Taming the .40S&W

[franzas]

sell .40, buy 10mm.
JMHO

 

[Kanewpadle]

sell .40, buy 10mm.
JMHO

Wow, that really helps.

 

[wbraswell]

I found out that by buddy's Glock 22 has the recoil spring changed and the titanium guide rod.

 

[Brian in Oregon]

I only intend to shoot full power ammunition in this gun. I have no plans to load any bullseye ammunition for it. With full power factory ammunition it was completely reliable with the 22lb. spring. If for some unforeseen reason I decide to shoot it in the centerfire match of a 2700, I can always put the OEM spring back in.

Exactly, what's the point of a throttled back 10mm? Might as well shoot a .40 or .45, and either would be a lot cheaper for ammo.

Many years ago a friend and I compared his Glock 20 to my Colt stainless 10mm Delta Gold Cup. It wasn't the recoil that was an issue with the Glock, it was the recoil duration, which was short and, as stated elsewhere in this thread, "snappy". I could recover much faster with the Colt than the Glock as well. I don't think I gave up anything with the single stack mag. Wanted to get a 10mm Colt Double Eagle, but never did.

Shortly afterwards I modified the 10mm Gold Cup with a 24 lb spring and a Wilson Shok-Buf with full length guide rod. Made it even more pleasant to shoot.

 

[HalfStack]

Wow, that really helps.

He's not kidding.

Lots of 40sw pistols were 9mm pistols converted. Also some 40sw loads are snappy as heck. Some isn't.

I found the Hornady 40sw 165 XTP snappier than the Sig Elite 10mm 180 FMJ. I shot them both in my G29. That's 1175 fps vs 1250 fps.

I've shot the Underwood 40sw 155 XTP (1300 fps) and that was like a push rather than a pop but with a report like a magnum.

With a 10mm, there are several levels of loads from FBI lite to nuclear. I found the Hornady 10mm 175 FlexLock easier to shoot but yet more powerful than the 40sw equivalent. They make good SD ammo.

 

[Wee Hooker]

My first experience firing a 40S&W handgun was at the urging of a friend on an indoor range with his new P99 and (very!) hot hand loads. I had heard the 40 was "snappy" but the level of bark, flash and muzzle flip was actually surprising. I politely shot the remainder of the mag but knew I really had no use for this caliber for my intentions. (Read: I'm not recoil shy nor do I go seeking more of it in a range gun. if I need that much "umph" in a handgun, I'd go with the venerable 45 acp.)

Fast forward a few years and I was offered a deal I couldn't refuse on an M&P Pro in 40 S&W. M&P Pros are scarce in my state so I bought the gun as more of an experiment than anything else. My goal was to get the 40 to shoot like a 45 through the magic of hand loading. ( Much like many reload the 357 to shoot like a 38.) It didn't take long at all to find some sweet 180 gr hand loads that tamed the round o that it shoots like a 185 gr 45acp target load. In fact, these days one of my favorite range guns is a Sig 1911 in 40 S&W with just that load.
I guess you can teach an old dog new tricks.

 

[cmort666]

sell .40, buy 10mm.
JMHO

Then that takes me out of double column magazines. There's no double column magazine 10mm that feels good in my hands.

And as I said, no double actions.

There's just really no attraction for a 10mm for me at this time.

 

[Farmer17]

My first experience firing a 40S&W handgun was at the urging of a friend on an indoor range with his new P99 and (very!) hot hand loads. I had heard the 40 was "snappy" but the level of bark, flash and muzzle flip was actually surprising.

I shot a friends Walther P99 .40 and I couldn't believe the muzzle flip. The gun almost twisted out of my hand the first time, and after every shot the muzzle was pointing at the sky. That was the problem with .40s when they first came out, the manufacturers just re-chambered existing 9m/m guns without much engineering put into the design. Once they started building well engineered guns that were designed from scratch for the .40 a lot of the snappy recoil went away.

 

[Rick_A]

We've got a couple 40's.
20150206_163358 by Slick_Rick77, on Flickr

The trick is not trying to shoot 500 rounds at a time.

One or two hundred is fine.

Mine's easier to shoot and hers is smoother shooting.

I prefer the 180's. They have more of a push than snap.

 

[cmort666]

I shot a friends Walther P99 .40 and I couldn't believe the muzzle flip. The gun almost twisted out of my hand the first time, and after every shot the muzzle was pointing at the sky. That was the problem with .40s when they first came out, the manufacturers just re-chambered existing 9m/m guns without much engineering put into the design. Once they started building well engineered guns that were designed from scratch for the .40 a lot of the snappy recoil went away.

That was especially the case with the first TZ-40s that came out. I advised a friend to buy a Glock 22. Instead he bought a TZ.

Along with a brutally strong recoil spring, it appeared to have annular grooves machined into the chamber to retard extraction of a fired case until pressure had dropped to safe levels. I can't recall, but I might have even seen signs of early opening as in the Japanese Hamada blowbacks chambered for 8mm Nambu.

While the chamber grooves prevented early opening, they also prevented CHAMBERING, with the case mouths FREQUENTLY hanging up part way into the chamber. The problem was so severe, that I can't recall him EVER getting through a complete magazine without a failure to feed.

Between the Sherman tank suspension spring class recoil spring and the rough chamber, you could probably leave the gun with a loaded magazine and empty chamber around small children without fear of them managing to load and fire it.

He sent the first one back and got a replacement which was only marginally better in that it managed to get off THREE rounds in a row on several occasions.

He finally punted and got a Glock 22.

I was so happy with the 22lb. spring in my Glock 22 that I'm now somewhat sorry that I bought a Glock 19 instead of a Glock 23. I specifically chose the 19 over the 23 when CDNN was practically giving both away police surplus guns, because of the harsh recoil of the 22. If I had it to do again, I'd buy the 23 and a 9x19mm barrel and some magazines, which is exactly what a friend did years later.

My next purchase may very well be a used 23.

 

[silverstateS&W]

40 recoil

try a S&W M&P as well. you'll find the grip angle and high hand position helps with recoil as well.
perhaps the same mods to an M&P might be even better.....

 

[cmort666]

try a S&W M&P as well. you'll find the grip angle and high hand position helps with recoil as well.
perhaps the same mods to an M&P might be even better.....

While I don't rule out the M&P, I'm somewhat leery of the hinged trigger. I prefer the Glock style trigger safety.

 

[Farmer17]

I bought an M&P .40 ex cop gun for $309 shipped with box, 3 mags, night sites, backstraps, and papers in basically new condition, and it was a great gun I just prefer steel and walnut. I loved the feel and didn't mind the hinged trigger, it was probably 5lbs which was fine with no thumb safety and accuracy and reliability was excellent. The recoil wasn't bad at all with a full mag but as the mag emptied you could tell a pretty big difference because 16 rounds of 180 grain .40 caliber weighs quite a bit.