Opinion: The 40 S&W Needs To Go Away
Kevin Felts 02.06.18
Dear 40 S&W, it is time for you to retire. I hate to break the news to you, but you were a mistake. No child wants to hear they were a mistake. However, since your core is lead and you are dense anyway, I am going to tell you about your family history.
Your parents, (the FBI) were thinking about adopting a child. The 10mm, 41 Action Express, 9mm and the 45 acp were up for adoption. Your parents, being the spoiled brats they are, decided going with something already on the market was not good enough for them. The FBI felt they needed to split hairs. They wanted something larger than the 9mm, but more capacity than the 45 acp.
The FBI contacted Smith & Wesson and asked them to develop a new handgun cartridge. This new cartridge was you, the 40 S&W.
Right from the very start there were complaints about recoil. When someone said they did not like your recoil, that person was usually criticized. Comments were along the lines of, “You must be a sissy if you do not like the 40.”
The honest truth is, people only liked you for two reasons:
- You were adopted by the FBI.
- If it was adopted by he FBI, then it must be the best.
Law enforcement followed the FBI in adopting you.
In the mid-1990s I jumped on the 40 S&W bandwagon and bought a Ruger P91. After running several boxes of ammo through the handgun, it was put in the gun safe and never fired again. The recoil felt like I was holding a firecracker in my hand.
Every 40 I have shot in the past 20 years, everything from Walther to Sig, has resulted in the same unpleasant experience.
This next part is going to hurt, so here is a napkin to wipe the tears away, your parents do not love you anymore. It’s ok though. Die hard fans will continue to love you. It’s kinda like semi-retirement. Some security guard will continue to carry you, and that guard will brag about how you were designed for the FBI.
When given the choice, most people prefer the battle proven 9mm and 45 acp over the 40 S&W. Let’s be honest, if the 9mm and the 45 were not reliable, they would have died out decades ago.
This article is probably going to receive a lot of negative comments, and that is fine. We all have our personal preferences.
