I would rather go 10mm.

I know....

 

oh yes... a quarter century of hate about to commence on arfcom.. so in...

27 is a fun little fucker..

The truly funny thing about this is that back in the day of old Single Action wheel guns, and the .357 magnum was a new kid on the block, the formula for a good fighting handgun was an approximately .40 caliber bullet pushing a 200 grain slug at about 1000 feet per second, which is nearly identical to the old .38-40 load that was common used in the Colt Single Action Army and Winchester rifles.  The old .38-40 was actually a .40 caliber round.

The 10MM would have worked if they stuck with heavier all-steel guns.  Once things went light-weight and polymer, the 10MM just became too much of a handful for the polygrip and vagasil shooters.

The 10mm isn't a handful for me in the Glock 20 and 29 but it sure as hell is a whooper and not suitable for a service pistol.

You miss the point:

.223/9mm = cheap and practical.

.45/.308 = classic and manly.

.40/6.8mm = modern compromise cartridge, arguably the best of everything.

Plus the fact that each share a similar case head diameters.

The .40 and 6.8mm in particular are derived of the same parent cartrdge.

The .40/6.8mm are both more power cartridges designed to fit with in the 9mm/.223 platforms respectively.

The vintage .45/.308 require larger platforms (magazines).

Interesting analogy... I consider it like this...

 

It's my recollection that the .40 came into being not because the 10mm was beating shooters to death, but because it was beating  the pistols to death.  The FBI downloaded their 10's to protect the Colts, somebody noticed that you could get the same performance with a shorter cartridge et viola!  .40 S&W.



Assuming one or two things-- those being that you are large enough and strong enough to control the recoil, there is no case in which the 9 as a single bullet outperforms the .40 with a comparable bullet.  Okay, the 9 expands blah blah.  So does the .40, but it starts out bigger.  Same same .45.



When the .40 first came out, I was carrying .45's or .44's  I did the math.  It seemed like a viable compromise between capacity and power.  I'd give up the latter for more of the former.  



Would I carry a 9 back then.  Fuck no!  Despite all of the hoopla, my coincidence meter  just can't get past the fact that the 9's were considered effete Eurotrash guns right up until the US military adopted the 92, at which point they magically and instantly became "teh bestest boolitz in teh wurld!"  Oddly, they were still pushing a .355 bullet only a little faster than the old .38's that were universally looked down upon as antiques.



Of course, back then, we were still under the misapprehension that pistols were more than "a thing you use to get to the rifle you never should have put down."  Back when the average number of shots fired in a personal confrontation was something like 2.3 rather than the 20-30 they are today.



You can skirt almost any law there is, right up until you get to physics.  That law is pretty well set.  mass and etc, y'know?  bigger, wider, faster.  Any adjustment in one requires one or both of the others to step up its game.  
In the end, it's all up to the shooter.  If you're going to carry a piece, carry the biggest one that you can readily carry (because leaving the cannon at home isn't as good as bringing a slingshot with you.) and the largest caliber that you can reliably shoot accurately.  A pistol you don't have with you is worthless, and one you can't hit with even moreso.  



OTOH, at the end of the day, the difference between 15+1 and 17+1 is negligible if you're actually hitting what you're aiming at.  If whatever you're shooting hasn't gone down for keeps by 15, you're probably dealing with something that's going to take multiple mag dumps or a rifle or shotgun.



Can't shoot a .45, or can't carry one with a large enough capacity to suit you?  Carry a .40.  Can't shoot a .40 because of the horrible () recoil, carry a 9.  Can't carry a 9 because.... uhm... reasons, carry a .32 or .380.  Hell, carry a .22lr if that's all you can handle/carry comfortably.



There was a time when the death knell was sounded for the .44spl, the .32acp, and even the .380.  All of them are still relatively common.  I can even still get .38-40 if I really want to.  (ballistically almost identical to .40 S&W in the same way that the old .36 is nearly 9mm)  



Getting back to the original topic, the .40S&W ain't going nowhere, nor is the 9 until the U.S. military adopts a different pistol cartridge, at which point I expect that the 9 will lose favor and this new one, whatever it may be, will becom AWESOMESAUCE! and acquire the same magical properties that 9 now enjoys.

9mm fans are 9mm because they're cheap and lazy. They work under the impression that "if TSHTF, I can get 9mm off dead bodies!" and the ever classic "i cam find it in any store across America!"

Blasphemy I tell you............BLASPHEMY!!

I can easily shoot it but I know I number of folks that can't. I love that Underwood ammo. My wife not so much... in the Glock... but in a S&W 610... it brings her smiles.

 

I gotta admit the 10mm frame is pretty big.

But the power............god damn, it just gives me a stiffy!!

Explain to me, including the physics, in DETAIL, how the 9mm, firing a significantly smaller, lighter bullet, that carries LESS kinetic energy, is somehow BETTER than the larger and more powerful 40 cal round?



Using YOUR logic, or what passes for YOUR logic, every law enforcement agency in the world SHOULD be using the 25ACP. Because it fires a smaller, less powerful bullet, than just about any other modern handgun round.



Now, go agead with your explanation. I really do want to hear what you have to say. And, at no time are you allowed to ignore the law of physics. I am assuming you took High School Physics. If you didn't, well, that explains a lot.



 

Hollow points..............why do you hate 9mm?

This.
Working at a gun store taught me your average shooter won't spend money on ammo or a good holster and very rarely even shoot their guns.
Larger caliber guns are scary, so they pick the 9 and shoot ball ammo.

Why did you leave out the 10mm?

 

I never had any use for a .40 S&W till I bought a CZ P07 in .40 S&W.  Anything that shoot groups like that has to be carried and shot.  Makes my Glock & S&W M&Ps look like cheap pieces of crap.  

So now I reload/shoot/carry a .40 S&W.