Favorite 10mm loads

[Brutus]

Just curious to know what recipes other folks are using.
Since the big powder shortage I've regulated my remaining supply of Accurate powders to the 10mm. Shooting a Kimber target ll.

For general purpose paper punching:
11gr. AA#7 under a 180gr. Rainier plated flat point which yields 1200 fps on my chornograph and provides good accuracy even though I get an 85 fps. spread 1141/1226.

For serious woods walking:
13.8gr. AA#9 under a 180gr. Hornady XTP hollow point which yields 1250 fps.
This load gives excellent accuracy with a 40 fps. spread 1227/1266. Been loading this round for several years, although used sparingly I never had a problem with it until I bought Quick load which claims 66730 PSI. @ 1446 fps.
Go figure.

[black mamba]

Brutus, my accurate reloading data shows 13.5 g of #9 giving 1250 @ 34.1 kpsi. I can't imagine that 0.3 g more would push the pressure to nearly double with such a slow powder. Quickload is definitely wrong on this one.

[Nick_C_S]

Heh, I don't know about pressure. I'll leave that up to folks smarter than me.

But I do know Brutus, that you and I are "one notch off," so to speak:

I "punch holes in paper" with AA#5 (X-treme 180 PFP; 8.8gns). Yields 1046 f/s through my G29; and 1063 f/s through my G20.

And for the high power rounds, I go with AA#7 (180 JHP; 11.7gns). Yields 1193 f/s through my G29; and 1226 f/s through my G20.

I wouldn't consider using AA#9 unless I had a G40 - which I would probably have, except they're not available in Kalifornia. If I had a Kimber Custom Target II (actually, I do - but in the usual 45 ACP), would I use AA#9? Probably not. Could I get more velocity from my G29 & 20 by using AA#9? Probably; a little. Is it worth the flash, and recoil? Not IMO. That's just me. I prefer to load with faster powders and consider barrel length more than most.

[Kosh75287]

I've never used QuikLoad, but more than one user tells me that it is not at its best when calculating things for straight walled (i.e. non-bottlenecked) cases.

[Clark]

Last year I had not shot 10mm for 10 years, but I got some 200 gr bullets, some Power Pistol, and well supported 40sw barrel for the Glock 20.
I was going to work up super 1.3" OAL loads in the sagebrush by myself.
I had it triggering the chrono, even with the black sky.
I was going to go where no 10mm had ever gone.

It started showing pressure sign too early. I had forgotten to throat the chamber for the longer seated bullets that the 10mm magazine will feed.
I had no lathe out in the desert, so that project was a bust.

[Xfire68]

I had good accuracy with Nosler 200g JHP's with 9.4g Blue Dot but it was not always consistent. Had some pretty stout loads with 800X and Power Pistol with 155g-180g projectiles.

I sold my G20 (Why I still don't know) So I no longer load .40 cal or 10mm.

[Sevens]

All of my load development in 10mm since I got a chrono has been using the 180gr FMJ from Precision Delta. Previously I had built some decent 150gr Nosler JHP loads but never got any of them through the clock.

But I did clock a few things with the P-D 180gr FMJ:
9.5gr 800-X gave me 1171 fps average
10.0fr 800-X gave me 1205 fps average
...but 800-X is a royal pain to meter so I gave up using the stuff.

10.0gr Blue Dot gave me 1003 fps average, but with a wide spread of velocities
10.5gr Blue Dot gave me 1059 fps average and a tighter spread
...but I kind of loathe everything about Blue Dot except the cool way it looks. So I quit dabbling with that also.

8.2gr of Power Pistol gives me tame 1057 fps average and a very tight ES & SD, and I have shot mountains of these through my G29 and a few of 'em through my S&W 1006 also.

8.8gr of Longshot gives me 1136 fps average and
9.4gr of Longshot gives me 1204 fps average and BOTH of these loads return very nice ES & SD numbers. I think Longshot is a fantastic powder for building solid, worthy 10mm loads for sure. Easy to work with and it flies under the radar of powder hoarders, so it seems to be in stock when others aren't. I'm quite surprised that Longshot isn't more popular. It should be.

And if you are loading 10mm and you want velocity without seeing nutty pressure, give Longshot a try.

NOTE: all of the above were loaded to 1.250" COAL in varied brass... mostly FC and Starline, using the CCI-300 non-magnum Large Pistol primer and clocked velocties are from my Gen 3 Glock 29 with OEM 3.78" Glock barrel.

NO SMILIES on my brass. Pistol was built in 2008.

[Nick_C_S]

8.2gr of Power Pistol gives me tame 1057 fps average

I win! . . .

8.2gn of Power Pistol gives me a roaring 1058 fps through my G29.

But seriously, pretty darn close results.

[Sevens]

Wait a second there buddy!
1,047 low and 1,072 high, 10 shots giving a 24.68 ES and 9.64 SD... at 86 degrees and sunny on the 19th day of May, 2012.

And yup, definitely close results. Pretty funny since I'm 100% sure that I could chrono TWO different strings of the same stuff through the same pistol on the same day and not get results as close as what you and I posted.

[Nick_C_S]

Sevens,

August 5th, 2013; Low 1016; High 1076 (two shots were at your 1072); 10-shot string; ES 60 SD 24.92.

Looks like that 1016 reading kinda screwed up the SD. This was back n the day when I wrote down every reading and kept the worksheet (I still keep the worksheets; but I no longer record each individual shot unless I have some compelling reason to do so - e.g. decreasing velocity trends due to changing barrel conditions from copper fouling or whatever. Something like that.)

I've never gotten good SD's from either of my Glocks. Not sure why. 10mm is a spunky round and that may be a factor.

[Sevens]

I know that some of the boutique ammo guys (Buffalo Bore and Double Tap specifically) have added their thoughts that a stiffer recoil spring can affect the velocities you get when you chrono...

Personally, I have found that technique when shooting on the chrono has a -LOT- to do with it also.

It's funny to me, in a "not funny" kind of way. I certainly have the patience for slow-fire small group shooting on paper. But to try and shoot like the match is on the line when I am shooting through a chrono?! I don't have the patience for it. I find the chrono work to be extremely NOT fun, and attempting to do the process better is like pushing water up hill.

I really don't enjoy using the damned old thing.

[cwall64]

I settled on 13.1 grains of AA #9 giving me an average velocity of 1275 FPS out of a Glock 20 with a KKM standard length barrel. I did go up to Accurates max of 13.5 grains and the average velocity in same gun was 1298 FPS. This is with new Starline brass and Hornady 180 grain HAPs (COL 1.255")

Longshot, 800X, and BE-86 have all worked well for me in the same gun. I think AA #9 gave me the lowest SD and ES of all of them though. I never tried AA #7, might need to play with it also! Net, net all these powders are good for 10mm in my book...

[Nick_C_S]

I find the chrono work to be extremely NOT fun, and attempting to do the process better is like pushing water up hill.

My worse day at the range - even with the chronograph - is better than my best day at work. Time at the range is nice - even with the chrono.

I chronograph a lot. When I go to the range without the chrono, the RSO usually gives me a hard time: "Where's your chronograph?!" heh

That said, chronographing gets tedious. Believe me, I'd much rather just go out to the range for a nice shoot.

I don't chrono as much in the winter. That due to the low angle of the sun, where it rises, and the orientation of my range. The shadow from the overhang will "split" the diffusers (one shaded - one not) after about 9am. And the range opens at 8am. In the winter, a high thin cloud covered day is ideal. The clouds become the diffusers and I can chrono at any time.

I never gave the recoil spring much thought when it comes to chronographing - or ballistic performance in any way, actually. I recently just bought the next stronger weight spring (and both titanium for a little extra weight) for both my Glocks. I've taken them both out for a shoot with the stronger springs. Cycled nice. BTW, I have Lone Wolf barrels for both my Glocks and use them for every trip to the range. The stock barrels are only in the guns for SD duty. Otherwise, it's the Lone Wolfs (Wolves?? )

[Brutus]

Have to agree that chronographing puts a crimp on the fun factor. My outdoor range is about 40 miles from home so most of my practice takes place at indoor ranges. When I do get outdoors it becomes quite the ordeal reloading various recipes I've tried so I can get data on them, plus my favorites are more often left behind because what can be learned from revisiting a load you've been using for thirty years unless the powder has changed. In example a 240gr. SWC .44 with 8.5 gr. of Unique is going to deliver 1000 fps. today, tomorrow and twenty years from now so why bother. Purchased a new chronograph with a Bluetooth capability so now I no longer have to jot down strings in a log book, automatically downloads straight into a tablet, which makes life easier.

[IdahoG36]

So far, I'm really liking this load- Nosler 135 gr jhp, Starline brass, WIN WLP, 11 gr Ramshot Silhouette at an OAL of 1.260". This is the max load listed in Western Powder's 10mm reloading data.

Out of my Sig P220 5" barrel 10mm, my 5 shot average was 1480 fps, ES-26, SD-10.

Glock 20 with a 6" LW barrel, 5 shot average was 1534 fps, ES-20, SD-7.

I'm shooting these a lot at the range because I picked up 1500 of the 135 gr Nosler jhp bullets about a year ago for $10/100.

[98 220 swift]

I use 14.5gr of aa9 with the 180gr xtp for 1325fps out of my witness elite match with a #22 recoil spring. Latest hornady manual shows 14.9 max load.

[Brutus]

Wow 14.5gr and I thought I was pushing it with 13.8.
FYI according to Quickload that produces a whopping 96,779PSI and 1589fps.
Unless of course you are seating the bullet out to 1.5" in which case it's safe but you only get 1200fps.