The *hoax* was the narrative that the FBI, post Orlando, needed an "upgrade" in pistol caliber. That was really only needed as a diversion from the sorry fact of bad training, among other things.
While I believe that this is true, the 115 grain cup and core bullets the police were carrying back then were not as good as the bonded and heavier bullets on the market today. Those were the result of a lot of R&D. The .40 S&W offered better performance with the bullets of the era in which it was invented and became popular.
True. But so did the .45acp. Or the .357 FTM.
That's true, too. But, .357 was too much for most people to handle effectively and the word "Magnum" scared administrators. In .45 ACP, most of the guns of the era were single action and administrators did not like "cocked and locked" carry. Plus, the guns of the era weren't optimized for hollow points.
Rationalizations for the hoax.
You know I'm not seriously claiming it to be a deliberate and blatant hoax. It's what unrestrained bureaucracies do, without any thought of pulling a fast one. But then one thing leads to another, and here we are.
