Why I Stayed With The .40

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I EDC a G35, it gives me 16rds of .40 in the same size package as a 8-9rd 1911 in a lighter gun. My carry load is the 165gr Federal Tactical Bonded, and out of a 5 inch Storm Lake, match grade barrel. I am getting a consistent 1,180fps from 3yds.

The .40 does better against barriers such as windshield glass and bone. A 40 caliber hollow point will drag more tissue when it hits and has more energy in target than the 9mm. It also tends to out perform both the 9/45 however, the 45acp has more mass.

9mm ammo maybe better than it was 25 years ago, but have the 40/45 stood still?

When Lt. Col. Cooper, came up with the 10mm he wanted a round that could do, what the 45 could do, but at distance. The chopped down .40 does a good job and out of a 5 inch barrel IMO it is just as good as a 45acp.

Understand that I am not saying a 9mm is not effective I have carried one. I shoot my .40 caliber just as well as my 9mm but I am faster with the 9mm. The 40 is just my caliber of choice and just like the 45acp I believe they should be full size guns " 5 inch barrels" to get the maximum effectiveness out of the round.
 
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Another .40 fan here.

Unfortunately I can't carry in my state but I keep a full size .40 for HD. Recoil is perfectly manageable(particularly) in a full size.

I'm a firm believer that the best caliber for HD is whatever you're interested in training with. For me, its my .40.
 
I purchased a S&W 40 cal before last year's salad days because 9mm seemed to have a price premium over anything else. It holds 15 rounds and shoots 165 grain ammo extremely well. So much so I purchased a KT Sub2K in 40 cal to simplify ammo purchase. Perfectly happy and see no reason to down grade to 9mm or upgrade to 45 ACP.
 
Im a 40 fan. And 9mm fan, and, oh ya, a 45 fan, lets not forget the 357 sig. I own them all and a few more. Im comfortable with any of them, or at least as comfortable as you can be with a handgun. My main decision on a EDC is not caliber but how well i can shoot it and how comfortable it is to carry.
 
Mainstream modern caliber choice is as much about confidence then anything. In 2018 there is hardly a bad choice.

That being said I have sort of found my way back to .40, but it’s all about minute pros and cons.

At the end of the day they are pistols so “keep squeezin’ till they stop wheezin’” so to speak. Pick the one you like and enjoy. The rest is gravy. The reality is 99% of us will only stress over the details of a gun that will never put down more then a paper target or a watermelon revolt. And I for one thank God for that every day.
 
The .40 does better against barriers such as windshield glass and bone. A 40 caliber hollow point will drag more tissue when it hits and has more energy in target the 9mm. It also tends to out perform both the 9/45 however, the 45acp has more mass.
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All of these points can be countered with:
"So does a brick."
:D
 
Am not so good with bricks, but always was fond of the "flying ashtray":D

moving to the semi auto pistol forum...
 
Nothing wrong with 40. With 155-180 gr bullets it does 95% of what a 357 mag revolver does with the same bullet weights. Of course a 9mm does 95% of what a 357 mag does with 125-150 gr bullets.

I'm out of the 40 game simply because I also have a couple of 10mm pistols. They do about 110% of what a 357 revolver does with 135-200 gr bullets.
 
>>I'm a 40 fan. And 9mm fan, and, oh ya, a 45 fan<<

Same here...it doesn't have to be either/or!
 
I was a big .40 fan myself. I had a Glock 23, M&P40c(which I carried for 3 years), and a HK USP. Sadly, I broke my index finger and middle finger backwards on my shooting hand a few years ago, then broke my index finger a second time later(work related). I can shoot 40 and 45 in heavier guns just fine, but in lightweight polymer guns my range trip gets cut shorter. I now carry and shoot 9mm mostly for the less recoil to my hand.
 
I am not a fan of the .40. I have some 9MM pistols left and some 10MM pistols left but found there was no situation in which I would prefer the 40 over either the 9MM or the 10MM

That being said if I had a .40 and liked it I would be in no rush to sell it. You can buy A LOT of rounds of .40 for what it would cost to replace it and to me the only real advantage 9MM has over it right now is ammo cost. The minimal capacity difference doesn't matter.
 
Glock 35 is my favorite Glock.

In before 9mm advocate post the beaten cliche, "doctors can't tell the difference" which is an anecdotal generalization unsupported by comparison pics of internal damage for layperson review.
 
Around town I wear a 9mm H&K P30SK, when in the mountains hiking or camping, I carry a full size Beretta .40 loaded with Buffalo Bore 200 gr ammo.

I know for a fact, they both will do the job.
 
Considering in reality 100% of my shooting will be at steel plates or paper I'm sold on 9mm as my pistol caliber of choice. It uses less powder and lead, stretching my supplies of each out which makes it easier on the wallet. Sure I still reload 45s and 38s but they see around 90% less range time than my 9's.

I need a 10mm hunting pistol, but I'm still holding out giving glock any of my hard earned money. Been collecting/saving brass for years and already have the dies.

That being said I still have around 2k rounds of factory and reloads in 40 from my days of owning a 229.
 
There is nothing wrong with a 40. It's almost as good as a 45. This being said, I carry a 642 with 5 .38s in it. I shoot 9s and 45s for fun.
 
The G35 is a nice shooting pistol. It was one of my first two guns. I inherited it, and a SW40VE, when my father passed away. It took a good amount of practice, but I learned to shoot using both those guns. I ended up giving the G35 to my son for his birthday last month, and he cried like a baby 'cause it was his grandpa's gun. That's one gun that will forever stay in the family.

And yeah, I really like 40. Some folks think it's too snappy, but I didn't really know any better when I first started shooting the G35. In fact, I think the snappiness of the round actually helped me to get faster at follow up shots because it forced me to really pay attention to when the front sight lines back up with the rear sight. Once I got pretty good with the G35 and moved on to other guns in other calibers the things I learned shooting the G35 made 9mm and 380 a piece a cake. I think everyone should have at least one gun that shoots 40.
 
It's a good caliber. I like it. I bought several shockingly inexpensive LE turn-in 40 caliber pistols in the past year or so. That makes me like it even better.
 
The .40 does better against barriers such as windshield glass and bone. A 40 caliber hollow point will drag more tissue when it hits and has more energy in target the 9mm. It also tends to out perform both the 9/45 however, the 45acp has more mass.
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Is that actually true, or a .40 marketing claim in what way does it do better on windshield glass. ? I had a .40 kept it a few weeks i did not see any advantage over 9MM only more expensive.
 
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Out of 8 semiautomatics I own, 4 of them are 40. Three have barrels and magazines for 357 Sig and 9mm. One or the 40s has a 9mm barrel and mags only.

I like all three calibers and others. At the present time I am working on my grip, trigger press and a host of other things so find myself shooting the 9mm a lot more as it is cheaper.

I mostly carry the pistols with 40 S&W as it is my favorite, and I am not averse to carrying the other pistols except a 22LR.

One of the reasons that I chose the 40 pistols was because I could use the other calibers with them.
 
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