Glock 20 Stopping Power?

"Nine is fine" does not count in this case - there is no comparison between those two. 10mm Auto is a very potent round and, in my humble opinion, much more adequate for the intended purpose than 9mm Luger.

That one mm counts in a lot of aspects over 9mm. To the point I am looking at adding another caliber to my handgun stable. More than likely a RIA 1911 10mm being the top of the consideration list. That being said, a Glock 20 is nowhere near the list. The size is right, not the brand for me.

JCooperfan1911 said:

My question is, do you consider the 10mm to be more powerful/effective than a 9mm when used against predators, humans, wounded deer etc., and boar?

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I think it depends heavily upon the ammo chosen. Many brands load 10mm far under it's full potential. When loaded as intended, 10mm gets into .357 Mag territory...

How this works:
Consensus says 9mm is fine for SD if armed psychotic humans are trying to kill you.
What if a bear is trying to kill me? Oh, then a 10mm is better.

Some people think KE / momentum doesn't matter, just look at bullet performance in gel. I'll give you an example:
These two bullets expand to the same diameter in gel and the 9mm even penetrates a bit deeper. (Stick with me...)
9mm HST micro 888 fps / 263# KE

10mm 155 XTP 1,344 fps / 622# KE


Note that 10mm is not over penetrative, so any blanket generalization otherwise is incorrect (whoever says it doesn't know what they are talking about).
If we only look at penetration and expansion in gel then we would say that in this example the 9mm has equal ASAP potential to that 10mm, right.
Naïve as I may be, I don't think 263# KE has equal ASAP potential to 622# despite that similar result in gel.

Might one choose a heavier 10mm bullet if they thought they had to defend against a bear? Yea, and MOST people are picking 10mm not 9mm, cause reasons.
If a 10mm has better ASAP potential for stopping a bear that is trying to kill me, then I'll naively give it the same ASAP advantage if the attacker is human.

Good articles on the OP questions at Marksmanship Matters:

http://www.marksmanshipmatters.com/trail-guns/

http://www.marksmanshipmatters.com/handgun-ammunition-for-carrying-in-the-woods/

herrwalther said:

That one mm counts in a lot of aspects over 9mm. To the point I am looking at adding another caliber to my handgun stable. More than likely a RIA 1911 10mm being the top of the consideration list. That being said, a Glock 20 is nowhere near the list. The size is right, not the brand for me.

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Glock haters are as irrational as Glock fanboys.

If I was attacked by a bear, I would rather have a 10mm than a 9mm. But I have never been attacked by a bear, there aren't any bears where I live, and I seldom am in a place where they might be bears. So the bear advantage of 10mm seems like a moot point for me, and I am guessing about 99% of the rest of the world.

OP, simple choice is a Glock 23. Gens 1-4 will definitely fit your G19 holster. Gen 5 may not as they are a bit heavier but softer shooting. I’m looking at a G23-5 myself.

Bullet choice matters.

Glock 20 MOS is on my list next.

Doc Samson said:

I think it depends heavily upon the ammo chosen. Many brands load 10mm far under its full potential. When loaded as intended, 10mm gets into .357 Mag territory...

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I agree…ammo choice is key. For hogs and other potential threats in the boonies, flat nose solid bullets are better than either round nose or large expanding bullets. Hornady XTP’s are the only JHP I’d carry if hogs or other large hairy threats were a possibility.

Dogs and cats are fine with standard carry ammo.

Buffalo bore and double tap are good options in any caliber nor just 10mm

Ks5shooter said:

Buffalo bore and double tap are good options in any caliber nor just 10mm

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As is Underwood.

Do you remember hearing the saying "Carry the most powerful handgun you can shoot well"?

I've come to believe that saying applies to self defense against humans and animals alike. As much wounding potential and energy transfer as I can easily achieve, whilst being able to control the gun for multiple shots with one hand only (because I might need to do so).

You can get a 5" barrel from KKM (they will cut it to whatever length you want). For defense against dangerous animals, I no longer overthink it. 180gr FMJ-FN at around 1250fps is fine, though something else might be preferable for Grizzlies. And 180gr XTPs at about the same velocity are fine for human threats. That's about 624ft.lbs. You can get more powerful ammo, but at the cost of recoil control. So you need to figure out what your threshold is.

As far as cost goes, if you don't reload, you might want to do most of your practice with .40S&W. A conversion barrel is not exactly required as the case can headspace on the extractor. But it's probably a good idea to use a conversion barrel.

I just started down the 10mm rabbit hole after all these years of saying I don't need another round to load for. After checking out the Xten, G20 and 2.0 4.6 I went with the S&W. Fits my small hand, trigger beats the other two by a lot and that hundred dollar rebate. Ordered it yesterday...

WrongHanded said:

Do you remember hearing the saying "Carry the most powerful handgun you can shoot well"?

I've come to believe that saying applies to self defense against humans and animals alike. As much wounding potential and energy transfer as I can easily achieve, whilst being able to control the gun for multiple shots with one hand only (because I might need to do so).

You can get a 5" barrel from KKM (they will cut it to whatever length you want). For defense against dangerous animals, I no longer overthink it. 180gr FMJ-FN at around 1250fps is fine, though something else might be preferable for Grizzlies. And 180gr XTPs at about the same velocity are fine for human threats. That's about 624ft.lbs. You can get more powerful ammo, but at the cost of recoil control. So you need to figure out what your threshold is.

As far as cost goes, if you don't reload, you might want to do most of your practice with .40S&W. A conversion barrel is not exactly required as the case can headspace on the extractor. But it's probably a good idea to use a conversion barrel.

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I use a LW 10-40 Conversion barrel in my G20, and it's turned out to be one of my most accurate and shootable handguns. I have OEM and LW 10mm barrels as well. I load a 200gr NOE bullet with a gascheck over blue dot in 10mm. It shoots quite well and is what I carry when out in the woods where there are bears.

I like using Buffalo Bore's heavier loads in my G20. The extra push isn't that much extra with the wide grip dispersing it across my hand. I use different rounds for CCW, though.

Of course, I'm not really packing to defend against a gang of hopped up criminal bears yet.

tominboise said:

I use a LW 10-40 Conversion barrel in my G20, and it's turned out to be one of my most accurate and shootable handguns. I have OEM and LW 10mm barrels as well. I load a 200gr NOE bullet with a gascheck over blue dot in 10mm. It shoots quite well and is what I carry when out in the woods where there are bears.

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I had considered handloading a hardcast bullet with a wider meplat. But for a number of reasons I elected to stick to jacketed 180gr. An inferior load to yours with regards to terminal ballistics, but it has some benefits.

I have an old beat up gen 2 G23 (40) that I carry in the woods. I am confident that it will address anything or anyone I may come across in Fl and probably the lower 48.

If going to out an extended barrel why not just get a G40?

FN has a new 10 mm as have Hi-Point. The latter is getting good views for what it is worth and the money.

Unless, I was in wild animal country, I don't see the need for one as EDC.

The 10mm and 357 magnum ballistics overlap with both topping out around 800 foot-pounds of energy out of a six-inch test barrel. A 10mm is great for most thin-skin predators up to a cougar. I prefer a 44 magnum in black bear country and a 454 Casull in brown bear country.

The 10mm is a fine cartridge, obviously more powerful than a 9mm, and as a previous poster noted, if I'm attacked by a bear I'd rather have a 10mm than a 9mm.

I don't consider either to be a good cartridge against dangerous game, except perhaps mountain lions. Realistically, the 10mm is pretty firmly in .357 Magnum country, and while that's a marvelous cartridge, it's not a dangerous game stopper either - I mean, people argue about whether it's adequate for deer hunting.

If it makes you feel better, then by all means carry one. I do, and it does. When I'm really worried about large predators, though, I start with the .44 Magnum and quickly work up from there.

<edit> @LimaCharlie beat me to it, and I think he is exactly right.