Quote:
Originally Posted by Loomis Guard
Is it true that the real problem with the 10mm was most agents could not qualify with it??? So Smith dreamed up the 10mm short (40 S+W)!!!!
L.G.
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Probably a combination of the 10mm "FBI" reduced load could be duplicated in a shorter case along with that allowing a smaller framed pistol. Same performance as the heavier, larger 10 mm pistol in a smaller, lighter 40 S&W pistol? Death knell for the 10 mm as a Law Enforcement round. Similar to what killed the round a lot of savvy guys considered the perfect police round, a couple of generations ago.
Several experts of the day (Bill Jordan and Skeeter Skelton, among them AIR), considered a 41 Magnum would be the perfect police revolver, with a 200 gr or so bullet at 900-1000 fps. After some lobbying and arm twisting, two new pistols and a cartridge in two loadings emerged:
The S&W Mods 57 & 58 and the 41 Magnum cartridge in a hunting and "Police" load.
The S&W Mod 57, duplicating the features of the Model 29, and the fixed sight, heavy barrel S&W Mod 58. The 57 was the top of the line finished, hunting and all around version, with about 75% of the recoil of it's bigger brother. The Mod 58 was the working cop's sidearm.
In the 41 Magnum, initially there were two loadings: a 210gr at arond 1400 fps for hunting and a lighter 210 gr load at around 1000 fps, for Law Enforcement.
And there was when the trouble started.
Cops would buy the 58 (OR 57) and stuff it with the high powered load, instead of the carefully balanced and thought out "Cop Load", thinking "more is better." And as in a generation later with the 10 mm, it kicked violently, making it difficult to impossible for the AVERAGE cop to qualify. So what COULD have been an effective gun ammo combo in the last decades of the revolver in Law Enforcement, was aborted about as quickly as the 10 mm.
For those who still like a revolver, a good solid Model 58, with the right load, is STILL a viable choice, nearly 50 years later.