Is the .40 S&W dead ?

[lowprone]

Considering the proliferation of police departments , FBI, ect switching over to 9mm,
is the 40 S&W dead ?

For a long time I considered pistols chambered in it the perfect combination of size, weight,
magazine capacity, and lethality.

But the 9mm seems to eclipse it everywhere with tremendous advances in bullet design.
Considering that law enforcement were the primary customers, who buys it if they don't ?

[26 Inf]

I don't think it is dead. Over a decade of wide acceptance by LE has lead to many weapons chambered in .40 available on the used market as LE trade-ins. I don't think we will see any earth shaking advancements in pistols chambered for .40, but it will be a while before .40 is dropped from most manufacturer's catalogs.

Who buys it? Guys that like shooting it. People getting into firearms on a budget taking advantage of the inexpensive (comparatively) police trade-ins.

[Firefly]

I don't think it is dead. 10MM still exists. Is it still relevant as it was 25 years ago? Not really.

For me, it is not a very comfortable round to shoot. I have precisely one .40 gun, a USP Expert. And if HK offered a direct trade for a 9mm Expert I would be all over it.

I tried Limited IPSC and got frustrated with it.

I still shoot it once in a while but not often. I have stacks of .40 laying about I never shot and likely never will.

I'd sooner shoot a downloaded 10MM. My G20 sees way more sunlight than my USP.

It does make a nice wadcutterish hole though

[Kain]

Dead? No. Irrelevant? Possibly.

With the number of PDs out there who will still continue to issue, along with Hydroshok, I don't see it going away for at least another 20 or 30 years for the simple fact that the shear numbers of .40 handguns that are on the market and the ones that will be on the market cheap will have a lot of people continue to be willing to buy ammo for it. I sort of look at it like an old mil surp round, there are things that do the roll as well or better, but the number of guns that are able to take it that are out there makes it profitable for manufactures to make ammo for it. And there will always be those who want to be different. Do I see more guns coming out that will push it? I doubt it and with ammo advances it becomes less and less relevant. I will say this, I would buy another .40 if the price is right, not because I like it, but because I can and it might have use, I have one currently that has not seen the range in a long time, but a glock 22 or 23 at the right price might be added to inventory with a dozen or so mags just for the hell of it, or as a truck gun.

[T2C]

I don't view the .40 S&W as being dead, but it will wane over a period of fifteen to twenty years. As police agencies replace their service pistols, they will slowly phase out the .40 S&W and transition to another caliber, most agencies adopting the 9mm cartridge.

I am sitting on 20 gallons of once fired brass and reloading components are readily available, so I won't be in a big hurry to sell off my Glock 22. I believe there are a lot of people in the same boat and you will continue to see the .40 S&W at club level matches.

[buckshot1220]

I wouldn't go so far as to say dead, but it will likely continue to lose market share. New pistols will likely be designed around the 9mm, and only offered in .40 if it is a reasonable upfit for the platform.

I was never a .40 guy, but I really wish it wasn't crashing so fast. It'll eventually drive the cost of my 9mm ammo up, even if only temporarily. The only positive in this situation for me is getting to tell all my friends that swear by .40/.45 "I told you so." LOL.

[Hot Sauce]

Perhaps dying a slow death, rather than dead, would be more appropriate. Every non-LE I know who has bought one are generally either 1) new to guns or 2) not really handgun people. They fall for the "They moar par-ful" propaganda, which is confirmed in their minds through the snappier recoil.

[MountainRaven]

Yeah, I think there will always be plenty of people who think a serious defensive handgun cartridge should start with, ".4" Even after the FBI adoption of 9mm, even if/when the Army decides that 9mm JHPs work as well as anything else, there will always be the one person who just discovered Jeff Cooper.

[HKGuns]

I've never owned a 40 S&W and unless one is gifted to me I'll likely never own one. It doesn't do anything for me that a 9mm or 45ACP will do just as well, if not better.

40's are waning in popularity and you can see that in their resale value. Generally speaking, they are harder to sell and thus don't hold their value as well. -No hard data, just my casual observations.

[Coal Dragger]

I currently own only one pistol in .40S&W, and only because it was a very good deal on a pistol you can't get right now. I have a SIG P226 X5, one of the last of the all German made guns before the German government export ban. It's also the only .40S&W I've ever shot that I actually like, being an all steel match fitted German take on the 1911 more or less.

That said I am tempted to gave a Bar-Sto 9mm conversion barrel made for it, or maybe a .357 SIG barrel. A 5" Match fit .357 SIG would be pretty cool, much cooler than a .40S&W...