Quote:
Originally Posted by Packard
Actually I believe the FBI settled on the 10mm as being the best cartridge, but so many of the agents had problems with the recoil that the backed off to 10mm light (.40 caliber).
If you can handle the recoil (and the expense) then for law enforcement the 10mm probably still is king. Improvements in barrier penetration in the last few years has reduced the edge that the 10mm has over the .40 though.
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The FBI never issued full power 10mm to agents, or even tested it with street agents. The gurus at the ammo lab started with a 180 grain bullet, shot it into gelatin at increasing velocities, and stopped when the bullet did what they wanted it to do. That was the 180 at about 950 fps.
At that point, some enterprising soul realized you could get the same performance in a shorter case that would fit into 9mm sized guns. The rest is history.
I've shot full power 10 out of a Bureau 1076 and it was very controllable. I doubt anyone would have had trouble with the recoil.
At the time of the adoption of 10mm the thinking was that the two power levels of round would be available in a similar fashion to the way the .357 Magnum and the .38 Special had been used for decades: the lower powered round for everyday use, with the more powerful load in reserve for special circumstances available with supervisory approval. It just never worked out that way.
For what its worth I still have a Bureau 10mm issued to me - but it has a 30 round magazine, a shoulder stock, and a full-auto selector.