Glad you did your research about the chamber, there were many other brands that did not fully support the case although this has proven to not be much of an issue if you are using quality brass that you have inspected. I did not clarify either, the buldge did not take place in factory loaded ammo, only in reloaded cases that were either poor quality, out of spec., or loaded to the max.
Excellent points. Wilhelm Bubits designed the M40 because he realized the 9mm handguns really weren't up to the abuse of the higher-pressured .40S&W cartridge (particularly after many thousands of rounds), despite being able to fit into the frames without any major modification. Since I'm not a reloader, I'm glad you mentioned the bulging of reloaded cases. A blown .40S&W case in a Glock probably wouldn't be very pretty.
It's interesting to note that Bubits tried selling the design to Glock, but was rejected.
As far as the round, the 180 gr. sounds good to me, I am a .45 person myself and feel at the close range a handgun would be used, the bigger/heavier the better. A threat on the ground is much better than a threat still standing with a hole in them.
Amen to that! Unfortunately I don't have too much experience with the .45 ACP, although I have studied some of what its advocates have said (Cooper, for instance). I've fired my grandpa's Auto-Ordnance WW2 Mil-Spec 1911-A1, but I experienced that famous "slam-bang" recoil its known for. After I save some money to buy a 1911 with closer tolerances, I'll give the .45 another shot.
For now I'm confident that the .40 will
probably take care of business (after hearing about hopped-up and/or overly muscular criminals refusing to go down without a hard fight, who really knows?). The most important thing is that I can fire it well and accurately in darkness or light, with or without earplugs (everyone please wear them at the range--I only went without once just to make sure I was comfortable), and its stopping power rivals the other great fighting cartridges out there. It's comfy to carry and shoot, and recoil is pretty low, relatively speaking.
How do you like the Steyr so far, I have never looked at one but am curious?
The only complaint I have goes back to bulged brass. Some of the early models (like mine) really had some serious jamming issues, which makes or breaks a carry piece. Cheap, thin brass could stick in the chamber (watch out reloaders) and take a lot of elbow grease to remove. I hear that they fixed that issue, but now Steyr isn't importing the pistol anymore. I use only Federal or Winchester cartridges now, after having a few jams and stovepipes with Remington UMC during target practice. It's had about 1200 rounds through it, and the last 1150 have been flawless.
I'd recommend it for a carrier on a budget (picked mine up at a gun show for $350+tax), but check the serial number and heed my warnings about cheap brass.