Would you buy a .40 S&W firearm today?

Would you buy a .40 S&W firearm today?

In other words, let's assume you have either never owned a .40 S&W, or, if you have, and you didn't have one at the moment (at least hypothetically), would you buy one?

Resale on 40's in my area sucks. There's nothing wrong with a 40, but it's not something I'd need or would currently buy.

Since I already own one I don't really have a need for another. For me it's a matter of finding something that piques my interest enough to lay down the money and not so much about the caliber.

40 S&W is not "obsolete" - it's just "unpopular". It's not like all of my 40 ammo will suddenly stop firing after a certain date because it is now considered obsolete. It still does what it was intended to do - and bullets really don't care if anyone likes them or not!

I bought several a few years back because I was getting NIB $600+ pistols for under $400. I like 'em.

I could care less about current popularity or what the press says.

40 is a good round. If prices are low that's a reason to buy now.

I bought a Glock 27 and a Kahr PM40 in the last couple years.

If the price was right.....absolutely!!

Randy

I found a good price on a 4046 not long ago, it came home with me. Magazines in .40 are a bargain now too.

No reason not to take advantage, it's a good round.

The .40 S&W guns today (especially if made by S&W), are a lot like the K Frame revolvers I was buying thirty years ago for $150.00, when EVERYONE was dumping them for the newest high capacity 9mm "wonder gun". If you see them now, buy them. You will not regret it years from now.

No. Not int in that caliber or adding any more calibers to relaod/stockpile.

Only if I could pick up something at an absolute bargain price like $250 or less.

I never really saw a use for the .40 S&W when it was introduced and still don't. The .45 ACP gives up nothing to this cartridge.

Yes. Because it's BIGGER than the pip squeek 9mm that only the weenies can handle......ANY bullet technology that's applied to the little 9mm bullet can be applied to the bigger 40/45 to make them even better.

BTW Sarah Palin said "poles are for strippers" cuz they mean little compared to the facts.

November 2018 I bought a Sig Sauer P229 .40 DA/SA. Police trade-in, sent back through the Sig factory for complete refurbishment, shipped out in a red box with manual, 2 mags, one-year factory warranty. Condition just as new. My price was $388 plus shipping to local FFL.

MSRP at the time for a new P229 was $1087.

I'll take a deal like that any day. I already had ammo, brass, dies, bullet mold so no worries about that. Picked up 3 more 12-rd. mags in excellent shape for $48. For about $140 I can get a barrel for .357 Sig, uses the same magazines, springs, etc (true drop-in conversion).

I already own a few .40s, so maybe this question doesn't apply to me, but I only just got into .40 S&W in 2019 and it has quickly become my favorite semiautomatic pistol cartridge.

Up until 2019 I carried .380 ACP pistols and never felt undergunned, but then wild animals started coming out of the woods surrounding my residential area, and after a few hog sightings and some black bear pawprints in my front yard, I decided that I wanted something more powerful, but really didn't have any money to buy a new, more powerful carry gun. Then one day when I was buying some ammo I saw a Smith & Wesson SW40VE in the case Like New in Box for $199. So I went home, did some research, found out that Fish & Game used .40 S&W, and the next day I went back and put it on Layaway. I paid it off the following month once I had the money and started carrying it. Despite the heavy trigger, it was a good, accurate shooter, with an adequate amount of energy to deal with anything that might wish to do me harm.

Since then, I've bought two more .40cal pistols, a S&W 4006TSW, and earlier this year a S&W M&P40 Shield, because I've just plain grown to love the way that it shoots.

Would I buy another though? I dunno, not right away because the three that I already have already cover my needs, so I'd sooner buy something new. However, if I were to come across a really good deal on a .40cal pistol that I would otherwise like to own like a Beretta 96, SIG P239, or an M&P40c, then yeah, I'd buy another in a heartbeat.

in fact the last pistol I acquired was a 40s&w... I even traded a S&W for it...

If we had the deals of yesteryear, maybe. $220 Glock 22s or 23s and dirt cheap closeout DHS contract overrun ammo? Shoot I'd take that now just to have a quality handgun and a couple thousand rounds to box up and stash somewhere.

Other than that, there's always the chance I'll run into one of the CHP TSWs, a Shorty 40, or a dirt dirt dirt cheap P239 in .40, so I can't say never, but almost certainly not. I think the parent case, 10mm, has a lot going for it and if it were more reasonable times I'd have already replaced my outdoors handgun with a Glock 20, but .40 is snappier and lower capacity than its closest competitor, 9mm, without bringing much else to the table compared to just going full 10mm. There's also the argument that 9mm is cheaper to shoot in normal times, but who knows when that will be again.

Personally, if I had to choose between 9mm and .40 S&W, it should be no surprise I would choose the former (and most people certainly feel that way). That said, the first two carry guns I owned back in 2005 were .40 S&W, and I carried .40 for eight years until in 2013 I sold my forties and switched over to 9mm. But in the last 2-3 years I started shooting .357 SIG and .40 S&W again. My M&P's are chambered in 9mm these days, but my SIG P229 is chambered in .357 SIG and .40 S&W. I find the extra weight of the P229 not only softens the .40 S&W to shoot more like a 9mm out of a lighter gun, but the .40 S&W also appears to have some things still going for it (An Alternate Look at Handgun Stopping Power | Buckeye Firearms Association).

Although 9mm is about as good as .40S&W (and some say better because of the extra capacity and reduced recoil), the latter does have the following advantages in my opinion:

1. Other than capacity, it does everything as well or better. Most of the things it does better are either marginal or debatable, but one metric that seems to favor the .40 S&W is its one-shot-stop percentage which is on par with .357 Magnum and .357 SIG (which appears to be about a 10-11% increase over 9mm). That is significant in my opinion.

2. In my opinion, this is likely due to its increased ability to deliver hydrostatic shock. At least three studies show that incapacitation via hydrostatic shock is consistent if the bullet can deliver at least 500 ft. lbs. of kinetic energy. That's too tall an order for 9mm but it is not beyond the capability of .40 S&W.

3. Another advantage is that in some states it is illegal to hunt medium-size game with a 9mm but legal with a .40 S&W. The heavier and more powerful .40 S&W is still not ideal for whitetails, I admit, but you could do it, especially with a .40 S&W carbine or at least a pistol with a 5" or longer barrel.

4. There were also times during the past year that I couldn't find 9mm but I could still find .40 S&W. Don't get me wrong, most of the time both were gone, and when 9mm started to get replenished, I found it before .40 in many cases, but there were certainly still many times when I could find .40 and 9mm, and historically that has been particularly true when the shortages weren't as bad as they were with the COVID-19 plandemic.

Most of my carry pistols are chambered in 9mm, but I still shoot .40 and .357 SIG (which is even better yet in my opinion, but .40 is less expensive). I prefer 9mm or .380 ACP for smaller guns, but for large compacts or full-size pistols, I think there are some advantages to the more powerful calibers. Again, that's just my opinion but I was just curious how others felt about it these days.

If you have a free source of ammo and can find something that you can enjoy shooting, I have a Kimber Custom II, then you'd be a fool not to buy one. Additionally, during the ammo shortage of a few years ago, .40 was one of the few rounds you could regularly find on the shelves. I haven't been following the newest shortage but I suspect that .40 is more available than the more popular ammo.

I voted no because I am a 10mm addict and 40 does nothing for me

Works both ways

rockquarry said:

I never really saw a use for the .40 S&W when it was introduced and still don't. The .45 ACP gives up nothing to this cartridge.

Click to expand...

And the .40 gives up nothing to the .45 ACP. All the nuanced arguments about snappy recoil or whatever, the .45 ACP is not the mortal enemy of the .40 S&W. Bullet design and shooters' skill sets are far more meaningful topics of discussion. To the original question, I would absolutely be open to the idea of buying a .40 S&W. How much I'd pay for one depends on a great many conditions.

Sure I would! I have nothing against the .40SW and I’ve never felt like it has the “snappy” recoil that a lot of folks talk about. If my life is on the line with a modern plastic pistol, I’ll take a 15-16 round .40SW over a 17-18 round 9mm any day.

The current 9mm fascination seems a lot like what we see with the 6.5 Creedmoor. Manufacturers need “new” stuff to sell. (“New” = better! ) Trainers need to have something “new” to implement. Nothing wrong with any of that, as long as we want to go to that party.