The Fading Popularity of the .40S&W

[Skookum]

If the idea is to go to the 9x19 instead, then I feel sorry for the LEOs. What next, the .380 or .32 like in Europe?
I was never enamored with the .40, but that was because I had been loading the 10mm Auto for several years and saw no advantage to the .40. I could easily load down to that level or up to levels no .40 could ever go. Then, there were the years of Kbs and case interior redesigns.

Isn't the grip on a 10 Auto larger than that of the .40 S&W, 357 SIG, and 9 Luger?  If so. the 10 Auto doesn't fit as many users.  Is that not why the FBI switched from the 10 Auto Lite to the .40 S&W?

I don't see the .40 dying and I hate to see LEOs going to something as pathetic as the 9x19. Too many of them still seem to live by "spray and pray" and a couple extra rounds means a couple more projectiles flying around.

The article at the link in the OP it was mentioned that LEOs are more accurate with the 9 Luger than with the .40 S&W due to the lesser recoil of the former.  Thus, with a forced armed with 9 Lugers one might expect a higher hit rate during a gunfight, thus fewer bullets flying around.

[jwc007]

Isn't the grip on a 10 Auto larger than that of the .40 S&W, 357 SIG, and 9 Luger?  If so. the 10 Auto doesn't fit as many users.  Is that not why the FBI switched from the 10 Auto Lite to the .40 S&W?

Not so much wider, but definitely longer, front to back, and the same length as Pistols chambered in .45 ACP and .38 Super.  Properly designed, the difference in grip size is not that much greater, at least to me, and my hands are medium sized.  People with small hands would probably have an issue with it.

The FBI switched to the .40 S&W when it was realized that it was the ballistic equivalent to the 10mm lite and the .40 S&W began to become more accepted by Law Enforcement.  That it could be used in 9mm sized handguns which fit the sometimes smaller hands of Female Agents, was icing on the proverbial cake.