The .40 Calibre: An American Cartridge (Free Write)

Scene: SHOT Show, Las Vegas Nevada, 1989
Smith and Wesson introduce an improved 10mm cartridge in response to the demands of law enforcement agencies for a more powerful and user friendly personal sidearm, the .40 cal. The .40 cal or .40 is the great compromise between the existing 2 most common used NATO rounds for handguns, the 9mm and the .45 ACP. Both time tested and widely available, the 9mm and .45 have their drawbacks that limit the use and success rate of the firearm and its operator.
When lethal force is concerned and/or necessary a number of variables must be accounted for.
External variables include target, location, environment and distance. Meanwhile, internal variables are accuracy, rate of fire, clip capacity, and reliability. Issued nearly 100 years ago, the Colt 1911 was the issued military sidearm for over 70 years. Using the .45 ACP the heavier 230 grain (15 grams) bullet had impeccable stopping power due to its large surface area and more importantly its low velocity, less than 900 fps, as seen in the adjacent ballistics gel test. It was extremely simple to operate and need little repair because of the low force generated by firing the weapon (21,000 psi). However, a fully loaded 1911 had a capacity of 7 rounds + 1 chambered, although current service models are capable of 13+1 capacity the gun itself is respectively larger and does not fit to every hand.
Issued in 1985 and still used by armed forces today, the 9mm is a lighter, higher capacity round that travels significantly faster than the .45 (1,200 FPS). Because of this and the smaller surface area the 9mm has been criticized as a "hole puncher". The issue is that when a 9mm round enters an armed assailant it passes right through him/her with minimal expansion, allowing the shot individual to continue being a threat for some time. For law enforcement this has an additional problem with non combatants are in the surrounding environment. A shot placed throught the shoulder or other soft tissue area of a perpetrator could easily strike a civilian or hostage, entirely missed shots can penetrate walls. As seen in the infamous (yet gratuitously overacted) scene of the death of Sonny Corleone, this smaller round requires several direct hits in order to bring someone down.


Enter the .40 calibre. With a wide range of available grains, the .40 can be a slow, hard hitting round or faster for penetration of vehicles and improvised cover with only a 20% loss of clip capacity in comparison with the 9mm. Now in it's 19th year of production, the .40 S&W has become the standard issued cartridge of the US Coast Guard, the first US branch of law enforcement to do so. Whether the Army and Marines will follow suit in the coming decades will largely determine on the round's acceptance as a standardized NATO round and whether a cost/benefit analysis can be satisfied for the upgrade from the 9mm for regular infantry. For the average citizen who does not have the time or capital to shoot tens of thousands of rounds and still wants a weapon for personal safety that does not have issues of over penetration the .40 is the right chose to make...unless you'd now like to talk about shotguns.