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- Path: sparky!uunet!dtix!mimsy!ucsu.Colorado.EDU
- From: fcrary@ucsu.Colorado.EDU (Frank Crary)
- Newsgroups: rec.guns
- Subject: Re: 10 mm autopistols
- Message-ID: <199301021713.AA06219@ucsu.Colorado.EDU>
- Date: 2 Jan 93 18:44:06 GMT
- Sender: magnum@mimsy.umd.edu
- Organization: University of Colorado, Boulder
- Lines: 28
- Approved: gun-control@cs.umd.edu
-
- In article <1i308gINN75d@mirror.digex.com> curt@access.digex.com (curt williams) writes:
- #I keep hearing vaguely worded criticisms of the 10mm cartridge, but I
- #can never get any specifics. I understand that the FBI dumped the
- #10 after having problems. Were these problems:
- # 1) feed problems (possibly caused by FBI-required modifications
- # 2) overpressure problems causing damage to the pistols
- # 3) control problems caused by recoil and/or blast
- #????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
-
- #Does anyone know the real story?
-
- I'm not sure, but...
- The FBI initially wanted an autoloader with a more powerfull found than
- 9mm/.45. The 10mm was developed/adopted to satisfy this. However, they
- decided that the recoil and muzzel flash were excessive. To solve
- this problem, Federal began producing "FBI Lite" 10mm, a 10mm cartridge
- with a reduced powder load. Unfortunately, the reduced powder load
- gives ballistic preformance in the 9mm/.45 range. So, ultimately
- the FBI was using a large, 10mm cartridge that wasn't significantly
- more powerfull than a 9mm or .45... The size of the 10mm carries with
- it several disadvantages (lower magizine capacity, a larger, less
- concealable pistol, etc...) Which left the FBI with the disadvantages
- of the large caliber, but none of the advantages. I'm not sure about
- the last step, but it's easy to see why they might give up on 10mm
- and switch to 9mm or .45 (or even .40 S&W).
-
- Frank Crary
- CU Boulder
-