.40 S&W - How's it's popularity outside the United States?

[RAM Engineer]

Has .40 S&W caught on to any appreciable degree outside the US? I know it's hugely popular here, but I'm ignorant of how well it's doing outside our borders.

[Buck]

Somewhere between zero and none...

B

[Alpha Sierra]

You would think that it would be a hit in countries that restrict civilian ownership of firearms in military calibers. But then again, they also tend to severely restrict handgun ownership.......

[TiroFijo]

In latin america:

In countries that do not restric by caliber (typically up to 380 ACP/38 spl allowed for civilian ownership) like argentina, paraguay, uruguay, chile, venezuela and colombia, for defense handguns the 9 mm para is by FAR the most popular, 45 ACP far second, and 40 S&W a distant third, but still you can get ammo and guns for it almost everywhere. Other niche of the 40 is IPSC shooting.

Besides Mexico, nobody uses the 38 super (unless in IPSC open).

In south africa, about ten years ago, it was about the same.

Most countries do no restric by "military caliber" anymore, and if they do they also have the handgun caliber restrictions as above.

In many places the laws have been written by people who cannot tell one side from the other in a gun, so there are a lot of errors, grey zones and missinterpretations. In Mexico you can have a 223 Rem rifle but not one marked 5.56...

[m39nut]

I believe that one of the police forces in Australia is using the M&P 40. I know in Europe 40 is pretty much a non starter.

[Entropy]

I believe that one of the police forces in Australia is using the M&P 40. I know in Europe 40 is pretty much a non starter.

I believe that this is Sidney PD.

Outside of the USA, it is pretty rare. Kinda like the 9mm Makarov was in the west.

[Winnie the Poo]

In Ontario, Canada, police general issue handguns are legislated to be, at least .40 cal and double action/safe action only. I don't know of any force in the province that hasn't chosen .40 S&W, most Glocks with a few Sig 229s thrown in.

[Army Chief]

I know in Europe 40 is pretty much a non starter.

That would seem to correlate with my experience, as I never once saw .40 S&W in Germany in nearly 10 years.

AC

[dc202]

Relatively popular among Canadian LE.

[GermanSynergy]

Only saw one 1911 style handgun in .40 at a gun club in Sargobard, Hungary. Lots of 9x19 and .45 ACP variants.

Outside of CONUS and some CIS states, 9x19 is king of the hill, and will remain so for the forseeable future, IMHO.