The P30 is certainly a sweet pistol.
I made the mistake of handling one at the local gunstore and now I'd like to purchase a P30 in the (hopefully) not to distant future. I'm considering getting one in .40S&W. The 9mm has certainly been well proven by Todd's test but I think I'd like to get one in the larger 40 cal.
The .40 S&W is a different cartridge than the 9mm and it has more recoil. Does the P30 in .40 cal hold up well or is the 9 a better choice for the P30?
I have no first hand experience on the 40, but you can rest assured with the same internals in use on the P2000 you have absolutely nothing to worry about. I have the P30 in 9mm.
Better can be answered or defined many ways, depending upon what you are trying to accomplish.
I have had a number of P2000 and P30 pistols in .40 over the years, with round counts of 1,000 to between 5,000 and 10,000 rounds on each pistol, and have yet to experience a stoppage or breakage. Speaking with CBP folks, their P2000's seem to be holding up, even with that 155 grain hot load that was being used. I do shoot my P30's in 9 more than in .40.
The P30 is a tank. Even in a larger caliber you can reasonably expect the weapon to be durable to the point that the cost of the ammo you run through it is many times greater than the cost of the weapon.
The thing about the .40 is that the United States is the only country in the world where people seem to believe that a few extra hundredths of an inch in bullet diameter is a significant factor in making bad people stop doing bad things in a hurry. Larger calibers do have some advantages, but those advantages are often not terribly applicable to the situations the average person is likely to face with a handgun. So while .40 is certainly a valid chambering and the P30 is certainly likely to give you a very long and reliable service life, I'd ask why you really want the bigger caliber.
I find that lots of people seem to think that the 9mm is somehow a compromise in selecting a handgun. In truth all handguns are weapons of compromise. The 9mm is, objectively, no more of a compromise than the other major service calibers. There are a number of police departments out there using 9mm handguns as issue weapons and to the best of my knowledge they aren't having any more trouble killing bad guys with it than departments that issue larger calibers. Given that there's a world of real data out there that shows the basic equity of service calibers using good loads, what are you hoping to gain from the selection of a .40?
If you have a ready supply of .40 that is cheaper than 9mm, rock on. Free or inexpensive ammo is the best ammo in the world. Shoot as much of it as possible. If you reasonably expect that the bad guy you are most likely to have to shoot is going to be in or around a vehicle, the .40 might be a good idea.
If you don't find that either situation applies to you, however, all the .40 is likely to give you is a higher ammo bill. When you look at using a handgun for stopping bad people from doing bad things to you, training has the biggest impact on one's ability to bring the confrontation to a happy conclusion. It is many orders of magnitude more important than practically anything else...including caliber selection.
The higher the cost of training, the less of it you'll do. So stop to consider: Are the slight performance advantages of the .40 really worth giving up the training you'll forfeit due to the extra expense?
In other words, by selecting the more expensive weapon to feed, are you really getting a return that you can readily identify, or are you laying out the extra cash for a largely theoretical advantage?
Last edited by TCinVA; 05-01-2011 at 12:36 PM. Reason: Spelling
3/15/2016
In other words, by selecting the more expensive weapon to feed, are you really getting a return that you can readily identify, or are you laying out the extra cash for a largely theoretical advantage?
Great post TC!! That is some of the best handgun selection requirements that I have seen in print.
Thank you for the thought provoking comments.Originally Posted by TCinVA
I have no problem with the 9mm as a Self Defense caliber with good loads. I think my biggest motivation for considering the 40 caliber is the possibility that "good loads" may not always be available to me as an ordinary citizen for SD use.
I remember in the depressing months after the last presidential inauguration that good first-rate hollow point loads for the popular 9mm were not all that easy to find. However even during the worst of the ammo shortage .40S&W caliber hollow point ammo was still available to me. Apparently the .40 is currently the most popular caliber among law enforcement agencies, so there is a lot of it made.
I may be wrong, but I figure that with the 40 it is probably less important to carry top-performing good loads for SD than it is with the 9. I don't trust that I will always be able to get Gold Dots, Ranger "T" series, or Federal HST's in 9mm. In that case second-rate hollow points in a larger caliber such as .40 would probably be better than second-rate hollow points in a 9mm. But of course I'd rather use top of the line SD ammo in either caliber if available
Certainly if it came to only comparing hardball to hardball, I'd rather have the larger caliber, but I hope it doesn't come to only having hardball as an ammo option.
Unfortunatley bad loads will be bad loads even in a larger caliber. What makes for good performance from hollowpoint rounds is reliable penetration and reliable expansion. Poorly designed loads won't offer either for you.
3/15/2016
I'm not sure making long-term decisions on the basis of a once-in-a-lifetime event that was driven by largely irrational hysteria makes a whole lot of sense.
9x19 is the most commonly used centerfire handgun cartridge in the world whether you're talking civilians, LEAs, or militaries.
Better SD loads mean nothing if you haven't trained enough to put rounds accurately on target in the first place.
Says it all, really.
Not sure about overall longevity, but I have been carrying a P30S .40 on duty for just over a year. It has seen right around 4,000 rounds, no issues and most of the round count was Speer 165 GDHPs (department issue).
Thank you gentlemen. I was looking for some basic information on the durability of .40 cal H&K P30's and you supplied it.
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