40S&W not so popular?

The beating to death and half life part is my contribution.

As a trainer James Yeager must know which guns fail and which not. I tellya if I observe breaking guns and those are all high pressure calibers I would discart that caliber as well.
Most comfortable I would feel with the Sig p250 modular frame and switchable calibers. I remember have read their firing control unit is an beefy hefty chunk of stainless steel in order to be able to handle the 10mm and 357 Sig. If the frame cracks just switch it.
 
I remember have read their firing control unit is an beefy hefty chunk of stainless steel in order to be able to handle the 10mm and 357 Sig. If the frame cracks just switch it.
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To my knowledge the P250 never came in 10mm. The point of the firing control unit was to allow the pistol to be modular with the same fcu being put in frames of different sizes and then used with slides of different lengths. You could buy one "gun" since the fcu is the serialized part and then swap the slides and frames as you saw fit. It is rather beefy because the slide rails are part of the fcu and the rest of the fcu is the same thickness as those shaped rails.

JohnKSa just got done saying how the frame wasn't a problematic area:
However, very little of that has anything to do with stress on the frame.
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To the extent that there are reports of plastic frames breaking, the reports seem to be about the same across all the various calibers.
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Read what people actually type, please.
 
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Half life at most.
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That's probably overstating the situation a bit. The .40 pistols seem to hold up pretty well. It makes sense that, on average, all else being equal, a 9mm pistol will go longer than a .40S&W pistol before a major part fails, but I would think the difference is a lot less than double.

Unfortunately I don't have any solid data that I could use to estimate durability. All else being equal, the .40S&W generates roughly 30% more slide velocity than the 9mm, but I don't think there's a simple way to convert that slide velocity difference into a theoretical durability difference.
 
I was in the Firearms Training component of law enforcement from the introduction of the 40 S&W until May of this year. While the experiences of any individual are just that, the National Law Enforcement Teletype System an international communication network for agencies to share information on, among other things, concerns involving issue firearms and ammunition. I directed communications people under my supervision to forward me copies of any and all teletypes. They were very conscientious about this and I've read literally hundreds.

While it is true there were early 40 S&W Glock failures related to unsupported chambers and perhaps, out-of-battery firing, those issues have been resolved for years.

Over the entire life of the 40 S&W cartridge, I have observed no practical difference in the service life or frequency of major parts failure in 40 caliber pistols.
 
Ok.
If the high pressure rounds have to have more massive slides and Barrels with the JMB System and Plastik pistols they:

a) must be more expensive than 9mm Luger pistols due to more Metall used
b) will start to have again their "birth sicknesses" once the economization of the guns kick in.

Once factories make the high pressure calibers again cheaply trying to save Money then they will make them again as in the first place and they will fail again.
Like an 22lr pistol is cheaper in Price as an 9mm Luger pistol. Same differences in Price must be observed between 9mm Luger and high pressure pistols.

On Posts I read People say the 40 S&W is snappy and that tells me it is harder to shoot and exerts more pressure Overall unto the gun. I would not shoot an 40 S&W out of an 22 oz Plastik pistol (since the 9mm in that gun is already to snappy).
 
I need to know have you listened at all to the fact that 9mm in +p has he same pressure as .40? By your reasoning all people who run +p in their 9's are in danger of having catastrophic failure. The fact of the matter is the guns chambered in .40 are perfectly safe and reasonable to shoot. Once again the recoil issue is largely subjective. I see no reason to lug around the heaviest pistol I can. My compact polymer in 9mm is a pleasure to shoot as is my subcompact .380 and it's only what? 11oz I think.
 
I have been shooting .40s along with a whole lot of different calibers for many years, and it seems sort of silly to me...all the whining about the recoil. Maybe guys are more sensitive these days or something. I realize with the increase of female police that they could be more sensitive to the recoil.
Once the ball starts rolling with something like the demise of .40's it sure seems like a lot of guys join in. I think the .40 will be around for many years as it is still a very good law enforcement round as well one for hunting/self defense.
I just can't see it disappearing in my lifetime.
 
a) must be more expensive than 9mm Luger pistols due to more Metall used
b) will start to have again their "birth sicknesses" once the economization of the guns kick in.
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a) To the best of my knowledge a new .40 polymer pistol costs no more than a 9 mm regardless of manufacturer.

b) Your facility with English makes this hard to understand. My guess is excessive wear will cause a .40 to fail. This is not supported by the evidence.

You continue to insist the wear on polymer pistols will be the polymer frame. Once again not supported by the evidence.

If you want an all steel pistol, by all means get one. If you don't like polymer, you're not alone. Many don't. Insisting that polymer is inadequate shows your lack of understanding.
 
I think he's saying that in order to be durable 40SW pistols require notably more work in materials and time to produce. His argument is that this may have been done when 40SW first came out but as manufacturers look to cut costs over time they won't put in the effort and the pistols will fall apart.

The problem with this theory is that as best as I can tell the issues were when the pistols were first produced and have since gotten better. I'm also not convinced that a 40SW pistol requires that much more care to produce.


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Top brand .40S&W pistols (especially those designed from the get-go as .40S&W pistols - M&P40, M&P40C, SIG 229, SIG P320, HK-VP40, PPQ 40, etc) are awesome guns these days. Fears and worries of failures of them failing or falling apart are a pure waste of time. :rolleyes: Don't waste your precious time on earth doing that. If you can afford to shoot so much that you break or wear out any pistol, you can certainly see to replacing or repairing it.

.40S&W is here to stay and they're a great choice in a defense pistol! They have more controllable recoil than .45auto, with nearly the terminal performance. AND, they offer nearly the capacity of 9mm. There is a lot to love about .40S&W! :)
 
Slightly I am interested in 40 S&W as well.

But why bring an bigger gun if 9mm Luger is enough gun?
As well locally only 9mm Luger brass is plenty for reloading. Few People have here 40 S&W so I am not able to collect much once fired brass.

How much powder of VV N340 uses an 40 S&W for an light to moderate load?
I use 3.3 grain of VV N340 with an 124 grain lead bullet for 9mm Luger.
 
Top brand .40S&W pistols (especially those designed from the get-go as .40S&W pistols - M&P40, M&P40C, SIG 229, SIG P320, HK-VP40, PPQ 40, etc) are awesome guns these days. Fears and worries of failures of them failing or falling apart are a pure waste of time. Don't waste your precious time on earth doing that. If you can afford to shoot so much that you break or wear out any pistol, you can certainly see to replacing or repairing it.

.40S&W is here to stay and they're a great choice in a defense pistol! They have more controllable recoil than .45auto, with nearly the terminal performance. AND, they offer nearly the capacity of 9mm. There is a lot to love about .40S&W!
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I agree DHart. Well said. I am more comfortable with a 9 mm, but would be fine with a .40 if that's what I had to carry. I am confident with time and practice my speed and accuracy would not suffer much. I would not spend a second worrying about premature failure of any components, including the polymer frame.
 
But why bring an bigger gun if 9mm Luger is enough
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The 9mm is never "enough." It's just the minimum acceptable cartridge (in an autoloader) for personal self-defense, and police and military use.
 
Well if 9mm Luger didn't bring enough gun then I guess non law enforcement agency/Military would allow it.

Sounds to me if ya get shot with an 40 S&W ya 'er dead on the spot but if ya get shot with an 9mm Luger ya just walk away!

There is a reason why 9mm Luger is more popular than any other caliber.
I anyways use only lead self cast 124 grain bullets and never hollow Points.
 
One idea came to my mind.
Despite not having reloading components and spare 40 S&W brass locally one could do this with the 40 S&W.

Recreate with the 40 S&W case the 45 acp.
Reducing it's velocity to about 800 fps
Putting an lead 200 grain bullet into the case.
Reducing the powder Charge with this System to an velocity of about 800 fps as such as the slide cycles reliably.
This reduces this 40 S&W from an High pressure round to an low pressure round with less gun wear.

With this you get an heavy bullet,
slow velocity bullet,
and low pressure round.

Kind of 45 acp only in 40 caliber.

I am not gonna to do this since I have invested already lots of Money in reloading Equipment for other calibers. Gotta stick to the 9mm Luger, 380 acp and 38spl/357mag.
Besides the previous the caliber Diameter difference of 10mm (40 S&W) is to small compared with the 9mm. If we want an big hole we should jump from 9mm directly to 45 acp skipping the 10mm. Not much difference between 9mm and 10mm though.

Addendum: Unfortunately Lee precision does have only bullet weights of up to 175 grain for the 40 S&W. That is not that much of a difference from my 124 grain lead bullets for 9mm Luger. So we are limited regards the molds (bullet weights) as well for this Experiment. Would be interesting to stuff an 250 grain lead bullet into the 40 S&W for recreating the slow but heavy bullet of the 45 acp.
 
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The 40 S&W loaded to 800 fps with an 175 grain lead bullet would have roughly 250 ft/lbs of energy. That is in the ballpark of an 38 spl.

The 9mm Luger if loaded to 800 fps with an 124 grain lead bullet would have roughly 176 ft/lbs of energy. That is in the ballpark of an 380 acp.

Meanwhile the 45 acp loaded to 800 fps with an 230 grain lead bullet would have roughly 327 ft/lbs of energy. That is in the ballpark of an 9mm Luger.

There you have it. The 40 S&W would be an fine copy of the 38 spl.
 
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