bc's post seemed like a perfectly good reason to buy a .40S&W. I fail to see your reason.

English

Sorry to be a stickler, but I've never heard of this before. Has this been tested, or is it a logical deduction regarding how the weapon light clamps on to the front rail? I just want to understand how/why it stiffens the frame. I would think it would make it heavier for sure and possibly squeeze the frame on the front of the gun if it was super tight.

Thanks

~Nate

It's straight out of the Armorer's course last December.

The light (ANY light) stiffens the frame and causes increased slide velocity. The frame is usually up there flexing under recoil and the light prevents that from happening.

bc

So any rail accessory will really do this. Interesting. So the light keeps the plastic from flexing. I wonder how long it took them to realize that this was happening. I wonder if this happens on metal frame guns too or not. I'd imagine the plastic flexes a little more (Not that I'm against plastic, I've shot several plastic guns and owned one).

i had a real hard time warming up to the glock. and epically a .40 cal. the ka-boom theory was all over the net when i first got mine. but after my sister-in-law married the sheriff's son of the county we live in and after a few talks with him on why he bought glock .40 for his deputy's he told me something that made me understand why he choose them.

great durability.
great reliability.
ease of maintenance.
ease of training
.40 is bigger bullet and if its that rough to shoot just think how the other guy feels.
would you rather slap a man and be less tired or would you rather hit him with a fist and take a hot bath later to unwind the muscles in your arm.

no he is not a poet but i did get his point.

The kaboom theory has proven human-caused reasons behind it....but some still like to throw it around.

bc

Good post. Thats alot of rounds down range.

Thanks.

My annual round count is down from a few years ago. Cost, availability and a lack of time to go to matches has dropped the amount of shooting I do from about 15k per year to the present level of about 6k.

That said, I put more through this pistol in the short time I've had it than most people would in several lifetimes. There's a reason I shoot mainly Glocks...I need a pistol that will stand up over time and usage.

bc

My reasons are 9mm is cheaper and easier to shoot quickly and accurately. So although the round and the gun worked well, I had other reasons not to go .40

I appreciate the test as it tells me my G19 should wear even better with a lower powered round.

It will. Before I started at my PD my daily CCW was a G19. That particular pistol has over 35,000 rounds with only periodic recoil spring and one trigger spring change.

bc

Good to know. Thanks BC.

streamlight actually did it's own research on the tac light issue with glock 40cals.

this is right off their website:


Issues Using Tactical Lights on Glock® Pistols

Some Glock® .40 caliber pistols, models 22 and 23, exhibit feeding malfunctions, either
nose down or nose up (stovepipe), when used with tactical lights. The problems tend to
occur with individual guns, with some pistols becoming totally unreliable while other
identical, even close in serial number sequence, guns have no problems. Most models 22
and 23 are reliable.

A sensitive gun may malfunction with any tactical light - the TLRs, the older M models,
and even Glock®’s own brand. There is evidence that the problem sometimes develops
with use, and may progress until the pistol is unreliable even with no light attached.

On the basis of testing by Streamlight, we believe the problem is magazine related. It
appears that the rounds are unable to rise fast enough for proper cycling. We have
observed proper feeding for the first few rounds, consistent failures at mid-magazine
capacity, and a return to proper feeding of the last few cartridges in the magazine.

We have tried both stronger and weaker recoil springs, and compound-action recoil
buffers, all without success. Sometimes new magazine springs, either new Glock® or
Wolff, will cure the problem. In one case of a pistol which was totally reliable when new
but progressed to malfunctioning on every magazine, even with no light installed, we
found two solutions which restored reliability, but which might not be acceptable to some
users. The first was using 10 round capacity Glock® magazines. The gun will not cycle
reliably with 15 round mags with their steeply stacked columns but works flawlessly with
10 round mags. The second solution was a new magazine follower from Brownells®,
their part number 069-000-006. When used in a 15 round magazine with a new spring,
reliability was restored. However, the follower would not lock the slide open after the
last round.

Ammunition is also a factor with any weapon. Some brands and weights may be totally
reliable while others jam repeatedly. Make sure your gun is thoroughly tested with your
duty ammo.

Brownells® is a registered trademark of Brownells®, Inc.
Glock® is a registered trademark of GLOCK Gesellschaft mbH.

i have a couple 40cal's and like them, but walmart just went up on their 40cal prices so now it's almost as much as 45acp.

i like 45acp better and don't see the point in paying the same price for a smaller bullet, so i might sell my 40's.

Here's the deal with .40 magazines.

Make sure you have the most current generation of magazine. If you have older mags and reliability problems, toss the mags and get new ones. The new mags have re-designed followers and stronger springs to eliminate the nose up/down issue.

The newest mags have a tapered top, 11-coil springs and followers marked with the number 8.

bc

Is it more important for .40s to have the new generation magazines versus a 9mm? I've got 17 mags spanning from the time they got imported to now and they all work reliably.

Yes.

bc