chevyoneton Posted November 2, 2012 Share Posted November 2, 2012 I’ve used my USPSA gun, a .40 5.25, for 3 Gun so far (with 140mm mags) and have not seen any advantage or disadvantage in our local matches. I have yet to run into a stage where more than 21 rounds on tap would have helped or one in which I thought 9mm ammo would have been a negative. I do shoot Production in USPSA so don’t run a magwell extension on my gun and am shooting my weenie .40 minor reload ammo. I have a 9mm XDm 4.5 that I am considering setting up with a magwell and a fiber optic front sight like my 5.25 to try out for 3 Gun just to have a few more rounds and get into using 9mm ammo. I want to experiment with some 9mm loads and use up some of the buckets of 9mm brass I have sitting around! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HardChrome Posted August 30, 2014 Share Posted August 30, 2014 Might as well shoot the one with less recoil for competition. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zjmccauley Posted November 10, 2014 Share Posted November 10, 2014 No advantage really Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CMonty Posted November 11, 2014 Share Posted November 11, 2014 I find it easiest to use Freedom Munitions 124gr for 3 gun, the price is right and i can leave my 650 set up for 40 Major. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
meanzbullet Posted November 11, 2014 Share Posted November 11, 2014 There isn't any real disadvantage to using the .40 either. For the most part you are not winning or losing any 3 gun match in the 2-5 seconds difference that MAY exist between 9 and 40. That being said, the one person who said all of the cool kids are running custom 9mm's is right... look in the classifieds everyone is selling their 40's and looking for 9's Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
glocklover Posted November 20, 2014 Share Posted November 20, 2014 I can't count how many times I've gone to a local match, no matter if its IDPA, USPSA,or a 3 gun match were the steel is never calibated corretly and I shoot the steel and the RO says oh you should've shot it again. I always shoot 40 cal with a power factor in the 140's. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shippj Posted November 20, 2014 Share Posted November 20, 2014 This, I was looking for a new blaster for 3 gun, I wanted an edge in 9mm. I ended up with an edge in .40, its was cheap, available, and I can use it as a back up for my limited gun. Everyone seems to be off loading .40's and I got a smoking deal. On the other hand I shot a night shoot a month ago and won my division. I believe it was because I was shooing a .40 with major pf. (had a USPSA match that morning and just used the same ammo) . There were 2 spinners and major PF put them spinners over fast. Way faster than my 9mm. There isn't any real disadvantage to using the .40 either. For the most part you are not winning or losing any 3 gun match in the 2-5 seconds difference that MAY exist between 9 and 40. That being said, the one person who said all of the cool kids are running custom 9mm's is right... look in the classifieds everyone is selling their 40's and looking for 9's Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GSonnen Posted November 20, 2014 Share Posted November 20, 2014 Most of us are always looking for an excuse to buy another gun, so get one of each and see what makes you happier. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gadela08 Posted November 26, 2014 Share Posted November 26, 2014 like others have said, i see no advantage to shooting a larger caliber in 3-gun, unless your 3-gun match has major/minor scoring. but i don't see that happening as that's mostly a USPSA pistol competition scoring factor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kujo929 Posted November 30, 2014 Share Posted November 30, 2014 I only use a 40 for 3 gun so I can use the same equipment I use for uspsa. 40 minor feels pretty close to 9mm anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
billm67 Posted December 9, 2014 Share Posted December 9, 2014 There are going to be situations where a 40 is an advantage..but others where the low recoil with make you faster. I say buy one of each! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maxximuss Posted December 13, 2014 Share Posted December 13, 2014 If you are going to buy one gun for USPSA Limited Class and multigun... buy a .40 If you only shoot multigun... buy a 9mm I run the same 2011 in Limited and multigun, so it is .40. I LOVE my 155 grain (Berry's hollow base flat point) minor loads! They make a 127 PF and shoot like a dream. When I have a spinner I use 200 grain (Berry's flat point) loaded pretty hot. It usually takes me less than 5 seconds to spin it with these, top--> bottom--> over. The only draw back is I can only fit 21 rounds per mag, if it was 9mm I'd get about 2-3 more. The cost to reload the 155 grain .40 is identical for me as 124 grain 9mm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maxximuss Posted December 13, 2014 Share Posted December 13, 2014 Here is a good video to demonstrate the benefit of .40 on a spinner. Go to the last 10 seconds, the rest is a long boring multigun stage. This video was from a great match in St. George, UT called the Hard as Hell Multigun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daft Posted December 30, 2014 Share Posted December 30, 2014 At the local range there a lot of spinners for action pistol and on 3gun there is at least one, penalty for not swinging being a lot. I figure the more momentum the better, and the .40 gives you more of that. Momentum equals mass time velocity and you can compare the 9 to the 40 with your powder and do the math. My son, the mechanical engineer said a lead bullet would be a little better than a plated bullet as it would deform more on contact. Not sure about that. But sort of like using heavier shot for a further distance on shotgun, or a heavier bullet on rifle, but the 40 will take a much heavier bullet than the 9mm. So, I guess its all about the local range. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJH Posted December 30, 2014 Share Posted December 30, 2014 I shoot a .40 because that is what I have. I can't say it's much of a disadvantage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steviesterno Posted December 30, 2014 Share Posted December 30, 2014 40 only makes sense if you are going to also shoot USPSA limited with the same gear. When I shoot USPSA anymore I do it with my 3 gun set up, and pretend it's the pistol part of a stage, so I go for 2 hits really fast. I don't win, but I also don't care. I used to shoot 4 gun and uspsa with a 6" 40, and ran light lead loads. never had an issue with steel, but around me I never came up to a non-shotgun spinner. If people were really super scared of them, they would be running 45s or 10mms, or 357, but I would guess for every 100+ rounds fired you take 1 at a spinner. doesn't seem worth it in lost capacity and added cost of a 40. now you COULD build up a limited 40 M&P and get a conversion barrel. then bring 2 sets of mags to each match, and make your decision based on the targets they have set up that day. If you're into that kind of thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mulrick Posted January 2, 2015 Share Posted January 2, 2015 Our local 3 gun matches always have a pistol spinner or 2. Normally one is around 7 yards (easy) and another at 15 (gets hard to do under stress) with a 60 second penalty for a failure to flip the spinner, this can obviously make or break a match. The top guys in our club are shooting tricked SVI's in 9mm with light 9mm loads and then throwing in some 124gr loaded a little hotter for the spinners. The thought being 3 or 4 9mm's on target quickly has more energy than 2 .40 rounds. However after playing with .40 minor loads, I would way rather have 165's making 135-40 or so PF, they are just so soft, I feel like I have no disadvantage to the 9mm guys. That being said, my next gun is going to be 5.4" sighttracker 9mm that will be 3-gun specific (mainly just because) Action Pistol matches at the same club have 3 spinners that need 2 hits top and bottom to neutralize but a 30 sec bonus to spin. Which when done correctly allow you to go negative on time for that stage. It seems a lot of the 3 gun guys bring their .40's out for these matches, but a lot of this could be just for USPSA practice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newmexicocrawler Posted January 3, 2015 Share Posted January 3, 2015 I shoot both......just depends on what says "use me" when I open the safe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Solidgun Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 If you are serious about the sport and want the maximum advantage, stick to a full size 9mm platform for the capacity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akeefer Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 To me, it's a no brainer if you reload. You can get pretty low recoiling .40 with the right powder and load. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yeti Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 For most it's... capacity capacity capacity. If you don't reload? Definitely 9mm If you reload? Consider 40S&W. I think the flexibity that is available is worth the slight loss in capacity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob1125 Posted January 4, 2015 Share Posted January 4, 2015 If you want more versatility with the gun and reload, go for the .40. You can work up a .40 minor and .40 major load very easily. The advantage is you use the same gun for multi-gun and limited. The gun has the same feel and trigger which will help with consistency between different disciplines. The couple of extra rounds in the 9mm will not make any difference unless you are at the upper levels of the game. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike4540 Posted January 10, 2015 Share Posted January 10, 2015 I like the 40 since you can load in for major or minor, so I can use the same gun for IDPA or USPSA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ropsitos Posted January 11, 2015 Share Posted January 11, 2015 Been there done that. Shot xdm in 40 for 3 gun. It will work fine. But, things to consider... 9mm has more capacity for a given magazine 9mm generally has less recoil (though like mentioned you can certainly reload 40 to be soft) 9mm cases are everywhere on the ground vs a handful of 40 to be able to pick up 9mm bullets are cheaper (both reloading and factory) 9mm pickup cases don't require push through grx die (this depends on you thoughts on bulged 40 cases and how many 9mm major cases you pick up) 40 positives More oomph if you want/need it. It certainly does mow down steel. I now shoot an xdm in 9mm and the 40 will get converted to an open gun for fun Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bryanbach Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 Having a conversion barrel is the answer you are looking for. One gun with two calibers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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