View Single Post
 
Old 03-28-2010, 12:34 PM
FirebirdV8's Avatar
FirebirdV8 FirebirdV8 is offline
SWCA Member
 
Join Date: Dec 2008
Location: Parkesburg PA
Posts: 1,441
Likes: 77
Liked 241 Times in 98 Posts
Default

Here is a short history.
During the 80's the FBI was finding that the 9mm wasn't hot enough to stop people wearing body armor (10mm, or anyother handgun round for that matter isn't really good at that either, but this is the government we are talking about) (study up on the Miami shootout). They requested that a new round be developed to give the agents a more powerful round. 10mm was developed and it proved to be more powerful, in several loadings, then .45.
After this The FBI put out a contract to develop their new 10mm. S&W competed and submitted the 1006 and the 1076. The FBI wanted a frame decocker, so the 1076 won. S&W then went into full production with the 1006, 1026, 1046, 1066, 1076, and 1086.
It then turned out that the FBI had some issues with the decocker blocking the hammer in certain situations, S&W makes a recall, and fixes the problem. The FBI then comes to believe that the 10mm round is too powerful and has too much recoil for smaller agents. Initially they went with a more lightly loaded 10mm, then got rid of it altogether.
The 10mm light round was then put into a shorter cartridge and it was called .40 S&W. As several big departments switched to .40 S&W 10mm slowly lost favor. It is a great round and those of us who actually practice and control it without a problem. The S&W 10mm, being based off of the .45, is very tough and reliable and the weight helps calm any excessive recoil. You can't do much better then the 10XX series, they are just great pistols.
__________________
J.D. Roy

Last edited by FirebirdV8; 03-28-2010 at 12:37 PM.
Reply With Quote