10 MM Recoil

[Art in Colorado]

For 30 plus years I have been shooting 44 Mag with a 240 Hard Cast and 10 Gr of Unique and 45 Colt with a 250 Gr Hard Cast and 9 Gr of Unique. While not magnum loads both had fairly stiff fecoil that had no affect on me. Now I have loaded 10 MM per Brian Pierce's advice in Handloader with 5.4 Gr of Tite Group and a 180 Gr Hornady jacketed
bullet. This is my new Springfield XDM. I know this has an empty weight of about 28 oz. but, still I never thought it would have this much recoil. I am an expreinced hand gunner of many decades and used to recoil. I wonder if my age of 74 years is catching up with me or maybe the 10 MM is has more power then I have ever read about. It is not about artheritis no pain there but just significant recoil.

[lefty o]

the 10, and even the 40 arent really big recoilers, they are however snappy feeling, and that makes them feel more violent than the bigger stuff that gives more of a big push like the 44.

[Ramjet-SS]

Art the XDM is really snappy compared to my other 10mm it has kind of u usual feel because the barrel(bore axis) is somewhat higher than the hand. Try bringing your hand up the back strap to very top and see how that feels. Admittedly they are snappy because there is not much mass in the slide. My MOS model 40 Glock has allot less felt recoil than the XDM and my 1911 seem to have less as well. Now go lighter bullets it mitigates the felt recoil as well.

[Sig556r]

the 10, and even the 40 arent really big recoilers, they are however snappy feeling, and that makes them feel more violent than the bigger stuff that gives more of a big push like the 44.

+1 on this ^^^^, more of a snap than inertial recoil...
Would rather shoot 45acp than either 10mm or .40SW

[cwlongshot]

Its gotta be the model of firearm. Thats not a heavy loading. I shoot heavier 40’s in much smaller lighter guns.

I shoot mostly all 40/10 in handguns and in a number of different guns in 40 but only my Delta and Glocks in 10. Shooting much heavier loads.

But as you mention our bodies change all the time and age is a friend to know-one.

CW

[marlin39a]

Recoil? I have a S/A 1911 TRP 10 mm, 6". Weighs 45 ounces, empty. No recoil.

[mattw]

Switch to a slower powder. Think more of the 10mm as a baby magnum, that titegroup load is going to be pretty snappy. Have not shot 10 in that chassis, but have several other 10's and I really like slower powders.

[BigAlofPa.]

I too shoot 10mm out of a 1911. I don't think i would like shooting it out of a polymer framed gun.

[kir_kenix]

I got a call from a buddy of mine last night regarding his new xd in 10mm. He said the recoil is just absolutely brutal with factory stuff. I wrote it off as him being a fairly new handgunner. But I can see how the high bore axis would contribute to this. He's going to swing by some time and pump out some light 10's (basically .40 s&w level) on my dillon.

I would try some slower powders as was suggested above. Another friend who shoots at the range at my house loads 10mm with w231 in his glock. It is much snappier than, say, blue dot or aa9...even though it's got to be moving much slower. I have no idea what fps he is getting out of it, but it really isn't doing the 10mm justice, just judging by how his load swings my plates vs my loads (185 @ 1230).

I'm sure you will get to the bottom of it. 10mm is a great round, but I definitely enjoy it more in a steel or aluminum frame gun. Good luck.

[lefty o]

I got a call from a buddy of mine last night regarding his new xd in 10mm. He said the recoil is just absolutely brutal with factory stuff. I wrote it off as him being a fairly new handgunner. But I can see how the high bore axis would contribute to this. He's going to swing by some time and pump out some light 10's (basically .40 s&w level) on my dillon.

I would try some slower powders as was suggested above. Another friend who shoots at the range at my house loads 10mm with w231 in his glock. It is much snappier than, say, blue dot or aa9...even though it's got to be moving much slower. I have no idea what fps he is getting out of it, but it really isn't doing the 10mm justice, just judging by how his load swings my plates vs my loads (185 @ 1230).

I'm sure you will get to the bottom of it. 10mm is a great round, but I definitely enjoy it more in a steel or aluminum frame gun. Good luck.

most factory 10 ammo is identical ballisticaly to the 40, so unless he's shooting the hi buck designer ammo, loading down to 40 levels will probably be a wash.

[kir_kenix]

I think they were hornady 180gr xtp's. So not buffalo bore or Underwood level of ballistics, but still a couple hundred fps faster than what most .40's run. Still shy of the full potential of the 10mm. I won a case of these a few years ago in grand island, and they shot well.

Personally, I think the 10mm shines with 200+ gr projectiles. I am guilty of loading mainly 180 gr cast boolits, however, mostly because I load and shoot so much .40 and it makes stockpiling boolits easier. I'd shoot way more 10mm if brass wasn't so hard to come up with.

[Jtarm]

Not just the weight of the gun but it’s distribution. A revolver has a massive amount of weight forward of your hand to dampen recoil.

A bottom feeder, especially polymer, has much more of its weight further back, where it doesn’t do anything against recoil.

[35remington]

Your load is 40 level already.

FWIW.

[Boolit_Head]

I carried the same Glock model 20 from 1991 into the mid 2000's. It still sits fondly in my pistol safe. I also liked the heavy load that made the round popular and not the scaled down wimpy loads of today. Full mags help and mine carries a now discontinued Haarts recoil reducer. While people say they don't work it did noticeably abate some of the snap. My first experience was with only 6 rounds in the mag and let's just say it was eye opening. Look at Blue Dot, you can get some heavy loads that are not quite so snappy. But it's just plain physics, a light gun with a high bore relative to the web of your hand and slide mass reciprocating it just gonna do what it is gonna do. Embrace it

[nun2kute]

LOL !

"I'd shoot way more 10mm if brass wasn't so hard to come up with."

Next time your out at the range, or in the canyon chasing a pup. And you come across some ol' guy whoopin an a hollering and giggling to himself ... it's cuz he's found 10mm brass out in the grass ! LOL

[Boolit_Head]

Been there done that!

[am44mag]

I have the 4.5" XDM. My "magnum" load is 10.4gr of Blue Dot (MAX LOAD) under a 175gr LEE TC. I'm getting 1185 FPS with that load. The recoil is definitely there, but it's a snappy recoil instead of more of a push like what I get out of my 44 mag. You really start to feel it in your wrists after awhile. A moderate load of Red Dot or Bullseye is much more pleasant to shoot.

[osteodoc08]

Different platform = Different felt recoil. Much of it has to do with weight and material. Both are to the detriment with the XD.

[nun2kute]

I have a Sig 1911 10mm that don't seem to buck any different than my 45 acp. No experience with those OTHER ones.

[9.3X62AL]

I have been running 10mm pistols for over 30 years. A little history lesson might be in order here.

In the mid-1970s there was a significant amount of R&D under way to "improve" the performance of autopistols beyond the capabilities of the 45 ACP, which has a well-earned reputation for being a SUPERB fight-stopper and felon repeller. I recall reading in one of the gunrags about one such development--the .40 Guns & Ammo Magnum. This creation used cut-off 224 Weatherby cases (complete with belt in place) and 38/40 bullets sent forth in the 1100-1200 FPS ballpark in converted 1911A1-pattern pistols.

It did not set the world on fire.

In 1983, the 10mm Auto came into being, designed by Jeff Cooper and chambered in the Bren Ten pistol (sort of a CZ-75 on steroids. I don't know why CZ hasn't chambered the 10mm in their fine CZ-97 pistol). This cartridge uses a cut-off 30 Remington rifle case (.992" long) and the Norma Projektilfabrik OEM loads ran a 200 grain bullet at 1200 FPS. I dearly love shooting these loads, and have sent several thousand of them downrange through S&W 1000-series old-school autopistols. They are a bit of a handful in some pistols, but aren't too bad in an all-steel platform or in pistols with low bore axis designs.

These loads are also known as "Colt Breakers", since they have cracked a few frames on Colt Delta Elite pistols over the years. SAAMI took no position on this question, nor did CIP. The ammomakers did, though--and began moderating the performance of their 10mm products. A look at current load intensities shows that 3 levels of loadings exist--

1) a Federal Lite loading by the company of the same name--180 grain JHP at 1030 FPS/5" barrel. This is 40 S&W performance, and was developed because too few FBI agents could manage more strident 10mm loads during the short time FBI used the caliber as their primary sidearm.

2) 180 grain JHPs at 1140-1150 FPS/5" barrel level. This is the form that at least 80% of today's factory loads take, and it is a significant upgrade from 40 S&W performance. These loads largely split the difference between The Federal Lite and the original Norma "200 x 1200" loads. These have not broken any Colts or Glocks, as best I have it.

3) Winchester Silvertips--175 grain JHPs @ 1275 FPS/5" barrel. These run hard on the heels of the Norma loadings, maybe 5% behind the Norma power level. They are my carry loads when armed with my Glock 20SF. I believe these loads were designed to get as close to the original Norma specs as possible while still not hurting the less stalwart platforms like the Glocks and the Colts. In the 20SF they run at about 1235-1250 FPS, and after about 1200 rounds of OEM and reloads that duplicate these velocities (AA-9 powder) the Glocks show no ill effects. Yet. The brass distends slightly, not like the 2nd gen 40 S&Ws do--but it is there. I see aftermaket barrels in my future for the 20SF and 29SF. Yes, the 29SF is a fun ride with the STs and the Normas. That AA-9 powder lights up adjacent hillsides at dusk right well, too.

There are a few boutique loadings that meet or slightly exceed the old Norma standard. Those Norma loads are about as much fun as I want in an autopistol like the Glock 29SF. The STs are manageable, but I don't want more than 50-75 in a day's time. In the 20SF, 200 is enough for one day.