So by your logic higher capacity is the way to go. That knocks out 1911's, revolvers, and the small pistols.
If the 9mm has improved then it stands to reason so have 40 S&W and 45 ACP.
I have also found that self defense 9mm is not a lot cheaper than the self defense ammo for 40 and 45 and 357 Sig self defense ammo can be found for less than $.50 a round ( I have bought some this year from Bud's).
There is no magic caliber just like there is no magic gun, buy the platform and ammo you shoot best and spend the time and money with it.
The police aren't trading in those guns because they're broke. They're trading them in because they've decided to follow a different fad.
Whenever the police or military does something, the public follows like lemmings. If the police adopted .357 SIG, you wouldn't be able to get one for a while.
People are sheep. Especially when it comes to guns.
There are a couple of advantages of .40, but they are both cancelled out if you just stock enough ammo to not worry about it.
One is that some .40 pistols can be converted to 9mm with an aftermarket barrel swap and a magazine. Works just fine in Glocks and M&Ps in my experience.
The other is that, judging from the last ammo "shortage," there may be .40 on the shelf when all of the 9mm and .45 has dried up.
Neither one of these matter much if you have thousands of rounds of 9mm in your stash, which is easier to accomplish with today's ammo prices of 9mm vs. 40.
Ballistically speaking, the best defensive/duty ammo in both calibers seem to perform about the same with regards to penetration and expansion. Some 9mm even outperforms .40 in the same brand in FBI testing.
Even if there was a slight ballistic advantage of the slightly larger .40 round, I don't think it's enough to warrant messing with stocking another caliber and losing the capacity in the same platform. A 9mm handgun with 2 rounds left in the magazine is ballistically superior to any .40 with the slide locked back on an empty chamber.
One of the biggest problems with 9mm is that it makes infrequent shooters think they are better than they really are. I’d wager that the bulk of non-LE 9mm shooters that carry hot +P ammo do most, if not all of their practice with WWB or similar lightly loaded target ammo. They run the gun and get decent hits with very little recoil or muzzle flip then load up their carry mags with the hottest stuff they can find, but can’t afford to actually shoot. Then, if they do find themselves needing to use the pistol, they suddenly feel all of that near-.40 recoil and throw bullets all over the place.
If they are not going to at least occasionally run hot 9mm, they should buy themselves some Hornady Critical Defense and run with what they know how to shoot.
.40 target ammo is a lot closer to .40 carry ammo and you get a better feel of the gun running closer to what you carry.
Misty put a bunch out, call her and ask, because I saw as new no box one mag $200, and with box $250, great condition Gen 2 I bet, Gen 3 with box too, BUT I WAS snatching the G-22 $ 11 mags, and two new $21 G-21 mags so since they had no PD roll marks on them I had to pass.
I did ask if they were IMPD or ISP, and she said no.
i was in a hurry as it was about their closing time and f ing traffic to Fishers was already starting to suck that time of day.
Was the Gen 2 box so special that someone would willingly pay $50 more just to get one?
I agree with the 357 sig loads. Two of the last pistols I bought were Sig P229 and one came with a 357 Sig barrel, then I bought some 357 sig ammo that came with another 357 Sig barrel, then bought a 357 Sig barrel for one of my Glock 23s. I like the other calibers and have pistols for them (carry a Glock 30 with a HYVE +2 extension plus another magazine) but still enjoy the Glock 23s in 40. My favorite 9mm pistol is a S&W 459. The P229 in 357 Sig is more of a push than anything else.I agree, training is much more relevant when you do it with ammo that closely approximates your carry load. But I've never shot a 9mm that was obnoxious as a .40 in the same platform, no matter how hot the 9mm load. And I carry Underwood +P+ 147 grain ammo in one of my compacts. I even had a .357 Sig barrel for my Glock 23 way back when, and it was a lot smoother than .40 in the same gun. Something about .40 just feels off. Not "too much" recoil, just an obnoxious recoil impulse or something. Hard to put into words, really. It's not as noticeable in the M&P platform, but really noticeable in Glocks, at least to me.
I agree, training is much more relevant when you do it with ammo that closely approximates your carry load. But I've never shot a 9mm that was obnoxious as a .40 in the same platform, no matter how hot the 9mm load. And I carry Underwood +P+ 147 grain ammo in one of my compacts. I even had a .357 Sig barrel for my Glock 23 way back when, and it was a lot smoother than .40 in the same gun. Something about .40 just feels off. Not "too much" recoil, just an obnoxious recoil impulse or something. Hard to put into words, really. It's not as noticeable in the M&P platform, but really noticeable in Glocks, at least to me.
I agree, training is much more relevant when you do it with ammo that closely approximates your carry load. But I've never shot a 9mm that was obnoxious as a .40 in the same platform, no matter how hot the 9mm load. And I carry Underwood +P+ 147 grain ammo in one of my compacts. I even had a .357 Sig barrel for my Glock 23 way back when, and it was a lot smoother than .40 in the same gun. Something about .40 just feels off. Not "too much" recoil, just an obnoxious recoil impulse or something. Hard to put into words, really. It's not as noticeable in the M&P platform, but really noticeable in Glocks, at least to me.
But if you really like a .40, this gun shoots much better than any Glock. (I've owned both) A smoking deal at $292 brand new for an M&P Compact 2.0:
https://www.lockedloaded.com/products/handguns-smith-wesson-022188871852-2335