My stock of LE40 is getting low and it now appears to be unobtainium. Was it discontinued by Federal? So now I need another choice for carry ammo.

I read the FAQ, which presents this list for .40 cal:

Barnes all-copper bullets (140 & 155gr) loaded by: Cor-Bon (DPX40140)
Winchester Ranger 180gr JHP   (RA40T)
Winchester Ranger 165gr JHP   (RA40TA)
Winchester Partition Gold 165gr JHP   (RA401P)
Winchester Bonded 180gr JHP   (Q4355)
Speer Gold Dot 155gr JHP   (53961)
Speer Gold Dot 180gr JHP   (53962)
Federal Tactical 165gr JHP   (LE40T3)
Federal Tactical 180gr JHP   (LE40T1)
Federal HST 180gr JHP   (P40HST1)
Remington Golden Saber 180 gr JHP (GS40SWB)

I also read that the FBI is using Hornady FlexLock Critical Duty, which is available in .40 175gr.

At this point my intellectual laziness kicks in and I am hoping to benefit from other people's knowledge and research

As you can tell from my desire for the LE40, I prefer a barrier blind solution with good terminal performance.

The Winchester bonded Q4355 also appears to be unobtainium. Which leaves the the Hornady product or...what

ATK discontinued the Federal bonded handgun ammo since they are also the parent company of Speer. I prefer 180gr  Gold Dot  however if I can’t get it I’ll get 180gr HST. 175gr Critical Duty is a good round I just can get Gold Dot and HST cheaper and in 50 round boxes much easier.

Although I like 165gr better, the 180gr Gold Dots are good, and the 180gr Federal HSTs are better. Nothing really gets close to the HST in consistency and expansion in .45acp or .40 S&W.

In 9mm Gold Dot seems to be on par with the HST, and I'll carry either in that caliber.

But for .40S&W and .45acp , HST is tops. I have Gold Dots as well, but that's because they're cheaper, and more often available for loading. I don't buy loaded ammo except for a few here and there, and fmj to get the cases to load. I do keep a few boxes of factory Gold Dots and factory HSTs.

Just to add, I don't feel undergunned with either of those two in any caliber. There's several other good bullets out there, but those are generally the best performers.

Thanks for the responses. I did a little more research on my own and clearly the shortlist is Gold Dots, HST, and Critical Duty.

I'm leaning towards the Critical Duty but have a little more studying to do on the subject.

Not getting a lot of traction in this thread, but perhaps this will help the next person...

After doing a bit more research this morning, it basically breaks down as follows:

- Speer Gold Dot G2, less penetration, more expansion, the choice of the USSOCOM.

- Hornady Critical Duty, more penetration, less expansion, the choice of the FBI.

It almost makes one want to alternate them in the magazine

Surprisingly, using AmmoSeek, the Critical Duty can be had for less than the Gold Dot G2, but by only a few pennies per round.

Still cogitating here, but now leaning more towards the G2.

I have no idea what load the "LE40" is so I cant comment. I personally prefer the Winchester 180 loads: Ranger, Ranger Bonded...it's all good.

The good news is that it is very difficult to find a 40SW load that is not good. Maybe the CorBon 135 +P that I carried in the 90's...

See the ammo list (from the ArfAmmoFAQ) in the first post.

180gr Gold Dot 100%

Federal HST 180
Winchester Ranger 180
Winchester Bonded 180
Speer Gold Dot 180

I feel very comfortable with any of these in a defensive pistol.

Bigger_Hammer

135grn at 1300fps sounds like a bad day for anyone on the receiving end of it


I carried it in the 90s as well and shot it iny G24C (unmarked C, but numbers matching) and it had an impressive fireball coming out of the ports.  

It kicked like hell in my G27 too

Win Ranger 180s or Gold Dot 180s

The win has been coming up cheap lately in bulk at random places.

Off the Federal LE Web Site
P40HST120040 S&W180 / 11.660.17HST4
P40HST320040 S&W165 / 10.690.15HST4
P40HS1G10040 S&W180 / 11.660.17Hydra-Shok® JHP4
P40HS3G10040 S&W165 / 10.690.15Hydra-Shok® JHP4
40SWA10040 S&W180 / 11.660.17JHP4

I always thought they should have made a 158gr @ 1250fps load for the .40 (it can easilly do 155 @ 1300 within SAAMI pressure).

158gr .40 is the same sectional density as 124gr 9mm, and this would have duplicated the energy of the 158gr .357 mag. Basically the best of .40 and .357 sig combined.