Thinking about a new handgun and trying to decide on a caliber.
I’m leaning towards a .40 but am intrigued by the 10mm. I know that my options would be limited in gun choice, but what can anyone tell me about the 10.
I’ve heard that it is an extremely powerful and accurate caliber but that the recoil is overpowering and that ammo is expensive and hard to find.
If I were to go with the 10 I would probably get a Glock C model with the ported barrel to help with the recoil.
Just any thoughts and experiences with the 10, good or bad, would be appreciated.
10mm recoil is not bad at all, it’s a bit snappier than .45ACP but nowhere near a magnum revolver. It’s a very flat-shooting cartridge, and power-wise it’s similar to a .357.
I don’t currently own a 10, but I’m looking forward to handling the new Vltor Bren Ten when it comes out. Used to own a S&W 1006 and foolishly sold it to fund something else. Georgia Arms makes some good quality 10mm ammo for decent prices, and I’ve heard good things about Double Tap. You aren’t likely to find 10mm ammo on many shelves, so reloading or online buying are best.
Seems to me that I read somewhere that Colt is bringing back the 10mmColt Delta Elite, If I remember correctly the orginials were pretty good pistols, Anyway, another option for the 10mm crowd
I owned a G20 for a spell and might again. Or a Delta Elite. The 10mm is a lot of fun to shoot but expensive w/o reloading.
I got a bad batch of Georgia Arms 10mm Shear Power Plus. Didn’t know it was a bad batch until I dropped the striker of my G20 on a dud holding on a whitetail buck’s shoulder. The balance of that bag had other duds and other overcharges (massive blast and muzzle flash).
GA Arms .223 55 grain fmj showed me soccer ball sized groups at 50 YARDS from my Noveske (scoped from a bench). I would not base my 10mm decision on counting on that ammo source.
I have a G20 and a CZ/Dan Wesson Razorback. Both gobble up Double Tap 200g XTPs without a hitch and pack a wollop. Double Tap is ‘good to go’. Hornady makes a similar load but the DoubleTap is produced to the origianl SAAMI specs Norma came up with.
The recoil on a G20 is not bad relative to a G21. I wouldn’t go compensated based purely on recoil issues. I have an old gen2 G20 and would love a G20SF.
Colt did release a new Delta Elite last year. Dan Wesson is stopping 10mm 1911s so they might be harder to come by these days.
HSM or BVAC at the local gun show is still cheaper than steel cased Blazer sold online. Last year it was still less than $20 a box.
Double Tap makes a wide array of ammo. The 135gr hollow points at 1600 fps is fun to shoot. I have a few boxes of the 230gr hard cast for outdoors protection.
I’ve got a Glock 20 & 29, love them both. I used to shoot USPSA with the 20.
You’ll find the 10mm to be a very versatile round, on the low end it performs like a .40 S&W on the high end you have a great woods/hunting gun. Not to mention the carbine potential. They are both large guns, if they fit your hand and you don’t mind hunting for factory ammo go for it.
To shoot a lot you’ll need to reload. Remember, the Glock 20 is built for full power 10mm loads. I’ll hold up a very long time with .40 S&W/IPSC major power loads.
10mm is a great round…definitely has some thump power to it. Only problem for me is finding quality Self defense ammo for it right now. I own a Glock 20 but don’t have much ammo for it. Availability of ammo without paying an arm and a leg for is my main concern when it comes to rounds like the 10mm. But if you reload it shouldn’t be a problem.
I am a huge 10mm fan. I only ever shot doubletap out of my razorback. I ended up selling the gun basically as a devotional issue with my wife(at the time I had put considerable $$$ into a custom 1911 and it was obvious where my priorities were). I would call the recoil snappy but using the modern method it is managable. The thing is that I would develope considerable “tennis elbow” or as a GM open shooter once told me “super elbow” after a 200+ rd range day. I will one day buy another 10mm, most likely a glock.
If I did not reload I would not even consider 10mm, but I’m also in Canada where ammo is more expensive.
I do understand that most shooters I respect have gone to 9mm and I understand the arguments for 9mm.
What I like about the 10mm (aside from the testosterone factor which I admit is half the reason I like the round) is that I feel I am nowhere near the “defensive power floor”.
I believe that the 10mm gives me a bit of a “safety factor” in terms of shooting through bone or auto glass or on a funny angle to the target or what have you.
But it is also true that my follow-up shots are not as fast as the guys I shoot with. For instance a good FAST drill for me with my 10mm is probably 20% slower than with a 9mm - in my case that’s about a second to a second and a half I would say.
Part of that time is the slight stretch to the mag release, as well…it’s a bigger gun and I need to pivot it a bit in my hand to get that mag release with my right thumb. That might not slow down a better shooter but it does slow me down a little.
At this time I believe I am somewhat less accurate with my 10mm, but I am not entirely sure. This is for a couple of reasons:
my target loads are pretty hot - I have been burning through a lot of Titegroup I had on hand and am running 185gr FMJs over 7 gr of Titegroup and a magnum primer…this is a fairly high-pressure load, whereas when I shoot other peoples’ glock 17s, I’m often shooting gamer practise loads, which recoil much less of course.
when I’m shooting other peoples’ guns, I’m rarely doing drills, I’m just slow-firing casually. So I naturally make better groups than when I’m drawing/skipping/singing a song/getting shots off against a timer.
At any rate my groups with the G20 are definitely what I think are acceptable so I’m not too concerned anyway.
So while I love the round, there is no question that in some ways it is handicapping my performance in certain ways.
I believe, perhaps mistakenly but hopefully I’ll never know, that there are performance benefits in other ways that make the slower follow-ups etc worthwhile.