10mm witness compact, feed test results

[Pigshooter]

Let me start by saying I am a big bore revolver shooter at heart, so I have a very loose grip style. It does well with the 454, but with an auto, even a Ruger MkII or browning buckmark, i can get an FTF almost at will. I have had to relearn shooting because of it.

Okay. So I have a 10mm Witness Compact. I loaded a whole mess of different loads in different combos, using assortments of:

155gr LRN (hard cast)
170gr LTC (hard cast)
180gr JHP (golden sabre)

CCI regular and magnum primers

AA#9
IMR SR4756
2400
Blue Dot
Unique
W231

I made up several different combos, all on the light to medium end of the load data, consulting multiple references when available. My purpose wasn't to shoot for velocity, but to test feeding.

Every single combo I tried fed two mags of 8 reliably without fail! This with the factory spring. Hot or mild, all it took was a firm grip. Accuracy was on the paper at 25 feet, but that wasn't even something I was trying for. I was attempting to unload all 8 in semi rapid fashion.

One note; 1.275 is almost too long to reliably fit in the magazine. I squeezed them all down to 1.270 or shorter. On each one, I attempted to leave at least the semblence of the bullet ridge exposed above the mouth to assist feeding. I guess it worked.

Previous velocity test: UMC 180 gr FMJ cheapies, avg 1068 fps. Not bad for a 2.5" barrel, I think.

 

[WESHOOT2]

Might go 1.265" OAL.

 

[10mm]

Most manuals list 1.260" as maximum cartridge overall length. You may go with WESHOOT2's reccomendation or even a hair shorter. I load most of mine between 1.250 & 1.260

 

[Pigshooter]

Sound advice, definitely, and the 155s and 180s were loaded close to 1.250-1.255, but the LTCs don't have much shoulder and I wanted a little exposed to make sure they fed okay. Now that I know they do, I'll back them down even further and see how they feed. This may not be a good bullet to use; I have had problems with similar bullets in 45ACP. I may dress the heads somehow too. But I can make them work, that was the purpose of the test.