+p 9mm vs .40 as it relates to wear and tear on a pistol.

[Mark]

I have been debating buying another P226 as a practice gun that I could put allot of rounds through while keeping my 2004 pre-Ron Cohen P226R .40 duty ready and in good shape if I decide to stay with the P226 for the long haul. My department is pretty good about providing practice ammo (probably because most people don't ask for it) so I'll be using what they give me. Maybe I'm just not good enough to notice but the recoil between +p 9mm and .40 doesn't seem different enough to me to affect training.

The 9mm practice ammo (and duty ammo) is 124grain +p Federal HST.
The .40 practice ammo is I believe WWB 155grain and the duty ammo is 155grain Federal HST.

In terms of gun longevity is there a significant difference in the rate the two calibers wear a gun out?

ToddG, obviously based on your history I'd be very curious to hear your opinion on the matter.

[JBP55]

I feel the 155gr. HST has quite a bit more felt recoil than the 124+P HST in the same size and type gun and I have and shoot both.

[Mark]

I agree with you on the recoil of specifically the .40 HST round but that's not what we get for practice ammo, it's usually American Eagle or WWB which for some reason recoils much less and doesn't feel much different to me then the +p 9mm 124 grain. I guess because 9mm is cheaper, (or could be because very few people in my department use 9mm) practice and duty rounds are the same while in .40 they're not.

[DocGKR]

It has been my experience that most 155 gr .40 loads will beat up otherwise equivalent pistols faster than the 124 gr +P.

[ToddG]

Concur with DocGKR. The 155gr loads tend to be the most brutal on guns, though I haven't shot the HST or spoken with any agencies that issue it in quantities enough to provide a useful datapoint.

The smartest thing to do, of course, is find a nice blog writer who would be willing to trade, say, five thousand rounds of good-for-your-gun 115gr standard pressure ammo in exchange for that brutal acidic cancer-causing 124gr +p HST that you're wasting... er, I mean... suffering through. :cool:

In all seriousness, my advice is to shoot what you carry, wear out your gun, and replace it with a new one when the time comes.

[Mitchell, Esq.]

The smartest thing to do, of course, is find a nice blog writer who would be willing to trade, say, five thousand rounds of good-for-your-gun 115gr standard pressure ammo in exchange for that brutal acidic cancer-causing 124gr +p HST that you're wasting... er, I mean... suffering through. :cool:

In all seriousness, my advice is to shoot what you carry, wear out your gun, and replace it with a new one when the time comes.

Did you mean Caleb, or Tam?

[JM Campbell]

Must be talking about Tam....Caleb still hasn't met the ride hieght requirement :cool:

[Mark]

Thanks for the advice guys. I figure if I stay Sig I'll pick up another .40, I realized its going to be a training gun so since SIG has a lifetime warranty I'll just send it in if something breaks.