handgun caliber; 9mm or S&W .40
 

I'm downsizing from my Glock 20 10mm full size. !0mm is a beast to shoot, a lot of fun, but I want to move down a step.

I've never owned a 9mm or S&W .40 caliber handgun; but understand they are very popular. This is not for CCW; but for home security.

Would appreciate any opinions between those two rounds. I guess the .40 S&W is the hotter load ?

The .40 S&W was given the shorter case as it was a 10 mm auto "light".

If you want to get away from the 10 mm "snap". why not consider a .45 acp?

edit

I do have a 9mm, it's a Taurus G2C. it's a Taurus, it's inexpensive but it shoots well and is reliable as hell. ( basically it shouldn't work and point as well as it does for the price )

This will be one of those threads where everyone has an opinion.
For me...I have several 9mm and one S&W 40.
From what I understand, a large number of law enforcement agencies are moving from the 9mm to the .40. It has a slightly better stopping power.
I think it is much more important to find a pistol that you are comfortable with and can shoot well. The difference in recoil between these two is negligible.

I've migrated from a .44 mag, to a Glock 10mm.

Now am wanting to take one step smaller (in size) again. The recoil isn't on the consider list.

that was true 10-15 years ago. But now I'm reading where law enforcement is switching back to 9mm.

???????

10mm and .40S&W are both the exact size (diameter) bullet.

I plan on giving my Glock 20 10mm (and about 200 rounds) to my brother as a gift.

I am aware of that; but the S&W .40 has less powder and a little shorter... and the handguns that are .40 S&W seem to be a little more compact in size than the full 10mm.

My Glock 10mm is almost impossible for Yvonne to shoot with confidence. Her hands (when grasping this model 20) look like a child is holding it.

:)

Wife's Sig is .40 and she can poke your eye out with it

I prefer 9m. My Glock and HK are both chambered in 9m

We have the stupid fun guns also (45-70, 44mag etc.) but they are expensive to shoot. Having said that, 9m and .40 are reasonably cheap so we have lots of food for them

Be sure to post up when you decide Mike... :seasix:

The .40 S&W started life as the 10mm made for the FBI who rapidly found that if loaded to initial pressures produced recoil that made it difficult for a significant percentage of agents to qualify with their duty weapons. Instead of insisting those trainees become facile with what is a very powerful pistol cartridge, the Bureau decided to "tame" the cartridge in the interest of no one and the .40 was developed as "10mm light". In essence the cartridge is the answer to a question no one should have asked since the 45ACP can do anything better.
On the other hand, the 9mm was developed strictly as a warfighting cartridge, and as propellant and bullet technologies have progressed over time it has proven to be quite a capable defensive round, and is available almost anywhere ammo is sold which is not necessarily the case for the .40. I personally do not own a .40 caliber handgun, and never will again. The 9mm shoots softly and is easily controlled even in +P form, and the .45ACP is (I believe) more capable than the .40 and is no more difficult to control.

I’ll go with what the FBI has: 9mm Hornady Critical Duty, 135grain JHP.

9mm rounds are easier to get your hands on, and it's fine for your purposes. Nuff said.

that's also what I've read.. the 9mm with better loads performs about equal to the S&W .40... but with less recoil (and the weapons tend to be slightly smaller).

I had a Colt 1911 .45; my first handgun ever. The bullet speed is slower; and penetration isn't as good if the person being shot is wearing thick or multi-layered clothing. Oh, the .45 will knock a person down with ease... but might not cause a fatal injury in some cases.

The 9mm is looking good this early on.

Glock 19 FTW. Smallish, decent capacity, dead nuts reliable, easy to shoot quickly. Not my first choice as a bullseye weapon, but guess what is next to my bed? I find it the easiest weapon I have ever handled to rapidly put center mass rounds down range than anything else I have ever shot. With a bit of practice it is also the easiest thing to do an under stress reload I have ever experienced. It SUCKS as a bullseye weapon, but it excels as a "shoot fast, shoot well" arm.

Bullet construction and performance has greatly improved over the last 10 years.

.380 acp is now a decent round due to better construction ( no I am not recommending one )

9mm

Have a Glock 27 in 40. Bought it before 9mm ammo improved. It's really snappy and not fun to shoot though very handy. Until recently I'd have argued "45 cause the don't make a 46" and my Springfield TRP is a dream to shoot but considering replacing it with a 9mm just for capacity. Someone mentioned 9mm being common but during the last ammo shortage, I could almost always find .40 but rarely 9mm or .45.

Go with a 9mm. If you want a .40, all you need to do is buy a drop in Conversion barrel for your Glock 20 and now you have a .40 S&W. I shoot .40 all day long in my 10mm with a drop in barrel. There are no permanent modifications and you can go back and forth easily. That being said, I really don’t like .40 S&W. It’s snappier than a 9mm, and not as fun to shoot. Ammunition is a bit more expensive, and you’re going to have better accuracy with a 9mm.

A lot of law enforcement went to the .40 S&W at one time, but almost all of them are going back to the 9mm. Most law enforcement agencies are happy with the 9mm.

Not really... that’s what people like to say, but a lot of law enforcement agencies still carry the 9mm 147 Ranger SXT. This is basically the “Black Talon” round introduced in 1992. It’s not a bad round, but it’s getting long in the tooth. I prefer the Gold Dot G2 147 grain 9mm which is bonded and delivers superior performance out of a full size 9mm handgun. ‘

Where 9mm gets it’s bad name is that most people “insist” on carrying ammunition that is optimized for full sized law enforcement duty weapons that have 4”+ barrel lengths. This 9mm ammunition does not perform well in subcompacts such as the Glock 43 and SIG P365 due to loss of velocity and incomplete powder burn.

If you use 9mm ammunition that is optimized for subcompact weapons when carrying a small micro 9mm, then you can expect good results and excellent terminal ballistics. Sig recognized this issue and came out with the V Crown series of ammunition which performs well in the P365 and other micro-subcompacts.

I never considered ammunition to be bad. People just made bad ammunition choices.

Same goes for .380. If I’m carrying a .380, I carry 95 grain full metal jacket. Controlled Expansion rounds just don’t deliver consistently good results out of most .380 subcompacts.

Ruger LC9, or maybe the S&W M&P's 9's may work well.

Mike you can not go wrong with either caliber. Saving a lot of writing by saying that.

9 is more popular and tons of different ammo available.

Do not know your states laws but you can get a round or two more in a mag with the slightly smaller 9.

As far as the guns to shoot them everybody has their opinion staying out of that.

You know your way around guns you realy can not make a bad move.

Both my and Yvonnes CCW are .380; using the Hornaday Critical Defense loads.

This next purchase will be for home defense.