Border Patrol to Dump the .40 S&W

        The standard sidearm issued to Border Patrol agents are currently the HK P2000 double action LEM (Law Enforcement Modification) pistol in .40 S&W caliber. Per HK's website, the LEM trigger is a reduced weight double action trigger, where pull has been reduced to 7.3 – 8.5 pounds of pressure. It uses a 12-round magazine. Prior to the HK pistol, agents were issued the Berretta 96D "Brigadier" pistol, which was also a double-action only .40 S&W handgun, except magazine capacity was only 11 rounds.

       The Firearm Blog reports today that "[t]he US Border Patrol’s parent agency the US Customs and Border Protection have released a solicitation for a family of new 9x19mm striker-fired, semi-automatic pistols." Of course, like everyone else lately, they want pistols with adjustable back-straps and for the weapons to be adaptable to full-size, medium, and compact sizes, or, at the least, offer different models of those sizes using mostly common parts. There are a bunch of other specifications as well, but, in short, it appears to me that the solicitation is aimed specifically at the Sig P320, but that the agency is open to considering Glocks or other brands of striker fire pistols.

       Of course, this merely continues the trend away from the .40 S&W by law enforcement. And, in that regard, the Border Patrol is behind the curve. But the solicitation also requires that "[t]he full and mid size pistols should be optics ready with cutouts and cover plates for mounting red dot optics." You might remember that recently Houston P.D. approved the use of red-dot sights on its duty pistols. I believe that we are going to see this trend continue and spread.

       As for the .40 S&W, what will become of it? I was reloading some .38 S&W recently, and in looking for some information on the round, came across a discussion asking why .38 S&W ammunition is so uncommonly found, if at all. After all, it was the premier police and self-defense round for decades, with probably millions of handguns made in that caliber, and widely found and used even into the 1950s. But once it fell out of favor, the fall was hard. Although it is possible to find the ammunition at Cabelas' over the past several years, I remember trying to find some in the 1990's, and it was rarer than a hen's tooth. Will that become the final fate of the .40 S&W? To slide into obscurity becoming somewhat of a niche caliber?