshooter said:
Yeah, I like the "it hits harder" too. The mass difference makes a difference. Does it make a heavy bullet a magic bullet? Obviously not. But for me I'll take large & heavy, thanks very much. I drank the 9mm Koolaid years ago, carried a G19 for more than a decade. Then went back to .40, or, preferably .45. I've seen the 9 fad before. I'll be glad when this one eases off a bit.


Cat
Click to expand...

Not me.

Because it will mean:

1. Bad things will have happened to good people... again.
2. Threats - will be better armed.

...unless, of course, the 9mm fad is supplanted by the micro .380 ACP fairy-tale.

:D




GR
 
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