9mm vs 40 S&W pistol --- pricing

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Waveski

Waveski

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A few months ago I shopped for a Walther P99 ; lately I have been looking at listings for a Beretta PX4 Storm. Both pistols are available in 9mm and .40 S&W ; I am a 9mm proponent.
As I scan listings I find that time and time again my eyes go to a good price point only to find that it is for a .40 , not 9mm. 9mm versions are consistantly higher in price , new and used. The two chamberings are essentially the same mechanism but there is a significant price difference. Manufacturing cost must be nearly identical , but retail is often $100 apart , which is huge on a percentile basis.

Why the big difference?

(It is not my intention to have a discussion of the comparative virtues of the two calibers.)
 
Waveski said:
... I find that time and time again my eyes go to a good price point only to find that it is for a .40 , not 9mm. 9mm versions are consistantly higher in price , new and used.

Why the big difference?
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Because, like you, most people say...
I am a 9mm proponent.
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The .40 S&W recoils more, it costs more per round, and most important of all, all the cool guys now shoot 9mm.

Manufacturers and retailers are having a hard time selling guns in .40 S&W, hence the reduced pricing.
 
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I noticed the 40 cal pistols are alot cheaper them the 9mm counter part. I mostly shoot 9mm but can not pass up a deal. P99c in 40 for $269, FNS40L for 299.99 and 5 bucks a mag, walther PPQ M2 5" for $369 and a M&P40 for $299. All were brand new. The 9mms were at least 100 dollars more, sometimes double. Still looking for a good deal on a 40 S&W P320.
 
Institutionally.40 is on its way out. The herd tends to follow the institution so to speak.

There is simply more demand for 9mm guns therefore they can be sold at a higher price. .40 demand is down so to move them they are priced lower.

I myself am fairly caliber agnostic and actually enjoy the .40. That said if I was giving advice to a new gun buyer I would absolutely tell them to buy a 9mm. Conversely I would not tell someone who owned a .40 to sell their gun to get a 9mm. (Unless they just wanted a new gun of course :))
 
Waveski said:
Gee , does that make me a cool guy?
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It could

(I sense a resentment in your comment...?)
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Nope. If you were shooting in the 1990's, and shooting .40 S&W you would have been one of the cool guys.

If you were shooting in the 1960's and shooting .357 Magnum you would have been one of the cool guys.

It's cyclical. The .40 S&W is currently out of favor. New releases are generally not in .40 S&W, and retailers and manufacturers are trying to sell the guns they have any way they can.
 
Waveski said:
Why the big difference?
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I think JTQ is correct, and 40 S&W guns have been cheap for probably the last 3 or 4 years to my recollection. It may be longer though, it's just when I started paying attention for the same reason you did. I was looking at 9mm guns, and I was seeing the same thing. 40 S&W guns of the same type kept popping up and at a cheaper price point.

From what I'm hearing also, most law enforcement agencies have gone back to 9mm. For better or worse, the civilian market takes heed of that and starts mirroring what LE and Military does. So 40 S&W guns hav3e fallen out of favor on multiple fronts.

I've been tempted to pick up a 40 caliber again as an alternate carry gun, but I'm well invested in 10mm, so I'd probably just go that way instead.

It should be noted that 40 S&W is the only logical choice to make major power factor in some gun games. But gun gamers are buying higher end guns for that purpose, and loading their own ammo, so they don't necessarily contribute heavily to the compact or even full size carry gun market in 40 S&W.
 
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It’s good for me because I think the 40 is a superior round power wise to the 9 mm. And if you handload even more so. My daily carry, pocket pistol, is 9mm. I carry a 40 whenever I can.
 
JTQ said:
all the cool guys now shoot 9mm.
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Alright! All through high school I wanted to be a cool guy but I never made the grade. Here I am 50 years later and I'm finally cool.

Will I gain or lose cool points since my next gun is going to be a .45?

On a serious note, from what I've observed the .40, which was once very popular, seems to have fallen out of favor and I think that's the main factor in it's lower price. Less demand equals lower price.
 
9mms are a dime a dozen, they're everywhere and underpowered compared to a .40. The only real advantage of a 9mm is cheap ammo. They should be cheaper. Chevys are cheaper than Cadillacs and they are more popular.

I have multiple 9mms but only one .40. The recoil difference is not much IMO. I think it's just a fad thing because all the LE departments are dumping their .40s.
 
Supply and demand. .40 is less popular for Ccw, so there's a surplus of those pistols. There's a ton of excuses why 9mm is more popular. Real reason is that it's simply cheaper and easier.

I prefer .40 for defense and competition now. I wish ammo cost would drop as much as the pistol costs have. So I recommend taking a good long look at the 40 overstock.

.40 is popular in 2011's and CZ's for competition.

Glock 35, CZ Tso, CZ Shadow 2, Dan Wesson DWX, Cheely Custom, Atlas Nemesis, are all good examples of quality competition 40's.
 
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all the LE departments are dumping their .40s.
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True, and the used market is flooded with cheap trade-ins. It also makes it a lot harder to sell new pistols in 40 S&W so they have to be heavily discounted to move them. There are too many 40 pistols for the round to die, at least in my lifetime. But I wouldn't be at all surprised to see no new manufacture in the next few years.

In 1994 our city PD adopted 9mm Smith 5906 pistols. The same year the county PD GSP, and SO went with 40 caliber G22's. Since 1994 we've had 13 shootings, 7 with 9mm, 6 with 40 S&W. All 13 bad guys took 2 quick shots and died in their tracks. Our Sheriff made the change to 9mm last year, but before making the change contacted dozens of other LE agencies all over the country to get data. They found that there was zero difference in effectiveness among any of the agencies they contacted.

The state patrol dumped 40 briefly for 45 GAP, but quickly dumped them 9mm. I read lots of conjecture, but all the hard data says 9mm does exactly the same as 40 and 45. And always has with comparable bullets.
 
jmr40 said:
But I wouldn't be at all surprised to see no new manufacture in the next few years.
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The OP included mention of the Beretta PX4. In this era where the Beretta 9X Series of guns have seen a big rebirth and are probably at their most models offered ever, the only gun in the entire series chambered in .40 S&W is the 96A1. None of the cool new versions are offered in .40 S&W.

Even the APX line-up, elsewhere a Beretta rep commented they have no current plans to release the APX Target in .40 S&W.
 
I guess it really comes down to the law of supply and demand. If supply is plentiful, the price will generally be lower. If demand goes up and supply is less, there will be a price increase. I don’t see 9mm prices going down anytime in the near or far future. Unless you find a heck of a deal on a 9 mm, they will be more expensive than the .40 versions. I bit the bullet and paid for the 9mm myself. The cost savings for ammo will average out in the first 1000 rounds.
 
The glut of .40s on the market got me a HK USP for $400 shipped with two mags. Ex police pistol with just a little carry wear and cherry internals.

BSW
 
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"9mm has always been cool."

"Only if you're fairly young or your shooting experience is all rather recent, at least in the US."

Well , I'm not fairly young (68) , but I came into shooting a mere 13 or so years ago , which I guess is "rather recent".
That said , I just sold a 104 year old Luger in 9mm , I own a 77 year old P.38 in 9mm , and I own a couple of 40 year old High Powers of the same caliber. I guess everything old is new again.
 
supply and demand. 9mm in high demand. .40 not so much.

i own plenty of guns in both calibers and many other calibers. ironically lately I'm liking .40s&w more than I did when everyone and every police group had them. it's a good round and truth be told isnt any harder to shoot than NATO or +p 9mm. both are easy shooters to me. costs a bit more ammo wise but can find it all day this time. unlike the 2008 and on ammo shortages. so I'm glad it fell out of popularity.
 
I've been a 9mm only guy up till recently when I saw the ammo shortage during this virus crap. I am considering buying a .40 for the alternate chance of the ammo being more available in these types of situations. Not sure what to look for in manufacture. But lots of choice's.
 
I tried three different guns in .40 and found that while the guns were fine I wasn't seeing the upside to staying with the cartridge. Much happier with my 9mm.s and if want to spice things up a bit I always have my .38 Super!
 
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I've been shooting the 45ACP since 1964 and the 9X19mm since 1970. As for the 40S&W, I have absolutely no experience with what so ever. Equal number of handguns in either caliber. Most of my shooting with the 45ACP were in my Bullseye shooting days. Now, not so much. As for the 9X19mm its simply more cost effective to shoot in volume thus the economics of it is an important contributing factor. I have Dillon SQD-B progressive units one in 45ACP another in 9x19mm for reloading.
 
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