Huh?
Makes no sense. A bullet, say an XTP or Barnes, Speer falls apart going a 100 or even 200 or so fps faster ?? How many XTP bullets have been fired from rifles in other calibers at even faster velocity?
How do all the upper end ammo makers do it then?
10mm Ballistics Chart | Ballistics 101
I'll break it down for you and try to make some sense of it for you. Call it Ballistics 102 or What happens to bullets when they hit something. aka Terminal Ballistics.
Expanding bullets are designed from the manufacture to work within a certain velocity window. With some rifle bullets, that working velocity window is over 1000 f.p.s. In most handgun bullets, that window is usually around 500 f.p.s. (some less some more)
If your impact velocity is below that minimum, the bullet fails to expand and acts more like a solid or FMJ. Think of using .429 bullets designed for the 44 magnum in a snub nose 44 special. Your muzzle velocity is all ready 100 f.p.s. or more below the working velocity of what the bullet was designed for. You end up with little to no expansion and over penetration.
Go above that limit, and bullets will rapidly expand and even fragment or tumble, limiting penetration.
Thankfully in the case of .429 bullets, their are at least a few bullets available that are designed for the lower 44 special velocities.
However, in the case of .400 diameter bullets, since the 40 S&W is vastly more popular than the more powerful 10mm, just about all the bullets made are designed for the lower velocity 40. The last commercially available true 10mm bullet is the Winchester 175 gr Silvertip. The same bullet that is loaded in the factory ammo at 1290 f.p.s. Almost never available and extremely expensive when you do find it. Two bullets available in factory ammo only, are the Federal trophy Bonded and the Sig V Crown 180 gr made by Sierra. Sadly the only time these bullets are available as components is when someone does a pull down.
The only 40 bullets that do work, (barely IMO) most of the time, at 10mm velocities are the Hornady 200 gr XTP, the Speer Gold Dot 180 gr. I've heard the Nosler 200 gr and the Speer 165 gr Gold Dot also work but I've never tested them.
Several of us routinely e-mail bullet companies asking them to release a true 10mm bullet but they very politely decline because they don't want the negative feedback from someone complaining they won't expand when fired out of his 40 S&W.
So, how do the boutique ammo makers do it?
Simple, they lie...or omit certain truths.
If you don't wish to spend the time and money testing yourself, do a search on you tube for 10mm gel tests. Here's a link to some 10mm only tests by one of them.
10mm gel tests - 10mm-firearms.com
Hope this helps.
Jeff
