Don't do it! Early on and before I started reloading all of my ammunition I bought a box of HSM in 10mm and half of them would not chamber correctly. Had to put the rounds through a sizing die to straighten out all of the wiggles and bumps in the cases.

  Well the 40 S&W and the 10mm take the same dies, at least on a Hornady setup. So stating that 10mm dies are "near impossible to get" just flies on the face of logic since the 40 short&weak is one of the most popular calibers. Just saying...

The basic problem is that 1911s and their variants, including the Kimber 10mm were designed for ball ammo. My understanding (based on the DVD series "Combat Customizing the 1911 Auto") is that the best solution is to stick with ball ammo or throat the barrel. See for example https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yY71J8yGGcg. Obviously this is an invasive process and if done incorrectly will ruin the barrel and probably best left to an experienced gunsmith. Good luck.

Assuming that a short barrel has the same ballistic accuracy as a long barrel - which it does not - I believe that a longer sight radius simply allows the shooter to better gauge the error in the pointing angle. I do not believe that there is an actual formula or equation that relates site radius to accuracy.

The sight radius represents a near-field (visual) projection of where the bullet will impact in the far-field. The error in the impact position is a function of the aiming angle from the true line of fire and takes the form Error=Distance x Tangent(Angle), where

Error = linear displacement from intended point of impact
Distance = distance from rear sight to point of impact
Angle = Deviation in pointing angle from angle required to hit intended target

For example holding 1-degree off of the point of impact will result in an error or displacement of 13-inches at 21 yards. A ¼-degree angle off of the point of impact will result in an error or displacement of 3.3-inches at 21 yards. As you can see, very small changes in the aiming angle will have a large influence on the displacement of where the bullet hits the target. The longer sight radius allows the shooter to better judge the point of impact.

I have had similar problems with the Hornady Lock-n-load. Basically, if I do not keep a full loading plate the seating depth is deeper then when I have the plate filled. In my experience with this progressive loader, you must set the bullet depth when the plate is full. My theory is that the added friction (sizer, de-primer, taper, crimp) all conspire to flex the loader just enough to make the bullet seating-depth a few hundredths less (for full versus partial plate). Note that I have separate crimp and seating dies.

I have the RIA, Kimber, DE and RZ10 in 10mm and would recommend the Kimber or RZ10 for a 1911 platform with fully supported barrel. The Kimber and RZ10 are both high quality, but IMO the RZ10 is the better looker. The RIA has given me trouble and had to put money into new magazines to get it to work correctly. The DE is a great gun, but not so if you are into reloading more stout rounds, due to unsupported barrel. Good luck.

My RIA Tactical II did not like anything except Tripp magazines. Even the magazine that came with the RIA did not work well- slide did not lock back on last round.
http://www.trippresearch.com/

Thanks Doug. Useful feedback. -steve

For many years I have been reloading using plated bullets, but recently and in an effort to save some money I became interested in polymer-coated bullets. Not sure how long coated bullets have been commercially available- a quick Internet search shows at least five vendors and there are probably more:
http://www.egglestonmunitions.com/
http://www.precisionbullets.com/
https://www.blackbulletsinternational.com/
http://www.thebluebullets.com/aboutus.asp
http://www.bayoubullets.net/

For cost comparison, cast bullets are $78 (LaserCast), coated bullets are $92 (BayouBullets) and plated bullets (Berry's) are $131 per thousand. These are the lowest prices I found on the Internet and your search may yield better prices.

I decided to give the coated bullets a try and ordered 100 of the Bayou's in 10mm and 180 gr. For comparison purposes I have been using Berry's copper plated 10mm, 180 gr bullets. In both cases (plated and coated) I used 7.2 gr of Winchester Autocomp with an OAL=1.260 inch. As per Berry's advice, I made an effort to keep the velocity below 1250 feet-per-second. Apparently plated bullets will delaminate at higher velocities, causing all sorts of problems. At one point I was reloading using Laser Cast bullets, but found these to be messy during reload with significant barrel fouling- probably due to the wax lubricant.

Reloading: The coated bullets loaded exactly the same as the plated bullets, without any special consideration and using a Hornady Lock-N-Load progressive loader. Although, according to a number of Internet articles you must be careful to assure enough flare in the brass so that a sharp edge does not gouge or scrape the polymer coating. I did not have any issues in this regard. One thing I did notice is that the polymer-coated bullets are much cleaner on your hands than either the cast or plated bullets. On average, the coated bullets weighed less than the stated 180 gr (179.2 gr) while the plated bullets were dead-on.

Shooting: I used a Dan-Wesson RZ-10. The polymer coated bullets chambered flawlessly and shot as accurate as the Berry's plated bullets. Barrel fouling appeared to be the same for both the coated and plated bullets. Sorry, I do not have any quantitative ballistics i.e., velocities.

Conclusion: Coated bullets are a winner for target practice and plinking purposes and I will order a thousand more of the Bayou bullets for further testing. Please let me know your experience with polymer-coated bullets and if they are similar or different that what I have described.

Polymer-coated on left and copper-plated on right:


Fifty polymer-coated rounds ready to test. I like the contrast between the silver (nickel) cartridge and
gold bullet , but you can order just about any color including "Zombi Green".

Danwe- Thank you for the reassurance regarding reliability. I have put 50 rounds through the Delta Elite using "modest" reloads (180 grain bullet with 7.2 gains Autocomp) and have seen no evidence of case bulging. These reloads are probably at the low pressure end (~30,000 psi) of SAAMI maximum - 37,500 psi.

I have also read that the polymer (Delrin) recoil guide rod takes the majority of abuse so the that metal parts will last much longer. Makes sense to me now.

Thanks for the heads up Shadow. I suspect that those bulges will not straighten out when I pass them through a resizing die 

Have been looking and waiting for 2 years for a Delta Elite to round out my collection of 10mm handguns. Now have the Kimber, Dan Wesson, RIA and the Elite.

So the question is, why does the Elite have a dual recoil spring (inner and outer) and a cheap plastic guide rod? Are there issues with this setup or has this been reliable?

Thanks Shadow. I will first make certain that I am not hitting the slide-stop. If that does not fix the problem, I will then may swap out the recoil spring for a slightly heavier one. I believe that the RZ-10 uses an 18.5# spring.

I have been reloading "mild" rounds for target practice and have not had any issues with my Dan Wesson RZ-10. Recently, I started reloading slightly hotter rounds and the slide now locks open before the last shot is fired. Is this a recoil spring issue? These hotter loads are still within acceptable parameters (180 gr bullet and 7.2 gr Autocomp).

I have been using the Graco Models <http://www.gracomodels.com/>, wrist-band brass catcher for 5 years and have no major complaints. Truthfully, wearing a brass catcher can be distracting. But crawling around on the range floor looking for "your" brass is a real pain and probably not safe. Occasionally the net will flip around and interfere with my sight-picture, but this is rare and easily fixed with a flip of my wrist. The Graco I use has a nylon net, supported by a wire frame, and attached to an elastic wrist band. Besides being really dirty, the unit has held up extremely well. I know, my grip is poor form- had to hold handgun in one hand and take picture with other