Connecticut Preparedness Community Forums

It seems to me people buy guns in .40 cal then turn around and sell them after a short time. Is this just my imagination? Or is this actually a trend?
I shot a nice Sig in .40 cal and fell in love... would I be better off with the 9mm? I'm not talking stopping power. I'm a target shooter.

Gerry

For just target shooting 9mm is usually cheaper, and some people find that they can shoot better groups because of the lower recoil.

.40 is a pretty fast round and paper doesn't care how fast the bullet is going.

But, if you like the gun and shoot it well, can find or load ammo, enjoy what you like.

.40 was developed to replace 10mm because some people didn't care for the recoil, but as a defensive round, the target development suffered, so target shooters are kind of left out unless it's USPSA or some type of "action" shoot.

9mm has been around for a long time and is in use world wide, so there are a lot more options.

For pure target shooting, I'm a revolver fan.

John,
Would you steer someone away from carrying .40 as a common defensive round? I carry it often in a compact, not really up to speed on the ballistics.
Thanks!

Nope, shoot what you are most comfortable shooting in gun/caliber.

Be picky about bullet selection, remember a hot round needs really good expansion to avoid over penetration, the NYPD can get away with shooting up every one and thing to get one suspect, you, however are responsible for all of the damage for anything that comes out of your gun.

Also the "stats" say the majority of defensive encounters are in the 3-6 foot range, how much velocity do you need? A .75 cal bullet at 1500fps is still useless if it doesn't hit the target. Shot placement will always be the ultimate deciding factor in round effectiveness.

Semi wad cutter and wad cutter bullets in medium hard lead are great defensive bullets, if you want to see expansion, come up when I'm melting down some old bullets. A 170 gr hollow point semi wad cutter out of a .357 flattens out about the size of a quarter

The most effective bullet is the one that leaves all it's energy in the target, so if it doesn't pass through, that's the best case.

good explanation.............