The Wave of the Future

M

Mark Milton

Moderator
The Waaaaave of the future....
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The other night, I got to thinking about the 10mm pistols and cartridges.

Back in the early 80s, when I was still young the 10mm automatic was considered to be the wave of the future. The Bren 10 was gonna replace the hoary old, outdated 1911 .45 acp and was a big step forward from the new fangled 9mm double action first shot automatics.....
Even the Guru himself touted this idea....
S&W and Colt jumped on the bandwagon rechambering their own .45s into 10mm.....S&W even came out whith a revolver chambered in it and the FBI was the first to jump on the 10mm bandwagon.
"It's the wave of the future" was the comment you kept hearing.

Conversely when the Glock came out with it's plastic construction and Raven style lockwork everybody was askance.

Years go by and low and behold the lowly Glock became the actual trend gun that took off with everybody out there cobbling together Glock-Offs to cash in on the trend of the future....

And the 10mmm waned. The Bren 10 went belly up, Colt hasn't made a Delta Elite in years and S&W dropped the 10 from their autopistol line up.
Today the only makers of new 10mms are Glock and Tanfoglio and a few 19ll makers so far as I know....

What happened?

I notice that everytime somebody in the gun world comes up with the wave of the future, it's actually something else that catches on. Remember when the .41 magnum was the wave of the future?
What caught on? .357s, 9mms and 1911s.
 
I think that there are two main reasons that the 10mm auto is not more popular.

Price/cost and recoil.

The small advantages are not enough to overcome those two disadvantages.
 
All cartridges are expensive when they first come out. The 45 acp was ungodly expensive when it first came out. I think the 10 didn't take off primarily to recoil. The 10mm's recoil is only slightly worse than a 45 acp. However most police seem to think the 45 acp recoil a bit much to begin with. Hence the popularity of the 9mm.
 
The experts say the effect of recoil - is cumulative - so it tires you out toward the end of the day .....and I think that was what killed the 10mm.

But it spawned the development of the .40S&W / and I think that's a good compromise caliber.

In some respects the 10mm had some great performance characteristics - but I admit, I've ignored it and stayed with semi autos in 9mm, .40S&W and .45 acp. In revolvers I've stayed with .357 mag and .44 mag ( and I've ignored the .41, .38spl, etc ) ....
 
Well, to be fair, Colt did reintroduce the 10mm Delta Elite this past year due to demand and it has been selling faster than they can manufacturer it.
 
I'm waiting for the end of the 1932 Uniform Machine gun act and all subsequent unconstitutional gun control acts after that. Then I want them to remake the Thompson Sub machine gun in 10 MM. I will be first in line.
 
The only thing I would add is that the .40 S&W still has a more unpleasant recoil than standard .45 ACP (in many shooter's opinions), and while it's not quite as strong as 10mm I think the main reason why it's been embraced where 10mm wasn't is because it's a shorter cartridge that works in lightly modified 9mm pistols. There was a huge lineup of already popular pistols that could be immediately introduced with the "compromise" 10mm cartridge (the .40 S&W) so that combined with it's slightly easier recoil led to its' success where 10mm has languished. Marketing, product and perception!

Same goes for .357 Sig vs. .38 Super in my view but I wont chase that rabbit. ;)

Cheers,
Oly
 
Sorry guys but I just have to object to the claim that recoil was a reason for the "failure" of the 10mm to become popular. I just spent a couple hours this morning trying some 180g 10mm loads that are more like the original Normas. Both the 1250 fps (from a 4.6" Glock barrel) practice load and the more serious Bonded HP load (1305 fps from the same Glock barrel) were surprisingly easy to control. Push in the hand was about the same as 230g Winchester Ranger 45 ACPs. The slide did seem to move at a higher velocity but recoil? Na, that just wasn't that big a deal.

If the FBI has stuck with the original 10mm instead of watering it down, you would have seen department after department getting on the band wagon. Instead their decision to wimp out on the 10mms performance led to the 40 S&W. Then the Fumbling Bumbling Idiots didn't get around to adopting the 40 for years, well after it had become the leading caliber in law enforcement.

Kind of ironic isn't it.

Dave
 
Well S&W still makes the M610 and currently lists it.

Colt just re-introduced a new run of the Delta Elite...http://www.coltsmfg.com/products-c5-q69-COLT_PISTOLS.aspx

EAA makes several variations of the 10mm.

Glock chambers a couple of guns in the 10mm.

Dan Wesson makes at least 2 guns in 10mm.

A good many semi custom 1911 makers produce guns in 10mm.

So it seems a bit early to announce it's demise. It's a good caliber and fills a niche.

tipoc
 
I won't part with my Glock 20! There is more and better ammunition coming out for it all the time. I wish that Ruger would reintroduce the old "Deerslayer" semi-automatic carbine with a 10 shot detachable magazine and chamber it in .44 Magnum, 10mm Auto, and .460 Ruger. I'd want one of each. That makes this country buy grin.:)


Dr. Raoul Duke
Gonzo Forever
 
The .41 mag is still quite popular with handgun hunters, after more than 4 decades.

As far as for the 10MM; Ditto to what Mello2U stated.
 
Dr Raoul Duke:

I won't part with my Glock 20!
Click to expand...

I'm not much for Glocks, but I wouldn't mind having the G20 and put a conversion barrel to shoot the Dillon 9X25 (10mm tapered down to 9mm). It will shoot a 90g round at over 2000fps, and 115g at around 1800fps.:eek:

We don't need no stinkin FN 5.7.
 
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