.40S&W: Compromise in Cost/Effectiveness

[Mad Magyar]

I find that shooting couple boxes of factory ammo each week makes me watchful of a tight budget. In my locale, .40S&W is slightly higher than 9mm, but considerably cheaper than .45.
Yes, I believe "bigger is better"; but I feel the .40 is a good compromise between the 9 & 45 in terms of all-around stopping power. I have all calibers, but find myself using the .40 more so than the others and have made it my carry pistol. When you are shooting regularly, the differences in recoil that seem to bother some shooters of the .45 almost becomes a moot point. Just some personal reflections, do not want a caliber debate...

 

[daysleeprx]

Sorry...the juxtaposition of your signature and that picture of the target made me laugh so hard...haha

 

[af1acura]

You gotta let me know where you got that target, it is the funniest thing I've seen all day!

 

[outofbattery]

The target man looks like Dog the Bounty Hunter.Don't shoot the Dog

I don't think .40 compromises on cost/effectiveness.I mean,a WWB .40 round sure would suck if it wound up inside your liver and it's not that hideously expensive to shoot.

I shoot .380,.38..357,.357SIG,9mm,.40 and .45's so I could chose to carry a larger round than the 9mm P239 on the hip but figure that since it's what I shoot the most and am most comfortable with,on several levels, that it's the gun for me.

 

[High Planes Drifter]

.40 is cheaper than .45? Where I live (New Orleans) they are the same price.

 

[dakotasin]

as a handloader, i do not pay much attention to the cost of factory ammo, except to note that i am glad i handload whenever i walk by the ammo aisle.

 

[wally]

+1 to around here there is generally little price difference between .40S&W and .45ACP, wheres 9mm can be had for 50-60% the price of either.

.45ACP is arguably the best caliber for relaoding with .38 Special (similar operating pressures) as about the only competition for ease of reloading and versatility.

OTOH .40S&W has some of the smallest margins for error in reloading, definitely not for begineers (high working pressure that becomes dangerous with only a little bullet setback), and a lot of .40S&W guns shouldn't be used with lead bullets (non-jacketed) which greatly cuts into your cost savings when reloading.

I shoot reloaded .45 ACP when I have time to reload, when I don't, I shoot a lot of 9mm and some Wolf .45 ball.

--wally.