.40 S&W

Introduced 1990Smith & Wesson and WinchesterCIP standard

Also known as 10×22mm — the same cartridge under different names, all of which find this page.

Dimensions and pressure

Generated from the schema, like every specification table on this site, so a figure recorded on this entry cannot be missing from the table.

Identity

Designed by: Smith & Wesson and Winchester
Introduced: 1990
Production: not recorded
Standards body: C.I.P.
Case type: Rimless
Case shape: Straight

Dimensions

Bullet diameter: 10.17 mm0.4004 insource
C.I.P. G1, maximum bullet diameter.
Bore diameter: not recorded
Case length: 21.59 mm0.8500 insource
C.I.P. L3, maximum case length.
Overall length: 28.83 mm1.135 insource
C.I.P. L6, maximum cartridge overall length.
Rim diameter: 10.77 mm0.4240 insource
C.I.P. R1.
Neck diameter: 10.74 mm0.4228 insource
C.I.P. H2.
Base diameter: 10.77 mm0.4240 insource
C.I.P. P1.

Pressure

Maximum pressure: 225 MPa32,633 psisource
C.I.P. Pmax 2250 bar; 1 bar = 0.1 MPa exactly.
Pressure standard: C.I.P.

SAAMI and C.I.P. measure pressure differently and their figures are not interchangeable, which is why the body is always named beside the figure.

Loads

Velocity is recorded per barrel length as published. A gun page interpolates between these points and never projects beyond them.

Federal 180 gr full metal jacket

Federal

Bullet mass: 11.66 g179.9 grsource
Ballistics table of the cited article, which publishes bullet mass in grams.
Cartridge mass: not recorded
Bullet type: FMJ
G1 BC: not recorded
G7 BC: not recorded

Sourced velocity by barrel length
Barrel	Velocity
101.6 mm4.000 in	300.2 m/s984.9 fps

Federal 165 gr full metal jacket

Federal

Bullet mass: 10.69 g165.0 grsource
Ballistics table of the cited article.
Cartridge mass: not recorded
Bullet type: FMJ
G1 BC: not recorded
G7 BC: not recorded

Sourced velocity by barrel length
Barrel	Velocity
101.6 mm4.000 in	344.4 m/s1,130 fps

Chambered in

Computed from every entry that lists this cartridge. Nothing here is hand-maintained.

Heckler & Koch MP5
Heckler & Koch

A cartridge designed by committee and by circumstance. The FBI had adopted the 10mm Auto after 1986, found it more than most agents could shoot well, and began loading it down; Smith & Wesson and Winchester observed that if nobody was using the full-power load, the case did not need to be that long. The .40 S&W is a 10mm Auto shortened to fit a 9mm-sized pistol frame.

For two decades it was the default American police cartridge. It has since lost most of that ground back to the 9×19mm, on the argument that modern expanding bullets have closed the gap while the smaller round gives more rounds, less recoil and cheaper practice.

It runs at 225 MPa, half again the .45 ACP’s pressure in a case a third smaller, which is why pistols chambered for it wear out faster than the same design in 9mm.

References

C.I.P. TDCC datasheet — 40 S&W · 2000-06-07 · read 2026-08-31
.40 S&W · 1371072783 · read 2026-08-31

Last verified 2026-08-31 · review status: agent-populated