# Input on a .40



## Halfway (Nov 22, 2010)

Looking to add a .40 to the collection. Leaning heavily towards the S&W or matching it with the Sig 9mm.

Thoughts?


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## RonM (Jan 6, 2008)

I like my .40


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## Cornhusker (Mar 20, 2003)

.40 is getting more popular all the time, and because of that, the ammo is getting more affordable.
I like the .40, it's a good round, faster than a .45 and bigger than a 9mm


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## GREENCOUNTYPETE (Jul 25, 2006)

i like the 40
on paper the numbers line up it has the same sometimes a few more or a few less foot pounds of energy as the 45acp but your get more into a magazine 

basically it is a round engineered and tested to do what the FBI wanted stop bad guys fast so that agents didn't get hurt 

so whats not to like about that

is it the most power full no , but remember any power that exits the bad guy is wasted so the round is developed to do a max energy dump without consistent exit 

it is also the new standard for police in most places , it i s good to be running the standard for availability


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

Get the one that *FITS your hand* best.
Performance is pretty much the same among the good name brands


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## Huntinfamily (Aug 14, 2010)

I carried a Sig in .40 when I was a LEO. Carry one now as my CCW. I absolutely love the .40. It's a good all around caliber. Plenty of stopping power, managable recoil. When my Wife got her CCW I bought her a Glock in .40. If I didn't trust the .40 I never would have recommended my Wife carry it.


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## SadieRenee (May 12, 2012)

Our 40 is right on for target shooting and easy to handle.


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## Cabin Fever (May 10, 2002)

I have a S&W .40 cal that I would sell you. It's a Model 4046TSW Tactical just like in the photo below. It's all steel, so a bit heavy for carry. It has tritium sights and is DAO. If interested, PM me and I'll send photos of mine.


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## zant (Dec 1, 2005)

My youngest has 3-.40s....2 Glocks and a Taurus-he loves them.......I don't,don't like their recoil impulse,so I'll stick with my .45.With the regime buying so much .40-it's going up in price,so buy a mold so you can cast/reload your own.


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## GREENCOUNTYPETE (Jul 25, 2006)

the lee 401-175TC is a great mold , they load well shoot well and there is always 40 brass laying around , 45 is rarely laying around


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## zant (Dec 1, 2005)

GREENCOUNTYPETE said:


> the lee 401-175TC is a great mold , they load well shoot well and there is always 40 brass laying around , 45 is rarely laying around


Thats the 1 my son casts with-very accurate....


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## MichaelK! (Oct 22, 2010)

I have a Ruger P94, and it's my favorate gun. I cast Lyman's 175 grain TC for it and it's a good performer.


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## Dutch 106 (Feb 12, 2008)

Hey Guys,
The 40 or 10 mm light is a good cartridge. I can strongly recomend the Sig Sauer pistols. The basic design makes it a much more accurate cartridge than 9mm can ever hope to be.
I have no experiance with the modern S&W semi auto's but I have heard good things about them.
Dutch


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## Mikedero (Jul 19, 2012)

Ruger SR40C is a nice gun as well I like that one


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## ArmyDoc (May 13, 2007)

A friend has a Glock 22 which is a .40. It's a pleasure to shoot, and very accurate. (I have a Glock 21 -.45 caliber) - you won't find a more straight forward or reliable pistol.


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## sleeps723 (Sep 10, 2006)

Springfield - Armoury makes a nice .40


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## Cascade Failure (Jan 30, 2007)

ArmyDoc said:


> A friend has a Glock 22 which is a .40. It's a pleasure to shoot, and very accurate. (I have a Glock 21 -.45 caliber) - you won't find a more straight forward or reliable pistol.


I love my Glock 22. I also purchased a 9mm barrel (I forget the brand but could look it up if anyone was interested.) which drops-in in just a few seconds and still feeds reliably with the .40 mags.


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## zant (Dec 1, 2005)

Cascade Failure said:


> I love my Glock 22. I also purchased a 9mm barrel (I forget the brand but could look it up if anyone was interested.) which drops-in in just a few seconds and still feeds reliably with the .40 mags.


Probably a Storm Lake-very good barrels and they can shoot lead reloads...


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## LogicAndReason (Jun 10, 2012)

Cascade Failure said:


> I love my Glock 22. I also purchased a 9mm barrel (I forget the brand but could look it up if anyone was interested.) which drops-in in just a few seconds and still feeds reliably with the .40 mags.


With respect, be extremely careful with swapping out different cartridge barrels in the same handgun but using the same magazines with both cartridges. Mixed up ammunition has blown up more than a few firearms.

I enjoy Glock myself, but I do not swap barrels to avoid creating unintentional hand removers.

As for reliability, as long as a firearm is well maintained, the majority of all modern firearms are equally reliable. Even a Glock can be put out of commission due to lack of care.


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## Halfway (Nov 22, 2010)

sleeps723 said:


> Springfield - Armoury makes a nice .40


Went with the XDM with 4.5" in black. Very nice accessory pack as well. Gonna send a few dozen rds. down range this weekend.

Good input all!


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## Halfway (Nov 22, 2010)

And now the build up of ammo begins. Like my other firearms, I believe having 200-300 rounds on hand is a minimum preparation. More for rifle with magazine.

Finding .40 at less than $16 a box of 50 is sweeeet! 

Also a good time to look at a few shares of SWHC and RGR.


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## Joe.G (Jun 26, 2012)

I have 7 Different Pistols in .40 Cal, I also carry a new Gen 4 Glock 22 for work, We used to carry 180 Gr loads now we are carrying 165 Gr Speer Gold Dots, I like the 180 Betters, the 165 are snappier and I don't find them to be as accurate, If I am not mistaken the .40 Cal round was designed around the 180 Gr Load.

The .40 is a nice round, you get almost the capacity of the 9 mm and stopping power near the .45 Cal.

I have pistols in other Cal, but I tend to always grab the .40, I carry the .40 everyday of my life either on or off Duty, and I am a huge Glock fan.


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## bluetogreens (May 31, 2010)

See to me it is the opposite of what folks are saying:

It has the snappiness of a 9mm +p load and the i dunno how to explain it "torque or drift" of 45acp. The ballistics on paper seem right, but in my hand the 2 I have shot did not feel "good" when fired, I could nto get back on target quick and after 2-3 magazines my wrist hurt- Whereas i can shoot 9 and 45 now all day long. 

as far as ammo prep-1k fmj stash for each caliber pistol-250-300 self defense-components to reload a lot more. Rifles i just go nuts with, but on a good weekend i go through 1k rounds combined easy.


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## badlander (Jun 7, 2009)

Plus, many LEOs use 40s so if you know somebody who is a range manager you can always get once shot brass. 

Can't go wrong with a 40! Snappy but manageable for any lady to handle. I use to not like them because of the recoil but my feelings have changed recently as my shooting skills improve.

Only advice I can offer is stay with an American made weapon or Glock.


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## Drizler (Jun 16, 2002)

Huntinfamily said:


> I carried a Sig in .40 when I was a LEO. Carry one now as my CCW. I absolutely love the .40. It's a good all around caliber. Plenty of stopping power, managable recoil. When my Wife got her CCW I bought her a Glock in .40. If I didn't trust the .40 I never would have recommended my Wife carry it.


Exactly. I've carried one at work for over 20 years. Plenty of power yet double stack mag doesn't make it a wide pig in your hand. Not so much ammo, usually 12 or 13 vs 17 to 19 but how much do you really need anyways unless it's true military combat. The 40 kicks just a tad more than a 9 yet has a lot more retained power and is much less likely to pass through and hit something unintended. They feed better than a 9 and aren't noticeably bulkier or heavier in any way. 
I love my Glock 23 although I wouldn't recommend it for a belly gun unless locked securely in a holster which covers the trigger from accidental discharge. It's really easy to touch one off by accident with a Glock so unless you really train with it there are a lot safer double action only guns out there with safety levers that I would recommend for the average Joe.


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## Halfway (Nov 22, 2010)

The .40 is getting a lot of use. Had the Mrs. moving towards a target with multiple magazine changes and double tapping. She prefers it hands-down over the 9mm or.38.

Comfort and confidence are so valuable!


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## Calhoon (May 25, 2012)

Halfway said:


> Looking to add a .40 to the collection. Leaning heavily towards the S&W or matching it with the Sig 9mm.
> 
> Thoughts?



Get a Glock .


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## WoodTick (Oct 16, 2012)

Hello everyone,

This is my frst post here and I apologize for jumping in with both feet but here goes.

First of all, the .40 S&W was NOT the first choice of the FBI, the full size 10mm was. The truth is that round proved too much for the "smaller" agents to handle and they started downloading the full size round. S&W looked at it and said we don't need the ful sized round if we aren't filling it completely and voila the .40 S&W was born.

I shoot both 9mm and .45 acp. To me the biggest difference between the 2 is the 9mm is a supersonic round and the recoil is more of a "Crack", whereas the .45 acp is a sub-sonic round and to me the recoil is more of a "Push." My wife is rather petite and she can VERY accurately shoot my .45 acp but dislikes the 9mm intensely and it shows because her accuracy drops off substantially. She does not like the felt recoil of the 9mm.

Personally I don't see any reason, other than ammunition commonality with LEO, to choose the .40 over either the 9mm or the .45 acp. The 9mm has killed hundreds of thousands, if not millions world wide for over 100 years, and the .45 acp is still the choice of many elite US military units, and many professional pistol competitors. In fact the US Marines just purchased 12,000 1911s for some of their special ops units. 

The truth is it is shot placement more so than caliber when comparing the 9mm, .40 S&W, nd the .45 acp. Unless the person you are shooting is jacked up on coke or pcp any of those rounds with 2 or 3 to the chest will drop an assailant.

To me this all boils down to personal preference. If you have a preferance for a specific caliber, and you can find a pistol you like, and you can make it do what you want it to...then buy it. Then practice, practice, practice. And that means more than 20 rounds once a month. It means getting out there and shooting, shooting, and shooting some more until you know all the intricacies of tht pistol.


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## Joe.G (Jun 26, 2012)

Correct on the 10 MM being there first choice. You are also right that people tend to shoot the .45 ACP better, At our range a couple years ago my Dept was thinking of switching to the S&W MP .45 ACP and most peoples scores did go up and it was more noticeable on the smaller framed people and the people that were not that good of a shot overall.

That being said the .40 is my favorite pistol round I currently have 8 Pistols chambered in that round and carry one at work, We also have these 
Heckler & Koch UMP - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
They are very smooth they are select fire and is much better in my opinion then the MP5 9mm.


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## WoodTick (Oct 16, 2012)

Joe. G,

I find it funny that a majority of police officers, as well as just regular gun owners, have no idea where the .40 S&W came from. I am just a regular guy, not an LEO, that enjoys shooting and I do a lot of reading about what is out there and frankly that is how I found out about the 10mm/.40 S&W.

The UMP sounds like a sweet weapon. If I remember correctly it originally was introduced to replace the MP5 because it was cheaper to produce and offered multiple calibers on the same basic chassis.

Now give it to me in .45 acp and it would be a perfect companion to my 1911!

I however will not try to change your preference for the .40 S&W because like I said in my first post it boils down to personal preferance and what you can make do what you want it to.


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## Halfway (Nov 22, 2010)

Calhoon said:


> Get a Glock .


Ended up with a Springfield XDm as I posted earlier. Very impressed.


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## Old John (May 27, 2004)

Well, I'm so heavily invested in .357 magnums and .45 acp's, now. And a few .45 Colts as well. That, I just don't see that adding another set of handguns and another stock of ammo, would really be worth the investment. 
And, my DSWife is so heavily stocked on 9mm handguns & ammo, that she's not interested either. So what would be the advantage, besides adding something different?
I think...We're good with what we have.


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## Snuffy Smith (Dec 9, 2002)

I purchased an XD 9MM and traded for a cheap .40 Highpoint about the same time several years ago.

I love my .40 more than any other handgun that I have.

It has orange sites on top, and it shoots straighter that any other handgun that I have.

I keep the .40 next to my bed at night...

It also has a very bright light mounted to underside of the barrel.


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## Halfway (Nov 22, 2010)

Snuffy Smith said:


> I keep the .40 next to my bed at night...
> 
> .


Like a dependable old friend no doubt.....

:clap:


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## WoodTick (Oct 16, 2012)

Guns, whether pistols, rifles, or shotguns, are just like cars in that everyone has a loyalty to their flavor. I would never tell you your choice is wrong. In fact 10 solid hits in the chest with a .22lr pistol is far superior to any number of misses with any large caliber handgun.


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