Curious about the popularity of the .40sw...

[PorkLover]

I know that a lot of people have been in a "panic" buy or hoarding mode recently and ammo has been in short supply. I have heard that the local WalMarts have been hit hard and ammo is nearly empty on the shelves. Well I went to my local WalMart today, Milpitas, and sure enough, the shelves were empty.....no 00 buck, no 9mm, or .45, no .38......but they had plenty of Blazer Brass .40 sw.............I bought 400 rounds.........

So on my way home, I was just wondering why?.....is the .40 sw not popular?....I know that some people don't like the "snappiness" but I have gotten used to it and love the caliber....

So what do you think?.....was the availability of the .40sw due to it not being popular?....or maybe a shipment of it just happened to come in that morning.....just curious.........

[MT1]

Went in for 12g shells the other day and my local walmart only had .40 on the shelf too, found that odd as it's my favorite round.

[Crusader]

To be honest, I mostly see 9mm and 45 at the range when I go. Strange, I agree. I like the 40

[Darklyte27]

people shoot 9mm cuz its cheaper..
.40 is more expensive usually and i guess not as popular as .45

I have a M&P in .40 and I like it.

[JeffM]

9mm is cheap to shoot, and the .45 guys are entrenched in their dogma of "bigger is better". Even though the .40 one of the best handgun rounds ever created, it just doesn't get the play it deserves in the regular handgun crowds. It is however the most popular LE round in the US, but many departments get it from places other than walmart.

10mm, loaded hot, is the only semi-auto handgun round that beats the .40 for real world usage, but it's not cheap or readily available. And Glock doesn't make a midsize for it

Life can sometimes be a series of compromises.

I shoot mostly 9mm due to cost, but would rather carry 10mm or .40.

[liquidmx]

I think the thinking is...9mm is cheaper and 40 is almost the same (or the same) as 45. Why buy 40 when you can buy 45?...maybe?

[ZRX61]

Well I went to my local WalMart today, Milpitas, and sure enough, the shelves were empty.....no 00 buck, no 9mm, or .45, no .38......but they had plenty of Blazer Brass .40 sw.....

I think they must have just got some in because they didn't have any last week & Blazer showed up the other day. I only bought 200rnds because I have about 1800rnds of various .40 already...

[KimoBBZ]

keep is simple

For me it has not so much to do with the round's capabilities, decent enough pistol round. I had a few .40 cal pistols waaay back when they 1st came available - buying into the whole "perfect compromise" thing between 9mm & 45 acp. I was buying all sorts of stuff early on... 380 auto, 41 mag, 44 special included with the rest of the "standard" calibers - not to mention the rifles back then. My ammo stash was getting out of hand to keep track of, not to mention to stock.

So I made a conscious choice to trim it back... even after doing so, I still have a dozen. 22LR, .38 special, .357 mag, 9mm, 45acp, 44mag in pistol and 5.56, 30-30, 7.62x39, 308, 30-06, 12 gauge in long gun. While I keep a decent amount of each on hand, I "hoard" 22LR, 45acp, 5.56, 308, and 12 gauge. If needed I can share with others in a fight or barter if needed, betting that these "common" calibers can be found in most ammo caches.

[jmzhwells]

Well if anybody doesnt want their .40 S&W ammo, they can send it to me. Info will be provided via pm.

[gcvt]

Well if anybody doesnt want their .40 S&W ammo, they can send it to me. Info will be provided via pm.

Me too! My P229 is always hungry.

[RedDawn]

I enjoy shooting 40S&W, but I do find I shoot the 45 and 9mm more. Go figure.

[SDgarrick]

Many of the old boys I know settle on .40 S&W. My father for one, with years of IPSC shooting. I like .45, but I'm young... who knows what I'll like when I'm 50.

[Black Majik]

Good post OP. I was going to post something similiar today. I've been reading on empty shelves these past couple weeks, but since I haven't been to Wal-Mart much lately I didn't really believe what I was reading.

That is... until I went to buy 9mm and .45, I went to Orange, Foothill Ranch and Aliso. ALL OUT of 9mm and .45. Boy, was I naive.

And oddly enough, all three had a lot of .40S&W in BB and WWB on the shelves. An interesting observation I thought. Funny to see its not limited to the 3 stores I went to Friday.

[Vectrexer]

Over the the last three months of the year I found the Mountain View location was running low on everything at different times. That includes the 40 S&W (my personal favorite ammo. But I do have to say they were out of the 9mm and 45 more often.

I love the 40 S&W. I personally view it as a great middle ground for it's capabilities. I do have other caliber weapons (.22, .25, 7.62x25, .32, .38, .357, .44, .45, Rem 7mm Mag). They .22 and the .40 gets the most action mainly because of the pistols that go along with the round choice. The also some real fun to to be had at both ends of the spectrum for the bullet weights and load power.

I am kind of glad other people overlook the 40 S&W as much as they do. Leaves more for me and the people introduce to shooting to enjoy.

[TheBundo]

Gilroy and Los Banos running dry too