reloading for 10mm: lead vs jacketed

[stagpanther]

OK--I just started reload for 10 mm for the first time and need some advice form experienced 10 mm reloaders. I'm reloading for a Glock 20.

I have both jacketed HP's as well as some hard-cast FN bullets. Typically the jacketed bullets are .400 in diameter and the lead bullets are .401 (I understand the need for compression of the lead in the bore and the need for the extra .001).

I also have a lone wolf barrel and fire dragon hunter barrels--purchased for the conventional rifling and presumably better handling of lead.

The after market barrels have tighter tolerances and because of that the lead bullet cartridges tend to meet resistance when chambering--enough so that I'm guessing down the road there will be cycling issues. Ironically--the stock Glock barrel's chamber chambers the lead-bullet cartridges with no resistance.

One of the barrel manufacturers recommends that I simply polish the chamber down til the cartridge fits--but that presumably will make it a bit looser fit with the standard jacketed bullet cartridges.

I'm kinda reluctant to polish the chamber if it might affect accuracy of the jacketed rounds--but I'm not sure how much of an issue that really is. On the other hand it would be nice to have some hard-hitting FN's for hunting.

What have others found/decided in this situation? Constructive suggestions are appreciated.

[Tinbucket]

Some loads with lead at chamber mouth and on ramp and some hot loads in the bore.
I've cleaned lead dust/spray out of the action after many rounds.
I like the plated and jacketed Siloutte type or XTP hollow point bullets in my Colt Delta Elite.

[Nick_C_S]

I have Lone Wolf barrels for both my Glock 10mm's.

I use plated for the medium power rounds (slightly stronger than 40 cal), and jacketed for the hot stuff.

I wouldn't use lead for 10mm. Never even attempted it. Lead only seems to work well in 38/44 Special and 45 ACP (45 Colt too - if I loaded for it), from my experience.

I've dabbled with lead for 9mm and I haven't completely given up on it yet.

[chris in va]

10mm has slightly lower pressure than 9mm, and I shoot lead exclusively out of three firearms with very little drama.

I don't see why you couldn't use lead provided you size .001-.002 over slugged bore diameter. My Lyman manual shows a few different lead bullets and loads you can use.

I also use a Lee FCD to assure chambering. It doesn't hurt accuracy one bit.

[stagpanther]

I'm using the RCBS 3 die set and have set a slight taper crimp of .001 less than the case at base of bullet--all measurements check out to SAAMI specs--but the case noticeable bulges with the lead bullet.

Just out of curiosity I seated the bullets a bit deeper (dummy rounds) to 1.246 and they now cycle through the LW barrel with no resistance but some noticeable resistance in the Fire Dragon barrel. Most reload data says do not go below 1.25 or 1.26 depending on the bullet--the Lyman manual does have some of their bullets listed as going all the way down to 1.24.

Judging by how quickly pressure builds up in the case I'm going to back off on the lead bullet reloads until I get verified load data from the bullet manufacturer (magnus). I have plenty of xtp's with the "regular" .400 diameter to load in the meantime.

[stagpanther]

Well, after a bit of reluctance I took a dowel and some metal sandpaper and sanded down the chamber ever so slightly near the "headspace ring." That seemed to do the trick--though a full-length 1.26 OAL is still a bit tight. I backed the OAL off a tad to 1.257 and everything seems fine. My Underwood full-power loads are shorter in OAL than that so I figure I'll be fine as long as I carefully monitor velocity. All is well in the jungle.

[Sevens]

10mm has slightly lower pressure than 9mm

Not sure if you meant something other than the obvious, but this simply isn't true. The SAAMI max pressure for 9mm is 35k PSI and the 10mm is rated a bit higher at 37,500 PSI.

To the subject of cast lead in 10mm, I have only dabbled with it and walked away. There are certainly some fine reasons to choose to load and shoot cast lead, but for myself and my needs, I could only come up with ONE of those reasons, and that reason was economy. And when I thought about it more, it was easy to walk away. I do a fine job of keeping my costs in check in so many different directions -- for me, it's a part of the hobby and buying just about everything in volume saves a pile of money. So it was easy to simply go with a jacketed slug in 10mm and cease & desist the cast lead.

There are certainly MANY other attractive reasons to use cast lead handgun bullets, but none of those were important to me and for my needs, so I run jacketed in 10mm these days. Typically, I run either Precision Delta 180gr FMJ or Zero brand 180gr FMJ. I have used IMR-800X and Blue Dot, but I tend to stick mostly with Alliant Power Pistol and Hodgdon Long Shot.

[stagpanther]

I will be carrying this into the woods, and while my main intention is a deer dropper, for which the jhp will do just fine--it's nice to have the option of deep penetrating bone-crusher like a heavy lead FN if and when you need it.

[Mike / Tx]

I use primarily Accurate powders for mine. In the 180gr and up loads it is hard to beat #9.

I haven't run any cast trhrough it yet but plan to once I get some molds. I am on a couple of group buys over on Castbullets now which will give me a light and heavy weight bullet to work with. These come with blank pins for solids and tapered pins for HP's. I have worked up two different alloys which should work well with either of the weights I'm able to cast, and give me good controlled expansion as well.

Since my primary bullet has been the 180gr Gold Dot, that will be the goal to duplicate. It has been a wonderful hunting bullet grouping within 2" or so at 50yds and having plenty of power to pass through up to around a 200'ish pound hog. It is pure hog poison up close and personal as well.

The other bullet i have had good success with has been the Winchester 180gr JHP. I normally use those for target practice as they will group as well as the GD and aren't/weren't quite as expensive. I am down to around 250 or so of the Win's and around 300 of the GD's on my shelf, but I can run through either of those in a weekend easily. So that was why I got on the GB's to get me some molds.

Since the price tag on my GD's was around $13, I am sure you can see why I am looking hard at the cast route. I have no doubts that I will be very close to the same or similar performance I get form them once I get the molds and can work up a load.

[stagpanther]

Very cool Mike--thanks for the info. I already load alot for my 41 and 44 magnums and use similar powders and bullets across most of them. I would LOVE to get my hands on #9 (I'm about to run out) but can't find it anywhere.

I've tended to get excellent accuracy with xtp's out of both my 41 and 44's and will likely use them in my 10 as well. I don't know if I'll be able to find a lead bullet that will deliver on everything--low fouling at high velocity, high kinetic energy, deep penetration with good expansion--that's a bit much to ask for I think--but I know nothing about these bullets out of a ten. I'm purposefully staying with a hard--maybe poly-coated eventually-- heavy FN as a deep hole-puncher in case that bear or hog makes a head-on run at me and am willing to trade off expansion for that.

[Snyper]

With that ported barrel, I'd use jacketed only

]You won't gain any significant penetration with cast bullets, because any load is likely to pass through at any reasonable range