Hello, Legacy:
I am a HUGE 10mm fan. I have been from the start. I like more power! I just practice alot and have been shooting a long time, so recoil is not an issue for me...in fact I LIKE it. Read this link for a good comparison of the 10mm vs .45.
Look at the 10mm Advocacy article (by Thomas Martens) :
http://www.greent.com/40Page/
I am also a big .45 fan when I want a nice light load
Yes, the 10mm does "kick" a little more than the .45. I have shot my Glock 30 and my Glock 29 next to each other. The 10mm kicks noticably (but not a lot) more, but with very little practice to get the timing down and get used to it, I have no problem shooting it just as well as my .45.
The 10mm blows away the .45 in every area: energy, velocity, expansion-probability, penetration through barriers, capacity, trajectory, versatility (If you reload and hunt, and want a cartridge that can do everything from home defense to medium sized game hunting).
I like what I call "magnum" rounds like the 10mm because you don't have to comprimise. You don't have to decide between a heavy penetrating bullet and a light high-energy bullet. You get both. you get a heavy bullet, moving fast, with lots of energy. It makes an explosive high-energy entry, followed by deep penetration, which is something a lower-powered cartridge just doesn't have the power to do both. You have pick your tactic, the heavy penetration bullet or the light high-energy bullet, one or the other. I like both. Rounds like the 10mm have enough power to give both.
As someone who has had to use a gun in self defense, I can appreciate the feeling of wondering if you have enough gun when you go for it, or if you picked the right round (the heavy-penetrator versus the high-energy, shallow penetrator). With rounds like the 10mm, I don't have to wonder if I picked the right round: as long as I do my part there is not even a little-teeny doubt in my mind that it will. That gives me great peace of mind.
But, out of the smaller guns and shorter barrels, the 10mm does lose a bit of it's juice.
Much like shooting a .357 Magnum revolver next to a .38 Special revolver, (both in the snubby 2" variety), they both have similar velocities because there is not enough barrel to take advantage of the extra powder in the magnum cartridge: it all turns into muzzle flash instead of velocity as the powder burns out the end of the barrel.
It is the same case with the 10mm. I stick to the 10mm for my longer full-sized handguns, and the .357 Sig for my shorter-barreled concealed guns.
Give the .357 Sig a serious look if you are not impressed with the .40.
Amazingly, the .357 Sig has MORE impressive numbers than even the 10mm, when compared in short barreled guns: more muzzle energy, more velocity, more accuracy according to tests, more reliability, and less muzzle flash. The bottleneck cartridge of the .357 Sig allows it to use it's powder more efficiently out of the shorter barreled gun.
Take a subcompact .357 Sig like a Glock 33 and compare it to a compact 10mm like a Glock 29. and you will be impressed at the .357 Sig. Amazingly, the .357 Sig, in comparable compact guns, puts out MORE energy and velocity than even the 10mm. That is out of a much smaller gun. That is impressive!
You may have not looked into it, but if you are looking for a round that penetrates deeply, penetrates barriers well, and has TONS of energy, look into the .357 Sig. It took a lot of reading around before I grew to appreciate how cool the .357 Sig is, but for power-fanatics like myself who like a cartridge that puts out lots of energy AND penetrates deeply, the .357 Sig is the way to go in the compact guns.
Read this thread if you want to know more, it defintly made me a fanatic.
http://glocktalk.com/docs/gtubb/Forum20/HTML/000073.html
I am trying to cut down on the calibers in my collection too, but tend to be cutting out the popular cartridges. In general, people are not that informed about their cartridge selection (I don't mean here on the forum, I mean the general shooting populace), and they are generally wimps when it comes to recoil. So, the popular cartidges are the lame ones, IMHO, because they tend to be low-powered to appease the masses that can't handle some recoil. That is why the 10mm did not take off at first, but the .40 caliber did instead (that's the main reason anyway). I am hoping the 10mm does take off now. Sources say that 10mm ammo sales are on the RISE.
My two favorite guns, FWIW, are my Glock 20 full-size 10mm, and my Glock 32 compact .357 Sig. Both of them put out lots of power for their size and are very controllable to me (I do compete in courses against the clock, and have no trouble keeping up with the old timers, so I am not talking about just standing at the range shooting paper).
I hope that all my blabbering helped, but if you read the links I posted, you will get a real good idea. The 10mm Advocacy article linked above will give you exactly the information you are looking for in regards to the .45 versus the 10mm.
Ps- I LOVE the .45 Super too, but I am just looking for a good platform to shoot it from.
[This message has been edited by Red Bull (edited November 04, 1999).]