The 40 S&W is a descendant of the 10mm cartridge which was developed in response to a call from the FBI for a cartridge with more power than the 9mm with higher capacity than the 45. The 10mm delivered very well, unfortunately it met resistence in the FBI due to stiff recoil and large sized handguns.Smith and Wesson shortened the 10mm cartridge case, reduced velocity and the 40 S&W was born. Because the 40 S&W case is shorter than the 10mm it can be chambered in 9mm size handguns, a benefit for agencies that were using 9mms.

The 40 S&W was introduced in January, 1990 and today is the most common law enforcement caliber. Some of the reasons the 40 S&W are so popular are:

#1 Delivers significantly better terminal ballistics than the 9mm

#2 Higher capacity than the 45 ACP

#3 Is chambered in 9mm sized handguns.

Find out more about 40 S&W

Related posts:

1. The 9mm Luger, 40 S&W and 45 ACP Compared
2. A primer on handgun terminal ballistics

This entry was posted on Monday, January 21st, 2008 at 10:45 pm and is filed under Ballistics, Firearms. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.