How does a .40 S&W differ from a 9 mm and .45?

Question

Could anyone please comment on the differences between a 9mm, .40 and .40 S&W handgun in terms of:

1. Power
2. Recoil
3. Price of ammunition?

Also, I'm interested in any thoughts about the benefits or drawbacks of the Beretta PX4 (my understanding is that it can shoot both 9 mm and .40 S&W cartridges--is this correct?) vs a standard 9 mm or .40 S&W.

Thanks.

Answer 1

The .40 started life as a 10mm round. A very powerful round that was adopted by the FBI. But the agents complained about the stout recoil and so the bastard step child, the .40 "Short & Weak" was born.

Another reason for the .40 was an attempt to get .45 ACP performance and 9mm capacity out of the round. Of course, you don't really get either.

As a compromise of capacity and power, the gun does not do too badly. It has become a popular choice with law enforcement. Still, if you want to "hose the street", a 9mm is the only way to go. If you want to punch gaping holes, my .45ACP, 200 gr. jacketed hollow point, at about 1000 fps is the only way to go.

Recoil? Well, if you can't handle a 9mm recoil, you shouldn't even own a gun. The difference in .40 and .45 gets interesting. The 155 gr. .40 round is pleasent to shoot but does not perform much better than a 9mm. The 165 gr and 180 gr. loads pack a punch but recoil is pronounced. In fact, my .45 ACP, 200 gr. load is better behaved. Loads like the 230 gr. +P .45 ACP rounds are very powerful rounds but recoil can be heavy.

I reload all my practice ammo, so I only buy "carry ammo" about once a year. "Sticker Shock" hurts worse than recoil. The 9mm stuff is still the cheapest on the market. The .40 and .45 ammo is almost the same price, running about $25 to $35 a box here in Wyoming.

Answer 2

I own a Glock Model 22 in .40 S&W, and a Colt Govt. Mk IV series 70 auto, and I have shot a Glock 19 9mm. The .40 S&W round operates at about the same pressure as the 9mm, and has a little more zip [recoil], because it delivers more energy to the target with the popular 180 grain jacket bullet many people use. The .45 is by no means soft on recoil, but it is slightly less than the .40 S&W. The .45ACP round is still considered by many gun authorities as a great man stopper. 9mm by far is the cheapest in loaded ammo. You can get a box of 50 9mm's for about$7- $8. the other will run about $12- $15 in my area. I handload my own ammo, so I can shoot a lot cheaper than buying factory rounds. You might consider this option later down the road.

Answer 3

Well, if you take a micrometer to a 9mm and a .40 cal., you won't see much difference. For all pratical purposes, they are almost the same diameter as a .38 cal round. (Which, by the way, is not .38, but .357!) Now the .45 is a different animal all together. It's almost 1/2 inch around, and is actually .45 in diameter. (Truth in advertising there.) You have many 9mm and .40's to chose from, along with all the different versions of .38 cal ammo. Since you bring up the .45 cal, which is my favorite, I can tell you a few things about it. The .45 cal round has been around since the mid 1800's. It was one of the first calibers to be made as a regular cased round. Not the first, but close enough. The .38 (Actually a .35) was the first in major commercial manufacture. The .38 is OK if you are good at a head shot first time out. Well, a heart shot is good too, but when you are tense, and the guns are banging away, you take what you can get. I would rather hit a person with the .45, which makes a much bigger hole, and is lots heavier (.38 round is about 150 in weight, the .45 starts out with 210 and goes up to 240 if you roll your own.) and has what is termed "knockdown" power. You can put a few 9mm holes in a person, and just make them mad. You hit them with the .45 and they ain't mad anymore, just dead. Everything has a price. The tradeoff is you can carry many more rounds of the 9mm and .40 cal, etc., than you can of .45 cal ammo. The largest handgun magazine I have used in .45 cal was a twin stack, 10 round mag in an Astra A-80. Easy to hide, but nasty to shoot since it was so light. I like a model 1911 since I carried one as an MP, but you get only seven rounds, and it's a pretty big package to carry concealed. The end result is your 9mm and your .40 cal are pretty much the same, except for bullet weight and powder charge. The handguns that fire them are also a mixed bag. If you want to see a really nasty small caliber round, from a very cheaply made gun, (But sturdy, I have to admit.) get a TT-4 in 7.62 X 25. (7.62 is about .30 cal. Smaller than a .38 or 9mm.) It uses the same round as the 7.62 X 39 in a bottleneck case which holds more powder than a straight case. It has a much higher velocity than the .45 cal (Hell, just about anything moves faster than a .45!) and moves out so quickly that the gun actually twists in your hand! The fireworks from the ejection port are also impressive. I could go on and on, but am not sure if I am doing a good job at answering your question. As a person that has handloaded many rounds of both rifle and pistol ammo, and have carried many handguns (With the proper paperwork!) I hope this helped. If not, please feel free to contact me to get additional inormation.

Answer 4

.40 S&W sits in the middle between 9mm and .45ACP in size, energy and recoil, with 9mm being the lowest of the group.

Please don't let recoil, or an ungrounded fear of it, be a determining factor in your choice of handgun caliber. For everyone except the infirmed or very weak, proper training will eliminate fear of recoil. Sure, .45 has more bang, but I know small females with small hands who shoot it quite well.

9mm is by far the cheapest and .45ACP is very common and there are some deals on ammo. .40 is likely the most expensive at this time, but that may change as the caliber becomes more and more popular. Again, price of ammo is really not a good decision-making item. However if you want to shoot thousands and thousands of rounds, get a 9mm.

The PX4 does not shoot both 9mm and .40S&W. This information is false.

Answer 5

All three are defensive pistol rounds. The nine has been around the longest and with the right ammo is a decent stopper. The .45 acp is a better man stopper but not so good against barriers. The forty was made to duplicate the performance of the old tried n true .45 acp. The .45 is also the widest bore of the three calibers you are inquiring about. This may have an 'intimidation' advange if nothing else. None have significant recoil. None are 'magnum' class rounds say suitable for hunting big game like deer. If you want power than switch to a .10mm or larger.

Best.

H

Answer 6

1. Power

This is really does not matter. 40SW and 45ACP both have more foot pounds of energy at muzzle than 9mm, but big deal. Do not let that be too much of an issue.


2. Recoil

40SW has considerable recoil for a package of its size. I found that 9mm and 45ACP were far more easy to get used to in the field.


3. Price of Ammunition

9mm is the cheapest by far, even after price increases. It is the most common centerfire round on the earth. 40SW is not more expensive than 45ACP. I do not know where this idea comes from, but maybe the poster is thinking about the years before 40SW got adopted by agencies. 45ACP is the most expensive of the three. All three rounds are very common, so you have to start looking at the amount of metal being used.

Answer 7

In terms of power in general it would go, from least to most powerful, 9mm, .40SW, .45ACP. Though with certain more powerful loads of .40SW the energy is pretty much equal to many standard .45ACP loads.

In recoil it follows pretty much the same pattern, as a general rule the more powerful a cartridge, the more recoil is will produce though this also depends on other factors, ie. the same cartridge will produce more felt recoil in a smaller, lighter pistol than a larger one. .40SW has pretty snappy recoil though, it's pretty equal with .45ACP.

In terms of price, 9mm is cheapest, it's the most common pistol cartridge in the world and is available from every manufacturer pretty much. .40SW and .45ACP will be more expensive.

9mm and .40SW are most certainly not interchangable. There aren't that many common pistol cartridges that are interchangable. Some pistols can alter between .40SW and .357 SIG with only a barrel change, but only if the pistol was designed for it. Revolvers are more likely to fire some cartridges interchangably, ie. .38special in .357 magnum or .45LC in .454 Cassull, but always check first, doing it when it isn't designed to be done can blow your hand off.

Beretta PX4 is reletively new, I haven't heard a ton about it. Beretta's a good name and I can only assume that if maintained it will function pretty reasonably. It's newer so it's made from polymers and is lighter and designed with ergonomics in mind to a large degree.

Answer 8

assuming you are selecting a personal defense weapon, keep in mind that the FBI conducted a series of tests in the late 80's using various calibers. that determined optimum penetration for law enforcement or personal defense use must allow the missle to penetrate up to a depth of 12 inches in an angled ballistic mass to be considered reliably effective. the .45 did not have sufficient velocity to consistently and accurately score kill hits with the necessary penetration. On the other hand, the 9mm missle tended to excessively fragment upon entry and also could not consistently reach the critical 12 inch penetration depth with accuracy. The only round that consistently provided penetration sufficient to neutralize a target, combined with superior accuracy, was (then) the 10mm, which became the .40s.w. round.
if you are choosing between those three only, the 40 is by far your best choice. although the brand of weapon is somewhat a matter of personal preference, the glock 22 or 23 will easily surpass the beretta in combat- simulated testing as well as extreme condtion testing.

on the other hand, the .357sig round has shown a slight advantage over the 40, however experts cannot agree whether the significantly more expensive .357sig has such a large advantage in performance over the 40 to justify its price.

the glock model 31, when purchased with the correct replacement components, is capable of firing both the 357sig and the 40sw.


heres the deal... in general terms, 9mm has the highest velocity but because of its lowest mass, it has the lowest muzzle energy. Velocity provides penetration and energy provides secondary tissue damage. the problem is that many 9mm missles are of poor design and they fragment before they can reach effective penetration.
40 and 357 sig offer the best balance of high velocity with increased muzzle energy. additionally, the aerodynamic design of either of these missles allows much more consistent long-range accuracy.
45 traditionally was the slowest of the "big 3" but it had the most mass and therefore the highest muzzle energy. however, the 40 and 357sig can match the 45 energy while surpassing the 45 velocity and therefore penetration. furthermore, the mass of the 45 missle made it notoriously less accurate at longer distances becase of aerodynamic flaws combined with the heavy mass, which caused the projectile to tumble at relatively short distances.

Answer 9

Though the talking heads and various studies make for an interesting use of paper the facts speak for themselves. The 45 gets the job done and the military is going back to that caliber; it is in use around the world. Have a sister who served as a police officer and she was all atwitter at first when the 40 came out; six months later she unloaded it and borrowed one of my 45 autos; which I never did get unborrowed back from her. She packs a nice little 9mm off duty as she believes in prayer and firepower jointly.

Answer 10

the 9mm gives a bigger punch