40 SUPER

The 40 Super was developed by Triton Cartridge in January 1996 when Fernando Coelho (president and founder of Triton Cartridge) and Tom Burczynski (inventor of Hydra-Shok, Starfire and Quik-Shok bullets) began experimenting with the .45 Super case necked down to .40 cal. Well known gun writer Charles Petty, who also fiddled with a 45 ACP necked to .40 cal and called his design the 10mm Centaur, together with Tony Rumore from Tromix also contributed to load development for the new .40 Super. The case length was increased to .992”, the same as the 10mm Auto and used 45 Win Mag cases in the beginning because of the extra strength of the cases over standard 45 ACP cases. Starline Brass aided in the case development and the final version had changed to small pistol primer, slightly longer shoulder to seat the bullet more effectively as well as a further increase of the case wall from the web up to the shoulder area to create a stronger case than the original 45 Win Mag case to handle the 37,00 psi pressure generated. The result was in impressive 1,800 fps from a 135gr. bullet, 1,500 fps from the 165gr. and 1,300 fps from a 200gr. bullet. This ultimately proved too much for many shooters and older guns and the 40 Super never gained the commercial success that was hoped for.