Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Why No Love For The S&W .40?

Yeah, we all know that 5/100’s of an inch is a real game changer.

Have a .357Sig Bbl. for one of my G23's, 5.3" LWD conversion.


Shoots 147 gr. HDY Custom XTP ammo at ~ 1,300 fps.

My Hunting/trail load.




GR

I dropped the 40 for a decade or so to simplify things but realized that since I'm already loading and casting for 10mm a 40 makes sense too. A few years back there were some awesome deals on 40s and 40 ammo. I picked up Winchester police ranger t 180g, basically black talon, for $15.99/50. My only regret is only buying two cases. That led to me buying a S&w m&p compact 40 that I love and then a glock 22 mint gen 3 for only $229 that stays in my truck. I also got a deal on an FNx I believe that shoots great.

Casting again has brought me back to liking a flat nose on a solid bullet which most 40 stuff comes with automatically. Also loading with Longshot let's me take 180g 40 loads to 1150fps. Given the flat nose bigger diameter and extra weight I feel better with a 40 in the woods than a 9mm. I still like my 9mm 365 for daily carry but for mixed woods use like my truck pistol you'll usually find me with a 40 or a 10mm if not a 44 revolver.

I really want to stock up on once fired 40 brass while it's still available cheap. I think it's fading and my normal once fired brass source hadn't had any in a few years. I'd also like a kkm 40 barrel for my xdm 10mm like the one I have for a glock 20. It allowed me to seat heavier bullets to 10 mm length in 40 brass and run them at 10mm speeds. Bought a bunch of 40 brass for 2 cents each and only loaded them once and didn't worry about picking up brass.

Bb

Oh yes. I believe I heard that. It's supposed to absorb recoil better than the Gen 4 because of that.

I have a couple of .40 Glocks, a 23 and a 22 and I don't find them unpleasant to shoot. However, I shoot lots of 9mm, and it's a little easier to control. For normal defensive purposes I carry a 9mm with Federal HST ammunition.

Where I prefer the .40 is for hiking in the mountains where you might have to deal with large animals. For that, I like a Glock 23 with a stout load (Buffalo Bore) using 200 grain hard cast bullets. A 10mm is probably better, but with the right load, the .40 is a step up over the 9mm and it's still light and compact to carry.

For those discussing the Gen 5 Glock 40 cal models having a thick slide vs Gen 4 variants. This picture is worth a thousand words…..

Gen 4 on left, Gen 5 on the right.

Mark in GA

The weight of the Gen5 is 28.43 ounces vs Gen4 at 25.57.That extra 3 ounces is mostly in the slide. My 22-5's fit perfectly in my model 20/21 holsters.

Agreed. That's a reasonable approach to the two calibers.

Wow. Looks almost the thickness of a 20 or 21. I bet that does indeed tame the snap in the .40 S&W. I think they have finally put the .40 S&W in the right sized/weighted gun. Tempting.

Jump to 14:30

Negative.

All these posts and nobody has mentioned the twist issue?

When the .40 S&W was introduced, twist rate was 1:16.

Glock pistols are twisted about 1:10 (I think it is actually 1:9.85 but would have to look it up).

That is a pretty big difference.

So, if you were a bullet designer, would you design it to work in the slow or fast twist? Would you print that information on the box?

Add in the "midrange loads" vs. "Full loads" with the twist issue and the whole thing becomes complicated.

Yes, good .40 loads exist. Finding them requires testing and understanding the velocity and twist issues.

I am unaware of any other contemporary handgun caliber that shares this issue but would be interested to know if any of you do.

Burford, in your experience how does twist in a defensive handgun round affect performance?

40 works fine for me. Heavier bullets than a 9mm, more capacity then a 45 acp. It is in fact a compromise but works fine. I have shot some very accurate 40s but seems the 9mm is just as accurate or slightly more.

Typically, faster RPM results in earlier expansion.

Earlier expansion usually causes less penetration.

Twist rate plays a significant part in RPM.

9mm, but shows how fast even the 9mm is spinning.

Pretty easy to push a 200 grain cast to a thousand fps in my 5” forty. Two five gallon buckets of brass is a lot shooting. I don’t pick them up like I do the precious 10mm. Put a timney trigger in my M&P, really makes a wonderful difference.
Burley boy, I can get more brass whenever the weather allows us a trip to the Midwest. I’ll share some of what I have now if your in need

Is there some kind of Internet requirement to always refer to the lightest 9mm lead load when comparing to the 40?

So pretty much the same as in rifle rds. I wasn't sure the handgun had enough velocity to make a difference. I know that you I would know

Yes. Looking at it from the standpoint of a std. 165 gr. bullet at 1150 and a "mild" one at 1000:

Changing just the twist rate:
When fired at 1150fps in a 1:10 it has 82,800 RPM at exit
When fired at 1150 fps in a 1:16, it has 51,750 RPM at exit

Changing velocity and twist rate:
The same bullet fired at 1000fps in a 1:16 has 45,000 RPM at exit


FYI, I've never seen .40 S&W loads marked at being for any particular twist. I've also seen the same bullet loaded at 1150 and 1000.

What was that "Buyer Beware" phrase? "Caveat Emptor"