10mm for beginners

[Beaver]

I successfully loaded some 175 SWC tumble lube bullets my buddy Stoney just cast to pay me back for some assorted 7mm bullets I gave him.

I had an old unopened can of Blue Dot floating around and from all my reloading books, 10 grains seemed like a perky starting load for my Colt Double Eagle. My brass was a bag of 100 new Winchester, primed with CCI large pistol primers.

I taper crimped the mouth to .4205-.4210 and all seemed great. I got most of the lube off of the exposed bullet w/ a shop rag and proceeded to the gravel pit for lift-off.

Much to my happiness the loaded ammo performed perfectly. I shot a 4-5 inch group at 25 yds. I think I can do better, as I was focusing on gun function more than perfect shooting. This gun shoots factory American Eagle 180's very well. I will chronograph this load soon to see where we are for velocity. I'm not trying to hit the moon, just around 1100fps would be enough for me.

I hopefully someday can get a Smith 10mm of some flavor as the 10mm is becoming a favorite. Later.

 

[nitesite]

Thanks for a good report. I have just one 10mm Auto (a G29) and I couldn't shoot it very much if I weren't reloading 10mm.

I agree with you, it's not necessary to load to nuclear power in order to enjoy the ten. My 180-gr loads average 1150 and that's plenty.

 

[fredj338]

You'll actually find that 10gr of BD closer to 1200fps. Not quite max. but w/ a 175gr lead bullet, pretty close.

 

[Beaver]

Thanks Fred: I won't do anything until I can chronograph that load. I appreciate your experience.

 

[VAdoublegunner]

I like the 10mm, but generally only loaded as a *real* 10mm since I have a lot of 40 S&Ws for moderate loads.

A big dose of Blue Dot is good for most full power loads. Also AA#7 is a classic.

My go-to powder for nearly everything is WSF. It also makes a great 10mm powder, easy to get 1230fps with a 180 Hornady XTP. It makes a nice clean moderate level load with 175gr hardcast bullets around 1100fps.

 

[Dew]

"My go-to powder for nearly everything is WSF. It also makes a great 10mm powder, easy to get 1230fps with a 180 Hornady XTP. It makes a nice clean moderate level load with 175gr hardcast bullets around 1100fps."
I just got a Smith 1006. Tell me where you found that load. I would like to try it if I can find manual.

Thanks,
Dew

 

[10mm]

Blue Dot is great for 10mm. As someone above posted AA#7 is another great 10mm powder for handloading. I load mostly jacketed bullets for my 10mm as I too like to push the 10mm to it's potential and I don't like to clean out leading. Precision bullets make hard cast bullets with a black coating of some sort that seems to reduce the smoking and leading so I use them from time to time. If you have other powders you want to try or other bullets let me know as I have been loading the 10mm for over ten years and I have a lot of data, both personal loads and data collected from the net and manuals, manufacturers, etc. If there is enough interest I can post a fair amount of it here. Glad to see another 10mm fan and handloader.