My biggest problem with 10mm

[RRMan03]

My biggest problem with 10mm is probably the same as everybody elses. It is buying ammo. Do buy 87 Octane,89 Octane,93 Octane or Jet Fuel.And with the exception of Underwood who should be praised by everyone for selling a full power load and a fair price,you pay for what you get.cheap means 87 octane and expensive means 93 octane. For Jet Fuel plan on about 2.00 per round. Here are the prices I have paid recently since the ammo panic.Lowest 42 cents per round. Low power,1.00 per round for Mid power and about 1.50 for full power loads. I use the cheapies at the range and the expensive as my carry rounds. Seems the expensive rounds are pretty easy to find,the mid level are tough to find and the cheapies are real hard to find. I look for ammo quite a few times a day and let me tell you it is just not out there. Thank goodness the 10mm loved by us abd hated by most is still to be found as I stated above but the other calibers are hard to locate for a reasonable price.90 cents a rounds for 9mm is not reasonable. and 22lr is the hardest to find and the most expensive for what you get of it all. What do you guys think? Are you seeing the same things? Do you think it will come back down or is this like gas. It may come down but not far and could go up again at any minute.

[s0nspark]

My biggest "problem" with 10mm is also ammo - but from a different perspective. I buy online and just never know how much practice ammo to buy... It has gotten to where I am not comfortable buying less than 500 rounds at a time, which makes it hard to find anything when ammo is difficult to come by. 

All of this stems from a period several years ago when I went for months without being able to get any 10mm at all. That led to me selling my pistol out of frustration and getting a 9mm. Of course that only lasted so long - I had no idea how deep the 10 had sunk its claws into me :-)

I really do wish good 10mm practice ammo was more readily available locally and was priced comparably to what I find online.

As for prices... I do hope prices go back down eventually as $0.45 a round for practice is about my limit. if this keeps up I guess I'll have to invest in a reloading setup :-D 

[Intercooler]

Just wait until Underwood and PBR has their horsepower in stock and buy all you can afford at the time or roll your own.

   I have to think hard about who is #3 for the good stuff now. Armscor/BVAC and HPR/Scottsdale Ammo were neck and neck until Armscor backed down the load and HPR upped their price which puts them on the back-burner. Next legit two would be Reed's and Georgia Arms +P but both never seem to have stock! After about 5 failed orders with Reed's I just gave up!

    For what they have done the first two deserve all the business we can throw at them and I think they are glad to see it!

[The_Shadow]

The major cost is premium bullets with any of the ammo suppliers.  Precious metals have gone up, shipping charges have risen due to fuel prices rising, therefore the extra cost is being passed on to the consumer and the ammo maker is probably still making the same or slightly more if he adjusted his net profits to compensate.  Keep in mind they do have expenses, overhead, licenses and insurances to keep up.

Even as a handloader, the cost of bullets especially premium ones like XTP's, Gold Dot, Silver Tip and TAC-XP's are being driven up by all the middlemen involved and all the reasons mentioned above... :'(

Many years ago I was disgusted with the factory ammo performance, I knew, I could do what it took to make better and more accurate ammo for my guns.  I started with simple using a single stage press, good dies, a little at a time and developed and refined my quality control to make my own and it has payed dividends over the years.  The best way I combat the high cost is casting my own bullets (supplies from many years in the past when wheel weights were free & lineotype was cheaper), I invested in my future with powder, primers, bullet molds, and equipment to sustain me during times just like this.  And just think the SHTF is not here yet!

Those of you who read some of my post, may have gotten a feel for the hobby of handloading as I try to assist others in their effort to roll their own!  I will say I don't know everything but its been been a great experience in life.

[cwlongshot]

I agree Shadow... owning and shooting a 10MM necessitates you be a hand loader, and even a bullet caster!  At least IMHO..  The ''climate'' today even makes this a more important ''hobbie'',

But then you need materials... well I have been stocking up, many have not... I worried all was gone on Obummer's first term... I bought supplies to last a while.

The ability to make your own bullets means the important things are powder and primers. (Once you have a good supply of cases of coarse.)

CW

[RRMan03]

Seems to me both handloaders and factory ammo buyers like me have the same problems. I chase ammo and the handloaders chase components. You need brass,primers,powder,bullets,time and a good loading setup. Thank goodness for Underwood right now.Full power and reasonable.I am just about to the point of cheap and low power for just shooting paper.But I do love my 10's.

[sqlbullet]

Seems to me both handloaders and factory ammo buyers like me have the same problems. I chase ammo and the handloaders chase components. You need brass,primers,powder,bullets,time and a good loading setup. Thank goodness for Underwood right now.Full power and reasonable.I am just about to the point of cheap and low power for just shooting paper.But I do love my 10's.

Serious handloaders like Shadow, CW and I don't feel the pinch the same.  Sure, I have a hard time finding primers right now, but I have about 10,000 around, so I am not gonna run out soon.  Same with powder...Probably have 15 lbs that is suitable for 10mm.  Another 30-40 lbs of rifle powder.  And I have a couple thousand 10mm bullets alread cast, and about 3000 lbs of lead.  That is enough lead to cast another 105,000 two hundred grain bullets.   I kinda wish I had more 10mm brass.  I have 1000 new starline, and about 1200 that have been fired one or more times.

As you can see, for us the pinch is that our stockpile size drops, not that we can't shoot.  And that is the big benefit of being serious about reloading and casting...It naturally makes you a hoarder.  Because we see small outages of reloading components all the time, and we learn to buy in bulk to minimize the impact of a hazmat fee.

[gandog56]

I solve it the BEST way....I MAKE them!

I must have like 2-3K 10mm brass. Bullets are standard .40 cal, no troubles there. I can load them as far up or down as I want.

And my favorite load using Precision Bullets 185 grain RFN bullets is pretty darned accurate!

[Ascension]

I'm selling my Browning HP in 9mm buy a 10mm S&W and am going primarily to 10mm.
The reason is ammo. I prefer tp shoot the 10mm and right now am paying about the same $ fro the 9mm that I am for 10mm so---.

[gandog56]

I don't know, I'm keeping BOTH mine. Though my Hi-Power is an FN, not a Browning.

[REDLINE]

It does suck that 10mm ammo costs what it does for premium rounds, and then trying to find the lesser priced plinkers in stock.  But I'm not really complaining because I understand why the costs are what they are, and that's just life, and not really unfair.  What would really suck is if none were offered ever at all. 

Sure, I've gotten into reloading fairly recently, but like sqlbullet was saying, as I'm one of the ones who hasn't been doing it all that long I've got noting stockpiled, and right now there isn't much available to stockpile.  And even when components show up, me being one of the poorer folk, it takes more time on top of it while I'm trying to stockpile funds to buy the components at all.

Anyway, yeah, some 19cent/round 10mm plinkers would be sweet!   And maybe some 49cent/round 10mm premos (okay, I'm stretching big time here ).  But, that's not the world we live in, and so far, life goes on.

[cwlongshot]

Seems to me both handloaders and factory ammo buyers like me have the same problems. I chase ammo and the handloaders chase components. You need brass,primers,powder,bullets,time and a good loading setup. Thank goodness for Underwood right now.Full power and reasonable.I am just about to the point of cheap and low power for just shooting paper.But I do love my 10's.

Serious handloaders like Shadow, CW and I don't feel the pinch the same.  Sure, I have a hard time finding primers right now, but I have about 10,000 around, so I am not gonna run out soon.  Same with powder...Probably have 15 lbs that is suitable for 10mm.  Another 30-40 lbs of rifle powder.  And I have a couple thousand 10mm bullets alread cast, and about 3000 lbs of lead.  That is enough lead to cast another 105,000 two hundred grain bullets.   I kinda wish I had more 10mm brass.  I have 1000 new starline, and about 1200 that have been fired one or more times.

As you can see, for us the pinch is that our stockpile size drops, not that we can't shoot.  And that is the big benefit of being serious about reloading and casting...It naturally makes you a hoarder.  Because we see small outages of reloading components all the time, and we learn to buy in bulk to minimize the impact of a hazmat fee.

HEY!  You been peeking around her abouts?? 

Yea, I have been at this reloading game near forty years now.    "Stock piled'' allot of things in all those years... I learned a bit too. ALWAYS looking to learn and stock pile more. 

CW

[gandog56]

It does suck that 10mm ammo costs what it does for premium rounds, and then trying to find the lesser priced plinkers in stock.  But I'm not really complaining because I understand why the costs are what they are, and that's just life, and not really unfair.  What would really suck is if none were offered ever at all. 

Sure, I've gotten into reloading fairly recently, but like sqlbullet was saying, as I'm one of the ones who hasn't been doing it all that long I've got noting stockpiled, and right now there isn't much available to stockpile.  And even when components show up, me being one of the poorer folk, it takes more time on top of it while I'm trying to stockpile funds to buy the components at all.

Anyway, yeah, some 19cent/round 10mm plinkers would be sweet!   And maybe some 49cent/round 10mm premos (okay, I'm stretching big time here ).  But, that's not the world we live in, and so far, life goes on.

Last time I ran a reloading calculator on my 10mm, 185 grain reloads I came up with $12.68 per box of fifty. Now I could go a lot cheaper and use cast, not my Precision Bullets brand projectiles.

[Hunter]

I will agree, if you own and shoot a 10mm Auto you should reload. It opens up so much more than just savings and performance.

[sqlbullet]

Last time I ran a reloading calculator on my 10mm, 185 grain reloads I came up with $12.68 per box of fifty. No I could go a lot cheaper and use cast, not my Precision Bullets brand projectiles.

Yeah...That is downright expensive!

With bullets cast from essentially free lead, I come in at $3.50 per box of 50.  And if you count the revenue I get from selling ingots I make from my excess lead, I get paid to reload and shoot.