The 40cal on its way out?

[willie]

Oops. I overlooked twist rate. And I was going to get rich selling wadwilly bullets. But I have another idea more suited for bear loads. I will cast super hard(like a preacher's ding-a-ling). Then I will place them standing up in cold water. Next I will heat the front end with a torch to alter hardness. The result will be a bullet hard on one end and soft on the other. The very hard rear section will assure extreme penetration of the soft and expanded front section. I forgot to state that this will be a gas check design. I will produce 1000 of these and send them to the big dude in Rhode Island with the Walker hound in his avatar. Everybody else will have to pay $75 per 1000 delivered. I might call this version the superwilly.

[Rex G]

Wow, the thread that will not die. Four-plus years, and counting.

I see that the OP has not posted since 2015. If he were still around, I would recommend that he retire that .40 P229, and give his aging, aching hands a break. My right thumb/hand/wrist demanded that I do virtually all of my right-hand training with a K-Frame .22 LR revolver, starting at age fifty, in 2011, and then, as soon as my chief OK’ed 9mm as an alternate duty cartridge, in 9mm versions of the previously-authorized .40 duty pistols, in late 2015, I retired my P229R DAK .40 Snap & Whip duty pistol, and switched to 9mm, and to the lower-bore-axis G17, at the same time.

Notably, I was not alone, in thinking of this, before our chief allowed patrol folks to switch to 9mm. The folks who did not wear the normal patrol uniform had been allowed to use the 9mm G19 for several years, prior to this, as a primary duty pistol, and many, including some heavy hitters, had already made that change.

Reference/Trivia alert: I worked for Houston PD, in Texas. We had been able to use a variety of handgun cartridges, from .38 to .45, inclusive, in a wide variety of duty handguns, until September 1997, when all new duty pistols, from that point onward, had to be chosen from a small number of authorized .40 S&W pistols. Pre-September-1997 duty pistols were “grandfathered.” .45 ACP was reinstated in 2012, and, notably, the 1911 was reinstated at the end of 2015, for officers completing an 8-hour certification class. (Having not kept my 1911 duty pistols grandfathered, after 2002, I attended the certification class, so ended my career, last year, qual’ed to carry the 1911 and 9mm Glocks, on my duty belt.)

Further trivia: One of HPD’s most politically-charged shootings, in the Nineties, was an 8-shot mag dump with a 10mm 1911, which was not an instant “stop.”

[Baldanders]

.40 never really got off the ground with the shooters I call my friends. One of my friends has a Taurus .40 he got as a gift, and he shot it once. That's the extent of .40 ownership in my circle.

My shooting experience with the .40 is limited to firing a clipfull of premium defensive ammo out of a P239, once. Very nice, but it just made me want that particular gun. Felt like a 9mm in that particular load.

My family already hopped on the 9x19 train before the .40 existed. Boomers seem to mostly switch to 9mm if they are shifting away from .45 ACP. I have a feeling that .40 will stay strongest with people who grew up with .40 (in Glocks, of course) being THE police caliber from as far back as they can remember.

It is possible I am just projecting my own wants. "Sidearms of 20th Century LE" describes most of the firearms I have collector interest in, and I blame that on the writers who dominated the gun rags in the mid-to-late 80s. ( Mr. Ayoob comes to mind, especially. )

As I posted in the thread before, .40 still seems popular in NC, judging by what Wally World stocks. I can't see it fading out entirely in my lifetime. If magazine capacity limits become the norm, I wouldn't be surprised to see a comeback, as well as some more pistols built on a single-stack .40 profile from the word go.

.357 Sig, OTOH, seems quite doomed. I think it will go the way of the .41 Long and all the non-.22 rimfires, which got wiped out around WWII. No advantage in any sport, performance much like 9mm +p+ in most loadings...hipster cool generally isn't enough to keep a caliber afloat.

[revchuck38]

Going off on a tangent...

I've decided to use my M&P40 1.0 as a dedicated nightstand gun with a TLR-1 HL attached. I no longer carry it - I've drunk the TDA Koolaid and carry either a PX4 or a P99C - but it's utterly reliable and the relatively short trigger pull matches well with the short actuation throw on the light.

Are there any downsides to using .40 S&W as a home defense round? Ammo is 180-grain HST.

[theJanitor]

While I still use the antiquated 45ACP, if I were to choose another caliber, it would come down to barrier penetration performance. I think that in my area, I'd be worried about road ragers, and vehicle born terrorists, more than wound ballistics.

Someone once said this about the facilities his team guards, "no one walks up to a nuclear plant to attack it".

[HCM]

[Borderland]

However, the P229 was built for the .40 and in my opinion handles it very well.

It also handles 9mm very well, but mostly I see them in 40. If one were looking for their first cheap pistol I would highly recommend a P229 (40) trade in.

As far as on it's way out, here's a shocker for you. The S&W 32 Long was a LE cartridge for about 40 years. It's still around and people shoot it. I just bought one although I'll confess that I reload everything I shoot.

[BehindBlueI's]

Are there any downsides to using .40 S&W as a home defense round? Ammo is 180-grain HST.

None that are specific to the .40 over other duty calibers. 180 gr HST works as advertised.

[Jeep]

Going off on a tangent...

I've decided to use my M&P40 1.0 as a dedicated nightstand gun with a TLR-1 HL attached. I no longer carry it - I've drunk the TDA Koolaid and carry either a PX4 or a P99C - but it's utterly reliable and the relatively short trigger pull matches well with the short actuation throw on the light.

Are there any downsides to using .40 S&W as a home defense round? Ammo is 180-grain HST.

I like the M&P40 1.0. Mine has been utterly reliable and fairly soft shooting with 180 grain loads. It is also very accurate with 180 grain HST. I see no reason not to use it.

[BBMW]

For non-defensive uses, it has it's drawbacks, mainly that it's more expensive, and has marginally stronger recoil. If you your punching paper or ringing steel, why spend the money? But for defensive uses, I like it better than either 9mm or .45, in guns bigger than subcompact (and even in some subcompacts, like the G27.)

.40 never really got off the ground with the shooters I call my friends. One of my friends has a Taurus .40 he got as a gift, and he shot it once. That's the extent of .40 ownership in my circle.

My shooting experience with the .40 is limited to firing a clipfull of premium defensive ammo out of a P239, once. Very nice, but it just made me want that particular gun. Felt like a 9mm in that particular load.

My family already hopped on the 9x19 train before the .40 existed. Boomers seem to mostly switch to 9mm if they are shifting away from .45 ACP. I have a feeling that .40 will stay strongest with people who grew up with .40 (in Glocks, of course) being THE police caliber from as far back as they can remember.

It is possible I am just projecting my own wants. "Sidearms of 20th Century LE" describes most of the firearms I have collector interest in, and I blame that on the writers who dominated the gun rags in the mid-to-late 80s. ( Mr. Ayoob comes to mind, especially. )

As I posted in the thread before, .40 still seems popular in NC, judging by what Wally World stocks. I can't see it fading out entirely in my lifetime. If magazine capacity limits become the norm, I wouldn't be surprised to see a comeback, as well as some more pistols built on a single-stack .40 profile from the word go.

.357 Sig, OTOH, seems quite doomed. I think it will go the way of the .41 Long and all the non-.22 rimfires, which got wiped out around WWII. No advantage in any sport, performance much like 9mm +p+ in most loadings...hipster cool generally isn't enough to keep a caliber afloat.