I am a .40 Smith & Wesson fan. No, let me rephrase that. I am a .40 S&W fanatic. Unlike many, I appreciate the .40 S&W cartridge and guns chambered in it. Two of the guns I love are made by Heckler & Koch and SIG Sauer. I know what you’re going to say; both are better chambered in 9mm, with higher capacity, less recoil, blah, blah, blah.
But guess what, folks. I DON’T CARE. I like them in the original cartridge that they were designed for. Yes, all you .40 S&W haters can take this little fact all the way to the bank. The Teutonic Space Wizards of HK and the Alpine Yodeling Sorcerers at SIG both designed their guns to chamber the awesome power of the .40 S&W and that’s the way they were both first released, not that old and outdated 9x19mm round.
HK introduced the USP Compact back in 1996 and it immediately took off in popularity.
This gun took the shooting world as well as pop culture by storm. I remember when the USP Compact was the gun in almost any video game, television show, or movie. It was also a hit with law enforcement across the country.
While HK has tried to retire the original USP line with updated designs like the P2000. The gun just keeps on trucking and folks keep buying it. It’s just that popular.
SIG Sauer, not wanting to be left behind, designed and released the SIG Pro series in 1998.
But the SIG Pro was a flop when it was released. I remember when they came out, folks thought it was SIG Sauer pulling a S&W and cheaping out with polymer like when Big Blue released the Sigma series. Shooters looked at the SIG Pro line as a cheap knockoff of the classic and hugely popular P229 pistol.
SIG went back to the drawing board and updated the design with a new generation and really hit their stride when the French Police Nationale ordered over 250,000 pistols back in 2002. Since then, the gun has been a sleeper hit. I recall in the mid 2010s folks raving about the SP2022 and how great a deal it was.
Both came out back then I was all about GLOCK and Beretta for my automatic needs (they still are my favorites). But I happen to own some of the goods that both SIG and HK have released and I find the USP Compact and SP2022 to be excellent designs.
The USP Compact is an excellent pistol and while it has been updated with the P2000 line, the old school original is still just as capable today as it was then. Yeah, that accessory rail might be a tad outdated. But aside from that, there isn’t a single thing wrong with using this gun as a modern, capable DA/SA hammer fired polymer framed pistol. Especially with it chambered in .40 S&W since the gun was designed from the ground up for it.
The SP2022 is, in my opinion, SIG Sauer’s real final original design before the transition to the P320. It’s the ultimate iteration of the P22x line. It took everything that was successful with the P220, P226, and P229 and adapted it to a polymer frame.
From there it was further refined in the Sig Pro line until we got to the SP2022. Again, being designed from the ground up for .40 S&W, this gun has no issues with the cartridge. It is SIG’s best DA/SA gun out there.
While the HK and SIG are different designs, they’re both made with superb ergonomic and mechanical layouts. The control levers on the USP Compact and the SP2022 are easily useable for most shooters. Both share the same capacity of 12 rounds when chambered in .40 S&W and both can shoot .357 SIG with nothing more than a barrel swap.
The mags for both guns are well made. Since both are marketed as compacts, the guns are comfortable since the magazines for both have a small finger rest.
Both pistols being creatures of the 1990s, the idea of a removable serialized fire control group didn’t exist yet. These guns were built with the frame acting as the serialized receiver and HK embedded the slide rails into the polymer.
SIG instead has a large steel block that can be removed from the frame along with a removable trigger group. You can see how that led to the genesis of what would eventually be the fire control group of the P320.
Recoil wise, HK made the USP Compact a real soft-shooting gun due to the inclusion of a polymer recoil buffer on the captured recoil spring assembly.
SIG used a polymer guide rod and non-captured spring.
The grip texturing on both guns is aggressive but not overly abrasive. The SIG designed theirs with a removable grip panel to accomodate different hand sizes. The HK grip is “this is what you get and you’ll like it” size. But that doesn’t mean that it isn’t comfortable for most shooters.
Both guns shoot well, produce very reasonable recoil, are easy and light to carry, simple to take apart, and are both excellent representatives of their era.
Prior to the insanity of the 2020 panic, you could get a SP2022 for under $400 new and a USP Compact under $450 used. That’s the only major difference between the two.
A new USP Compact carried an ungodly price tag, which I would never pay. The massive amounts of police trade-in guns chambered in .40 S&W meant that there were great deals to be had out there for USP Compacts. But alas…those deals are gone.
With both HK and SIG having dipped their toes into the striker fired market and that’s not going to change. SIG is is making huge inroads with the P320 and HK is doing well with their VP series. While HK’s legacy guns like the USP Compact are still selling, I can see them eventually canceling USP production at some point. Especially since they have the P2000 and P30 line out there, too.
SIG has already started to slowly deemphasize their DA/SA guns and the SP2022 is being treated like a redheaded stepchild. Don’t be surprised if they go away, too. They’ve already ceased production of the .40 S&W and .357 SIG chambered guns.
Eventually, both SIG and HK may go all-in and stop producing DA/SA guns entirely. I’m just grateful that I was able to snag both of these for a great price before the insanity took hold.
Hopefully, as the gun market slowly returns to something approaching “normal,” these guns will drop in price again and folks will be able to snag them on the cheap like I did.
Luis Valdes is the Florida Director for Gun Owners of America.
Have what ya like. Enjoy.
40 is ok. I’ve found the recoil to be just fine. I will be happy with more in that caliber.
The 40 S&W has proven to be a very unpopular pistol cartridge. In the beginning too many firearms manufactures simply tried to reverse engineer their 9mm frame pistols to accept the 40 S&W cartridge which proved in many models to be a disaster. Parts often failed or wore out prematurely, frames and slides often cracked as well.
The cartridge itself proved to be a ballistic disaster as well as an unsafe one. Several years ago Combat Handguns in one of their “back columns” admitted that they found out 3 brand new handguns, a Browning High Power, a Ruger and a Glock blew up with factory ammo.
The problem was that most people wanted to use the heaviest bullets weights and since with that bullet weight there is no air space left in the cartridge case that if a round suffers bullet “set back” it then compresses the powder charge and this results in a detonation blowing the handgun sky high. The ammo factories then quietly scaled back the powder charge and of course the velocity to create some air space in the cartridge so then if velocity was your desire as it is with most people they were then forced to use the inferior lighter weight bullets. The result was they were not happy campers with the 40 S&W cartridge.
Even when some of the more sane firearms manufacturers brought out pistols designed to handle this cartridge the guns still had more recoil and held less ammo which did not endear the cartridge to the average handgun user.
Police departments found that the average untrained flat foot shot better with the milder recoiling 9mm and that weapons on average needed less maintenance and rebuilds compared to the higher pressure and heavier kicking 40 S&W.
It is ironic that in the distant past of the 1800’s 40 caliber revolver cartridges were never as popular as the larger .45 cal revolvers. History simply repeated itself when people and cops started carrying auto’s instead of the archaic revolver. Perhaps the Morons who invented the 40 S&W should have studied the history of handgun cartridges before inventing this turd of a cartridge.
Male bovine fecal matter.
That’s a lot of words to say you don’t know what you talking about.
.40 S&W is fine.
Also, .38-40, a .40 caliber revolver cartridge was hugely popular back then. Again… you don’t know what you’re talking about.
Dacian you really don’t believe that garbage that you typed up above, do you?
Little ‘dacian’ is actually ‘Vlad’ from awhile back…
all verifiable. plus, it’s too snappy!
Holding the reins of two horses with one hand, Austin Police Sgt. Adam Johnson raised his service pistol and fired a bullseye into the target some 312 feet away.
Down went Larry McQuilliams, and so ended his rampage through the streets of the Texas capital, where he’d fired more than 100 rounds from his AK-47 and .22-caliber rifles at buildings. The shot, from Johnson’s Smith & Wesson M&P .40 pistol, hit McQuilliams square in the chest and made the 15-year-veteran the toast of gun enthusiasts around the country.
What a shitty caliber out of a handgun that wasn’t reversed engineered from 9mm. I guess the snappiness somehow helped the 104 yard shot. Ballistically out the 9mm, .40 or .45 you get the best of the three.
What Dacian is trying to say is more of a .22 guy, the only reason I shoot .40 is because 10mm and 357Sig is too expensive. The rest of his diatribe is nonsense.
“Police departments found that the average untrained flat foot shot better with the milder recoiling 9mm and that weapons on average needed less maintenance and rebuilds compared to the higher pressure and heavier kicking 40 S&W.”
Really? What PDs are those, would you like to use a citation? The early Glocks did have some problems but they fixed their barrels and made them fully supported so problem solved. The lowly Critical Defense in .40 hits with 500 lbs of energy while the Speer gold dot in 9mm124+P hits around 420 lbs and puts a beating on the 9mm you shot it out of. Both the 9mm and .40 have SAAMI pressures of 35,000 PSI and the +P 9mm is 38,500. You lose one or two rounds depending if the gun is a fullsize or midsize by going to 40. Did I mention that the .40 usually expands to at least .75 inch with deep penatration?
“It is ironic that in the distant past of the 1800’s 40 caliber revolver cartridges were never as popular as the larger .45 cal revolvers.”
Doc Hollidays weapon of choice was a .38 caliber, nickel-plated, pearl-handled, double-action (self-cocker) 1877 Colt Lightning. Wild Bill Hickok carried two .36 caliber Colt Navys.
Dacian we are all dumber after reading your bullshit, you sound like James Yeager.
Why don’t you go hide in a ditch with him, like forever.
quote—————–Really? What PDs are those, would you like to use a citation? The early Glocks did have some problems but they fixed their barrels and made them fully supported so problem solved.————-quote
If you kept up on the writing of the various gun writers you would not need to ask such an asinine question. Just one of many gun writers (Massad Ayoob) wrote of police departments switching or staying with the 9mm over the .40.
And I forgot to mention the cost of the ammo was a BIG FACTOR compared to the cost of the 9mm for police departments as well as civilian shooters.
And you fell into your own trap my mentioning yet another gun (the glock) that had problems with barrels with the .40 that I forgot to even mention. Thanks for adding more to my evidence why there was rejection of this caliber.
quote————–Doc Hollidays weapon of choice was a .38 caliber, nickel-plated, pearl-handled, double-action (self-cocker) 1877 Colt Lightning. Wild Bill Hickok carried two .36 caliber Colt Navys.————quote
Nice try on trying to confuse what I originally posted. I never said the smaller revolver cartridges were unpopular rather I was comparing what most people agree are big bore calibers i.e. the 40 and .45.
I might add that many people back in the 1800’s were recoil shy just as they are today, that is why the smaller revolver calibers were popular and the .40 was not, ditto for them not using the .45 as well.
I might also add Doc Holiday was a very ill man for a very long time suffering from Tuberculosis. Anyone who has suffered from a long term health problem knows that ones pain in ones body exacerbates other pain so it is not difficult to understand that Doc Holiday did not tolerate recoil because of his health. And yes I know he used a shotgun at the OK Corral but he probably brought it to intimidate the Clanton gang not even thinking they would be dumb enough to challenge the Earp’s to a gun fight.
Gun owners have long ago voted with their wallets and the 40’s often languish on shelves while the 9mm sells like hotcakes. Ditto for gun shows as the 40’s do not have near the resale value either nor do people break down doors at gun shops to buy the 40’s either.
I might add that the disingenuous prostitutes called gun writers often flooded gun magazines from time to time with bull articles praising the 40 whenever there was a huge glut of .40’s sitting on gun owners shelves and of course no customers dumb enough to buy them when they could and did buy the 9mm or the .45 acp. instead.
I am curious? What gun magazine do you work for????? I am free to tell the truth about the doggy .40 S&W because I do not work for the gun magazines or the gun industry.
quote————–Really? What PDs are those, would you like to use a citation?————-quote
There have been numerous gun articles written about this including by Massad Ayoob. Were do you live in a cave?
quote————-Doc Hollidays weapon of choice was a .38 caliber, nickel-plated, pearl-handled, double-action (self-cocker) 1877 Colt Lightning. Wild Bill Hickok carried two .36 caliber Colt Navys.—————quote
Nice try in regards to trying to distort what I originally posted. I never said that smaller calibers were not popular. Rather I was comparing the dud 1800’s .40 cal to the much more liked .45 caliber and I should have mentioned the .44 calibers as well.
In the past prostitute gun writers often wrote an avalanche of praise for the 40 S&W when inventory piled up on dealers shelves because gun owners were voting with their wallets and bought all the 9mm’s as they often flew off of the shelves.
The resale value of the .40 S&W is way lower than the 9mm as well so remember if you buy a 40 and do not like it expect to take a bath when you attempt to sell it.
Ammunition cost is another factor that led many civilians and also police departments to reject the .40 S&W.
And the superiority of the .40 over the 9mm is a myth as the 9mm has been the world’s standard military and police caliber for well over a century. Remember the .45 acp has not been as accepted and the .40 does not even come in dead last as it does not exist in the ball game of the military.
deficient is just following the lead of the MSM, using only part of the story taken out of context to mislead and obfuscate. Makes you a liar d, a half truth is a whole lie.
quote————–Really? What PDs are those, would you like to use a citation?————-quote
https://gunsmagazine.com/guns/handguns/40-sw-dead-duck-or-best-buy/
Massad Ayoob actually gives the 40 caliber a good review for it’s versatility.
PLUS you never did produce a citation about PDs so I will.
CPDs general sidearm rules: B.Semiautomatic pistols will be:
1.Chambered in 9mm Luger (Parabellum), .40 caliber S&W, or .45 ACP caliber.
“By far the most popular police service pistol in the United States, the GLOCK 22 fires the potent 40 S&W cartridge and holds more rounds for its size and weight than most other full-sized handgun in its class.”
quote————-Doc Hollidays weapon of choice was a .38 caliber, nickel-plated, pearl-handled, double-action (self-cocker) 1877 Colt Lightning. Wild Bill Hickok carried two .36 caliber Colt Navys.—————quote
Which really shoots holes in your “It is ironic that in the distant past of the 1800’s 40 caliber revolver cartridges were never as popular as the larger .45 cal revolvers.”
“The .40 is essentially the auto version of the .38-40 revolver cartridge of 19th century frontier days and may only be exceeded by the .357 Magnum revolver round in availability of different commercial ammunition for different needs. The versatility of the .40 S&W round is never going away. At today’s prices, I say more “best buy” than “dead duck.” – Massad Ayoob.
Dacian nobody has to distort what you wrote, you did that yourself by just making shit up. “Several years ago Combat Handguns in one of their “back columns” admitted that they found out 3 brand new handguns, a Browning High Power, a Ruger and a Glock blew up with factory ammo.” – citation?
I just don’t see a $1000 Browning HP40 “blowing up” with factory ammo.
BTW: It’s spelled Hi-Power and I have one in my safe.
“The resale value of the .40 S&W is way lower than the 9mm as well so remember if you buy a 40 and do not like it expect to take a bath when you attempt to sell it.” All of the .40 police trades that hit the market because the FBI played with some Jello and Glock plus Hornady out bid everyone were SOLD quickly and at not so cheap prices. $450 for a used Glock isn’t a steal but gun-shops threw a $150-$200 markup on them and they went for more then a new Glock. OTOH these .40s which were supposedly beat to shit, well most of them were in almost new condition. Cops qualify and then seldom shoot. There were instances of some coming new in the case but most had some holster wear marks.
The FBI bought 9mm GlockMs for dirt and went with Hornady 135gr Critical Duty because of cost and it passed their Jello test. That’s because all agents must pass qualifications and 135Gr CD is a pretty soft shooter but barely expands.- .5″@16″ Then at last years SHOT show Vista Outdoors underbid Hornady so it’s all about the cheapest contract.
The .40 HST or Ranger T or GD usually expands to .7-.8″ @17″.
Shot placement is key but I think the .40 easily shows why it is a superior round.
Like I said before and now I’m sure that all that read your nonsense have lost at least some intelligence so just stop.
You are a half a step below Forrest Gump.
.40 S&W (or .40 Auto if you’re a Ruger engineer and can’t believe in reality) are fine with me, although, personally, I’ll keep using my 10 mm handguns as well. That is what the .40 S&W started out to be in the first place…
https://youtu.be/wX3hRj6XoUM
https://youtu.be/0OHH49vtl2g
(still time)
9mm only became dominant because of an extremely effective marketing campaign, not because it’s effectiveness. Rigged and weighted you tube ballistics gel tests worked like mind control on those new and inexperienced with guns. Fake posts about fake tests with ammo comparisons ran rampant on gun blogs and social media. Both .40 and .45 are superior hand gun rounds. There’s a ton more rounds that are superior to 9mm in every way including capacity. 7.62×25, .357 sig, 9×21, .38 super, and others. But the power of social media convinced everyone “9mm is just as good”.
I’m not a .40 fanatic but I like it. Have 3 Glocks and a Sig P226 chambered in it. Good balance between power, recoil and capacity.
I never cared for .40 until I got my PX4. .40 out of a PX4 honestly feels like 9mm in most other gumns. The rotating barrel system takes all the snap out of the round.
My preferred load is 180 gr Speer Gold Dots.
While I like my other .40 chambered semi autos i love shooting my px4 compact. It just feels right. The only plastic gun I have but I’d never give it up.
Good article. Now do .357 sig.
Gun shops have .40 on the shelves. That’s enough to make me want to get one. (I sold my P229 in .40 — the second worst decision in my gun-trading life.)
I’ll bite. What was the first?
I own, carry and work with a Sig2022 in 9×19 on one or more of my jobs and it also accompanies me as a CC piece when I don’t step down to a 9×19(Makarov or a P64 with the Wolff Gunsprings recoil spring and trigger/hammer kit on the P64)as a casual CC.
I’ve always liked the way that my 9×19 2022 shoots, lending itself well to both deliberate shots and ” draw and shoot” situations. Always wanted to chase down an extended and threaded barrel for it and wondered why Sig never really supported it with aftermarket/replacement parts, longer barrel and slide options,other sights etc.
Was trying to score a .40 variant as a platform for both a .357 Sig barrel AND the possibility of a 9×19 barrel and recoil spring kit(such options were/are available for the Glocks in .40/.357 Sig).
Hoping that Sig opts to keep the line alive and that I locate a deal on a.40/.357 Sig Glock combo.
I love shooting all the cheap .40 S&W I stocked up on all these years … from my G20SF 😀
The .40 is an excellent cartridge, especially from a service sized pistol – the 9mm is more appropriate when formats are shrunken down to a more CCW friendly design.
I qualified on and carried a Compact for 15 years and never had a FTL or FTF. At the time, we used .40 and the other side of the house used 357 Sig in Sig 229s. I liked the Compact well enough that I bought a clone that HK offered to us at a deep discount and I use it as my personal concealed carry weapon today.
Never had a problem with recoil or controllability and the gun was certainly accurate enough for our use. Having said that, they’ve switched over to 9mm Mk18s since I retired.
9mm for practice and training, and .40cal for bidness. The 180hp bullets are one shot stoppers. I’d rather have 13 rounds of 40cal, than 15 rounds of 9mm. But an ar15 pistol in 5.56 or 6.8spc is what I prefer. And the people that say a 40 caliber handgun has to much recoil, should stick to shooting 22lr. If Luis Valdes can handle, and prefer 40 cal handguns, then anyone should be able to shoot them. He’s all of 5 foot nothing, and can handle a 40 cal in each hand, while blazing away at bad guys. Keep up the strong work you put out for readers Luis.
gentlemen, i object.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQD7nQ0atXo
While I am a fan of the .40S&W, as well as other calibers, there is no such thing as a “one shot stopper” without going to ridiculous extremes at least.
The factory refurbished Sig p229 pistols you could get for under $400 a couple years back was one of the better deals in a handgun. Glad I grabbed one. Sig pistols are just good shooters for me. Always very accurate. I’m still shooting the 40 ammo I got from a local Walmart that was selling out all its pistol ammo, about 2-3 years ago. I got every box they had available. And most of it was hollow point defensive ammo. The 40 cal is made for a man. I did get a ruger sp101 revolver in 9mm for my wife to use though. With the moon clips it’s not bad to reload, for only having 5 shots.
I thought SIG had temporarily abandoned all but 9mm and .45 until the ammogeddon ends? Good to see this.
I’ve got the USP full size in .40- it’s the best pistol I own. The design is wonderful. Everything great about the Compact, plus the extra weight. Shoots like a dream. Firing that, I notice zero issues with the .40 S&W. It was the only gun I owned for years and for years I was saying “Why do people complain about the .40? It’s more comfortable than my dad’s old .38 revolver to shoot.”
Only when I fire those same rounds through the little M&P Shield I have do I notice what people complain about. Until I bought that, I thought everyone was just crazy.
I have a SP2022 that I bought in .40s&w. Then bought a 357SIG barrel. Great gun for me and my tastes. But then insanity struck: bought a 9mm barrel, the 9mm recoil spring, another spring guide rod, and several 9mm mags.
3 calibers, one pistol. Given to the fact I am into reloading, my SP2022 is well fed and happily owned.
The downside is holsters, or lack thereof.
Super slow-motion video of bullets leaving a handgun(Sig 2022 40SW).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HElQk2wEY5w
I need to get my .40s going, I have a few Sigmas and SD40 kits to play around with. Honestly what drives me batty is the SD40s went to an unsupported barrel but the Sigmas were a supported chamber! What gives that’s a decent down grade isn’t it?
The one thing I will say about 40 is that it’s got a reputation as a picky round. Not sure how true it is but I will say that I want to start loading a ton of it and will likely be conservative when doing such just because I don’t want to end up with problems.
Haters are gonna hate, no matter what. I like the .40 S&W. A fact borne out that I’ve more .40 ammo than any other caliber save 5.56. While I CC a SIG P365, if SIG did a from the bench build in .40, I’d be in the line to buy one.
When Walther introduced their PPQ pistols, 9mm and .40 S&W were released at the same time (.45 ACP being released within a couple of years). I’ve owned and fired that PPQ for 8 years now, without issue. Training to fire it, hasn’t been a burden.
Love it or Hate it, the .40 S&W will always have a hard core group of aficionados.
I am also a fan of the .40S&W, having gone all-in on the cartridge in the 90’s. My first .40 was from a brand that was unheard of at the time, who was producing flawless Beretta clones from Brazil. My Taurus PT101AF was my EDC pistol until I acquired a brand-new, unfired, yet pre-owned Springfield XDM40. Then that became my new EDC and the Taurus went into the safe. Only in the last couple months did I finaly retire that Taurus museum piece and the 1/2 dozen or so mags I had for it, on account of moving out west from Indiana (needed the gas $).
I have never had a problem with the recoil of the .40 and I think everyone who says .40 has too much recoil are a bunch of limp-wrist faggots who can’t handle anything more potent than the 9mm. As many of you are already aware, .40 is the same exact diameter as 10MM and was born from the idea that 10MM is too powerful for duty ammo but .40 is toned-down enough to deliver better results than the 9mm back when we had less options from the ammo manufacturers of the 1990’s. I like to call the .40 “10mm Kurz”, because as the German word implies, .40 is indeed a “short 10”. The .40 is to 10MM what .380 is to 9mm. While .40 may not be “popular” today, that’s only because new offerings have become the ‘wunderkaliber’ of the present. That being said, I am also looking forward to getting into 10MM now that I live in bear country, and keep my .40 for EDC in-town. Fortunately, I also happen to have a Level 2 holster that will take the Springfield XDM10 just as surely as it secures my XDM40.
A side note: I got away from 9mm about 30 years ago for a good reason. That’s because .40 is just more powerful than 9 or 45ACP. Here’s how I tested that theory: I took a couple new cinderblocks and stood one on the other, the other being a base. I fired the slow 45ACP at the top block and it merely chipped a divot out of the front of the block. Then I fired the 9mm and it went through the front of the block cleanly, and made a divot on the center divider wall. Not bad! Then I turned the block around so I had a clean front wall, and fired the .40S&W at the block. It did the same as the 9mm by penetrating the front wall and impacting the center wall of the block, but the .40 did more damage: it cracked the whole cinder block in half! Needless to say, the ’10MM Kurz’ may not be as powerful as an actual 10MM, but it absolutely gets the job done! I’m gonna keep my .40 for around town, and get a 10MM for walking in the woods.
That’s why you get the best of both. The .45 is a fairly under-powered cartridge unless you go to 45 Super and the 9mm is adequate but to get power from it you have to go +P which isn’t nearly the PF of a 40 but with the same recoil or worse.
I have a Delta Elite in 10mm and some full power loads but it’s really a bit much for self defense. The same with the 357SIG, it’s basically a very hopped up 9mm. The 40 strikes a perfect balance between the 9mm and .45. I really don’t think that the recoil is much different then the 9mm in any weight projectile. I agree that those who think this are a “bunch of limp-wrist faggots” OR they are women who are making excuses for not being able to qualify. There is also the possibility that they are elderly and incapable of even firing a 9mm so they get a pass.
With proper shot placement all will get the job done but it looks better for you if you have to only shoot once or twice instead of five or six times to stop an attacker. The 10mm is pretty much a one shot deal with full power loads but I would hate to explain why I was carrying what is now considered a woods gun.
I’ll continue carrying one of my 40s for EDC, that’s what the sheriffs carry around me loaded with HSTs in 165 or 180. They didn’t go to the 9mm because the FBI shot some Jello after they brought handguns to a rifle fight in 1986.
The 10mm was born because of this and 15 years ago the gun shops were full of what was a “dead” caliber. I bought my Delta Elite for $400 and was going to try and convert it into a .45. I didn’t and am glad I just put it away. They sell for $1100-$1300 now. The only problem is scoring some full power loads, the ones available right now are about the same PF as the 10mm Kurz (.40)
In between the P2022 and the P320, SIG introduced the P250, a DAO hammer fired pistol with a serial numbered Fire Control Module that shares many parts with the striker-fired P320, such as magazines, barrels, recoil spring/guide rods and and polymer grip frames. Holsters designed for the P250 will also fit the P320.
Carried an HK USP LEM pistol in 40SW that was coated in green by Birdsong for about 5yrs while in the Border Patrol. It was a nicely ergonomic handgun except it didn’t like the salt environment and would corrode fairly quick. It would handle our hot 155gr 40’s with ease. Didn’t like the takedown lever nor the HK proprietary rail. Should of purchased one when they were offering it to us.
I hear all the lies about .40S&W being a dead caliber and laugh. I own 3 and love them. Two M&P full size and one P229. I do believe that the 180 gr. rounds are what people don’t like. That weight is more suited to a light 10mm load. IMHO the 165 gr. is the weight most suited for this caliber. I actually hand load some 135 grain HP rounds that move at 1350fps and are VERY accurate. Muzzle jump of a 9mm. I am used to recoil as my favorite is my .41mag Ruger. That is a one hit one stop round.
“Superb ergonomics” is not a word I would use to apply towards the USP Compact. Great gun for sure . . . . . but the P2000 (and P30) were quantum leaps in the ergonomics department.
The Sig Pro, with its multiple grip modules, was perhaps one of the first (if not the first?) modular grip for shooters with varying hand sizes.
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