Buffalo Bore 40 S&W +P 180gr JHP – Impressive Duty Weight Load

Description

The Buffalo Bore 40 S&W +P 180gr JHP is the heavy bullet option in Buffalo Bore’s +P 40 line, and it carries the same condition as its lighter stablemate. A 180 grain jacketed hollow point at 1100 fps produces roughly 484 ft-lbs, and the load requires a pistol with a fully supported chamber. That rules out factory Glock 40 S&W barrels. Twenty rounds per box, item 23B/20.

• Buffalo Bore 40 S&W +P 180gr JHP Overview
• 40 S&W +P 180 Grain Ammo Ballistics
• Why A Heavy Bullet 40 Cal Hollow Point Drives Deeper
• Specifications
• Chamber Support Notes For This Supported Chamber 40 S&W Load

Buffalo Bore 40 S&W +P 180gr JHP Overview

180 grains is the traditional 40 S&W duty weight, the one most service pistols were set up around and most shooters have the largest amount of practice with. Buffalo Bore has taken that familiar bullet weight and loaded it to +P rather than to the usual standard pressure figures.

The bullet is a conventional lead core jacketed hollow point. At 1100 fps it has ample speed to expand, and a heavy bullet does not need much to open properly because it carries the momentum to keep working after it has.

The chamber requirement is the thing to settle before you buy. This is a supported chamber 40 S&W load: Buffalo Bore is explicit that Glock 40 S&W pistols have unsupported chambers and that an aftermarket supported chamber barrel is needed to shoot it in one. They note that essentially all other modern 40 S&W handguns sold in the United States do have fully supported chambers.

40 S&W +P 180 Grain Ammo Ballistics

The published real gun figures are modest and honest. A five inch custom 1911 with a Nowlin barrel gives 1119 fps, a 3.75 inch Sig 229 gives 1040, and a 4.9 inch Taurus PT100 gives 1035 fps.

Those work out to roughly 501, 432 and 428 ft-lbs. A standard pressure 180 grain 40 S&W load runs about 1000 fps for 400, so even the compact Sig is producing around eight percent more, and the full size 1911 about twenty five percent more.

Against the 155 grain +P load in the same line, which makes 582 ft-lbs at 1300 fps, the Buffalo Bore 40 S&W +P 180gr JHP gives up about a hundred foot pounds on paper. What it buys back is depth, and on a defensive round that is usually the better trade.

Why A Heavy Bullet 40 Cal Hollow Point Drives Deeper

Once two bullets have expanded to roughly the same frontal area, what carries them forward is momentum, and momentum scales with mass. A 180 grain bullet simply has more of it than a 155 grain one, which is the entire argument for the heavier weight in a defensive load.

It matters most when the bullet has to work for it. Through a winter coat, through an arm, through a car door, or at an angle where the path to the vitals is long, a heavy bullet 40 cal hollow point has more in reserve than a lighter one that spent some of its energy opening up early.

Recoil feels different rather than worse. A heavy bullet 40 cal hollow point gives a slower, rolling push instead of a sharp snap, and many shooters find that easier to manage even though the total recoil energy is higher. Whether it suits you is worth finding out with a box.

There is also the familiarity argument. Most 40 S&W pistols were regulated and sprung around 180 grain ammunition, so deep penetrating 40 caliber ammunition at this weight tends to feed, cycle and print exactly where the gun expects.

Specifications

Chamber Support Notes For This Supported Chamber 40 S&W Load

Check your chamber first. Buffalo Bore requires a fully supported chamber and names Glock 40 S&W pistols as lacking one. If you shoot a Glock 22, 23 or 27 with the factory barrel, fit an aftermarket supported chamber barrel or choose a standard pressure load instead. This is not a caution to shrug off.

The restriction applies to 40 S&W only. Glock pistols in 45 ACP, 10mm, 9mm and 380 Auto are not affected, so do not carry this supported chamber 40 S&W load warning across to other calibres.

Confirm function with a box. A 40 S&W +P 180 grain ammo load produces a different recoil impulse from standard ammunition, and while 180 grains is the weight most pistols are tuned around, the higher pressure is not.

Expect faster wear with volume shooting. Springs and locking surfaces work harder at +P, so carrying this and practising with ordinary 180 grain ammunition is the sensible pattern and costs you nothing in training value, since the bullet weight is the same.

Deep Penetrating 40 Caliber Ammunition Availability

This deep penetrating 40 caliber ammunition is in stock and ready to ship from MAG5 Firearms, a family owned FFL dealer in Collegeville, Pennsylvania. Ammunition orders ship to most states, and local customers are welcome to pick up in the shop. If you need case quantities or a standard pressure 40 S&W load, call us and we will check what our distributors have on hand.

Manufacturer details are on the Buffalo Bore site. For the faster light bullet at the same pressure, see the 40 S&W +P 155gr JHP. For standard pressure options with no chamber requirement, compare the 40 S&W 140gr Barnes TAC-XP, or browse our full ammunition selection.