.40 vs .45 opinions?

[DucatiRon]

I guess i am the last 40 hold out. Just loaded 500 of your powder coated 40's.

Thanks for the purchase. Honestly I can count my 40 cal customers on one hand.

[jakebrake]

I've owned 40 caliber pistols. none has ever left me overly impressed. I had 40, 9, and 45 covered. 40 just never left me warm and fuzzy. I just saw it as superfluous at the time. it wasn't overly recoil laden, nor did I find it overly accurate (seemed as if ammo was inconsistent.)

a lot of law enforcement agencies use it. obviously, it works.

[DukeConnor]

Thanks for the purchase. Honestly I can count my 40 cal customers on one hand.

maybe I should stock up. I love loading straight walled brass. They seem to last forever.

[DucatiRon]

maybe I should stock up. I love loading straight walled brass. They seem to last forever.

I love customers whom stock up. But its not like I'm going to discontinue the bullet. I shoot to many of them in 10mm.

[SgtRecon]

When the 40S&W was first fielded it was the darling of the LEO and gunwriter community since it was one of the first modern pistol cartridges to become widely accepted ( sorry 10mm! ) for some reason it has become the pistol equivalent of what the .41 Magnum is to revolvers. That's why I own both, and when you look at the numbers its not far behind the .41 mag in what the old timers Elmer Keith and Bill Jordan deemed was the ultimate balance in recoil and manstopping ability for an LEO cartridge

And during EVERY hording panic and mini panic...it was always available, doesn't effect me though as I reload it by the bucket full on my progressive at a decent savings over .45ACP

I just don't get the .40 bashing on online forums, Ill probably never own a .357 sig or .45 GAP, but their cool cartridges and know guys who carry,reload and like them and they will make perps just as dead with a good shot

[American1776]

They are both very good rounds. The .40 caliber 165 gr. Speer Gold Dot LE load has an outstanding street record. There are a handful of .45 acp load that are just as effective (I think the Hydra shok 230 grain is right up there too). They both are just about even with the legendary 125 gr. .357 magnum.

In my opinion, the 155 and 165 gr. .40 S&W loads are right at the heals of the vaunted .357 magnum. (A 158 grain pill @ 1200 ft/s from a 4 inch service gun).

[JAKIII]

They are both very good rounds.

Agree. Home invaders who may choose to enter my house could be shot by either... and would die either way.

[eagleclaw]

Thanks for the purchase. Honestly I can count my 40 cal customers on one hand.

With the current political climate, if magazine limitation laws come our way, I suspect the .40 S&W will become popular again because if they only allow ten round mags and someone wants to carry a full size gun, better off carrying a fatter round than carrying a 9mm designed to hold 15 rounds but only being allowed to carry ten in the mag. The .40 came onto the market only months prior to the Clinton ban and I believe the ten round limitation added to it's popularity back then.

[92gli]

Tanner's always has crazy deals on common guns chambered in 40. So there's that.

[Tiadaghton44]

With the current political climate, if magazine limitation laws come our way, I suspect the .40 S&W will become popular again because if they only allow ten round mags and someone wants to carry a full size gun, better off carrying a fatter round than carrying a 9mm designed to hold 15 rounds but only being allowed to carry ten in the mag. The .40 came onto the market only months prior to the Clinton ban and I believe the ten round limitation added to it's popularity back then.

My first semi-auto was a Taurus 92. It was pre-2004, therefore a victim of the 94 AWB. After a while I thought it was stupid to have this large pistol with a magazine that was only able to be partially used. I remember reliable aftermarket 15 round magazines were hard to find at that point. Factory ones were very expensive if you could find them. I had some pro-mags but it often jammed while using them. So I traded it on a Glock 23 in 2001. To me it seemed to make more sense to have a more powerful cartridge in a more compact package. At that time they came with 10 round magazines. The entire magazine length appears to be used and also appear to be single stack. If I found a 13 round, it was normally around $125. I remember purchasing 5 13 round magazines from an online store just hours after the AWB dropped dead in 2004. The price dropped to $22 over night. They came 5 months later and had "LE only" on them. My dad owned a .40 before I did, so that also drove my decision. That way we could share (I could borrow) ammo from him. Last year I ordered a Lone Wolf 40 to 9 barrel along with Glock 19 mags. While I was at it, I also purchased both the G19 extractor and ejector. The 23 seems just as reliable shooting 9mm through it. I often shoot cheap Tula or aluminum cased ammo to save $.