Just got my Delta Elite back from the gunsmith...

[Ascension]

Rick whether you buy it or not is up to you.
I shoot 10mm regularly and the reason I don't own a Delta Elite is what I just showed you. I have shot Delta's and they shoot well they look good and feel good in my hand but so does a Kimber at just about the same price point and they don't have the case support issues.
I personally shoot 3rd gen S&W's and Glocks right now in the 10mm round.
I also am a professional musician and want to keep my hands intact so I choose to stay away from a Colt Delta. If you choose to own and shoot a Delta that's your choice but when an ammo manufacturer runs a warning it is unsafe to use their ammo in that particular pistol I heed it. There are other 10's like the Wyoming Arms that have the same issues and if you own these just stick to the lower powered stuff and leave the hot stuff for those of us who own pistols that are safe to run it in.

[agtman]

I'm still not buying. The Delta was developed when the only 10mm ammo there was, was 200@1200 and 170@1300 from Norma, and the gun is safe with that ammo.* * *

Colt first released the Delta in 1987, so, yes, back in the day all factory 10mm ammo, regardless of bullet-weight, was essentially full-throttle.

The early DEs did have one infamous issue, but it was never about chamber-support. Cracks developed in a few models just above the slide-stop cutout. Colt engineers simply removed the small metal "bridge" there, and guess what? No more frame-cracking. In fact, that change became standard on all later Colt 1911s, not just the 10mm DEs. Unfortunately, a few cracks on the early Deltas was enough for some gunrag writers to complain that "the 10mm breaks guns," and another myth got started.

Arguably, the Deltas were undersprung, although many owners debate that. I was never comfortable with Colt's goofy dual recoil springs and ditched the one on mine for the GI set-up using XP springs from Wolff. I've run springs weighing 20lbs, 22lbs & 24lbs, depending on whether I'm shooting midrange plinkers or the full-power stuff. The gun runs 100% with any of these.

Getting back to '80s-era 10mm ammo: Remington, as I recall, came out with one of the first 180gn loads @ 1340fps or thereabouts. All of Hornady's loads were right at or near the Norma standards: Back then Hornady marketed two 200gn loads - the XTP-HP & a FMJ, both @ 1180fps. (The FMJ has been discontinued and the XTP load, when you can find it, is now doing 1050fps). Hornady's 170gn XTP was spec-ed @ 1300fps. A 155gn XTP was loaded to something like 1425fps.

All of this was before the FBI-Lite ammo showed up (not until late 1989, with a 180gn JHP @ 950fps), and it was well before the generally watering-down trend in 10mm ammo that occurred from, roughly, the early '90s thru the early 2000s.

A couple of happy exceptions were ProLoad, which retained a few zippy loads (a 180gn 10mm GD @ 1200fps), and Georgia Arms which supplied the KSP, who then carried S&W 1076s, with various 10mm loads. I shot some of their offerings quite a bit. One was very affordable 180gn "practice load," using once-fired brass (though not full-power at all), but cheaper than the CCI 200gn Blazers. GA also offered, in their "Canned Heat" line-up, a 155gn GD @ 1375fps using new brass that was VERY accurate in my Smith 1006 & 1076.

The resurgence of full-power 10mm ammo - and the return of the cartridge's popularity - began in the early 2000s when Texas Ammo (now defunct) began marketing a full-power trio of 200gn, 165gn and 135gn "Old School" 10mm loads. McNett opened up DT shortly after that.

The rest, as they say, is history.

[RickB]

I also am a professional musician and want to keep my hands intact so I choose to stay away from a Colt Delta. If you choose to own and shoot a Delta that's your choice but when an ammo manufacturer runs a warning it is unsafe to use their ammo in that particular pistol I heed it

It's two sides of the same coin. Someone makes ammo inappropriate for a given gun, you say it's a problem with the gun, and I say it's a problem with the ammo. The Delta runs fine, safely, when fed full-power 10mm ammo. If you want try to bend things with even hotter ammo, then running it in something else might be a good idea.

[Ascension]

Look guys there is much evidence that the design on the Delta is a potential safety issue running full power loads.
this for example is part of an email from Buffalo Boar CS to an Elite shooter who had a case failure in his new DE>

In your case I suspect (I don’t know or assume, I suspect) that your new Delta Elite has a very generous area machined away in the chamber right above the feed ramp, to facilitate feeding. If this area is too large, the casing will not have enough support and will let go. With lower pressure ammo, you won’t experience a case failure, but with high pressure ammo, it is more likely. You can easily remove your barrel and drop a live round in it and see how much casing is unsupported. If you have a space much more than about .200-.300 inch long, that is unsupported, you've likely found the culprit. In the last year, I've been informed of two or three case web failures in the New Delta Elite pistols and those failures were not with BB ammo. My Delta Elite was made in 1985 and is executed wonderfully.

Some are worse than others so if you insist in running a Delta at the least be smart enough to field strip it and check the barrel on case support by dropping a round in the chamber to check support at the rear of the case. Some are pretty good in case support and some are down right dangerous.
A good rule is to stay away from in particular Swamp Fox, Buffalo Boar, Corebond or Underwood ammo that I can think of right now with a Delta if you like having all your digits on your shooting hand.
The alternative is to buy one of the many 1911 10mm using a ramp barrel that have proper case support like the Kimber Rock Island and many others or mod a Delta.
If you choose to run a stock Delta with full power 10mm then understand the risk.
It's just like running +P+ 9mm in a pistol that is not even rated +P you may get away with it for a while but sooner or later you are going to pay for it.
My main 10mm shooter right now is this polished slide S&W 1066 with aftermarket adjustable sights and a 22 lb Wolffe spring but is otherwise stock.

My pistols all have fully supporting chambers and cases running Underwood through both the Smith and my Glock 29 have no flattened primers and show no bulging so----.

[agtman]

Nice 1066. How's it shoot?

[Have gun-will travel]

A friend of mine shot his Delta back in the 90's .He hapurchased one with Ivory and rubber grips. He shot it with the ivory on it and it busted the ivory grips when one of the Norma rounds ruptured.

[Ascension]

Love the 1066 and after I got it I wound up selling my Glock 29 as the old Smith flat shot rings around the Glock. My son has a 1076 ex FBI that I really like shooting so he gave me the 66 for a birthday present a couple years back.
She was shooting way low when I first got it ( I have seen several of the old Smith 10's all with night sights that shot way low with the standard Novacks so wonder if they used the wrong front sights by mistake on a few??). I went to an adjustable rear and now that I have her dialed in she is a tack driver. I will pick up a 5 inch barrel Smith 10 at some point in the future to go with the 66.
These old Smiths are by far my favorite 10's to spend a day on the range with.
Heavy but fantastic shooters that are pretty bulletproof + I love the way they look.

[Stevie-Ray]

My late-'80s Delta has, if anything, more case head support than what I see in new-production Deltas. The original Delta was designed around the only 10mm ammo that existed at the time, which was the original, full-power Norma loads.

Mine has great support as well. In fact, the weakest load ever run through mine in 25 years was 170 gr @ 1200fps. But, Ascension's right, if you want the absolute best case support out there in a 1911, Kimber has it, better even than the Glocks.

[Ascension]

Stevie some seem to have solid support but many others out there simply don't so word to the wise CHECK that camber support on a Delta before running the hot stuff.
Frankly this is the only reason I don't own a Delta as they feel SO good in the hand and are accurate shooters.

[Tamara]

Originally Posted by agtman

The early DEs did have one infamous issue, but it was never about chamber-support. Cracks developed in a few models just above the slide-stop cutout. Colt engineers simply removed the small metal "bridge" there, and guess what? No more frame-cracking. In fact, that change became standard on all later Colt 1911s, not just the 10mm DEs. Unfortunately, a few cracks on the early Deltas was enough for some gunrag writers to complain that "the 10mm breaks guns," and another myth got started.

I do so love finding folks on gun fora who know what the heck they're talking about.

You have restored a tiny sliver of my faith in gun-owning humanity today.

[agtman]

Thanks, Sweetie. Nice to hear from you again ...

[GLK]

Here is an old photo of my original run Colt Delta Gold Cup(yes a polymer HSH)along side my original run S&W 610 Classic, I put a few thousand of the original Norma 170 & 200 grain rounds through the Delta Gold Cup with no issues. Those cases are still being reloaded to this day. I have also owned two basic original run blued DE's with thousands of rds down range and they never experienced issues. Now I have have a blown case issue with one of my old model 20 Glocks. When it let go the rupture was at the six o'clock position. It blew the fully loaded(-1rd)mag out of the mag well shearing off the mag release in the process and blew the magazine bottom plate off the mag, I never did find the spring or follower. It also blew the slide off the rails on one side . After getting the slide completely off and then back on and replacing the mag release that particular model 20 ran another 6-7K of ammo down range before I sold/traded it for the latest and greatest something or the other. I will also add that in all my years(since 1986-87)of shooting 10MM handguns I have never worried about any of my 10MM guns. Now 10MM ammo is another issue all together, most of the boutique manufactured super hot loads are not the most accurate and are not even SAAMI approved or certified or whatever the proper term is. Yes I love me some 10MM

[Ascension]

I owned a Glock 29 in 10mm for a while and never saw the dreaded Glock Smile with that stock barrel. However I know others that did due to the cut at the ramp being off and allowing an unsupported rear of the chamber.
However the Deltas are more hit or miss in this than anything else I have seen. In particular the newer ones.
I was looking yesterday at some of the 1911 variants in 10mm. The Colt and the Kimber are so close in price if I go that rout I will go Kimber simply because of the different ramp barrel design and the case support issues.
Still can't figure out why Colt refuses to go to a ramp barrel and eliminate the questions on the Deltas case support once and for all.
I do agree on the factory 10mm ammo it's either seemingly way over SAMMI spec or way under. I am about to start loading range ammo but for carry ammo for legal reasons that is unwise.

[agtman]

Well, on the barrel support issue with the 10mm Glocks, here's my 2-cents ...

Never had a problem shooting the "hotter" factory ammo in either my G20 or G29 - loosely defining "hotter" to include 10mm ammo running in the upper mid-range (e.g., 180gns @ 1250+fps) up to that loaded at or beyond Norma-levels (e.g., 200gns @ 1275fps) by the so-called "boutique" outfits (e.g., DT, Underwood, Buffalo Bore, as well as some of CorBon's older 10mm loads from back in the mid-to-late 90s. They started watering-down their 10mm lineup when they introduced the .400 CB cartridge.)

No issues with any of it, including McNett's early DT ammo when he first offered loads like the 165gn & 180gn Golden Sabers (1425fps & 1330fps, respectively), the 135gn Noslers (1600fps), and the 200gn Hornady FMJ-FPs (1275fps). That last one pulled duty as my hiking/hunting/camping/trail-gun load for the backwood boonies.

That said, when it comes to my handloads using cases of various makes fired multiple times with magnum primers, and which tend to run 80-90% of max, I use aftermarket barrels in both Glocks.

In the G29, years ago I had my 'smith hand-fit and polish a Bar-Sto 10mm barrel and it's been outstanding. In the G20, I use a LWD tube.
Both are stock length, no ports. Both have good chamber support and there's been zero reliability issues.

I did try a KKM tube in the G20 before getting the LWD, but I got repeated feeding problems.
Also, with the LWD barrel in the G20, I'm running an ISMI 24lb XP recoil spring on a steel guide rod. I've noticed a step-up in accuracy, which, I think, is due to the XP spring holding a tighter lock-up

[WIN1886]

Underwood ammo does offer a 10mm load for the Delta Elite.......a Nosler 180 grain JHP @ 1240 fps muzzle velocity which to me is a pretty respectable load in my book ! I have used this load in my DW Razorback and really like it and don't really see the need for more power ! The hottest ammo I've tried so far has been the new Federal Trophy bonded 180 grain JSP load @ 1275 fps muzzle velocity and plan to use it for deer hunting ! Just like the .45 long colt and .44 magnum...some folks want to hot rod the loads or use the +P+ 340 grain load to feel safe in the woods from the dreaded 800 lb man eating black bear that turns out to be about 150lbs and is more apt to run away before you even see it anyway timid creature !