I would tend to agree with your statement. I try to explain it to my associates, but I'm not sure they are getting the concept. To make it easy, I just say that I think that the 9mm round is a bit lazy with normal loads. In contrast, I think the .40 round is more robust. That snap, recoil, flip, what ever you want to call it, actually helps me get back on target faster than other calibers. If you shoot/practice with the round exclusively, you get more accustomed to the flip, and turn it to your advantage. It's almost like you can(and I said almost) relax your grip and your arms, and let the flip do all of the work. The firearm just comes back down naturally. It's a very difficult thing to explain, but when I go shooting, it's a bit of 9mm, but mostly .40 cal. I don't know if it matters, but I shoot .40 cal out of compact firearms only. I have no practical proof to any of this, it's just how it is with me. I know others who also prefer .40 over everything else. Whenever I get a feeling that .40 is a bit robust, I shoot heavy .357 loads out of my wife's SP101. .40 is a piece of cake.