The S&W 610 10mm Mag revisited.

TruthTellers said:
Good points, ones I've thought of and while it's not a dealbreaker, I do like the ability to use 10mm Auto without a moon clip, but being able to run 10mm Mag makes it worth doing. .40 S&W requires a moon clip in any 10mm revolver, be it Auto or Magnum. Most people who own a 10mm revolver already assume that it must use the moon clips to eject the cases, so that's not a big deal to them.

For those who already reload .40/10mm Auto, it requires nothing else in terms of equipment for 10mm Mag.

I don't have any interest in a lever action 10mm Mag and it's not like there are a lot of options for a lever in .41 Mag either other than Henry. There are companies that make 10mm Mag barrels for Thompson Center single shots, but I'd have no interest in them either in 10mm or .41 Mag.

All that said, if someone already owns a .41 Mag gun, then there's little need to get into 10mm Magnum. The 10mm Mag is for people like myself who are big into .40 and 10mm, but wouldn't mind having a revolver the size of a .357 that's basically capable of shooting .41 Mag power levels while also being able to shoot the shorter .40 and 10mm Auto, which they shoot in their semi autos.

The requirement to modify the 10mm revolvers tho is the biggest hurdle, one that would be removed if Ruger and S&W would chamber the revolvers in 10mm Mag, but they won't do that because they know how clueless potential buyers are when they see it's for 10mm Mag, not Auto and they'll think the ammo costs $2 a round and can only be found at the edge of the Earth, so they won't buy it.
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I can see where it would be a fun project. Luckily I have two Model 57’s, both no dash, a 6” and a 4”, and a Henry BBS. I’ve always been interested in 10mm but about the time my interest was getting serious my arthritis in my hands became bad enough I seldom even shoot my .41’s much anymore so couldn’t see adding a 10mm. With heavy magnum loads two or three cylinders is all I can manage in one range trip. I shoot the Henry more these days and it’s a blast.
 
I'm thinking of bullet jump to the rifling and is it an issue...
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You could probably expect the same results as someone shooting 38s in a 357, or 44 spl in 44 mag. People have been doing it for decades with good results
 
wild cat mccane said:
Is your 610 accurate with .40? I'm thinking of bullet jump to the rifling and is it an issue...
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I shoot .45 Schofield and .45 Colt in a Taurus Judge and can hit 8 inch plates offhand at 20+ yards easily. Rested shooting paper my best group was 1 inch at 10 yards with a 700x load. The Judge didn't like Titegroup.

I also shot .45 ACP in a .45 Colt Redhawk and had issues with standard factory fmj. Switched to using handloads with .452 bullets that are meant for .45 Colt and have a crimp groove, roll crimped the .45 ACP and with 5 to 5.5 grains of Bullseye the accuracy improved greatly.

Bullet jump doesn't make a revolver more accurate, but it's not exactly degrading accuracy in a significant way. I recall seeing a video on youtube where the person was testing .44 Mag, Special, and Russian in a revolver and the difference in group size from Mag to Russian was half an inch at 12 yards. Other than bullseye or silhouette I don't see that making any difference for any other kind of shooting.

EDIT: I just re-watched the video and the groups size for .44 Mag and .44 Russian was the same with certain loads, others the .44 Mag was .1" smaller in group size.

The .44 Special seemed to always have a tighter group up to half an inch smaller.
 
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Awesome. Thank you for your info.

I want another 686+ 4" (like them a lot), a 627, and then the 610. But the 610 has huge appeal right now given the ammo is available. It's the darn 6 shot cylinder on an N frame that is making me not just hit the buy button right this second.
 
FPS in a handgun doesn't do what a rifle does. So what does even 400fps more from a FMJ accomplish on target? Modern HST/Gold Dot doesn't need or benefit from massive FPS. Even XTP which is not bonded at the pedals doesn't benefit from high FPS.
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I could get into the science of cavitation but that is probably lost here. The higher the velocity (with a proper projectile) makes a HUGE difference. The easiest way for most to understand is to compare the 38 special to the 357 magnum. the 357 with its greater velocity has twice the energy and does significantly more damage.

You of course must tailor the projectile to the task and not all thinks are carved in stone constants. Such as Heavy solids at lower velocities seem to penetrate better than the same projectile at a very high velocity and light fast JHP's do more damage than slow JHP's.

But to your statement, High velocity pistol rounds do make wounds that resemble those made by rifles. Case in point the 357 magnum @ 1350-1400 fps, the 10mm @ 1500-1600 fps.
 
And yet? The best 9mm personal defense hollow points typically aren't loaded to NATO or the exceeding +P+ of "Major."

The 1,300 FPS Federal 115gr 9BPLE +P+ isn't even considered "good" any more given better and slower options.

A 9mm HST in 147gr at 1,000fps went as far and expanded as much as one of the best 357mag rounds on Lucky Gunner (Barnes XPD) which flew through the celestial kingdom at 1,600fps.

In FMJ, they are doing the same exact thing on target.
 
Kinda exnaying the idea a bit.

I didn't realize how under powered commercial 10mm was across the board. S&B hollow point 180gr is available to buy right now and is rated at 40 level and S&B is known to be hot. AE 10mm is about the exact same as their 40 in the same weight.

Wish 357 would come back in stock somewhere but that isn't happening with 9mm selling like crazy.

Sigh.
 
One advantage a 10mm Mag has over the .41 Mag is the variety of bullet weights available. Actually, you can resize .41 Mag cast bullets to have up to 270gr.
 
And yet? The best 9mm personal defense hollow points typically aren't loaded to NATO or the exceeding +P+ of "Major."

The 1,300 FPS Federal 115gr 9BPLE +P+ isn't even considered "good" any more given better and slower options.

A 9mm HST in 147gr at 1,000fps went as far and expanded as much as one of the best 357mag rounds on Lucky Gunner (Barnes XPD) which flew through the celestial kingdom at 1,600fps.

In FMJ, they are doing the same exact thing on target.
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Of course you are talking about one test in one medium. I use the street as a consideration. Scientific theory is great, but it must be proven in the field.
 
Tactical Texan said:
Just picked up a new S&W 610 and the cylinder is in the capable hands of Mark Hartshorne at Pinnacle High Performance to be reamed and chamfered to accept the 10mm Mag.
Picked up a spare cylinder from Midwest Gun works in case there are any issues.
I was surprised to find that 10mm and 10mm Mag was easy to come by in these days of shortages and it was reasonably priced.
Picked up 1740 rounds in .40,10mm and 10mm Mag for $1400 bucks.
If I can get rounds for under a buck a piece these days I'm pretty happy.

So any new info out for those of you who have done the 10 Mag conversion?
I've scoured the internet but there's just not a lot of info out there.[/QUOTE
DELETE. Just realized the answer to my question. Think I need another cup of coffee. :rolleyes:
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COSteve said:
I shoot both .357mag and 10mm and in a 6" barreled pistol, the 10mm using full power handloads (not the under powered factory stuff) is superior to the .357mag. Yep, I said superior. A larger, heavier bullet traveling faster and producing much higher muzzle energy. I'm guessing that the 10mm mag is even better.
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Ammo is what you load it to. Loading a 10mm hotter than 357 mag doesn't prove anything.

A .357mag has more case capacity than a 10mm, and thus when both are loaded to their full potential, the .357 mag will produce will produce more muzzle energy every time. That's just plain old physics.
 
Hypothetically, in the 10mm Magnum, one might find the highest potential performance using a 180g or 200g XTP over AA9, ignited with a LPM primer, in NEW SIZED CASES ONLY.
Hypothetically.....

For BIG biters most highly recommend 200--220g WFN choices over similar.....
 
Warming up to the 610 again.

The price of 40 and 10mm is just to appealing against the no where 357. HST 40 is available for cheaper than most 357/38 options.

The 6rnd cylinder vs the 7rnd in my 686 AND the larger size of the N frame is holding me back from buying the 610 4"......Can't decide...
 
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