Is the .40 dead ? Let's see some !

[dsf]

Well, keeping in mind that this is a "40 cal thread" and not a 40 S&W ....



Nor a semi pistol thread ...



The CZ is a 41AE. A LGS changed hands a few times +20 years back and the gun never moved. I made fun of that and the new owner said "make me a deal" and I said $99.00 and he said "sold!". My boss had a case of Israeli ammo but just to play it safe I bought a 9mm barrel from Numrich. Kind of started my Tanfoglio buying streak of uppers and conversion kits.

 

[Well Armed]

Same here. My Police Department had just approved 45 ACP for on duty carry. It had been approved for several years as an approved off duty pistol.

So why go "Short & Weak" when the legendary .45 Automatic was approved?

More capacity, better barrier penetration, smaller and lighter platform, the ability to shoot 9mm and 357 sig out of the same gun, will perform better and more reliablely out of smaller barrels, etc.... There isn't really anything "legendary" about 45acp. It's just endeared by some because history and popularity of 1911s.

 

[CH4]

My favorite 40 is my P229. I carried it most of my LE career. I am looking for a 4053.

 

[oink]

My favorite 40 is my P229. I carried it most of my LE career. I am looking for a 4053.

You must have had it refinished. All of my duty guns look like used duty guns.

 

[Alk8944]

Well, keeping in mind that this is a "40 cal thread" and not a 40 S&W ....

View attachment 676577

Nor a semi pistol thread ...

View attachment 676582

The CZ is a 41AE. A LGS changed hands a few times +20 years back and the gun never moved. I made fun of that and the new owner said "make me a deal" and I said $99.00 and he said "sold!". .

Your gun is a Tanfoglio, from F.I.E, not a CZ. Tanfoglio is one of several companies making copies of the basic CZ design.

Mine cost $125 and had apparently been in an evidence room for years! The blued parts were all rusty. I wire brushed the rusted parts and cold blued them and it is acceptable. My SN is only 17 numbers away from yours!

All my brass is .41 Magnum converted on my lathe so I have no ammunition worries! I had a barrel failure one day but was able to find a man named Carleton in Greeley, Colorado that is a fan and had a source of replacement barrels from both Tanfoglio and IWI, probably intended for a Jerico 941. I bought one of each! The Tanfoglio has conventional rifling and the IWI is polygonal.

It wasn't the load, but a pure structural failure of the barrel! It did damage the slide and frame slightly by spreading them, but those were easy to repair.

Just to keep this legitimate to the original .40 thread, I have owned four, a full size Witness, Springfield P9C. an Astra A-75, and a Shorty Forty. The Shorty Forty is the only one I have now.

 

[Mike0251]

Dan Wesson SSC and a CZ 75 Tactical Sport

 

[chief38]

As I see it, new calibers and guns come out in "good gun times" when ammo is relatively affordable, plentiful and easy to procure. Even if a specific caliber will not do anything all that much better than a long time established one, as long as there isn't a hassle getting ammo to feed it, it could hang on. Manufacturers and ammo company's are always looking to market a "better mouse trap" and it is just easier to do it in "good times".

The S&W 40 (as I see it) was probably the best "new comer" to the firearms world over the last 3 decades and one of the very few that was /is a really great round. The 10mm suffered from a bunch of "flaws" such as recoil, muzzle flash, ammo cost & availability and of course not a whole lot of shooters could shoot well, accurate and consistently with it. The efficiency of the 10mm was very high, however in order for it to be effective it must hit said target which it did not do many times! So.... yes the 40 S&W was over all a much better practical round - hence the reason it is still somewhat popular.

In "bad"gun times such as we are now in because of Government gun control agendas, ammo laws and restrictions being introduced every day, sky high prices, etc. gun owners are trying to stick to the smallest amount of caliber variations and pistol configurations and unless the specific "new" caliber is just so so much better, they opt to stick with what they have, what is easily available and of course affordable.

The tried and true century old 9mm is just hard to beat!! It is low cost, readily available, easy to shoot for almost anyone, the guns are all over the world in pretty much any size, shape and configuration and the new crop of 9mm rounds like the Federal HST, Speer GD, etc. are excellent!!

Bottom line here is, yes the 40 is still hanging on, but it is my opinion that most of the guns chambered in 40 are already out here and owned by veteran gun guys. The 10mm is slowly falling by the wayside for many reasons and ammo is not only hard t find it is very expensive when you you find it. Many police agency's and Federal agency's have switched back to the 9mm and now that the prices have skyrocketed I think new calibers will be very slow to come out now. The 9mm will be the King of the Hill for the foreseeable future IMO. So that is my take.

 

[BLUEDOT37]

I like some .40 caliber too!

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4013TSW pre-rail, CHP turn-in
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[cherrypointmarine]

Thanks Bluedot for reminding me . Here's my 2 tone CS40 I got a while back . I sent it off to BMCM right away to have him convert it to 10mm . Then I got to thinking , do I buy another CS40 so I have one of those ? I decided to but another slide and barrel , I had everything else . So I had it sent to Guzzitaco and he cleaned it up , put an LPA on it and did his PC cuts .

 

[CH4]

You must have had it refinished. All of my duty guns look like used duty guns.

lol
Truth be told, just before I retired one of my armorers swapped out the blue slide and small parts for the nickel and factory grips with wood Hogues. It’s good to be eljefe. There’s still wear on the front strap and trigger guard. I probably have put 10,000+ flawless rounds through her.

 

[Jeppo]

Three of mine are Special(s).

Thanks to a generous participant in this thread for one of these three. Still searching for a black CS40D.

 

[Fastbolt]

Well, I have as many .40's as I do 9's, and aside from a Glock in each caliber, all of my .40's & 9's are S&W models.

I came to .40 a bit more slowly, having fired my first couple of them in '90, but not buying any of my own until 10 years later. That was only because the .45 I wanted wasn't to be found, but I stumbled across a 4013TSWW and decided to buy it.

Then, a little later I learned my agency was contemplating adopting .40, at least on a small trial basis with a limited number of guns (50 guns?), so I bought a second one which was similar to the model chosen for the pilot program. I took it through a week-long training class, with the ammo provided by my agency, and decided it was a decent gun.

Now I own 5 pistols chambered in .40 ... and have put some tens of thousands of rounds of .40 downrange over the years.

I've been issued both 180gr & 165gr JHP's, and my 4040PD has demonstrated an interesting preference for the 155gr W-W STHP, but if I were going to limit myself to just one bullet weight in .40, for overall use, it would be the 180gr.

 

[Dparker]

My S&W 945-40 and a S&W 4054 I picked up today for 399.99 (heck of a deal IMO!) plus a S&W 4013 2 Tone Decock only I picked up this week!

I do enjoy all my S&W 3rd gen 40 cals!

Cheers!!!
David

 

[sigp220.45]

I had a 646 and I couldn’t fall in love with it. It was finicky with what brass it liked to jive with the moon clips. Also, while it does not actually have the lock, it is not a pre-lock era revolver and it was THE example that proved the theory I had long held — it isn’t the lock itself that makes the double action on lock guns lousy, it’s the MIM parts.

You could easily see that my 646 had the MIM hammer and the double action was just what I expected from a lock gun… which is to say that you squeeze the long trigger and the weight stacks as expected but then when you expect it to release, it dead-stops against a wall, a very firm wall, and you have to break through that wall to discharge the shot.

And I hated it.

Many folks hate the ILS S&W revolvers and I’m in that group but reason is solely based on the wrecked double action trigger and unfortunately, the 646 has it.

Sorry you got a lemon! Mine is great - smooth action, accurate, and 100% reliable. I only use the plastic moonclips from Rimz. They don’t get bent and have always worked fine.

 

[Echo40]

My first .40 was a used Sigma SW40VE that I only purchased because I suddenly felt the need for something with more oomph than my LCP after hogs started poking around in the neighbor's field and it only cost me $199.

However, it was the gun that got me into .40 S&W, and the next one I got was much more attractive...

I keep hearing that .40 S&W is dead, yet it just keeps going bang whenever I pull the trigger.

 

[robvious]

Ironically.. no S&W's in 40s&w...
Para-ordnance P16-40
Sig P250
BHP Practical

 

[HOUSTON RICK]

I wondered who would shoot a 40 if you already had 9mm and 45ACP. Then I got this CHP 4006 TSW and found out. Not dead but enough folks think so that you can often find good 40 guns at great prices. Nice round in its own right.

 

[dsf]

Your gun is a Tanfoglio, from F.I.E, not a CZ. Tanfoglio is one of several companies making copies of the basic CZ design.

Mine cost $125 and had apparently been in an evidence room for years! The blued parts were all rusty. I wire brushed the rusted parts and cold blued them and it is acceptable. My SN is only 17 numbers away from yours!

All my brass is .41 Magnum converted on my lathe so I have no ammunition worries! I had a barrel failure one day but was able to find a man named Carleton in Greeley, Colorado that is a fan and had a source of replacement barrels from both Tanfoglio and IWI, probably intended for a Jerico 941. I bought one of each! The Tanfoglio has conventional rifling and the IWI is polygonal.

It wasn't the load, but a pure structural failure of the barrel! It did damage the slide and frame slightly by spreading them, but those were easy to repair.

Just to keep this legitimate to the original .40 thread, I have owned four, a full size Witness, Springfield P9C. an Astra A-75, and a Shorty Forty. The Shorty Forty is the only one I have now.

Saw your PM - thanks. Off by 17 - wow!

My "oops" - yes, a TA-90 I think. The "small frame" type. Safety on the frame.

Really addictive, especially in CA where buying slides, barrels and such don't require a wait. I have 3 frames with 22 lr, 9mm, 40 S&W and 45 ACP.

I have the more limited run Shorty Forty - serial #195 IIRC.

 

[Sevens]

I think sometimes it is worth reminding that .40cal was a very attractive option for folks looking for a handgun during the ten year run of the AWB.

At that time, a .45cal pistol that held more than 8 or so rounds was a rarity and that meant the two other “obvious” choices were a 9mm capped at 10+1 or a .40cal capped at 10+1.

The realities of the times made it a pretty solid choice.

 

[sheepdawg]

Not much luck with 40s except for this one that I bought 15 years ago. I can't remember a single failure and there's probably 3 to 4K through it.