Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns OK, so now tell me about 10mm in a 1911

besides the barrel, are there any other changes that have to be made?

I'll be real interested in the answers to this myself. As I have a 1911 that's gonna be a project gun and I'm a big 10mm lover.

I seem to remember Colt had problems early on with the 10mm on the 1911 frame. Dunno if they were ever satisfactorly fixed or not.

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The first thousand or so 10mm Colts did have a frame cracking problem, but that was fixed over 20 years ago.

I have a Colt and a Kimber 10mm. Colt just re-listed the 10mm due to demand. Go for it, it's a great round for the 1911. With a Chip McCormick 9 rd mag, you have a 10 shot .357 magnum.

If you go with the .400 Corbon, its just a barrel change and maybe a stiffer recoil spring. Ive had fun with mine.

There is a barrel on GB in 10mm for te 1911 @ a whopping $80......

The frame cracking you are referring to Tex actually was a hairliner right over the hole for the takedown lever. It was merely a cosmetic thing and did not compromise the gun. Solution?? They merely milled out that tiny section of the rail. I have a Delta I bought in 1987 and it is still shooting quite nicely.

The .40/10mm reqire a different slide, ejector, barel and magazine. The 10mm in full power loadings is too much power for the 1911 platform, but if you practice with lighter loads in the .40 S&W range and then use full power 10mm loads somewhat sparingly, you'll have a long and happy life with your 10mm 1911.

The full power 10mm loads are what makes the 10mm attractive to me. 200 grain bullets at 1200 to 1300 fps put it between a .357 mag and a .41 mag; do you think those big Delta Elites were not a strong enough platform for the full power 10's?

Like I said, the 1911 is a bit small for the 10mm. If you shoot nothing but full power 10mm you'll crack a slide eventually, and when you do that, if you don't catch it real soon, you'll pull the frame rails off the frame. If you really want 100% 10mm shooting, then consider the Witness or an old S&W 1006, those two guns can take it. The 1911 slide is actualy smallish even for the .45, so the 10mm is really pushing it.

SAAMI backed those loads down because they are abusive to any and all 10mm handguns.
Yes there are some non SAAMI member ammo makers that are claiming those velocities and they will be abusive to any semi auto handgun that they are used in. I you want to shoot that type of load just remember that the gun will take a battering and watch for the signs and at some point take the gun out of service for safety

Yep, been doing that for about 22 years now and it does work fine.

Depends on what type of 1911 you start with. If you start with a 1911 in 45, you'll need a new barrel, slide, recoil springs, and ejector. If you start with one in 40, you'll just need the new barrel and recoil springs.

If I change the ejector, then do I have to change it each time I convert to & from .45???

I, for one, would not convert a 1911 in .45 ACP to anything else. I'd buy a gun built for that round and go from there. Auto pistols don't take well to hotter than designed for rounds and the 10mm is certainly that. Even +P loading the .45 ACP is not a good idea unless used little.
I'd like to see a .357 load that stays inside of acceptable pressures that will push a 200 gr. bullet 1150 fps. E

The 10mm is SAAMI spec'ed at 37,500 PSI

That's correct. Accurate Arms has load data for the 10mm that lists a 200 gr. lead bullet at both 1150 and 1190 fps. under that level with their AA#7 and AA#9 powders. E

I'd be more concerned with getting a good fit between a new slide and the old frame. Not to mention a good bushing fit.


But in theory, once you have a functioning 10mm upper, you should be able to leave the ejector.

I got curious about this topic and posted the question at another forum. The original Deltas did have a frame cracking issue on early guns, which was quickly fixed by Colt. The only other data was a guy who'd had a failure, (cracked a slide) after what he reckoned was 3000 rounds of mostly original "hot" Norma loads (170's at 1400 fps). A Colt armorer commented that in guns that were maintained - regular changing of the recoil spring, no excessively hot loads - he'd never seen a failure in over 20 years.

If you're using the 1911 for hunting or occasional shooting with current SAAMI rated loads, and change the recoil springs every 1500 rounds or so, there's little data to suggest you'll suffer component failure.

I fitted a BarSto 10mm barrel and bushing to my Para 16-40, swapped out the recoil spring and blasted away. No other mods needed. Nice switch barrel gun.

Puttin' anything but the "correct" cartridge in a 1911 is heresy.