Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns 10mm vs. .45acp

Watched an interesting video by a guy named Paul Harrel (sp?) where he chronographed 10mm 180 grain jacketed hollow points and 185 grain .45acp jacketed hollow points head to head with same barrel lengths. With three different ammo choices, the average difference in velocity was between 100 and 200 fps with the edge going to the 10mm. But, keep in mind the .45acp was 5 grains heavier - with translates to a fraction more mass delivered on target.

His methodology wasn't that scientific, but it led me to consider the 185 grain jacketed hollow point in .45acp is no slouch as a defensive round

DoubleTap Ammo offers a 185 gr .45 ACP load that bumps 1200 fps and it's not even rated to +P pressures. That's no slouch load and it doesn't take a backseat to their 10mm offering of a 180 gr @ 1300 fps in any practical way as far I'm concerned.

The only place the 10mm really shines over the old .45 ACP in the game fields is with 200 gr hardcast bullets traveling at maximum speed (@ 1300 fps). But, many heavy for caliber 10mm loadings (200-230 grs) have proven to NOT be reliable in most commonly encountered pistols.

In a defensive pistol role, some of the boutique 10mm loads that push lighter bullets (a 135 gr @ 1600 fps or a 150 gr @ 1475 ) offer some potential edge in performance, but that's about it.

IMO a 45 Super kit on your 45 makes it a dead heat . A Rowland conversion give you anything the 10 can do and more.

Not sure I want to push that in my XD-S

I like a 230 grain .45 for defense. I like a 180 grain 10MM for hunting. Different tools for different jobs.

Considering the 45 earned it's reputation with ball ammo, IMHO it is a vastly underrated round. I have lots of glacial silt at my disposal, essentially wet clay, and it makes a decent medium for comparing how various rounds displace material. The ancient fat and slow 45 with 200 gr swc's impresses the heck out of me, certainly much more impressive than what paper ballistics would lead you to think. Conversely the 9mm deserves it's reputation as a mouse round.

One of these days I'm planning on a comprehensive comparison of various bullet shapes, weights in velocities from handguns.

If you don't reload, you're at the mercy of manufacturers who might not want to load a cartridge to it's full potential. If you do reload, you know the difference between the two cartridges.

I reload...I just don't own a 10mm.

I got both.

The trade off, though, is penetration. Likely that lighter, faster, .45 ACP is going to be expanding to a larger size and penetrating a good bit less.

To compare "apples to apples" in terms of sectional density, one has to run a 230 grain bullet in .45 to equal a 180 grain .40.

180 grain 10mms can easily be found that exceed 1200 fps and many go over 1300 fps from a 5" barrel.... There are not a lot of .45 ACP 230 grain loads that run over 850 unless it is +P.

Comparing the Buffalo Bore Outdoorsman loads:

10mm 220 grain cast (.186 SD) 1200 fps with 703 fp of energy

.45 ACP +P 255 cast (.178 SD) 925 fps with 484 fp of energy

.45 Super 255 cast (.178 SD) 1075 fps with 654 fp of energy

Hit something with any of those and it is going to be lights out...

Bob

DEFINATLEY my two favorite rounds in a automatic pistol! I've got several of each. If I had to choose, and even though I LOVE 1911's and even have a couple of 1911's in 10mm, I'd have to go with the 10mm and my Glock 20.

The GLOCK 20 loaded with 15 + 1 rounds of either my hot +P 200 gr XTP HP handloads or Buffalo Bore's Factory loading with their 220 gr hard cast loads, and one extra 15 round mag for carry appeals to me more whether it be for bear, hogs, or God forbid, a gunfight.

Good post!

Thank you sir...

Yep.

I have some Double Tap 200 gr hardcast 10mm loads that are advertised at 1300 fps from a G20. I got 1315 fps in mine. If my 9mm won't do the job I'll go straight to 10mm and not waste time with a 45.

I figure if I do my part and put the rounds on target, 40 or 45 caliber won't matter. I figure I only need 8 inches of penetration to reach human vitals from most any angle I'll need to shoot from.

What intrigues me is the speed a guy can get out of the 10. Over 1800 FPS.

My problem here in the Colorado Rockies has never been human criminals, it has mostly been black bears. My carry is 40 cal with Double Tap 200 gr hard cast flat point. Backed up by 44 mag and 270 gr Gold Dot flat points and 12 ga with Brenneke hard cast slugs in summer for bear problems or 3-inch 00-buck in winter when it is only human threats

IMHO, sd is a bullchit meaningless number when one get's away from the key board and starts shooting stuff with different bullet diameters, weights and velocities.

I can shoot 200 gr .35 caliber bullets over 1200 fps and 160's over 1500 fps from my 357 magnum, must be even better than the 10mm?

What matters is that you have enough momentum to penetrate to sufficient depth to reach the vitals, once you've achieved that for a given caliber, the only way to increase the wound channel diameter is to increase the bullet diameter.

Penetration tests show that bullet weight is more important than sd when it comes to determining how far a projectile penetrates. Go ahead, load bullets of the same sd in a .35, .40, .45, .475 and .500, launch them at 800, 1000 and 1200 fps.