.40 caliber lesson.

[CountGlockula]

Here's a little background regarding the history/development of the .40S&W caliber. It also talks about the 10mm: Enjoy!

http://www.bren-ten.com/id7.html

.40 SMITH & WESSON

The .40 Smith & Wesson is easily the most popular of the 10mm Auto offspring. In fact it has become so popular that it has pushed its predecessor out of the limelight and into relative obscurity.

The .40 S&W was a collaborative effort between Smith & Wesson and Winchester. The actual concept for the cartridge had been around a while, but when the FBI decided to download the 10mm Auto the time was right. Basically the idea behind the .40 S&W was to duplicate the FBI 10mm "Lite" loading, but at the same time shorten the case enough so that the new round would fit in a 9mm Parabellum platform giving the the handgun a greater cartridge capacity. Winchester loaded a 180gn JHP bullet at 980fps while Smith & Wesson modified their 59xx series for the larger cartridge and introduced the S&W 40xx series pistols. The .40 S&W was released to the public in January of 1990 and it became an instant success and soon numerous other firearm manufacturers were racing to bring out their own .40 S&W guns.

The .40 S&W cartridge has become incredibly popular. Now the FBI, which made the 10mm Auto the preeminent law enforcement cartridge only a few short years before, has switched to Glocks chambered for the .40 S&W.

 

[Stachie]

.40 S&W

Nice round for defense. It is a great blend of power and magazine capacity.

 

[glocktoberfest]

G23 , don't leave home with out it !

 

[SnWnMe]

40S&W

Because the 10mm kicks too hard.

 

[Texas Colt]

I'm new to the 40 S&W. I'm basically a 1911 45 guy at heart.

However, I got a Colt Z40 for Christmas and so far I like the gun and the caliber. It's accurate, has light recoil, and certainly has more power than the 9mm.

I bought dies for the 40 a couple weeks ago and then last week I bought a Colt Double Eagle Commander in 40, so I guess the 40 will be a permanent part of my arsenal.

 

[ZeSpectre]

My pistol caliber experience all starts with a .22 wheelgun. As I got older I got to play with or seriously use a number of calibers with various levels of indifference until the first day I shot a full power .357 Magnum. No pun intended but BLAMMO, it was love at first shot! Continued up the scale to various .45 LC, .44 Magnum loads and such but always went back to the .357 and it always felt like "coming home".

So then I started to branch into semi-auto pistols. .32, .380 and on up. Of course tons of folks were telling me to use .45ACP and being a history buff I had to try the good old 1911. Nice gun, fun to shoot and I had no doubts about it's effectiveness if needed...but just didn't fit me for some reason. Tried .45ACP in other guns, same reaction.

About that time 9mm was being touted as "wonder nine" and everyone was raving about it. Got to shoot a beautiful Browning high power. Nice gun, accurate as hell, but with my background in .357 it just felt like a pop-gun to me. (not saying I'd ever want to be in front of one, but something visceral was missing).

and so it went for some time until somebody at a range offered to let me shoot their S&W chambered in the "new" .40 S&W round. One magazine and I felt like I was home again. I have no scientific explanition for it, I just knew that I had found the semi-auto caliber for me (and my target results seem to confirm it).

At this stage of the game I shoot a lot of other stuff and have a lot of fun doing so but invariably return to the .357 Magnum in revolvers and the .40 S&W in semi-autos.

(In the interest of full disclosure, I may have to add a third beast to this list, the CZ-52 in 7.62x25 )

 

[MachIVshooter]

40S&W

Because the 10mm kicks too hard.

"Logic" that could only have come from a 3-letter agency.

.40 S&W

The answer to a question that was never asked.