Does .40 s&w stand for 'Short & Weak'?

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Short and Weak

I'll make anyone a deal: I will shoot them with my .40 with Speer Gold dots and they can shoot me with their 10mm with whatever load they want. But I get to shoot first! :cool:

The .40 is a great caliber if you put it on target. The 10mm is a great caliber if you put it on target. But even the 200 grain hollow points from DoubleTap (700+ ft-lbs of energy) are short and wimpy compared to anything from a 30.06 or .270 rifle! So learn to shoot straight and practice. And carry what you are most comfortable with.
 
I love 10mm! But, how many people actually carry 10mm for self defense?
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At least one. Just looking at the last decade, I have carried one of a few different 10s more often than anything else pretty much daily.

A pretty good portion (by no means "all") of the 10mm fans I've come across have...ummm... "issues."
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Or perhaps the "fans" you've met don't live in Alaska; where the bear and the moose play (come on, I know that you know the tune, sing along now! "Where seldom is heard...")

OK, maybe also imagining that "life is but a dream" and really is just a big musical where just about everyone simultaneously jumps up and joins in an elaborately choreographed dance and musical routine seemingly without any beforehand planning or knowledge, and putting words to music on an internet forum while encouraging others to join along, and did I mention the really big rabbits?

... COULD count as "issues"...

(Maybe someone has been out in the bush too long... And the Winter is pretty long and dark, and ... did I mention the rabbits?)
 
OK, maybe also imagining that "life is but a dream" and really is just a big musical where just about everyone simultaneously jumps up and joins in an elaborately choreographed dance and musical routine seemingly without any beforehand planning or knowledge, and putting words to music on an internet forum while encouraging others to join along, and did I mention the really big rabbits?
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Maybe I do have issues. I was reading the paragraph above and started hearing "..sing around the campfire...join the camfire girls" :o I don't know why.

I've carried my 10 and when I owned one I carried a Beretta .40. I have nothing but good vibes for the .40 S&W and don't consider it underpowered. It does exactly what it was intended to do, provide a larger than 9mm projectile moving at adequate speed and still allow controlability for the majority of shooters.
 
Anyone who says the 10mm is dead, never carried a S&W 610. Yes, I carry a 6 1/2" model frequently for SD in a Bianchi X15 shoulder rig. The 610 is a gun that will make the 10mm shine. My loads crono right at 1350 FPS with a 180 gr. XTP or Montana Gold flat points. Same bullet from the 40 case in the same gun runs about 1050. That's why I like the 610. You can play with the cheaper 40 loads and top it off with full house 10mm rounds for serious work. As the big N frame was designed for the 44 Mag and has even more steel around the chambers, due to the smaller bore, you don't have to worry too much about pressure. The loads referred to are from the Hogden manual, not over-pressure. Love that Longshot.
 
I love all the urban myths/legends and net rumors about the "weak" performance of the .40! They're the reason that even during the crunch, I had a full selection of affordable ammo! Yeah, 40 sucks, spread the word. My xdm and pps stay hungry! Lol
 
Of course when you compare the .40 to a larger round it can be called short and weak. But the .40 by itself is by no means short and weak. Thats like making fun of someone for carrying .38 special and not .357. I think your buddy is just trying to be a know it all and its threatened by the fact that he is not the only person he knows anymore that owns a gun:D
 
Yep. Short n' Weak.

As in: my cartridge OAL from case head to case mouth is too short.

And, because some sissies couldn't:
1. Grip a 10mm properly;
2. Shoot worth a dang in a Florida gunfight with 9mm;
3. Handle a .45acp;

... now I get aggressively overloaded into too small (short) of a case with too heavy of a bullet, I have weak case head support and KABOOM more guns than any other caliber.

Yep. Short n' Weak.

:D
 
And, because some sissies couldn't:
1. Grip a 10mm properly;
2. Shoot worth a dang in a Florida gunfight with 9mm;
3. Handle a .45acp;

Just wondering how well you shot in the gunfights you have been in?? My bet is you have never been in a real fight of any kind. How many bad guys have you put down in your day???

Now back to the question. the .40 is a superb SD weapon. It is not a 10mm but many people find a 10mm grip just to big. Recoil is stout from a 10mm as well
 
I'll make anyone a deal: I will shoot them with my .40 with Speer Gold dots and they can shoot me with their 10mm with whatever load they want. But I get to shoot first!
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Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way in the real world.

Stop and think about it for a minute...if we could always be guaranteed the first shot, we'd all carry itty-bitty Freedom Arms .22s.

Since we are preparing for the real world, rather than an "if only" scenario, most thinkers carry a pistol chambered in the most powerful caliber that they can shoot well.

I'll leave it at that....
 
Hhmmm...well first of all, the usual manner of telling this apocryphal tale is that it was effete male agents and their female counterparts who couldn't handle the recoil of the 10mm Norma cartridge. The other part of the story was that for a lot of very manly men and their female counterparts, a doublestack 10mm or .45acp has a grip that's a bit too large to grip comfortably. The .40s&w's I'm familiar with use the same size frame as a 9mm---much easier for most folks to get their hands around.

It seems to me a 10mm (.400) bullet loaded into a shorter case, inserted into a high-capacity magazine, and fired from a gun that has a grip-size that most people can handle...sounds like an ideal compromise. At least it would seem so by the number of pd's & other govt agencies that are using the .40s&w. Personally, I prefer the 10mm,--Patrice:cool:
 
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One point not mentioned here - the 40 was designed to fit into a gun with a 9mm frame .That's why there are so many guns that have 40 and 9mm models. It's not just an easy substitution since the recoil energy is higher and the guns must be modified for that [it takes about 3 oz more weight in a 40 ]
 
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