Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns The 40 SUPER!

That is what I called my 10mm this afternoon when another pistol packin patriot asked me. He was carrying a SIG 40, so when I answered about my handgun I tossed out the moniker "40 super" which caught him off guard.

It seems to me that the 10mm is to the 40 short and weak, in many ways what a 38 Super is to the old 38ACP and what the 357 Magnum is to the 38 special. Same-same with the 44 special and 44 magnum. The velocity gains (when the 10mm is loaded to its originally designed pressures) has velocity and power increases right in line with the difference between the other examples I cited in 38/357 etc. As a matter of course, my 180gr loads for the 10mm are running the same real world velocities as 125gr 357 Magnum loads.

So, I think I will start calling my RIA Tac Ten a 40 Super. Saying "10 mm" Just does not convey the realities of the power and real performance of this great round. It SOUNDS like "just a tiny little bit bigger than a 9mm" which is of course way off the mark. What do you all think??

Calling the 10mm "40 Super" would be incorrect, since their is already a cartridge with the 40 Super moniker. The 40 Super is based on the 45 Winchester mag round.


http://www.underwoodammo.com/40super.aspx

I agree. It also is a misnomer since the 38 ACP predates the longer and more powerful 38 Super. The longer and more powerful 10mm OTOH, predates its shorter, weaker sibling, the 40 S&W. The "10mm" already has a long list of synonyms.

Callit the .40 Super-Duper and tell'em all to go to hell.

SM, as much as I share your enthusiasm for the 10mm Colt - I have a G-30SF with the right 10mm pieces and ammo at hand and a Colt DE in the safe - minimizing other cartridges isn't really needed to recognize the great performance of the 10 mm both for defense and field.

As catchy as the 'short & weak' monicker may seem, it isn't really accurate as the 40S&W cartridge is a very good real world defensive performer - my 40S&W Shield is enough for EDC when the situation requires it. And I bet few miscreants would be willing to face the business end of a 40S&W thinking that it doesn't have enough power to do its work.

As to the 38ACP/38Super and 38Spl/357Mag comparisons, IMO they miss the mark. Neither of the older cartridges were ever considered adequate defensive performers, as both were markedly lower pressure loadings of the latter, but they were all that was possible with the technology of the time and both represented performance gains over previously available defensive cartridges.

BTW EthanE, IIRC, the case length of the 38ACP is the same as the 38Super, but the chamber pressures are different.

Calling the 40 S&W weak doesn't make the performance of the 10 MM Colt any more or less than what it is - an excellent. modern, high intensity defensive round. But so is the 40 Smith & Wesson. Live and let live IMHO YMMV.

The 40 UBER!

jfc....

Well said...

Every time I hear the ".40 short and weak" it causes me to laugh my ass off.

I don't have a problem with your nickname for the 10mm, but I don't agree with your comparisons of it to the 40 S&W.
First of all, the 40 S&W has a SAAMI pressure standard of 35,000 psi. The 10mm, in a slightly longer, .85 vs. .992 inch case, has a SAAMI standard of 37,500 psi. That isn't a big difference. The .38 Special vs. the .357 Magnum have a much wider pressure difference. The .38 Special is rated at either 17,000 psi, or about 21,000 psi for the +P ammo. The .357 Magnum, however, is rated at 35,000 psi.
I'd also point out that the "original" 10mm ballistics cannot be duplicated unless one exceeds the 37,500 psi limit set by the SAAMI. E

Damn, talk about a SD slapper of a round, 165 gr gold dots at 1600, dang.

Me too , I use the 140 gr Barnes XPB-HP's to 1250 fps in my Sig, 16 of those sob's on tap is anything but short on power or weak. <G>

I think it sounds like you care too damned much about what others think and impressing them, regardless of facts.

That's for sure!

The 40 Super is really �ber and is what Safariman thinks the 10mm is.

He's suffering from SDS.

While the 10MM is an excellent pistol cartridge, the 40SW is a far more popular cartridge.The 40 makes a lot of sense as a defensive handgun cartridge and will work in a more compact pistol. I like the 40, but don't need a 10.YMMV

I was just having some fun, nothing serious. Thanks for the input and all, though.

Are you really this starved for attention?

I get annoyed at the 'short&weak' moniker. The 40 is neither. It hits like a hammer. It is every bit as much the game taker as the 10, with the proper loads. The comparison with the Special vs. Magnum cartridges was far from apt. It seems that you have shot nothing but your 10, and think it is hot [bleep]. It is, but it isn't so much hotter than a 40 to make a comparison with Spec/Mag. Both 10 and 40 are great cartridges, and one is 10% faster. Just like a 357 is 10% faster than a 38....

Call it a centimeter......

think they're both great rounds

though prefer the 10 for walking around the big piney


the .40 for the big city


though either one is apt to get you by in a pinch


provided

you remember the 5 cardinal priorities for shooting when it counts


1. shot placement

2. shot placement

3. shot placement

4. bullet/cartridge combo

5. platform