Guns

Peter gets into the caliber wars. I was going to comment, but the comment got pretty long, so I decided to post. I happen to be an ED nurse and a paramedic and have seen more than a couple of gunshot wounds. This is my take: The more energy you dump into the target, the more effective each individual shot will be. At ranges of 10 to 50 feet, nothing is nastier than a shotgun. A load of large shot or a slug will flat out stop an attacker nearly every time.

Likewise, a rifle is king at ranges of 50 feet on out. Carbines are a great compromise. So is a skirmish rifle like the one I built a couple of years ago– especially since a .308 will punch through most body armor.

I once had a firearm instructor tell me:

If you know you will be in a gunfight, endeavor not to be there. The easiest gunfight to win is the one you don’t get into. Failing that, bring a long gun. In fact, bring friends with long guns.

Of course, no one never knows when they will be in a gunfight. That means we need to carry a gun all of the time, and carrying long guns is inconvenient, so we carry handguns as a compromise. That’s what handguns are- a compromise. The handgun on your hip is better than the shotgun or rifle in your closet.

It’s simple for me- in a perfect world, you should carry lots of really big, fast moving bullets. All handguns are poor at stopping an attacker. Still, in a full sized handgun, I would carry a large caliber, more powerful handgun over a smaller caliber.

• My M&P9 holds 18 rounds of 9mm, delivering a 115 grain bullet at 1400 FPS, for a total of 500 foot pounds. A handgun in 357 sig is about the same power, but only holds 15 rounds.
• An M&P45 holds 10 rounds, delivering 200 grains at about1000 fps and 500 foot pounds.
• An M&P10 delivers 15 rounds of that 200 grain projectile, but at 1250 fps from a 4.6 inch barrel, meaning you are sending about 700 foot pounds of energy downrange.

Seeing this, you can see that a 10mm holding 15 rounds is a great handgun. Still, I wouldn’t feel undergunned with that M&P9. In fact, I have fullsized M&P’s in 9mm, .357Sig, .40S&W, .45ACP, and 10mm. I love the M&P platform, and any of those calibers would suit me fine.

The problem is that I live in Florida. It’s hot. It’s humid, and open carry it illegal. So as a result, people wear lightweight clothes that make it a challenge to carry full sized handguns, so you leave it at home. Like the rifle in your closet, the handgun in your dresser drawer isn’t doing you any good. As a result, we wind up carrying smaller, more compact handguns. When you start looking at compact handguns, the situation becomes more, shall we say, nuanced.

When it comes to concealing handguns in lightweight clothes, you lose a lot of the advantages of the larger bullets. Now large bullets are slowed down, capacity is reduced.

A subcompact .45 now gives you only get 6 rounds, and the shorter barrel means a slower bullet, perhaps as slow as 800 fps and only 280 foot pounds with a 200 gr bullet.

Similarly, you get the same performance out of .40S&W and out of 10mm with the shortened barrel of a subcompact, and you are now restricted to 8 rounds.

The .357Sig is now delivering 9mm like performance, but with an 8 round magazine.

Subcompacts are where 9mm begins to shine. The Shield Plus is now delivering 13 rounds and with its 3.1 inch barrel you are now sending 115 grain bullets downrange at 1250 fps, delivering 400 foot pounds of energy.

It’s a tradeoff. No handgun is perfect, and each caliber has its advantages and disadvantages. Look at what you are trying to accomplish in light of the restrictions that are being placed upon you by the tactical situation.

That is the reason why I own a lot of handguns, or at least that is how I justify it to myself. To make the manual of arms and shooting easier, I largely only carry one brand. In my case, I shoot the M&P line. You may decide to shoot other models. We all know how rabid fans of the Glock or the 1911 can be. I am not saying that people who shoot those are wrong. I am saying that those handguns are wrong for me. They may be right for you. At least let articles like this get you to think about what you are carrying. If that means you get to buy another gun, is that such a bad idea?

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A word about revolvers- I own a few. My little 5 shot model 642 in .38 special gets carried more often than any other. Still, 38special from a 1.88 inch barrel isn’t a great performer. The length is about the same as a compact auto, but Again, compromise. I also have a 4 inch barreled revolver in .357Mag. I don’t carry it as a defensive handgun because, frankly I think revolvers are suboptimal for defensive use- capacity is too low, and reload times are too long.

I efiled my Form 4 to get a new suppressor on Monday, March 10 at 1:00 pm. It was approved at 6:45 pm the next day, a turnaround of 29 hours.

I took the M&P10 to the range today and put 210 rounds through it: 50 rounds of 180 grain FMJ, and 160 rounds of full power Underwood 180 grain XTP.

The Holosun worked great- it took 5 rounds to get it zeroed. After that, it held that zero with no issues. Recoil was snappy, but manageable, even with the full power loads. To me, it felt like firing my M&P45 with +P loads. I will admit that the checkering was chafing my shooting hand a bit by the end of the session. Still, I am able to put a 15 round magazine into the 10 ring (OK, I admit there were a pair of 9 flyers low in the 9 ring, indicating that I was anticipating recoil a bit) at ten yards in ten seconds.

The only issue that keeps me from calling it a defense gun is towards the end of the session, I had two failures to go completely into battery and two soft primer strikes. Examining the primer of the rounds showed that the primers had shallow dents. I put them back into the magazine and both fired. Maybe it is dirty burning ammo, maybe the weapon needs a good cleaning and lubrication, I don’t know. I just know that 4 failures to go bang in 210 rounds is not acceptable in a self defense pistol.

I spoke with my neighbor and we are going to go to a local outdoor range with a chrono and some gelatin blocks to see how well this ammo passes the FBI test. That probably won’t be for a month or two though. When we do that, I will run a couple hundred more rounds through it and see how it does.

For the last part of this post, I have to admit that I may have a problem. While I was leaving the range, I was looking at the suppressors. I cannot confirm or deny that a Dead Air Nomad may or may not have accidentally been added to my shopping cart. We will see how long an eForm 4 takes nowadays.

I seem to go through this every time I buy a pistol that doesn’t fit any of my current holsters. I am very particular when it comes to holsters. Like most people who carry a firearm, I have dozens of holsters. Over the years, I have had:

• Fanny packs
• Inside the waistband
• Outside the waistband
• Ankle holsters
• tuckable IWB
• Thunderwear
• Pocket Holsters
• Appendix carry
• Sneaky Pete
• Man Purse (OK, shoulder bag)
• and I am sure others that I can’t remember.

The holsters that I have generally fit guns in the following categories (Yes, nearly all of my carry guns are M&P, because it is easier to buy a holster that fits multiple handguns that way):

• Large Auto: M&P45, M&P10
• Midsized Auto: M&P9, M&P40
• Compact Auto: M&P9c, Glock 19
• Small Auto: Shield Plus
• Minicompact: Shield9, Shield40, Shield 45
• Micro Compact: Bodyguard 380, Beretta 3032
• Small Revolver: Smith and Wesson 642

Over the years, I have developed a taste for what I like, and for what I don’t like.

For starters, I don’t like the feel of Kydex or other hard plastics against my skin. I find that the plastic finds a spot to dig in, which causes me to fiddle with the holster, moving it around to make it more comfortable. The more you fiddle with a concealed holster, the more obvious it is that you are carrying. That means I want a leather or hybrid holster. A good example of a hybrid holster is an MTAC.

I can and do have a couple of OWB holsters in nylon or Kydex. Leather isn’t as important for me when dealing with off-skin carry. Still, I don’t have a lot of open carry holsters because Florida law doesn’t allow for open carry.

I also don’t like holsters that attach with clips- plastic or metal. They don’t stay secure, and I find that on the draw, the holster tends to come out of your pants with the pistol. For that reason, I like leather straps or belt slots that are cut into the holster itself.

One of the problems that I had when I first began carrying pistols with microdots is there were not any commercial holsters made for them. I wound having to get a custom one from Milt Sparks. The disadvantage was that it took 10 weeks to get my holster. Now the wait for his work is over 40 weeks. That won’t do.

The good news is that there are now many more custom leathermakers who can provide holsters for guns with microdots. One of them is Wright Leatherworks. I like the Banshee, and at $155 for a microdot ready holster with a 10 week lead time is already causing me to think about getting one for the 10mm. Not because I will carry it a lot, but it will give me the option of carrying it if I want to.

The good news is that everything for the 10mm is finally in (except the 5 spare magazines), so a range trip is coming in the next week or two. I will do a function test, and I am planning on buying some ballistic gelatin in the near future. That will allow me to compare some of my carry options in the distant future.

As an example for what it costs to add a new caliber:

• Handgun: including tax, BG check, etc: $655.90
• Optic: Free, it was a rebate
• New Apex Trigger (I put an Apex on every M&P): $190
• 5 more magazines: $213.24
• 500 rounds of ammo: $626

Total cost to add a new caliber: $1,685.14

I figure it will cost more than three times that amount to add a 300 blackout with an integral suppressor to the stable. Man, shooting is expensive.

A commenter comes here to the blog and manages to hit every single gun blog cliche in a single comment. His comments in red. Let’s take a look:

Glock Fanboi

Congrats on getting a 10mm, tho I would have gone with a Glock given it is the most proven of all the 10mm pistols with over 30 years of production.

The brand wars. The two most insufferable fanbois are the Glock and the HK aficionados. We all tend to be loyal to a brand, whether that brand is Glock, Beretta, HK, or Smith and Wesson. Most of that is a matter of opinion and I happen to own or have owned most of the major handgun brands. As far as the striker fired pistols go, I prefer the 18 degree grip angle of my Smith and Wesson over the 22 degree grip angle of the Glock. Your own mileage may vary.

However, a bone to pick with the statement above is that Glock produced its first 10mm 35 years ago in 1990, the same year that Smith and Wesson produced the 1006. As noted in the article, Colt is the manufacturer that has produced the 10mm the longest.

Refighting the Caliber Wars

I will say that .40 is not useless or does nothing better than 9 or .45, I’ve done research and one thing I think .40 does better than 9 is expand more reliably with just about any ammo as the .40 was designed for hollow points while the 9 was made for FMJ 80 years earlier and the cavities for the 9mm bullets are often small and can have issues expanding while making the cavity too big would shorten the OAL and cause feed issues.

The initial bullets for the 10mm (which are the same bullets that the .40 fires) were poor performers because they tended to overpenetrate. This was solved in the .40 because the bullets were a couple of hundred fps slower. That had nothing to do with bullet design, but was a function of the FBI agents being limp-wristed and sensitive to recoil.

The 9mm used to have a problem with expansion, but modern bullet design has largely solved that issue through the use of multiple means, including things like bonded lead cores, polymer-filled cavities, and specialized jacket designs, allowing for better stopping power while minimizing over-penetration. Other interesting design improvements include bonded designs or the all-copper hollow points. The coolest bullet designs I have seen yet are the monolithic designs that expand by using fluid dynamics of bullet shape to cause expansion. Bullet design has come a long way in the past 40 years. The most recent are bullets made from a blend of metal (for mass) and polymer to control expansion, called impact expansion. Arguments about what caliber bullet expands better are largely pointless at this time.

All handguns, as noted in the previous post, are sacrifices. We sacrifice effectiveness for convenience in carrying. Still, the majority of handgun rounds are so close to each other in performance that there isn’t a practical difference, thanks to modern bullet design.

.45 Auto is low capacity and expensive ammo in comparison to .40 and the pistols larger, yet the caliber isn’t much more powerful.

Now we mix reasons. If cost is a factor, 9mm is cheaper. Most handgun loads are in the same ballpark for power. For example, there are 9mm loads that come in at 500 ft/lb, which puts them in the same area as .40S&W.

I have a .45 that holds 14+1, a .40 that holds 15+1, another that holds 7+1, and a 9mm that holds 17+1, with another that holds 8+1. Capacity is function of model, size (full, compact, mini, micro), and caliber.

Brand loyalty again, this time for ammo

10mm, the key is stay away from Federal ammo because they load it weak and I suspect what they do is they use the same powder charge as they do .40 to save time during setup. Usually the foriegn companies like Fiocchi or S&B will load their 10mm warmer, but not as hot as the boutique companies.

In 10mm, there are not many companies that load 10mm to full power. The reason is simple: 10mm is still a niche cartridge, and the market for it is too small to offer a large variety. The makers of ammo are simply making what sells, and what sells is ammo that isn’t producing lots of recoil. The smaller ammo companies are tapping into the small market that wants the power and doesn’t care about recoil. It’s simply a matter of marketing and sales.

10mm defense ammo has an issue of the bullets are largely built around .40 velocities, so some companies will load it close to the same so as to not drive the bullets so fast they overexpander and fail to penetrate. The JHP I’ve seen perform the best in 10mm are the 200gr because they are built for 10mm velocities.

This is largely balderdash, and we have already addressed bullet design.

Reloading

I got into 10mm because I could load it to its full potential at a fraction of what Underwood or Buffalo Bore would charge me.

Perhaps you can, but reloading doesn’t make economic sense, especially if you are taking the value of your time into account. I have skewered this sacred cow before.

Danger

Nice thing about 10mm Glocks is you can shoot .40 from without issues. IDK if the M&P can do that too, but it would be good to know and test to make sure in the event you need to.

No, no, no. You shouldn’t shoot .40 ammo in a 10mm pistol. It isn’t good for your pistol to do so, just as it isn’t good to fire .380 through a 9mm. Recommending that you do so indicates to me a lack of knowledge about firearms. I know that there are a lot of people who do, but that doesn’t mean that they are right, nor does it mean that it is a good idea.

Revolvers can do this like .44 Special through a .44 Magnum, or .38Spl in a .357Mag because of the difference in how those two platforms (revolver vs. auto) set their headspace. A revolver sets headspace by indexing on the rim of the cartridge. An autoloader that fires a straight walled case sets that space by the bullet seating in the barrel.

The 10mm case is 0.992 inches long. The .40S&W is 0.850 inches long. Since the headspace is longer for a 10mm, firing a .40S&W in it causes gas pressure and leakage to prematurely wear out your barrel and also damage your rifling. Additionally, it causes damage to your extractor.

If you want to do this, buy a .40 caliber barrel for your 10mm.

The 10mm is not a conceal carry gun, this is a duty caliber/open carry/home defense/go to war cartridge. Not every handgun needs to be a conceal carry piece and you know what? Not every carry gun has to be an autoloader.

I live in Florida. Open carry is not an option here. I am not a cop, so duty carry isn’t a thing. If I am going to war, I sure won’t be reliant on a handgun. For home defense, I have a bedside handgun, but it is only there to buy me time to get to the long guns in the closet. There is an AR, a shotgun, and a PDC in the closet for home defense.

Also, I have revolvers as well, so I am well aware that you can carry a revolver. As you note, I have a J frame just for that purpose.

Since you brought up the .38 J frame, start researching .32 H&R or .327 Federal revolvers for lower recoil and 6 instead of 5.

If you compare the muzzle velocity of a 38 and a 32 out of the same length barrel, you get the same- about 850 fps, with the chief difference between the two being a 38 bullet that is about 50% heavier. If I want to carry something with a longer barrel, then I would simply go with an autoloader or a .357magum. I am not recoil sensitive enough to need a low recoil handgun.

I don’t pretend to be an expert, and most of the posts that you see on guns are largely a matter of opinion, including my own. I am not sure whether my opinions are more knowledgeable than anyone else, but I have owned literally hundreds of firearms over my lifetime, and still own more than the ATF knows about. Call it dozens. I have more ammo in the house than the local police or fire department would be comfortable with. I still own the first firearm that I ever owned- a Winchester Model 250 (it’s a .22LR lever action with a tube feed). I have owned that gun since I was 8 years old. I also have my great grandfather’s shotgun that is over 100 years old.

Even with all of that, just when I get to thinking that I own a lot, along comes someone else to show me that I don’t know or have as much as I think I do. My neighbor has more firearms than I do, and one of my coworkers knows more about loading ammo and shooting out to 1200 yards than I ever will. So I don’t pretend to be an expert, just an aging man with a long list of opinions.

Thanks for the opportunity to get another post out.