Details
The Smith & Wesson SD40 is an incredible value in defensive handguns. Small enough to be carried concealed, yet large enough to pack a major defensive caliber, everything about the SD40 is designed for self defense.
The SD40 is a polymer framed, striker fired pistol with incredible reliability. Testing by GunsForSale.com staff showed the SD40 to be a flawless performer no matter who was shooting, and this gun did not hesitate with any of the ammo we tried.
The sights are designed for self defense. The front sight is a tritium night sight outlined in white for easy sighting day or night. The rear sight is a wide notch, two dot, allowing for ease of picking up the front sight in tough conditions, and it will not interfere with acquisition of the front sight.
The Smith & Wesson SD40 has an accessory rail, so you can add your favorite white light or laser.
This SD40 ships with 14-round magazines. For customers living in restrictive states, SD40 pistols with 10-round magazines are also available from GunsForSale.com.
The SD40 is a polymer framed, striker fired pistol with incredible reliability. Testing by GunsForSale.com staff showed the SD40 to be a flawless performer no matter who was shooting, and this gun did not hesitate with any of the ammo we tried.
The sights are designed for self defense. The front sight is a tritium night sight outlined in white for easy sighting day or night. The rear sight is a wide notch, two dot, allowing for ease of picking up the front sight in tough conditions, and it will not interfere with acquisition of the front sight.
The Smith & Wesson SD40 has an accessory rail, so you can add your favorite white light or laser.
This SD40 ships with 14-round magazines. For customers living in restrictive states, SD40 pistols with 10-round magazines are also available from GunsForSale.com.
Additional Information
| Manufacturer | Smith & Wesson |
|---|---|
| Condition | New |
| Caliber | 40 cal |
| Manufacturer SKU | 220400 |
| Capacity | 14+1 |
| Sights Included | Night |
| Finish | Matte Black |
| Color | Black |
| Width | 1.29" |
| Length | 7.2" |
| Weight (empty) | 22.7 oz |
| Barrel Length | 4" |
| Safety Type | None |
| Frame Type | Polymer |
| Detachable Magazine | Yes |
| Magazines Included | 2 |
| Trigger Operation | Striker Fired |
| Magazine Capacity | 14 |
| Case Included | Yes |
| Firearm Size | Full-Size |
| Series | Smith & Wesson SD40 |
Customer Reviews
- Love it - Review by Glenn
-
I checked all the reviews on this gun before purchasing mine and I agree that it is the best gun value on the market. (Posted on 1/9/16)Performance Value Quality - Can't be beat - Review by Wolf
-
I can wear this gun all day long and not get tired of it. (Posted on 8/24/13)Performance Value Quality - sd40 review - Review by hitman
-
love this gun (Posted on 6/28/13)Performance Value Quality - Best value in a self defense gun on the market! - Review by Richard
-
My Smith and Wesson SD40 is 100% reliable with all of the self-defense and practice ammo I have put through it. The front sight has a tritium insert and the rear sight is notched for one hand reloads. 14+1 rounds of .40 caliber felon repellant.Performance Value Quality
The SD40 feels good in the hand and shoots very accurately. This is NOT a Sigma! but is priced brand new for less than $400!!!
Clearly the SD40 is the best value in the market. (Posted on 12/16/10)
Blog Posts
by: Richard Johnson of GunsHolstersAndGear.com
Smith and Wesson introduced the SD40 in mid-2010 as a low-cost self defense pistol. The SD40 enters an already crowded field of polymer pistols, so the question is can it survive? I answer "Yes, it can!"
I took delivery of a SD40 pistol from Smith & Wesson for this review. No payment was made by S&W to do this review, and I don't get to keep the gun unless I buy it.
So, let's get to the review...
What is the SD40?
The new Smith & Wesson pistol is a striker-fired, polymer pistol. The stainless steel slide is finished in black Melonite, providing excellent corrosion resistance. The SD40 has no external safeties.
The S&W has a 4" barrel and an unloaded weight of just under 23 ounces.
Practical Self Defense
The SD40 is a practical gun. By that I mean the firearm has features that enhance its ability to perform as a self defense gun, but it does not have some of the frills or refined looks of more expensive pistols.
Don't misunderstand, though. The SD40 is well built, and for a modern plastic gun, is an attractive pistol. And as it turns out, it is an excellent shooter as well.
The SD40 feels good in my hand. For me, the point of aim is pretty natural, and the grip size works to put my finger in the right place to address the trigger. Every person is slightly different, though, and unlike the M&P line, the SD40 does not have any way of customizing the grip size. For comparison purposes, the third gen Glock and M&P with a medium backstrap both fit my hand well.
The texture on the frame of the S&W SD40 is moderately aggressive, allowing for good grip, but not so sharp as to be uncomfortable or damage clothing. This may seem a bit silly, but the plastic used in the SD40 frame feels good to the touch as well. Some plastics feel better than others, I guess, and this one feels good.
Keeping with the self defense nature of this pistol, the S&W SD40 has an accessory rail, which allows the addition of a white light or laser. Having a white light attached to a defense pistol is a good thing.
The SD40 comes with two 14-round magazines and a hard plastic case. The SD40 can also be had with low capacity 10-round magazines.
Sights
The SD series of pistols feature one of the better set-ups available on any factory gun. The front sight is a white dot sight with a tritium insert for better visibility in low light conditions.
The rear sight is a Novak-style sight with two dots and a 90 degree angle on the front side. The angle means you can use the sight to work the slide in a one-handed reload, by catching the sight on your buckle, boot, or other hard surface.
"Slicked" rear sights prevent you from performing this life-saving maneuver, while promising "no snag" guarantees for concealed carry. Having carried a wide range of handguns over the years, I have never found the rear sights of any pistol to snag on clothing during a draw - slicked or not.
The rear sight does not have tritium inserts. Some may question if this is a cost-cutting measure by S&W, and it may be. However, I find it to be the preferable set-up for a fighting handgun.
In stressful, low-light conditions, just finding your sights will be a difficult proposition. Increasing the visual complexity of your sight picture by having three green dots, instead of just one, will create visual confusion in even calm situations, but will be a virtual nightmare in body alarm response (aka 'fight or flight').
Having been in my share of high-stress, low-light encounters, and in talking with others who have been in shootings in similar situations, I strongly feel that a three-dot tritium arrangement is not conducive to putting rounds on target. However, having a single tritium insert on the front sight allows you to place the front sight on target much quicker than without any inserts at all.
Shooting
Shooting the SD40 was a great experience. First of all, the gun was relatively low recoiling as compared to other .40 S&W pistols I have shot. The .40 is a high-pressure handgun cartridge, and for some people it has too much "snap" for their tastes.
While I have never felt the .40 recoil is punishing, I tend to agree that it has sharper felt recoil as compared to the 9mm and .45 ACP. However, with the SD40, I did not feel the SD40 was any more sharp in recoiling than the average 9mm pistol.
The second observation about the SD40: it was 100% reliable. I ran more than 500 rounds of ammunition through it including multiple brands of FMJ and defensive loads. No hiccups. Not one.
I took the pistol along to an informal blogger shoot, allowing others including Say Uncle and Les Jones to shoot the SD40. I did not observe anyone have any reliability issues with the gun. (If they did, I invite them to post their experiences in the comments section.)
The gun was very accurate also. Not match-grade, mind you, but certainly sub-minute-of-felon. Softball sized groups shooting off hand at 15 yards was the normal performance. My gun seemed to like the Winchester PDX1 180 gr JHP and Federal HST 180 grain JHP the best, but the Speer Gold Dot 155 grain JHP was a close third.
While shooting, I found the sights to be very easy to use. At the blogger shoot, we wound up shooting pistols in a low-light, outdoor setting, and the front tritium sight was easy to pick up and put on target. This shooting reinforced my belief that S&W did the right thing with the sight configuration on this pistol.
The only drawback to the SD40 was the trigger. The trigger wasn't bad, but it wasn't great. Initially, the trigger felt pretty gritty, but after about 100 rounds, it started to smooth out. After several hundred rounds, the trigger was good, but not stellar.
Don't misunderstand me when I describe the trigger: it really isn't bad, especially after doing some shooting to smooth it out. But it isn't as smooth as a nice revolver, or even my M&P9. The trigger is perfectly functional, and it isn't terribly heavy, so there is no reason why it should affect accuracy.
Conclusion
Smith & Wesson has a real winner with the SD40. It is a very affordable pistol with excellent features and ergonomics, and 100% reliability. You can find a better pistol, or a cheaper pistol, but I don't think you can find a better pistol at this price.
As I said at the start of this review, I don't get to keep the SD40 unless I buy it. S&W will be getting a check from me for this pistol, because I'm not sending it back.
Smith and Wesson introduced the SD40 in mid-2010 as a low-cost self defense pistol. The SD40 enters an already crowded field of polymer pistols, so the question is can it survive? I answer "Yes, it can!"
I took delivery of a SD40 pistol from Smith & Wesson for this review. No payment was made by S&W to do this review, and I don't get to keep the gun unless I buy it.
So, let's get to the review...
What is the SD40?
The new Smith & Wesson pistol is a striker-fired, polymer pistol. The stainless steel slide is finished in black Melonite, providing excellent corrosion resistance. The SD40 has no external safeties.
The S&W has a 4" barrel and an unloaded weight of just under 23 ounces.
Practical Self Defense
The SD40 is a practical gun. By that I mean the firearm has features that enhance its ability to perform as a self defense gun, but it does not have some of the frills or refined looks of more expensive pistols.
Don't misunderstand, though. The SD40 is well built, and for a modern plastic gun, is an attractive pistol. And as it turns out, it is an excellent shooter as well.
The SD40 feels good in my hand. For me, the point of aim is pretty natural, and the grip size works to put my finger in the right place to address the trigger. Every person is slightly different, though, and unlike the M&P line, the SD40 does not have any way of customizing the grip size. For comparison purposes, the third gen Glock and M&P with a medium backstrap both fit my hand well.
The texture on the frame of the S&W SD40 is moderately aggressive, allowing for good grip, but not so sharp as to be uncomfortable or damage clothing. This may seem a bit silly, but the plastic used in the SD40 frame feels good to the touch as well. Some plastics feel better than others, I guess, and this one feels good.
Keeping with the self defense nature of this pistol, the S&W SD40 has an accessory rail, which allows the addition of a white light or laser. Having a white light attached to a defense pistol is a good thing.
The SD40 comes with two 14-round magazines and a hard plastic case. The SD40 can also be had with low capacity 10-round magazines.
Sights
The SD series of pistols feature one of the better set-ups available on any factory gun. The front sight is a white dot sight with a tritium insert for better visibility in low light conditions.
The rear sight is a Novak-style sight with two dots and a 90 degree angle on the front side. The angle means you can use the sight to work the slide in a one-handed reload, by catching the sight on your buckle, boot, or other hard surface.
"Slicked" rear sights prevent you from performing this life-saving maneuver, while promising "no snag" guarantees for concealed carry. Having carried a wide range of handguns over the years, I have never found the rear sights of any pistol to snag on clothing during a draw - slicked or not.
The rear sight does not have tritium inserts. Some may question if this is a cost-cutting measure by S&W, and it may be. However, I find it to be the preferable set-up for a fighting handgun.
In stressful, low-light conditions, just finding your sights will be a difficult proposition. Increasing the visual complexity of your sight picture by having three green dots, instead of just one, will create visual confusion in even calm situations, but will be a virtual nightmare in body alarm response (aka 'fight or flight').
Having been in my share of high-stress, low-light encounters, and in talking with others who have been in shootings in similar situations, I strongly feel that a three-dot tritium arrangement is not conducive to putting rounds on target. However, having a single tritium insert on the front sight allows you to place the front sight on target much quicker than without any inserts at all.
Shooting
Shooting the SD40 was a great experience. First of all, the gun was relatively low recoiling as compared to other .40 S&W pistols I have shot. The .40 is a high-pressure handgun cartridge, and for some people it has too much "snap" for their tastes.
While I have never felt the .40 recoil is punishing, I tend to agree that it has sharper felt recoil as compared to the 9mm and .45 ACP. However, with the SD40, I did not feel the SD40 was any more sharp in recoiling than the average 9mm pistol.
The second observation about the SD40: it was 100% reliable. I ran more than 500 rounds of ammunition through it including multiple brands of FMJ and defensive loads. No hiccups. Not one.
I took the pistol along to an informal blogger shoot, allowing others including Say Uncle and Les Jones to shoot the SD40. I did not observe anyone have any reliability issues with the gun. (If they did, I invite them to post their experiences in the comments section.)
The gun was very accurate also. Not match-grade, mind you, but certainly sub-minute-of-felon. Softball sized groups shooting off hand at 15 yards was the normal performance. My gun seemed to like the Winchester PDX1 180 gr JHP and Federal HST 180 grain JHP the best, but the Speer Gold Dot 155 grain JHP was a close third.
While shooting, I found the sights to be very easy to use. At the blogger shoot, we wound up shooting pistols in a low-light, outdoor setting, and the front tritium sight was easy to pick up and put on target. This shooting reinforced my belief that S&W did the right thing with the sight configuration on this pistol.
The only drawback to the SD40 was the trigger. The trigger wasn't bad, but it wasn't great. Initially, the trigger felt pretty gritty, but after about 100 rounds, it started to smooth out. After several hundred rounds, the trigger was good, but not stellar.
Don't misunderstand me when I describe the trigger: it really isn't bad, especially after doing some shooting to smooth it out. But it isn't as smooth as a nice revolver, or even my M&P9. The trigger is perfectly functional, and it isn't terribly heavy, so there is no reason why it should affect accuracy.
Conclusion
Smith & Wesson has a real winner with the SD40. It is a very affordable pistol with excellent features and ergonomics, and 100% reliability. You can find a better pistol, or a cheaper pistol, but I don't think you can find a better pistol at this price.
As I said at the start of this review, I don't get to keep the SD40 unless I buy it. S&W will be getting a check from me for this pistol, because I'm not sending it back.
Product Question and Answer
There are no entries.