Part of the 10mm club!!

[excess650]

My 10mm is a 5" S&W 610. I shot a few boxes of factory ammo through it when I first got it back around 1990. The 170gr Norma stuff was HOT! I recall it ran in excess of 1370fps through my chrono. I bought 180gr Hornady XTPs and loaded them over AA#7. With this load this was the most accurate handgun that I ever shot with the exception of my Contender.

Its been years since I shot the 10mm, and I just cast up some boolits for it. I have both the NOE 10mm 180gr and NOE 200gr in 4 cavity. The boolits I cast were from the 180 and drop right at .403".

As for cast in the 40 S&W, I shot one for several seasons while shooting IPSC. The only mold I had at that time was the Lyman 40143, and it shot very well. I loaded over enough AA#5 to get 1000fps and called it good.

[Love Life]

Once again thank you everybody.

Subsonic I would love the info when ever you get the time to look at it. Last time I was around the 10mm I didn't reload much (for shame!), an I am pretty much starting from scratch.

I reckon I'll go with the RCBS 175 GR TC for a mould. Heavy and should provide good feeding. Also it will penetrate clothing in the northern latitudes. Hehehe.

I figured an order for Starline is in order. Now to get some large pistol primers.

Wait. I thought reloading and casting was supposed to save money?

[222]

I have a Dan Wesson rz10 that loves 180gr rdfn (38-40) and a stout load of Power Pistol.

[1845greyhounds]

My father and have had three 10mm's; a Colt Delta Elite (unported), a 5" ported Springfield Armory Omega, and a S&W 610 revolver. The Omega was the softest and possibly the most accurate of them. Unfortunately, part of the barrel locking lug sheared off and no spare parts were available... The 610 was and still is an awesome gun. I shot it for years in IPSC and killed my first Turkey with it. Personally, I didn't enjoy shooting the Delta Elite. It was unported and had incredibly sharp recoil compared to the other two 10mm's. If I had one today and planned to keep it, I'd get it ported...

[_The_Shadow]

Ooooooooooohh. I want green boolits. How did you do it and welcome aboard!

They are just painted prior to sizing and lubing! Let the paint dry/cure for a few days it will hold better. This was just a for fun project! Retired people like to have fun!

Although there are some who are using powdered paint the baking it on before sizing and lubing.

[excess650]

NOE has the 180gr in stock. The 200gr is out of stock.

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=143488

I thought I wanted the RCBS 40-180RF until the NOE 180 RF was produced. I bought a 4 cavity NOE instead of the RCBS 2 cavity. My 2 cavity Saeco and RCBS will probably end up in "swappin' and sellin".

The 180 is a good boolit for both the 40 S&W and the 10mm. The 200gr is good for the 10mm, but too heavy (IMO) for the 40 Short & Weak.

My 40 S&W is a Springfield Armory P9 LSP. I've since converted it to SA only with a WCP adjustable trigger and had it fitted with a BarSto non-ported 5" barrel, and adjustable rear sight.

[subsonic]

If I play with cast in my G20, I will likely try the Lee 6 cav TCwith lube groove.

[Love Life]

Excess 650 I sent you a PM

[9.3X62AL]

LOTS of trigger time with the 10mm here, two S&W pistols--a now-departed 1006 and presently a 1026 (5" barrel, SIG-style decocker).

The W-W Silvertips aren't something I'd encourage someone to send my way. 175 grain hollow-points at 1275 FPS (my chronography) should leave a lasting impression. There are no "magic bullets", despite the feverish claims of ammo company ad jockeys.

Norma-level loads (200 grain jacketed bullets @ 1200 FPS) did cause early-series Delta Elites a few issues with battering. I would think that by now Colt and others have worked those kinks out. Such loads are a bit of a handful, but I don't find them excessive.

My favorite boolit in the 10mm is the RCBS 200 grain TC. It's technically a SWC with its very small square shoulder, but it feeds without hiccups in the S&W. My hunting loads using WC-820, AA-9, and Blue Dot run 1200-1225 FPS, and I have 20 rounds loaded with BruceB softpoints that went along on my last deer hunt in a lead-bullet zone (D-14) a few years ago. No bucks, darn it.

Pundits have advanced the claim that the 10mm as a hunting or service caliber is no better than the 357 Magnum. Nonsense! The 10mm at minimum splits the difference between the 357 and 41 Magnums, and given its frontal area and projectile mass (using the 200 grainers) is closer to the 41.

[gunfan]

LOTS of trigger time with the 10mm here, two S&W pistols--a now-departed 1006 and presently a 1026 (5" barrel, SIG-style decocker).

The W-W Silvertips aren't something I'd encourage someone to send my way. 175 grain hollow-points at 1275 FPS (my chronography) should leave a lasting impression. There are no "magic bullets", despite the feverish claims of ammo company ad jockeys.

Norma-level loads (200 grain jacketed bullets @ 1200 FPS) did cause early-series Delta Elites a few issues with battering. I would think that by now Colt and others have worked those kinks out. Such loads are a bit of a handful, but I don't find them excessive.

My favorite boolit in the 10mm is the RCBS 200 grain TC. It's technically a SWC with its very small square shoulder, but it feeds without hiccups in the S&W. My hunting loads using WC-820, AA-9, and Blue Dot run 1200-1225 FPS, and I have 20 rounds loaded with BruceB softpoints that went along on my last deer hunt in a lead-bullet zone (D-14) a few years ago. No bucks, darn it.

Pundits have advanced the claim that the 10mm as a hunting or service caliber is no better than the 357 Magnum. Nonsense! The 10mm at minimum splits the difference between the 357 and 41 Magnums, and given its frontal area and projectile mass (using the 200 grainers) is closer to the 41.

This is all too true, and The Shadow knows his stuff! ( have known him for a long time!) The 10mm accomplishes more than all the other standard autoloading cartridges combined. It is as simple as that!

If you want an autoloading "bad boy" the 10mm Auto is the best of the best. All the cartridge needs is the appropriate, and judicious, handloading to make the cartridge/handgun fill a large number of roles.

Just perform the research, and you'll realize precisely how great this cartridge really is!

Scott

[Love Life]

Thanks for the info Al.

I wouldn't want any boolit/bullet sent my way!

[NHGrumpyGramps]

I have to put another vote in for the S&W 610. It has to be one of the most accurate revolvers I have ever shot. I wanted a 200gr load for it and found an old Lyman 403168 SC which I picked up for little. They drop a little big, but easily size down to 402. Under blue dot I use it for pins and it will really take them off the table.

This is not a mold I would have chosen, but it really seems to work well and they load easily when on moon clips. Has anyone else tried this in 10mm?

[gunfan]

Once again thank you everybody.

Subsonic I would love the info when ever you get the time to look at it. Last time I was around the 10mm I didn't reload much (for shame!), an I am pretty much starting from scratch.

I reckon I'll go with the RCBS 175 GR TC for a mould. Heavy and should provide good feeding. Also it will penetrate clothing in the northern latitudes. Hehehe.

I figured an order for Starline is in order. Now to get some large pistol primers.

Wait. I thought reloading and casting was supposed to save money?

Quite grousing! You'll LOVE your Delta Elite. If you replace the firing pin retainer with one of the flat-bottomed variety from EGW, you'll be happier than a speckled pup under a red wagon!

After you make that minor modification, go out and shoot the hell out of it. (That's why they were manufactured, you know!)

Scott

[gunfan]

(BTW, if you can find some old 170-grain Nosler JHP bullets, load them ahead of 13 grains of AA#7 and watch them blow out of the barrel at 1324 fps!)

Good stuff, Maynard!

Scott

[Bullwolf]

Since the 610 revolvers keep coming up in this thread...
Here's a picture of my 4 inch Smith & Wesson model 610-3.



It is one of the more accurate revolvers that I own, but I am somewhat embarrassed to admit that it has mostly fired only 40s&w 175-180 grain boolits at paper. I have really not shot very many 10mm rounds through the gun.

I like using the plastic full moon clips with it, as I do not have a de-mooning tool. I have found that the plastic moon clips are easier to load/unload by hand than the metal ones are.

At some point or another I will have to work up a cast 10mm load for the gun, and get away from this 40s&w rut that I seem to be stuck in. You have all given me some good ideas for a 10mm starting point so far.


- Bullwolf

[subsonic]

That is the meat of it.
He liked 800x and AA7 more than Blue Dot. He recommended 800x for top accuracy and speed with cast using ACWW. He did not mention AA9.

He had some great accuracy with 6.5gr of Unique and Saeco #40047 200gr, but mentions "Unique was abnormally sensative to small charge variances."

Be warned that 800x meters slightly better than corn flakes.

[gunfan]

Incidentally, the load that I quoted for the 170 grain Nosler JHP was from Taffin's Tests in the summer issue of the American Handgunner of 1991.

Scott

[Love Life]

Thanks a bunch Subsonic. I see I missed a chance to own a copy of that book in the S&S section.

This should be more fun than a barrel of monkeys!

Blue dot may be the way to go. Who needs night vision anyway?

[subsonic]

What he said about blue dot was that he got slightly more velocity than AA7 with it, but accuracy was not as good as 800x or AA7. 800x is the speed champ. Of course, YMMV, etc.

AA9 is flash suppressed, meters like water, and will get more velocity than AA7 with a compressed load and 180gr<. I cannot vouch for accuracy though, I have never fully tested it. No complaints though.

[BarryinIN]

I bought one of the new Deltas a couple of years ago. I've had two Glocks (20 and 29) and a S&W 1006, and like the DE best.

The 1006 was OK, but at the time, they had not been made in maybe five years and I started to get concerned over a possible lack of parts for a gun that was only made maybe four years to begin with. That was probably unfounded, but now, it's been 20 years since they were made (wow) so I'd think it might be a bigger concern.

The Glocks were too wide for me. They handled the recoil fine, but they are some wide guns. I actually liked and shot the 29 better. The grip fit my hand better due to the slightly different location of the hump, but it still didn't fit well. I tried to like the idea of the G20's 15+1 of 10mm, but if it didn't fit it didn't fit. It got traded fairly quick. The 29 stayed for several years.

The Delta seems just right to me. The grip feels good and it still holds plenty of bullets.
I can shoot it better than any of the others.

When I got that new DE, I dug out all my old books and magazines from the late 80s when it came out originally.
I swear, the same person could have written them all. Might have. The pattern is the same: Tell how powerful and fierce the 10mm is by comparing it to the .41 Magnum, tell about the changes Colt had to make to get the poor weak 1911 to handle the powerful and fierce 10mm, shoot maybe 300 rounds through it tops, then pronounce the gun unable to handle a steady diet of the powerful and fierce 10mm and say it won't last a thousand rounds with the "hot" Norma load.

First, while the 10mm has a lot of zip, it's no .41 Mag. Even the "hot" Norma load (which I think was more erratic than hot) sent a 200 grain bullet 1200 fps. Anyone who has owned a .41 Mag knows it can do that in it's sleep.

Most of the changes they Colt made to adapt the DE to handle the 10mm were made to all their 1911s at the time, like cutting the slide stop hole up through the frame rails instead of machining a D-shaped hole. The articles of the time say this was done to eliminate a stress riser were the 10mm would surely crack the frame. They leave out that .45s had done the same thing, and that all calibers of Colts got the same treatment and still do (and it's cheaper that way).

Yes, the most I saw any article claim they shot was 300 rounds. I never read of a problem other than the plastic recoil spring guide getting chewed up. Yet they said it wouldn't last. Based on what, I don't know.
I do know of a couple of them that have over 20,000 each through them and they were fine the last I knew. No, that's not an incredible amount, but it's a lot more than the thousand they predicted.
Would it handle a thousand Norma 200 grain loads? Beats me. The way I remember it, they had been out of production and recalled a few years before the DE even existed. What was still out there sold for a premium at gun shows. I didn't know anyone who could buy a thousand rounds of it. So it was essentially unavailable by then.
And that guide rod? My guess is when you use a plastic guide rod that fits tightly into a dual recoil spring arrangement, any caliber will chew it up.

After they stopped making the DEs, the only ones I seemed to see in shops were ones that were like new and expensive, or ones that were really worn. I always noticed the worn ones looked like they had honest wear from shooting, with worn frontstraps, grip safeties, safety levers and slide serrations- places your hand touches when using them, and not holster wear. It would be hard to get that kind of wear if they didn't hold up.

I have something like 1700 rounds through mine, which isn't a lot (but nearly twice the lifespan the old articles predicted). I love it. No problems. Not even with the recoil spring guide.

I mostly use AA7, not because it's the best, but because it is the best I have the most of. Power Pistol works well but is loud, and I like 800X OK.
I only have two .40/10mm moulds- an RCBS 40-180CM, which is really a .38-40 mould, and an H&G 315, which is a TC that is supposed to be 200 grains but runs more like 209 from wheelweights. I got some Lee 175 TCs in a swap. They all do about equally well, which is pretty good.

I've gone from the 40-180s at around 850 fps to the heavy 200 TCs in the upper 1200s. Mostly I shoot the 200s at around 1,000-1100.
I've also used some factory ammo, including the smoking fast CorBon 135s. Everything worked fine.

I like it.
I almost shot it in the Single Stack class in an IPSC match Sunday, but wanted to test out a S&W 1911 I just got back from warranty repair. I have thought about shooting IDPA with it some this year.
I have also thought about using it as my "traveling gun" when going on road trips to see the in-laws. It's a real versatile gun that should do about as well as any auto pistol for anything I might run into, from a pistol match, to a boar hunt, to having to make it back home through a zombie apocalypse.