i was looking at getting a "do all" semi auto. i want to be able to have it at home, in the truck, in the woods. all i read is that the 10mm is the one to have. i have a ccw 9mm, so thats not the issue. I've never fired a 10, biggest is a 45 acp. i guess what I'm asking is a 10mm practical? ammo that much more expensive than 40 or 45? is it really worth it? thanks for your help

Get a standard caliber. 10mm is hard to find, more expensive when you do, and not much better than a .40.

I don't own a 10mm but this is my feeling as well. Honestly, there's nothing a 10mm can do that a .40 can't under normal circumstances. Or a .45 for that matter.

http://gundata.org/blog/post/10mm-vs-40-summary-and-ballistics/

Good side by side of a 10 and 40. With readily available .40 sw ammo, I really dont see much practical advantage.

Ive got a 357 sig I never shoot because ammo is sparse and expensive when you find it.

All of the load data I have shows at most a 100 fps second advantage for the 10mm. Most of it is only 50-60fps.

Get a g20. Put a heavier spring in it. Finding full power loads can be difficult. However if you find them they will stomp all over 40s&w and surpass 357 mag in equal barrel lengths. Recoil is stout.

Mine as a 6.25 lone wolf barrel and a 22 lbs. spring. Right now it is loaded with double tap 230 gr hard cast at 1150 fps in a standard barrel. I should be getting 1200 or better with the longer barrel.

It will do it all but it is expensive to shoot full power loads and hard to find good ammo. I have been finding it easier to find lately. Cabelas, gander mountain, and Academy have been carrying ammo.

Get a delta elite. You will find yourself very familiar with it quickly because you will always want to pick it up and ogle it! Guys are right about small differences in the .40 and 10mm,but a nice delta elite is some serious eye candy!

You need to compare full power loads for a 10mm to the 40. Most 10mm ammo you find is loaded down to 40 levels.

so it sounds like the best route is to go with "full house" 40 loads in the field for sheer price and availability.. is that correct?

A lot of bad info. being spread by people who don't have any experience with the load.

The 10mm is one of my favorite rounds. One of the most versatile rounds in that it can be loaded heavy for hunting, and loaded lighter for defense. It also shoots a lot better than a .40 does.

10mm is becoming more and more popular. Almost every store carries the ammo now: academy, cabela's, all of the local gun shops have it. The price isn't that much more compared to .40, and it's fairly cheaper online.

A good, fairly hot load from Underwood (not even the hottest load you can get):
Muzzle Velocity: 1600 fps
Muzzle Energy: 767 ft. lbs.

Underwood's .40 load:
Muzzle Velocity: 1100 fps
Muzzle Energy: 484 ft. lbs.

Yeah, I'd say that's pretty significant.

Eaxactly!
When the 10 came out it was so hot they were cracking frames. FBI could not handle the recoil, thus the 40 was born. If you reload you can get load a pretty mean round. I own a 10 in an old s&w 1026, and a custom built 1911, love them both. But as stated factory loads dont give much advantage over factory 40 or 45.

Not with like bullet weights.

For protection or hunting? 10mm is roughly 200fps faster then the 40. Hunting I would go with the 10mm. Protection I would use a 40. I carry a 40. 10mm stays in the truck for hunting or defense. Too large to conceal.

I wouldn't want it to be my only gun but I like the 10mm. It is more expensive than .40 but not that different than .45 acp anymore. Ammo availability depends on where you are. It's fairly common in some places and rare in others. Of course, this isn't an issue if you reload and it's readily available online.

As far as it not being much better than .40 S+W, it depends on what brand of ammo you buy. American Eagle and Remington ammo is only loaded to about 1050 fps (180gr). Hornady, HSM, and a few others load 180 grain bullets to about 1200 fps, which is respectable. Double Tap, Underwood, and Buffalo Bore load it to 1300-1350 fps.

What the 10mm will do that the .40 and 45 will not is launch a 200 grain bullet at supersonic velocities. A 200 grain hollow point will reliable expand out of a 10mm, yet that bullet has more sectional density than a 200gr .45 bullet. Most manufactures have gone down to 185 gr .45 bullets to get enough velocity to open them up, you might as well be shooting a .40 at that point. 200 gr bullets are hardly even an option in .40 S&W.

The 10mm is legal to hunt deer with just about everywhere, the .40 and .45 are not. If you get in a fight with a bear, you're probably better off with a 10mm than the others but you still have more magazine capacity than a revolver. The 10mm is a niche round for hunters and hikers. It's good but it's not for everybody.

well i should have mentioned that i do not reload and at this point in time i don't see me doing that anywhere in the near future. price of ammo(as long as its not insane) isn't really a problem (again, unless its ridiculously more expensive than the 40). won't be concealing it, looking at a block g20. pretty simple. mostly looking for use on pigs, until I'm in a situation that id want to try and deer hunt with it i don't see that being an option. ill just carry on my hip in the field most of the time I'm sure.

I would just replace the recoil spring with a stiffer one. Its $5-$10 and won't beat up, your gun with the hotter loads.

It also helps with velocity and accuracy. Mine shot fine wit weak loads but the hotter ones wouldn't group well. Once I replaced the spring it became a tack driver.

When I can, I get bulk ammo from Georgia Arms or LAX Range. Those are the best priced sources I've found.

Here is an odd thing about 10mm ammo. The price hasn't chanced much since it was invented. It used to be EXTREMELY expensive. Now most of the other rounds are catching up to it, but it's taken 30 years. When I was going through my dad's stuff, I found an old box of 10mm ammo that he bought in the 1980s with the price tag on it. It was $32, and that was in the 80s! It still cost that much but now that's normal.

Another point here is you can usually find 10 mm ammo when the rest of the shelves are bare..

full house 10 mm smokes a 40, or a 45 in performance. You can hold dead on a 100 yard target.
it is pretty equal to 357 mag or a low end 41 mag.

I have had good experience with the 10 but I hand load and don't buy to much boxed ammo.

I have 2 colt deltas, and had an sti 2011. The sti I feel is a more robust gun and not to mention it hold 18 of this bad boys.. good medicine for this little piggies!

10mm is a hand loaders cartridge, buy a 44 mag if your going to buy stock ammo.

10mm because 9mm vs 45 debates are pointless.

Wow, lots of opinions on a 10mm with no actual knowledge on it. A 10mm is the best standard handgun caliber (without going to a widlcat) out there with the most energy available. I have shot pigs in a trap with a 45 ACP and a 10mm. I have needed multiple rounds of 45, with only 1 round from a 10mm. One pig was staring right at me, and I put my 1911 45 acp front sight right on his head, and sent a round. That 230 grain JHP skipped off his head and opened about a 6" slice on the top of his head. The bullet never penetrated his skull. I've done the same exact shot with a 200 grain XTP from a 10mm G20, and it anchors them where they stand. The energy difference and penetration ability is much greater than a 45 ACP. There's nothing wrong with a 45, but a 10mm will outperform it with the right bullet and ammo.

I carry a G29 as my carry pistol, and a G20 for the deer lease and truck. They are great pistols.

I offer full power 10mm ammo on my website. There are companies that will load hot 10mm +P ammo, but it will cause cycling problems and accuracy issues for stock Glock pistols. I have pushed the speeds up beyond the normal operating 10mm pressures, and accuracy was very poor and failure to chamber problems began. When you load to standard max 10mm pressures (non +P pressures), the 10mm shoots very well and is very reliable. That is where I load this ammunition. It is a standard max full power 10mm Auto load, and works great in all 10mm pistols. It is NOT 10mm Auto loaded to 40 S&W speeds.

If you compare full power 10mm ammo and full power 40 cal ammo, the 10mm will have the advantage by 150-200 fps with the same bullet. That's a lot for a handgun round. A 200 grain XTP is awesome medicine for anything out there.

10mm gets a bad rap for being expensive and hard to find. It's really not as bad as 38 super in that regard and unlike 38 super, 10mm actually brings something to the table that other rounds don't.

For most of last year, I had an easier time finding 10mm than 9mm, but I'm glad that's over.

What spring did you go with? lb and brand

Thanks

So Alaskan troopers should carry 40 instead of 10mm?

Yes