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Once upon a time the .40 was the ultimate. Now I see the new and used markets flooded with them cheap. What happened?

It’s a compromise caliber that is more difficult to shoot than either 9mm or .45ACP. I started with the .40 and now have .45’s. Some folks went up, while some down.

It isn't dead, but it is less popular. I don't see it going away anytime soon.

And I agree that not all gun types shoot it very well. Some guns do okay, just a little more recoil. Some guns seem to make the recoil real rough. I think a lot of that has to do with the fact that most of the guns were just 9mm pistols converted to 40. I am not sure if any were built specifically for 40 S&W.

Also, the better performance of 9mm +P HP loads these days has more people going back to 9mm or up to 45.

sailor2000 wrote:Once upon a time the .40 was the ultimate. Now I see the new and used markets flooded with them cheap. What happened?

Assault weapon ban which limited pistols to 10 rounds expired. That was a factor for some popularity.
Proliferation of pocket 9mm pistols in the market.
Advances in bullet technology lessening the gap between 9 and 40.
More women buying pistols.
More competition shooting. Few shoot 40 competitively.
The big one is law enforcement moving away from 40.

All 3 of my carry pistols are .40. I like the round and it's all I have ever had in a pistol that's not a 22. I can see the manufacturers quit offering .40 models in the future.

It’s not dead but it’s dying. There are some good deals on pistols in .40

Agency after agency has switched to 9mm. Reasons are many, but primarily cost, easier to shoot, less wear and tear on the platform, capacity, and improvements in 9mm ammo.

How drastic is it? My primary supplier for LE/First responder guns basically isn't even going to attempt to stock .40 cal product going forward. It will be mostly special order because they don't want to get stuck with inventory that nobody is buying.

Put another way, of the guns I've sold to area LEOs just this quarter, 99% are 9mm, the remaining one percent were by numbers 1st) 45 cal, 2nd) 357 Sig, and 3rd) .40 bringing up the rear.

All you need to do is look at used / police trade-in .40 cal gun prices.

Yup .40 is gone. Ive carried glock 27 since ‘07. It’s getting harder and harder to find ammonium. I will be switching my 27 to a 26gen5 very soon. Or just get a 40-9 barrel.

i carry the .40 i love it. its an M&P full size. if the caliber is really disappearing hold onto them because theyll be worht some cash down the road

i just bought 1K rds of 40 S&W but like someone mentioned i dont think its going anywhere anytime soon...

The short answer to this, would be “no, it's not dead.” In fact, it's no more dead than 10mm is. The .40 caliber will always have a following, and there will be some who will always believe it is the best option, no matter what the FBI or anyone else says. The most important thing, is that we all carry what we can handle in a defensive situation.

https://www.concealedcarry.com/gear/40-sw-is-it-dead/

Agreed. It is definitely not as popular anymore. I noticed that yes, there are a ton of used 40s on the market, but they are also all being bought up. People are using them. I personally may not like it, but caliber preferences, as everyone knows, is subjective. I'm happy if they're happy.

Grundy1133 wrote:i carry the .40 i love it. its an M&P full size. if the caliber is really disappearing hold onto them because theyll be worht some cash down the road

If that happens I doubt if anyone old enough to read this forum will still be alive.

Is it dead?

Not yet. IME 9mms are easier and cheaper to shoot, and IME the .40 has more recoil/muzzle flip than a .45 in a similar sized handgun. This may be due the .40 running at almost twice the pressure of the .45.

IMO the .40 is a good cartridge that provides optimum antipersonnel ballistics from a handgun, and you really don't hear anything about the .40 failing to work as designed with JHP ammunition and proper shot placement.

You could do a whole lot worse than the .40 as your primary handgun.

Just my .02,
LeonCarr

aaangel wrote:Yup .40 is gone. Ive carried glock 27 since ‘07. It’s getting harder and harder to find ammonium. I will be switching my 27 to a 26gen5 very soon. Or just get a 40-9 barrel.

There may be a miriade of reasons for the decline of the .40 S & W. However, lack of ammo avalibility is not one of them. I just bought 1000 rounds. You can go online and buy everything from a 50 round box to 500 and 1000 round cases.

WTR wrote:

aaangel wrote:Yup .40 is gone. Ive carried glock 27 since ‘07. It’s getting harder and harder to find ammonium. I will be switching my 27 to a 26gen5 very soon. Or just get a 40-9 barrel.

There may be a miriade of reasons for the decline of the .40 S & W. However, lack of ammo availability is not one of them. I just bought 1000 rounds. You can go online and buy everything from a 50 round box to 500 and 1000 round cases.

ditto. I don' think 40s are dying... I just think that people try them and decide they don't like them. like you have hardcore 9mm fanboys and .45 fanboys and they buy a 40 S&W to try it out and they decide they dont like it an dsell it... like was mentioned earlier, yes they're on th emarket but people are buying them up... I like the 40 S&W. you can read all day about how x caliber is better than y cailber... or how this caliber is bad for self defense etc etc... but at the end of the day it comes down to what you like and what you're proficient with... also WTR when you go to sell your glock 27 HMU. unless the they release a gen5 glock 27.