Does Anyone Buy Much .40?

[Sebastian the Ibis]

Is there anyone out there that personally buys more than a few thousand rounds of .40 in a year?

When 9mm is about $80 less per thousand, ($165 v. $245 delivered) it seems like everyone I know that shoots a lot (and buys their own ammo) is switching to 9mm. I know plenty of LEOs that love .40 (and .357 to a lesser extent), but they get their ammo for free. I also know competitive shooters that roll their own. However, I can't think of anyone nowadays that actually buys more than a thousand rounds of .40 per year.

We seem to be in the golden age of .40 handguns. They are on sale everywhere both used and new. However, with ammo prices the way they are I just don't see anyone jumping on it.

 

[hollowpointt]

I have a Glock 23 loaded in my nightstand, and have a conversion barrel for it when I go to the range. I will shoot some 40 to stay sharp with it. I always have a minimun 1000rds for every caliber i own on hand at all times. I even have a couple boxes for the 357 sig and do not own one yet.

 

[wally]

I've never bought much .40S&W ammo, I use mine mostly for CCW so I pretty much only buy the "premium" SD ammo.

Years ago the local PD used to practice at our club and left their .40S&W brass on the ground, so I'd accumulated about two 5-gallon buckets of it and bought a couple of full sized .40 pistols. Since I had a herniated disk a few years back I've been reloading a lot of 180gr and shooting it in my M&P 40, especially on days when bending down to pickup brass is unappealing. This twice fired brass goes away quickly at our club.

I have seen .40S&W 180gr FMJ om sale for $12-13/50, although the cheapest 9mm runs $8-10/50. But I'd set aside about 10K .40 bullets as part of my retirement component stash (for .40 & 10mm), I've used up more than half of it already. But when its gone, I'll not buy more and stick with shooting 9mm & 45ACP which is the bulk of my component stash. Basically I'm shooting reloads at circa 2004 prices, although powder and primers was always intended to be a buy more every couple of years proposition and the recent shortage and run up has hurt my plans a little, good to have primer and powder availability return and prices retreat a small amount.

 

[Peter Gun]

I shoot .40 for USPSA and defensive use as well, so I buy about 2-3000 ends a year of it. Mostly from freedom munitions but also LGS.
Everyone Can bad mouth the .40 all they want, I'll keep shooting it and be happy to buy all the police trade in .40s.

 

[GooseGestapo]

Ditto..
I was around back in the "bad ol days" when we all (mostly) carried revolvers, and in .357mag. I saw the rise and fall of the 9mm, and genesis of the 10mm and .40.
I've got several 9's, shoot a lot of 9's, even some records in PPC with 9's.
I carry 40's!

The 9's seem to have gotten better.
A 9mm may expand but a .40 never shrinks. The 9's may be better, but the .40's haven't gotten any worse. Only the marksmanship of the L.E. officers who "complain" about the noise and recoil. But that's a whole other issue...

Strange... I can only remember actually purchasing three, maybe four boxes of .40. My employer issued me most of mine. What I provided I loaded myself. I have half a dozen .40 bullet molds.... thousands of range pickup brass... Plus I've got several boxes of 180gr Ranger SXT's too.

 

[Tallball]

My family member reloads all of ours, so it doesn't matter.

 

[Plan2Live]

I only have one handgun chambered in .40 caliber and it's striker fired. I've moved away from striker fired pistols so I am keeping it as a "just in case" .40 caliber launcher. During the post Sandy Hook panic I stocked up on more .40 caliber than I'll ever shoot. Again, I'm holding onto that ammo "just in case". So while I have .40 caliber I don't shoot it very often.

If I ever run across another Sig 229 Compact chambered in .40 for a good price or if Sig decides to offer the 225A-1 in .40 caliber I might start using it more regularly.

 

[il.bill]

I buy lots of 180 grain plated .40S&W from X-Treme Bullets - cartridges, not so much.

It is one of my favorite rounds, out of an FNH FNS-40.

 

[Deaf Smith]

I RELOAD MY OWN AMMO. That way I shoot .40 S&W, 10mm, .44 Magnum, .45 ACP.

Yes I also reload .380 and 9mm as well as rifle cal. to.

If you want to shoot a lot, reloading your own ammo is a must.

Deaf

 

[bnolsen]

I used to reload semi auto but I got really tired of chasing brass around. I'm a bit too invested in 40 myself as I have 3 10mm pistols, two of them have 40 barrels (causes feeding issues though) and I recently got a used hk uspc 40.

 

[FL-NC]

I have one that lives in my jeep (G23, gen 2). It is there to complement my CCW pistol (9 shield). I also carry it hog hunting. It is my least favorite pistol. If it gets stolen I will be more mad about the damage to the vehicle than the gun. I shoot a box or 2 a year out of it- usually wolf or something else cheap.

 

[JDR]

I just got a new HK P2000 in .40S&W so I'll be buying ammo to feed it!

 

[Corpral_Agarn]

I buy a few thousand rounds of 40 cal every year.

I use a 40 for most of my competition shoots.

My ammo comes at a special price so it isn't that bad on the wallet.

 

[Zerodefect]

I average about 1000 rounds of .40 a year. It's my favorite CCW for night 2-3 seasons of the year.

 

[d'zaster]

I reload and buy components on sale. If I was not reloading, I'd be buying less than 1000 per year.

 

[Eugen]

I am 65 and have never bought any 40 cal. I'd say that would NOT be much.

 

[Jeff H]

I only have one 40 and it is my carry gun, a Shield 40. I love that thing and shoot it more than most other pistols.


Yes, I reload so it isn't really much more expensive than 9mm reloads, that helps, but I would shoot it anyway since it is a great gun. My buddy is a cop and he loves his Shield 9 but his ammo is free...

As someone earlier in this thread said, the 9 might expand, but the 40 never shrinks.

 

[tarosean]

I shoot more 40 than any other round... If USPSA changes their major requirements that might change.

I buy several thousand rounds a year and reload an additional several thousand as I dont police my rounds in competition or practice.

 

[cadet3]

I'll keep shooting it and be happy to buy all the police trade in .40s.

Amen!

 

[George Dickel]

I would guess that the majority of hand gun owners purchase less than 500 rounds of any caliber in a year except maybe .22rf. A friend of mine has owned a .45 for a couple of years and hasn't put 500 rounds through it yet. I shoot quite a bit, pistol and rifle, and bought reloading equipment because I wouldn't be able to shoot near as much if I had to purchase factory ammo.

 

[browningguy]

I buy quite a lot of .40, I've got two Witness Elite Matches and one BHP in .40.

 

[entropy]

I have bought exactly one box of .40 S&W ammo. This was to shoot in the G23 I rented at the range. I'd shot an XD in .40 and didn't like that at all, so I rented the G23 to see if it was the gun or the round. It was the gun. The G23 shot fine, but since I shoot and reload 45 ACP, I see little reason to add another caliber to stock and reload. When I do, it will be 9mm, for the G19 I am inexorably going to end up with.

 

[swede4198]

I buy 1-2,000 rounds a year of .40 S&W and 2-3,000 rounds of 9mm every year along to use in competitions

 

[1KPerDay]

I haven't bought .40 since I started reloading in 2011. Not one box.

 

[stchman]

With .40S&W decreasing in popularity, the gun and ammo are dropping in price.

CTD recently had a special for Winchester .40S&W 50 round boxes $10 each. If you bought 10 boxes, shipping was free.

I keep my eyes peeled on Armslist and have picked up 9mm, .40S&W, and .45ACP for a lot less than store prices. IMO, reloading these calibers isn't that cost efficient. I reload .44 Magnum as that is expensive.