embarrassed to carry non full power

[krafcheck]

anyone else feel embarrassed carrying non full power 10 ammo.  still 40 power our above and no one knows other than 10mm fans.  i dont know why but i just feel like a poser or something for carrying weak 10mm ammo. lts like putting a 4x4 emblem on your rear wheel drive truck or something.  dumb to think that way but i do.  if people stopped making full power 10 and couldnt reload my own (which i currently do not) i would probably just sell my 10.

[4949shooter]

There is nothing wrong with the Hornady 155 grain XTP at 1280 fps for self defense. In my opinion it is a good balance of velocity and controllability in a 10mm platform.

[krafcheck]

i have 3 or 4 boxes of those.  they where my primary until i discovered pbr and underwood.  heck the hornady 180 grain xtp are still about 200 fps faster compared to hornaday 40xtp 180gr.  but at the same time the 40 cal 155's are only 100fps slower. 

[pacapcop]

Nothing less than 600 ft lbs imho. Georgia Arms makes a fine 155 gr at 1375 Speer Unicore. That will be 650 ft lbs of smack down that is controllable. Problem is waiting on them. 50 rnds at 31.50.
As far as embarrassing with non full power. You carry what your comfortable with in the conditions your in. If your primarily in a urban or area surrounded by mass of people I would surely go light grain. What I do is compile various points on fast and light as a defense round just in case. Ones decision on a carry round like a 10mm will come into question. But the stigma can be refuted when the carrier took prudent steps in bullet selection and considered environment. if a carrier is concerned about penetration in a populated area with a 10mm, carry what the local PD carry's.

[DAVIDF]

I used too, but after attending some full poweraholics anonymous meetings I can accept myself for who I am

But seriously, one of the reasons I now own a Glock 20 is that my Super Blackhawk was beating my hands up pretty good with even my mid-power handloads. The recoil on the G20 is way more comfortable than my Super Blackhawk, but I still prefer medium or lighter loads in the G20.

Also, mid-power loads are my prefered for defense. I carry Hornady Critical Duty in the G20. Those loads might actually be considered a little lighter than mid-power. They are also perhaps the most accurate loads for my G20. 

[captaintrips]

lts like putting a 4x4 emblem on your rear wheel drive truck or something.

Shooting non-full power is like driving a 4x4 in 2 wheel drive....you don't ALWAYS need 4x4 capabilities, but it's nice to have it available at a push of a button.

I keep my G29 at bedside with hydrashoks in it....yea its not 10mm power it's exactly .40 power...but if I need to use it in the middle of the night (or if my wife does) I want a soft shooter with little muzzle flash.

Next to my G29 I have mags full of Underwood 200 XTP, Underwood 200 FMJ and Silvertips (my carry load)....so I can get full power at anytime.

Versatility is the name of the game.

[denclaste]

All the power in the world wont do any good if you cant accurately put it on target, and keep it there. Can you do it with Norma spec loads? If you can then feel free to do so. I've reached the age where my "manliness" has nothing to do with how powerful a load I can fire. A warm 10mm for EDC is fine by me; I load some HOT loads to play with but not for a steady diet. The 10mm's great beauty is its mild to wild load spectrum; that's why I own them and carry them.

[krafcheck]

i agree with mild to wild. 

not so much being manly but its more of why carry mild. i can load wild rounds in this gun but having a weak round for a 10 just wrong.  might as well carry my 40.  as far as my best accuracy ever is with a g26. that 9 was awesome. i shot fast and accurate the first time i picked one up.  but for SD i am more concerned what my first shot does. i just feel dumb or something for have mild loads for sd

another example would be carrying a 44 mag in grizzly country but having 44 specials in the wheel.

[4949shooter]

You don't need full power for self defense on humans. Pacapcop's 155 grain bullet at 1375 is about perfect. Do you really need a 155 at 1500 for SD purposes?

Don't forget the stress of a gunfight, shooting at moving targets who are shooting back at you, etc.

For woods carry where you might only get one or two shoots off at say, a charging bear, yes I would want full power.

[45BBH]

Not carrying "full power" doesn't bother me at all, as a matter of fact, unless I plan on heading into the woods I rarely use full power stuff.  I don't carry weak stuff, just something befitting the 10mm while not going overboard.

Everyone is different, but I prefer not loading to the max when using the G20 for self defense purposes.  My theory is that if I have to get up in the middle of the night and grab the G20 and it's loaded with a super max nuclear handload that it may very well be way more blast and recoil than is needed for a human being, and possibly being half groggy won't help matters.

I have handloads that are just for SD, and I usually like to keep my 180's around 1150-1200 fps, my 165's around 1300 fps and my 155's around 1400 fps.  None are nuclear loads so in the unlikely chance that the issue is ever brought up, should I have to defend myself with them, at least they're not totally full on maximum loads.  Plus in general, the faster you shoot them the less they penetrate since most .400" JHP are .40 S&W designs, and I've found most can handle more velocity and still hold up, but depending on the bullet, that might not be as much as you think. There really is a sweet spot where both expansion and penetration are both very good and exceeding that leads to less penetration, a factor I see as very important, even more so than expansion.

To me, that's one of the nice things about the 10mm, the ability to load it just how YOU want it.  If you have to have a max load, fine.  But I like mixing things up a little.

[krafcheck]

according to the power chart a lot of the loads yall are listing are in the full power spectrum.

i guess i should clarify. 

im not meaning "nuclear level" according to the chart.

[4949shooter]

according to the power chart a lot of the loads yall are listing are in the full power spectrum.

i guess i should clarify. 

im not meaning "nuclear level" according to the chart.

That explains a lot. Here on this forum, we do tend to get caught up in maximum 10mm loads, like Underwood and Buffalo Bore.

I guess it all depends on how much we can handle under the stress of a gunfight. I agree a 165 or 170 grain bullet at 1300+ fps is still full power but not nuclear, and I think would be manageable to many of us. Same with Pacapcop's 155 grain load. Most LEO's I know would never be able to handle these loads, so like I indicated previously it comes down to the skill level of the individual shooter. According to the chart, the Hornady 155 at 1280 is borderline, or close to full power. It might make a nice carry load for many people.

Shoot what you can handle!

A thought provoking thread though..

[mag360]

I could carry a 10mm if I wanted but for self defense quick shots with accurate follow up are more important.  My edc is a glock 26 with 10+1 standard 147gr HST.   Im probably going to switch to an xds 4.0 9mm when my next renewal is. (Currently in sacramento county in the great commie state of california I can only change my guns upon carry license renewal).  So it would be xds 4.0 9mm edc, kahr pm9 and a glock 20.

The g29 reduces all the gains of the 10mm and has all of its negatives. Big, heavy, etc vs a glock 23 for example.

Or should I go pm9, g19, g20, or maybe lcp, xds 4.0, g20. Decisions, decisions

[krafcheck]

Or should I go pm9, g19, g20, or maybe lcp, xds 4.0, g20. Decisions, decisions

i would go for the xds.  in California anyways. i would be scared the liberals would say you were out looking for trouble with anything bigger. just my 2 cents

[krafcheck]

when i first got my 10 the only place that had any ammo was a hole in the wall fishing/gun store.  they were the blazer 200gr. it was 33 dollars.  and the 4 others in the store could not believe how expensive they were.  i had to have something and at the time that was all i could find until another store got the 10's back in stock.  then i started stocking up on the hornady loads. Corbon just to proud of there ammo.

wasnt the original thought on the 10 supposed to be 200gr. at 1000fps? 

i have no problem carrying 550ish foot pounds but any lower i would probably just carry my g27 more.  just reminds me of Crocodile Dundee from the movie say "that's not a knife. this is a knife."