It delivers ballistics comparable to the .41 Magnum revolver cartridge, yet functions in standard 1911s and other full-size pistols.

Before the public debut of the .40 S&W, Charles Petty, a well-known and respected writer, had already ventured into the bottleneck arena.

His cartridge, called the "10mm Centaur", was based on a .45 ACP case necked to .40 caliber using 10 mm dies.

Prior to that, Dean Grennell took .451[2] Detonics cases and necked them down to 9 mm, calling it the ".38/45 Hard Head".

SSK offered 41 Avenger barrels with case forming and reloading dies as a kit for the Colt 1911.

Petty and Tony Rumore (Tromix) were major contributors in the initial load development for Triton's new cartridge.

During that time, Triton began closely examining the specific attributes of the cartridge (feed reliability, case strength, down-range ballistic performance, etc.).

By trimming .45 Winchester Magnum brass to 10 mm case length and necking them to .40 caliber, the .40 Super began to take final shape.

Working closely with Starline Brass Company, more testing was conducted on the cartridge case.

The final improvement came with the increased thickness of the cartridge case wall from the web area up to the beginning of the shoulder.

The .40 Super drives a 135 grain bullet to 1,800 feet per second while generating less chamber pressure than the 9x23mm Winchester.

Many semi-automatic pistols can accommodate the .40 Super, especially those already chambered for the .45 ACP cartridge are the easiest to convert.