One 40 S&W

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tomrkba

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If you could have just one pistol in 40 S&W, which would you choose?

Do not overthink this. Whatever the situation is, you can have just one pistol in 40 S&W. You have your whole collection of guns. You can swap it for another and buy more guns. Assume that the limit is not legal, but for some sort of personal reason such as not quite believing 40 S&W is the ultimate semiauto caliber, but secretly hoping it really is 40 Deathray.
 
I would choose a 2011 pistol such as a the STI Edge or similar. The SIG P229 and Glock 22 are possibilities.
 
A Star M31. They are hard to find in .40 S&W but the one I've shot is one of the easiest handling handguns I've experienced. It's big and heavy, and when shooting it DA has a long, heavy trigger pull, kind of like an M9, but generally a pleasure to shoot.
 
I have exactly one pistol in .40 S&W. A HK USP ex-police trade in that was carried by a dispatcher or social worker. Very minimal exterior wear and the interior was even better. Plus the price was right.

I have medium sized hands and the USP offers zero adaptability but for some reason the darn thing just fits me, and fits me well. Plus the recoil buffer really seems to smooth out the recoil. OTOH, it is a big, chunky service pistol. I've carried it concealed, in a shoulder rig, under a jacket.

My preference is for a consistent trigger pull from 1st shot to last and the HK LEM does exactly that. Mine came that way but any of the USPs can be swapped to any other trigger/safety variant by replacing factory parts.

BSW
 
I have probably 20 .40 guns. Id be fine with any of the double stacks. I like the single stacks ( 1911/old smiths) but if I could only have one it would be double.

Beretta 96/px4. FnX. GLOCK 22 or 27. Or 23 but I don't have one of those. Sig 226 or 229. USP. M&P. Xd

Any of those. I have them all and more like witness, old Smiths cough hi point cough but would likely choose a Glock if I had to. It would definitely be double stack and a lighter frame. Polymer or alloy. Again IF I could only have one. In general I prefer a steel frame but assuming I needed a gun for duty or carry and could only have one, id take a lighter one

ETA and the 320. I forgot that one. Seemed like a fine gun. I shot mine and put it away. But id be just as happy with that one as all those others
 
In this order…
1. The HK USP (or USPc), which was the very first pistol designed & manufactured for the .40 S&W … and ironically, also the very same pistol whose horrific DA trigger inspired additional tweaking by Helmut Weldle, which culminated in the wonderful LEM trigger.

2. Sig P229

3. Glock 22
 
tuff one. Probably the Ruger P91. Not as accurate as others but overbuilt while still haveing a more classic feel and comfortable to shoot. CZ 75 and 40bs are nice. PX4 is a really smooth 40 if you like polymer. Seems like the VP40 would be nice but I have only experience with the 9mm.
 
Not an XD-40...

View attachment 1048626

I like them but they are not true double stacks and so have low capacity. Shot the crap out of these three, especially the XD-40 Tactical.

In my context that would count. My Berettas are only 11 or 12 rounds too. And the Glock 27 is 9 or 10 depending on the mag (but of course can use a 30 round mag if you wanted to or the 13 rd from the g23 or the 15 from the g22). USP is only 13 rounds. The Glock 22 is 15. 22 round Glock mags are available. More from the aftermarket but ive had issues with those in my carbines. Sig 320 is 14 rd. The 226 and 229 are 12. Fnx is 14 rd. M&P is 15 rd.
 
Not an XD-40...

View attachment 1048626

I like them but they are not true double stacks and so have low capacity. Shot the crap out of these three, especially the XD-40 Tactical.

Forgot about the XD. I like those in 40 for a poly. I can deal with the capacity issues. Nice beefy feeling 40s. Pleasent shooters. Seems like the key for me liking the 40s is a heavy slide. I was kind of waiting for remington to put out the RP9 in 40s&w.

Glock 20 is a decent gun in 40s&w ( conversion barrel ) for a glock. Ergos suck as do mags but shoots soft and is durable.
 
Forgot about the XD. I like those in 40 for a poly. I can deal with the capacity issues. Nice beefy feeling 40s. Pleasent shooters. Seems like the key for me liking the 40s is a heavy slide. I was kind of waiting for remington to put out the RP9 in 40s&w.

Glock 20 is a decent gun in 40s&w ( conversion barrel ) for a glock. Ergos suck as do mags but shoots soft and is durable.

The XD-40 is a nice shooter, shot alot of USPSA Limted-10 with mine, but the original XD-40 is just a XD-9 with a 40 S&W breach face and barrel. The magazine are the same except for wider feed lips hence the limited capacity, 12 rds, when most dedicated 40S&W designs get 15 round in the same length magazine.

An RP-40 (if it would have existed) would definitely have a heavy slide for you. I like the RP-9 the few times I shot one but it was a big heavy gun for what it was. Would have been a decent USPSA Production division gun but too big and heavy for most other uses given its feature set.
 
A Mauser M2 just because I'm interested in its design.
Or a Heckler & Koch USP Compact stainless.
Or a Heckler & Koch P2000.

Rotating barrels like on the M2 always seem to make 40s shoot like 9mms. I need to try a grand power eventually in 40. M2 wasnt a bad gun if you like full DAO revolver style triggers. I was kind of bummed out when it got discontinued. Nobody ever resurected it under another brand either... too bad.
 
Rotating barrels like on the M2 always seem to make 40s shoot like 9mms. I need to try a grand power eventually in 40. M2 wasnt a bad gun if you like full DAO revolver style triggers. I was kind of bummed out when it got discontinued. Nobody ever resurected it under another brand either... too bad.
I have a Grand Power Q100 and it is a superb shooter. The recoil is very soft. It feels different from the usual tilting barrel system. It's my preferred recreational pistol of my little collection. I made a deep review of it here on THR if you want to take a look.

The Mauser M2 is a very interesting gun. Just imagine it in 9mm, polymer frame instead of alloy, steel inserts just like the original, no back safety, no disassembly lever, lighter slide, better ergonomic grips, shorter trigger with the dingus, 12 or 15 round capacity.
 
The XD-40 is a nice shooter, shot alot of USPSA Limted-10 with mine, but the original XD-40 is just a XD-9 with a 40 S&W breach face and barrel. The magazine are the same except for wider feed lips hence the limited capacity, 12 rds, when most dedicated 40S&W designs get 15 round in the same length magazine.

An RP-40 (if it would have existed) would definitely have a heavy slide for you. I like the RP-9 the few times I shot one but it was a big heavy gun for what it was. Would have been a decent USPSA Production division gun but too big and heavy for most other uses given its feature set.

Did you ever have any durability issues with yours. I am guessing you put a lot of rounds through it if you were competing with it. I am guessing it was never designed for 40 being the hs2000 but it was such an overbuilt gun .....maybe they had the 40 or hard core +p 9mm to begin with. Last I check Rowland has 460 conversions for the 45 large frame xd.
 
You mean the gun they had to redesign?

And make entirely new generations

Several departments around me had gen 3 Glock 22 for years and never saw an issue. Millions were made and sold. Very few issues. Id bet more Glock 22 are out there than all the other 40s that get mentioned in this thread combined. Perfect timing when the 40 craze hit. Plus their excellent marketing to police. Some claimed lights caused issues but our city guys had lights mounted they weren't allowed to remove. I have 2 that have never had the light removed. One has several thousand rounds and never jammed. I do replace recoil spring assemblies every 5 or thousand rounds. 7 bucks. I never heard or seen an issue but I'm sure there were. Simple numbers. When that many police use anything some well break.

And Glock has 5 generations of 9mm. Not just the 40. No Glock has ever been particularly redesigned. Generational changes are adding or removing finger grooves, different stippling, adding a rail. An extra pin early on. I certainly wouldn't say redesignedthough. A series 80 1911 has more changes and extra parts from the original 1911 than Glock has had in 5 generations
 
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