Several 9'mm add a .40?

[CT8]

Originally Posted By: Astro14
Originally Posted By: billt460
Originally Posted By: Astro14
A pistol built for the .40 will last just as long as any 9mm pistol.


This is simply not true. Most all trainers, along with indoor ranges who rent high round count guns, will testify to the fact they've seen far more .40 pistols wear out much faster than the same weapons in 9 MM. Will it matter to the average shooter who overestimates his shooting, like most do? Probably not. But they WILL wear out faster.


We are saying the same thing: those weapons weren't built for a .40, they were the same weapon built as a 9mm and then modified. A modified 9mm, like the Beretta 96, does wear out quicker than its 9mm progenitor. The .40 has more recoil, more muzzle energy, and the gun, locking mechanism, recoil system, etc. has to absorb that higher energy on every shot.

But the H&K, for example, built from the ground up to handle the .45, .40 and 9mm in the same frame, doesn't have that problem. Further, as you point out, the average shooter will likely never explore the durability limits of their pistol.

Back to the OP's question: should I get one?

Yes.
The H&K must be a pilot thing

One of the guys i go shoot with is a pro pilot and has a 45 H&k.

 

[Astro14]

Perhaps....

I was issued an H&K a decade ago. Loved it. Incredible reliability. Good ergonomics. Accurate.

H&K offered a deal about that time: send in a copy of your pilot ID, and for $500, you could purchase a USP compact in .40. It included the LEM trigger and tritium sights. It retailed for about $1,000 at the time. Limit one per customer, of course.

You bet I bought one!

Bought a Glock 23 a few years ago..just haven't gotten around to shooting that pistol...not yet...I shoot one of my G19s often...and the G20, of course...and others....

 

[2cool]

There is no question that the 40 will be snappier than an 9. If you have shot one and are good with it, why not? I use a 40 for winter time carry, and a 9 in the summer; for when we wear fewer and lighter clothes. Consistent shot placement is paramount for ANY carry pistol round. I have had a Ruger SR40c for three years now, and can shoot it better than any other handgun I've tried.
Reloading is fun, and you can build rounds to suit your particular application, regardless of what's on the shelf.

 

[Reg# 43897]

Doesn't matter what the heck it is if you aren't completely comfortable w/ it's use & as accurate as possible. You must be able to hit what you're shooting at under extreme duress & in terrible conditions. High-vis sights (tritium ideally) combined w/ white light of some sort goes along w/ it. I like revolvers for self defence scenarios, but that's me. Ain't goin' down that well-beaten track tonight... Anyway, the old wisdom of accurately shooting the biggest round possible holds less & less water these days. Look up the current numbers on 147gr Federal HST 9mm & tell me why I still need .45ACP? 'Cause I ain't seein' it, quite frankly.

I like the idea of buying a few crates of 9mm ammo w/ some of the money that you would have put into buying another gun. Then start working on your CCW draw, flash-light/gun grip or, better yet, get a light-mount on the gun. That might compromise the carry possibilities so I'll leave that to your discretion. A small, tactical flashlight such as made by Surefire (have two plus an Innova that ain't bad) & a nice Spyderco (yes, partial to those, as well!) & it's you against the world!

My two cents' worth...

John.

 

[Robenstein]

Originally Posted By: MolaKule
Originally Posted By: hatt
Get a Glock 20 and a bunch of barrels. With conversion barrels you can shoot:

10mm
9x25
.40
.357 Sig
.38 Super
9mm



Good idea

If you do choose a .40, I suggest a S&W SD .40.



While it may work okay to drop a 9mm barrel into a 40S&W gun, the 40 S&W extractor in the slide will not have as good of a grip on the smaller 9mm rim. I would not trust a conversion barrel gun with my life. But it is fun to kill paper bad guys.

 

[hatt]

Originally Posted By: Robenstein
Originally Posted By: MolaKule
Originally Posted By: hatt
Get a Glock 20 and a bunch of barrels. With conversion barrels you can shoot:

10mm
9x25
.40
.357 Sig
.38 Super
9mm



Good idea

If you do choose a .40, I suggest a S&W SD .40.



While it may work okay to drop a 9mm barrel into a 40S&W gun, the 40 S&W extractor in the slide will not have as good of a grip on the smaller 9mm rim. I would not trust a conversion barrel gun with my life. But it is fun to kill paper bad guys.
The conversion barrel's bore is offset a little to help the extractor. But yeah. I'd only use it at the range.

 

[tomcat27]

for a long time around here you could not find 9mm at the chain stores - and I could get .40 at the same stores. fortunately, there is always a supply of 9mm if you know where to look. if our military and law enforcement agencies are good with 9mm; there is no reason to get a .40 for "stopping power". if you add a .40 to your collection, add it because you want a .40; not for some other reason. same with a .45

 

[CT8]

Today I went to the range and shot a 1911 in 45 acp and a 1911 in 40 S@W and a 1911 in 9mm. They were all good to shoot. Still I really like the 9. The 45 shooting SWC does make the nicest holes in the paper though. The 9 makes little 380

size holes not even manly.

 

[bubbatime]

I've owned about 40-50 .40SW handguns in my life. Today, I own ZERO. I completely liquidated the caliber for 9MM. Many police agencies are doing the same. Including the FBI.

I have one .357 Sig pistol left (Glock 31). I also have a factory Glock .40 barrel for it. I don't ever shoot it any more with the .40 barrel, I just keep the pistol and extra .40 barrel for apocalypse end of the world scenarios. I like having a pistol in that caliber in case I can't find any 9MM or .45ACP.

.40 is a good caliber. 9MM offers faster follow up shots and usually two more rounds in the pistol, and is slightly cheaper.

I've seen a lot of guys switching from .40 to 9MM. The round is dead by no means, but it is losing market share by the day, no doubt.

 

[Hokiefyd]

Originally Posted By: CT8
Today I went to the range and shot a 1911 in 45 acp and a 1911 in 40 S@W and a 1911 in 9mm. They were all good to shoot. Still I really like the 9. The 45 shooting SWC does make the nicest holes in the paper though. The 9 makes little 380

size holes not even manly.


I find 9mm and .45 to feel very similar in the hand when shooting...at least when shooting 1911s. I've never shot a .40 1911 to compare, though.

Bubbatime, a lot of agencies are indeed moving to 9mm, including our own Fayetteville PD. They are trading all of their Glock 22s for Glock 17s. I don't know all of the drivers behind it. Some say 9mm is just as effective. Some say 9mm is easier to shoot. Some say 9mm is less expensive, and it's driven by the dollar.

I don't know in the end. All I own is 9mm (in handguns) and I enjoy it.

 

[Robenstein]

The true sweet shooter in the 1911 world is the 38 super. If the ammo was not so expensive to buy and find, that would be the one I would own.

 

[CT8]

The only 38 Super 1911 I have shot was a guys race gun. It was a really hard core build the trigger was feather light but what was interesting was you could feel the trigger s breaking point it wasn't a touch the trigger and bang . It had a RDS on it and that was wonderful!. Even better is the compensator. The owner loaded as needed the 38 super hot to make the compensator work and there was N0 recoil and NO muzzle rise when firing to date that was the most incredible gun I have ever shot. My son shot is as well and just grinned.

 

[Y_K]

Originally Posted By: hatt
If you're asking BITOG what gun to buy you're not going to wear one out.

Couldn't have said it better

.40 is the most misunderstood caliber. Remarkable ballistic, trajectory, penetration. Just do your own research.
Astro14 has hte setup you could look into.

 

[dareo]

Originally Posted By: Boomer
Never forget....the German armies of WW I and WW II all used 9 mm pistols and they seemd to do just fine with that ammo until their armies were over-run..and there was A LOT more involved in that than the use of 9 mm ammo. With the new ammo available, a 9 will have great stopping power.


9MM is german engineering at its finest! They used ball ammo too. Very effective out of an MP-40.

I personally go .45 for a 2nd platform. 45 is more common than 40, and more different than 9mm. Big heavy slow vs light and fast, more complimentary. 40 is fine and dandy but i'l take 9mm 1st and 45 cal second.

 

[AZjeff]

Originally Posted By: Robenstein

While it may work okay to drop a 9mm barrel into a 40S&W gun, the 40 S&W extractor in the slide will not have as good of a grip on the smaller 9mm rim. I would not trust a conversion barrel gun with my life. But it is fun to kill paper bad guys.


Hmm.. what if your 40 converted to 9mm has fired a bushel of 9mm ammo with ZERO failures? Most guys who trust their life to a pistol have a proof number of rounds before the pistol is to be trusted. Some guys at work this number is less than a box of ammo. Others say 500 or 1000 rounds. In my case the pistol has well proven itself.

 

[Robenstein]

Originally Posted By: AZjeff
Originally Posted By: Robenstein

While it may work okay to drop a 9mm barrel into a 40S&W gun, the 40 S&W extractor in the slide will not have as good of a grip on the smaller 9mm rim. I would not trust a conversion barrel gun with my life. But it is fun to kill paper bad guys.


Hmm.. what if your 40 converted to 9mm has fired a bushel of 9mm ammo with ZERO failures? Most guys who trust their life to a pistol have a proof number of rounds before the pistol is to be trusted. Some guys at work this number is less than a box of ammo. Others say 500 or 1000 rounds. In my case the pistol has well proven itself.


Well in a SHTF situation, when you may have to run the gun dirty and in nasty environmental conditions, that extractor that works well in a more sanitary environment may cause issues. Whether or not you trust it, that is up to you. I won't trust an extractor that is optimal for a 40 S&W, but only marginal for a 9mm.

 

[LoneRanger]

http://www.ballistics101.com/40_caliber_sw.php

http://www.ballistics101.com/45_acp.php

.40 S&W very close in muzzle energy to .45, even higher in some common loads.

 

[LoneRanger]

As far as the 9 being tamer to shoot and thus fostering better possible shot placement, with shot placement being key.... I agree shot placement is key. But in a full on adrenalin pumped shooting in defense of your life, shot placement is going to be [censored]. So you need maximum energy for then rounds that 1. hit the target at all, and 2. land in the kill zone. 40 or 45.

 

[Mystic]

I owned a .40 cal Glock for a while. I didn't like it very much. I sold it and bought a S&W M&P .45. I like that gun and also my S&W M&P 9mm.

 

[bubbatime]

Originally Posted By: LoneRanger
As far as the 9 being tamer to shoot and thus fostering better possible shot placement, with shot placement being key.... I agree shot placement is key. But in a full on adrenalin pumped shooting in defense of your life, shot placement is going to be [censored]. So you need maximum energy for then rounds that 1. hit the target at all, and 2. land in the kill zone. 40 or 45.


Any of the service calibers perform "about the same". You get more shots with a 9mm and faster follow up shots. 9MM is WAY better through barriers than 45ACP, so if you have to shoot through a car door or similar, a 9MM is superior to a .45ACP.

I have tons of experience in ballistics, tactics, and firearms and I rate the common service calibers, from best to worst as follows: .357SIG, 9MM, .40, with .45ACP dead last.

Your mileage may vary.