Is .40 cal a dying breed?

[bruss01]

I own and shoot both 9mm and 40. Honestly don't notice much difference. Maybe i'm slow, but my follow up shots and accuracy are about the same for both. If you are noticeably better with one vs the other, you'd be a fool not to go with whatever you shoot better. Because only hits count in the real world. I take and pass an independently timed and scored qual shoot with my 40's every 2 years for ccw renewal so i can honestly say my opinion of my ability with the 40 is not self-deception.

Cartridges wax and wane in popularity every few years, as do prices of components and raw materials. What's in today may be out tomorrow. Maybe it's time we forger which round is a few hundredths of a percent better and remembered shooting the best we can with what we've got.

I am in no hurry to sell my 40s because some gun mag writer thinks they're out of style. They still shoot for me the way they did the day i bought them. That's pretty good in my book and they haven't let me down yet.

[Sikvenum93]

Not this crap again.... there are literally THOUSANDS of law enforcement agencies that use .40 S&W in the US.

.40 S&W guns may be cheaper because the market is starting to see a lot of surplus police guns in the market.


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[bababoris]

[fseffect]

[Nothingontv]

I tried to convince them .40 still had it's place. But seriously just convert that 4 tenths of an inch to metric and you're all set. Seems everyone is back to loving the 10.
See here: http://www.calguns.net/calgunforum/s....php?t=1441437

Yep - I’m one of these people. But to me the 10mm is a much different round.

.40 always seems to have snappy recoil different from other rounds. Not bad, just different. I sold my Glock 22 a couple years back.

[crufflers]

.40 S&W guns may be cheaper because the market is starting to see a lot of surplus police guns in the market.

More surplus guns than the past 10-20 years? I've always seen them. G22's specifically. Probably you'll see more 9mm now and in the future as surplus.

[mmlook]

[Robert1234]

Go to any USPSA range and you find buckets of .40S&W brass. Second only to 9mm. You find hardly any .45 ACP.

These guys are volume shooters, but they reload so you won't find any uptick in sales of ammo due to them.

So, not dead.

[FeuerFrei]

With all of the +P and subsonic loads available for 9mm & 45acp the 40 may not be dead,but it may end up going the way of the 38 super. Good load, but...limited.
Next time the FBI or LE agency du jour decides on the next wonder caliber then people will flock to yet another fad and so it goes all over again.

[Josh3239]

Too much personal anecdotes with emotion invested. Get a job in the industry and find out. 40S&W wont' go extinct but it is certainly losing popularity fast. It was my experience that 40S&W was most popular among newbies who wanted the "knockdown power". Yes 40S&W will still remain for competitions, that hardly means much in a sense of proportions. The LE contracts don't mean much, many officers choose to carry 9mm or 45acp on and/or off duty, but even that is of little significance as most LEOs are not gun people. The great deal of used guns brought to use for consignment were 40, the majority of new guns sold were not 40s. 40S&W ammo was slower to sell versus 9mm and 45 auto. 40 has a great deal of practicality... for certain people for certain situations. For the vast majority that practicality simply does not apply.

[mmlook]

Go to any USPSA range and you find buckets of .40S&W brass. Second only to 9mm. You find hardly any .45 ACP.

These guys are volume shooters, but they reload so you won't find any uptick in sales of ammo due to them.

So, not dead.

[colossians323]

Stack deep and cheap. Should be buying now, ammo run will not affect you

[bluzman]

Nailed it!

[GW]

IIRC in the 90's when the .40 became all the rage there were magazine articles asking if the 9 was dead.
The 10MM also very nearly died but enough people were interested to keep it going till now where every handgun maker has at least one 10MM in their catalog and every ammo maker has a few offerings in 10mm as well. And this was without the advantage of countless LE agencies adopting it like the .40.

The .40 S&W has more than enough followers to keep the ammo and gun manufacturers pumping product out.

[BrunRox]

I decided to finally get my 92FS out of the safe and get it ready for it's hd duties, it would be my second one.

Knowing I have about 600-700 rounds of handgun ammo in the safe I did not bother to look for 9mm in my garage.

Well..., surprise,surprise...no 9MM .
All ammo in the safe was .45..,hollow points, full metal, +P, etc.etc.

What I'm trying to say here is...., my tastes have changed in the last 5 years, what will they be 5 years from now..? Go back to 10mm ?

Stay safe..
Stay classy.