Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Who prefers a 40?

Seeing sales on handguns and ammo in 40, perhaps losing favor in demand lately......seems a trend over to the 9s perhaps with newer ammo performance.

Curious who is running 40s - or have run them, what is the recoil like?

I have shot all the 357-44s in wheelguns....just wondering how the 40 is - especially in compact sized guns? Thanks.

Never liked them. They were designed for 9mm size/weight guns, but have quite snappy recoil for guns of that size/weight. Not that there's any pain or discomfort involved in shooting them, but controlling them for fast follow up shots is a challenge for most (even very experienced) shooters, at least in the size/weight guns they tend to be chambered in, which I find disconcerting. If I want more power than 9mm, I'd rather step up to a gun designed to shoot .45 ACP, which generally means a larger, heavier, gun. Even the Glock 30 is a noticeably easier shooter than a Glock 27, for example.

I like them. I got a G27 and G35

Forty, Short&Weak? Never had use for it either. Why shoot a .40, when you could have a .45 or 10mm?

Don't worry. The fans will be along soon, and they have their reasons....

Unless your mangina is sensitive - the recoil of the 40sw is inconsequential.
I like the 40 simply because I can load it to 500+ ft/lbs and have 14 rounds in a G19-size platform.

I'm relatively late to the 40 game. Liked the 10 so well early on that I saw no real use for the .40. Even without the 10, I have 45's and 9's, so had no real need. Then when the first Obama ammo shortage hit, 40 was something you could get plenty of. Again, I had no real need for factory ammo because I reload and had ample supplies on hand but I still ended up getting a couple of 40's and stocking ammo for them. I think I've had three and still have one.

I think it's a good caliber. Mine is a Smith M&P. Good gun. Recoil isn't terrible. Supposedly good stopping power. Ammo cheap and plentiful.

The .40 S&W is my second-favorite semi-auto cartridge after only the 10mm.

I’m not arguing that other cartridges aren’t super wonderful, but the .40 seems to cover a lot of bases. For example:

Im partial to the 40 S&W. I actually shoot it better than a 9mm believe it or not. Its a great tradeoff for size and capacity. Its decent for woods carry. Recoil is often considered snappy which most do not prefer. Its not horrible but is different from recoilf of a 9mm or 45acp. Border Patrol used 155 gr hp and shot a number of bad guys with it, successfully. Not sure if they still use it or not? Ive shot a few 40s in hk usp, sig 226, glock 22, glock 23, ect. I will admit when i started out with it I did not care for the caliber but now like it and am quite comfortable with it. It took close to 5000 rounds for me to really get comfortable and good with it.

I think we are over the hump on 40S&W, 1911s, and revolvers. The trend will continue downward on all three, regardless of the merits. The idea of keeping a 40 around because ammo might be available might be it's biggest plus going forward. Does anyone have a feel for the current breakdown for police use of 40 vs. 9mm?

I like the 40 cause the cheap hardball ammo is of flatnose form and will kill much better than 9mm ball for varmints around the farm

I also believe the 40 would be more effective if you were stuck using hardball in a defensive situation


the 40 also shoots flatter than 45 and that can be helpfull out in the open spaces


I find the recoil to be a non issue , unless you are using very light weapons like maybe some of the Kahr pistols

Great feedback folks - thanks for all the info.

6.5BR: I carried a "40" for many years as a paid professional.
I still carry and use them for self/home defense.
Don't let ANYONE denigrate the 40 S&W caliber!
Right at 25 years of "first hand" experience with this fine pistol cartridge now and I have NO intention of changing my preference.
Long live the 40 S&W!
Hold into the wind
VarmintGuy

I've go one .40. A police trade in Glock 22 that I got real cheap. It was in excellent condition, and I have no intention of selling, mainly in case of some future 9mm shortage. Like I say, though, I'm not a fan of the snappiness. Seems to slow down the follow up shot. I imagine, though, if I shot thousands of rounds of the stuff, I wouldn't notice that so much. No intention of switching from 9mm, so that's not going to happen. If I want more power than 9mm, I've got the 30 and the 21 Glocks, both of which I shoot about as well as my 9mm Glocks.

The 40 is a very versatile round, plane and simple.

I love that the .40S&W is on the "outs". This leads to an abundance of bargains on ammo and shooters especially in the used handgun sales. Police trade ins are a great bargain as the political forces are convincing departments to switch over to the 9mm.

As a reloader I can load it from mild to wild. Don't like the recoil.....load it mild. Like to hike/camp in the woods......load it wild. 16 rounds of hot cast lead 180's in a G22gen 4 are very comforting to carry and for the firepower a fairly light package.

I've taken a smaller mule deer buck with my Sig P226 in 40.

I find it hilarious that people believe the 40 S&W is on its “way out”. Ordinally rank the top three big defensive semi auto handgun cartridges... 9mm, 45 ACP, & 40 S&W. Now tell me which handgun auto cartridge is on the fringe of taking over the 40 in sales? What’s going to be the next 3rd place that’s “sooo close”?

The 40 is a excellent caliber, I don’t believe it’s going anywhere, it’s felt recoil is a non-issue for me. Like mentioned earlier if you hand load it can be loaded very mild or very hot :-)

Recoil difference is negligible. But a bit more power than 9. Got out of the 40 business lately due to just consolidating to 9 and 38/357 for carry.

I like them just fine. Nowadays with all the police trade-ins it's like Christmas year round if you like nylon guns.

I hadn't shot my .40 for awhile and took it out on the 4th to sow some freedom seeds. Was pleasantly surprised, I did pretty well with it. Been shooting the 9 and 10 lately, but the little Shield did well. Definitely noticeably more snappy after only shooting the 9 for a few months, but not too bad.