What's some of the brief history behind S&Ws 1006 10mm?
Why was it 'born'... what happened to it?
Thanks

this isn't exactly what you're lookiing for
The 10mm Firearms Page

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

Thanks J.D...
Great history of the 1006 in a 'nutshell'...
Appreciate it!

I remember thinking in the 1980s that the 10mm would be the cartridge of the future. Of course, it didn't turn out that way, and it is only a niche cartridge today. I think the 10mm story is very interesting, and S&W's 10xx pistols are a small part of the story.

The 10mm Auto was introduced by Dornaus & Dixon in the Bren Ten around 1984. The company produced a relatively small number of these pistols before going out of business. Colt resurected the 10mm cartridge by placing it in the Delta Elite around 1987. Colt's introduction of the Delta Elite probably saved the 10mm Auto from oblivion.

As noted above, the FBI was seeking a new pistol for agents after the Miami shootout in 1986. The 10mm cartridge was more powerful than the 9mms in use, and met the FBI test protocols. The 10mm Auto also was "different" and this probably played a role in the adoption of the pistol cartridge by the FBI - it offered the FBI a chance to take a leading role in police firearms issues by adopting both a new cartridge and a new pistol.

S&W followed Colt's Delta Elite lead and offered a variety of 10xx 3d Generation pistols. The 1006 is derived from the 4506, and S&W was attempting to capitalize on the popular interest in the 10mm Auto after the FBI's endorsement of the round.

The 1006 wasn't an enduring or popular pistol. S&W dropped the 1006 in 1992. From memory, I believe the 1006 was only in production for two years.

The introduction of the 4006 in 1990, shooting ammunition equivalent to the downloaded 10mm Auto, made the larger 1006 with it lower magazine capacity uncompetitive as a service pistol.

This page has some excellent links to articles from 1990 and 1991. Charles Petty's 1990 article in Shooting Times Handgun quarterly is especially interesting.

Ronald Carillo's BREN TEN: The Heir Apparent is an excellent book on the Bren Ten pistol.

The 10mm was developed by Norma, long before the FBI thought they wanted it. If you come across some original Norma ammo be careful if you put it in your Delta Elite.

John,
Thanks for the additional info and links... very helpful!
EJO

I like the sound of that.

Yes,
They did make ut in 170 gr.
Regards,
BM1

It should be noted that the initial lots of 200 grain Norma ammo were defective and produced extremely high chamber pressures and erratic ballistics.



Bruce