.40S&W Why the haters?

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XpatBubba

New member
I can tell there are are many people on this site that are not .40 fans. I have seen a lot of :barf:'s when talking about the round but no real explanations. Can I get some level headed reasons why people do or dont like the round.

I have a .40XD back home in FL and enjoy the gun and round very much. My reasons for .40 over 9mm and .45 is that I thought it was a good compromise for price/stopping power/availability & capacity.

I like to shoot and have a lot of guns but I am no gunsmith or ballistics expert and I know there are some very knowledgable people on this site. Help me know what is so :barf: about the .40

bub, soon to be capt. bub
 
i have two S&W auto 40s,,, and two .357 mag revolvers.... but... I DO carry the two 40 autos over the revolvers.... i know for a fact that the .40 does not penetrate as far as .357,,,, but,,,, I do also know that the 40s hit pretty hard.... if I were going to shoot someone I would rather have the bullet not go thru a person and blow a hole in em...I would rather it knock them down...and hopefully the wind out of them....enough to be detained for the appropriate police action.... I load my own tho... so my 40s do hit a bit harder than factory. .... I know 50 others will knock this reply.... but... it is MY own opinion,,and findings.
 
I would not use the word hater. I didn't like the sharp recoil characteristics of the round when compared to other rounds, 9mm and .45. Im' no expert but it's got something to do with the high pressures involved in the cartridge. Like you very well put it: it's a compromise. You like what you gain in the deal.

Every cartridge has their pros and cons. When picking a caliber it's a matter of what you value.
 
I carry a 40 S&W, and so do many people that I know

Hi,
my EDC gun is a S&W 4006 (0.40 S&W).
I also own guns in 0.22,9mm, .357 and 0.45, and I use all of them regularly for pratice and competitions, but I find the 0.40 a good carry caliber.

All of them (except for the 0.22) are good SD calibers, but I find the 40 to be muy choice.

I have stopped worrying about the various "experts" who turn up criticising this caliber or another. IMO, 0.380 is the lowest SD caliber, and anything from 9mm up, made by a reliable factory and fired from a reliable firearm is good enough.

Brgds,

Danny
 
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I certainly don't hate it. I got one as a matter of opportunity a couple years ago when picking out my first carry piece and found myself quite fond of it. Thankfully I've never had to find out whether it is good enough of a manstopper or whether I'd need a .45 instead. My next ones will be a .45 and 10mm but that has to do more with the intended role and preferred type of gun, the former being a compact 1911 and the latter a Glock for woods carry. I don't think I'd ever have to wonder about the differences, though I must say the .40 is really snappy and has a distinct bark to it out of the 3 1/4" barrel I shoot it with. It's nowhere near as objectionable as the .357, though. I dislike shooting .357 and HATE being next to one.
 
I will give you my reasons for not liking .40S&W.

In comparison to both 9mm and .45ACP, the .40 S&W is:
1. More expensive
2. Louder
3. Has a snappier recoil

I will choose either 9mm or .45 ACP before .40S&W, depending on the situation.

With that said, I hold no ill will toward anyone who likes the .40, it's just not for me.
 
I can tell there are are many people on this site that are not .40 fans. I have seen a lot of 's when talking about the round but no real explanations.
Click to expand...

It works for you. (Works for me too). Ignore the nay-sayers.
 
You hit the nail on the head with your fifth sentence:

My reasons for .40 over 9mm and .45 is that I thought it was a good compromise for price/stopping power/availability & capacity.
Click to expand...

The .40 is a compromise round in every sense of the word.

Capacity is between that of .45 and 9mm.

1 shot stop ratios are between that of .45 and 9mm.

Effectiveness as an outdoors protection cartridge are between that of a .45 and 9mm.

But... the biggest bugaboo us "fotay haters" have towards the cartridge is its origins.

It came about due to bad procedures used by the FBI agents in the Miami shootout.

The agents in question:
1. Were not wearing their kevlar vests,
2. Some left their service revolvers sitting on the car seat next to them rather than leaving them in the holster,
3. Were outgunned by a Mini-14 anyways, regardless of whether they carried .22's, .454's, .357mag, 9mm, .45acp or any other handgun.

The .40 was born from a failure in tactics more so than a failure in handgun stopping power.

Then, to add insult to injury, the real child of the research in question (10mm), which actually addressed the power/penetration concerns that legitimately arose from the Miami shootout failure, was neutered.

And not even neutered in a smart way.

The shortening of the case is the thing that really turns me off to the fotay. Someday, I'll buy a 10mm.

But you'll never catch a .40 in my safe.:mad:

:p
 
I tried a 40 once, just once. It was an FN gun and I was not terribly impressed by the gun or the round in that case. Really did not add anything to my lineup that I needed. Got rid of it. All the police around here and in the region use the 40 it seems. From the police shooting reports it does not seem like it measures up to the old .357 or even a .45. And I have no need to add another cal. and gun at this time that does not fit into my scheme of things. Money is not there for it. It is highly touted as a police round but someday they might put it in the same category as the highly touted .38 special round nose was.
 
In comparison to both 9mm and .45ACP, the .40 S&W is:
1. More expensive
2. Louder
3. Has a snappier recoil
Click to expand...

But... then you might as well rule out the .45 ACP for your purposes because:

In comparison to the 9mm, the .45 ACP is:
1. More expensive
2. Louder
3. Has a heavier recoil

;)
 
"haters" is probably a good word. After all hate is a strong emotion and many that are in that category dislike it for emotional reasons. "emasculated 10mm", "compromise", "short & wimpy", "half way to a 45", etc. While many of those points are correct -- if you take the facts, it has greater capacity than the 45 and nearly the same stopping power.

yeah, it was designed because the FBI agents are all wimps ;) and can't stand the recoil of a full house 10mm and have wee little bitty hands and can't hold a gun with a long cartridge. (kidding! put away the black helicopters!!). It's still a better stopper than a 9mm, has more capacity than the 45 and costs less to buy than the 45.

Compromise? Maybe, so is meatloaf, but it feeds millions every week.:p

jb
 
I love guns, not calibers! I've got .40's, 9's, and .45's. If your spraying rounds off in poorly place locations. The calibers not gonna matter that much between the 3. And one well placed shot.... not gonna matter much between the 3.

I think its just a bunch of hype, or an issue that has way too much emphasis on it.
 
If you reload and go to my indoor range on Friday's after the Leo's have been there for their weekly practice then no other round is cheaper to reload.

'Snappiness' felt of the .40 is because most folks are comparing shooting a mini or one of the plastic varieties to a .45 in 1911. I submit a full frame all metal .40 with 5" barrel (fair comparison to a 1911 clone) has very little difference in felt recoil.
 
The .40S&W is a compromise - and if all you care about is defense / I think it has a niche. If I want to go to a smaller gun, I carry a Sig 239 single stack - in .40 - and it gives me more stopping power than a 9mm - and its a 7 round mag.

My primary carry weapon is a 5" 1911 in .45 acp / and that's a better stopping round than the .40S&W.

I'm not overly concerned about quantity of rounds in my gun / rather than making the first 3 or 4 rounds count - so 7 or 8 rounds in a gun is plenty. If I adopted the "spray and pray" method of tactical accuracy - then I would want something with more capacity than an 8 round - and I would probably carry a Sig 226 or something with a 12 round capacity in .40 vs 14 or 15 rounds in a 9mm double stack.

So I think the .40S&W has its niche ......

I reload everything I shoot for range ammo / so cost of ammo in .40 is not really a big factor - and when I carry, I carry Hydra Shok ammo - and its pretty effective in a .40S&W .

In terms of a general range gun / yes the .40 is "snappy" - but so what ... In semi-autos I shoot a number of 9mm's, .40's, and .45 acp ( primarily all 1911's - but a couple of Sigs as well ).
 
But... then you might as well rule out the .45 ACP for your purposes because:

In comparison to the 9mm, the .45 ACP is:
1. More expensive
2. Louder
3. Has a heavier recoil
Click to expand...

No because 9mm and .45 are not a compromise of each other. They are totally different in their characteristics. Whether you like big and slow or small and fast does not change the fact that .40 is louder, snappier, and more expensive than either of the other two.
 
'Snappiness' felt of the .40 is because most folks are comparing shooting a mini or one of the plastic varieties to a .45 in 1911. I submit a full frame all metal .40 with 5" barrel (fair comparison to a 1911 clone) has very little difference in felt recoil.
Click to expand...

Well said. I absolutely agree.
 
Whether you like big and slow or small and fast does not change the fact that .40 is louder, snappier, and more expensive than either of the other two.
Click to expand...

Nor does it change the fact-to use your standards-that the .45 ACP is louder, snappier and more expensive than the 9mm "whether you like big and slow or small and fast" or prefer a Goldilocks "just right" compromise.
 
I have 5" 1911's in .40S&W and .45 acp ( identical guns, identical weight ) / and if you do the math - the .45 acp gives you 5.0 ft lbs of recoil / the .40 S&W gives you 4.43 ft lbs of recoil ...... so the .40S&W is less recoil.

I use the same type of powder in both calibers ( TiteGroup ) so it isn't like I have one set up to burn a lot faster than the other. The recipes and velocity are different / the .40S&W is 180gr CMJ at 978 fps / .45 acp is a 230gr CMJ bullet at 818 fps ...... so while my brain says the .40S&W is a little "snappier" in reality, its less recoil.
 
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