Kimber 10mm finally arrived

Witnesses flinging brass

Sounds like your 10mm Witnesses are still using the factory recoil springs. You might want to try stronger Wolf springs from Midway, they're cheap ($7.95) and take a lot of strain off the gun, not to mention keeping you brass closer!

beautiful gun. i love my 10 mm's

Congrats.

I'm starting to believe the 10mm is getting kinda popular.

I heard this caliber does nice job on steel dumpsters....or is it on junk yard car doors? Is that true?

That's a beauty! How much on average for a box of 50 10mm run nowadays?

I'd love to own a Kimber 10mm....tis a beauty. However, ammo (unless you reload that ammo is outta sight). I do as a consolation prize have a new Kimber Tactical Custom II HD. Although 45 ain't cheap these days.

I'm converting the 40 SS I put together to a 10mm.

Your 180 loads are nice for carry. You can go hotter but don't need to. The 155 are anemic. I get 1285 fps chronoed out of my 155 gr 40's.

Nice gun. My Eclipse was in 45. It was a 3". I sold it and kept my 3" Para C6-45 instead.

harrygunner said:

Congrats.

I'm starting to believe the 10mm is getting kinda popular.

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Just now starting? Have you been under a rock? The OP's experience with the wait on a 10mm 1911 is common. It's 8 to 10 months to get a 10mm 1911 in my area too. A local shop has a USED 10mm Kimber Custom II Target and they have it priced ABOVE MSRP for a new version. I politely pointed this out to the guy behind the counter. He said he was fully aware, and that there would easily be someone come through who would pay it rather than waiting 8 to 10 months for one.

Long wait time might just show how few of these guns are actually made, not that the 10mm is increasing in popularity. 10mm is and will continue to be a boutique caliber.

Its growing.

10mm is around $19 to $20 per 50 from BVAC for FMJ's. $30 will get you a box of full throttle XTP's from Underwoods. Household name ammo is somewhat more, but Winchester silvertips are less than a buck a shot (comparable to their other caliber prices in silvertip), and CCI and Remingtion are between $25 and $30 a box. Ordering BVAC makes the most economic sense, and makes it no more expensive than shooting 45 ACP.

Nice!!

10mm is and will continue to be a boutique caliber

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It's been gaining quite a following the last few years. There are more guns and factory ammo available today than ever before.

A little filing on the extractors is supposed to help the most but I have not done that yet.

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Did you mean ejector? Extractor modification in the witness is to deal with feeding problems when running full power ammo; Bevel the bottom slightly to help the rounds get under it before the slide is too far forward



But if you're not having feeding issues, leave the extractor alone.

I'd love to have a 10mm for carrying into the woods during bow season.. Beautiful gun man, I love Kimber!

K1500 said:

10mm is around $19 to $20 per 50 from BVAC for FMJ's.... Ordering BVAC makes the most economic sense, and makes it no more expensive than shooting 45 ACP.

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$20 makes at least 150 handloaded 10mm rounds using fancy bullets.

Edarnold said:

You might want to try stronger Wolf springs from Midway, they're cheap ($7.95) and take a lot of strain off the gun. . .

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Casefull said:

I have the heaviest wolf springs in them that they make. That advice is passed around a lot but only helps a little bit. A little filing on the extractors is supposed to help the most but I have not done that yet.

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I have a DW-RZ10 and I bought into the heavier recoil spring hype as well. While it's true a recoil spring will lighten the recoil a bit what it will also do is slam the slide forward and batter the frame. You might want to go only a few pounds over the stock springs strength.

If you want to reduce recoil in any 1911 a good idea is to install an oversized EGW firing pin stop and a heavier mainspring. When the hammer drops the bullet leaves the barrel and THEN then slide starts to move. The slide meets resistance due to the hammer being upright and has to force it back down. You can increase that resistance by putting in a heavier mainspring, thus lowering felt recoil.

You can increase that resistance by putting in a heavier mainspring, thus lowering felt recoil.

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That creates other issues, though. Put in a really stout mainspring, now you've got the hammer grinding on the underside of the slide. It's also going to increase your trigger pull and increase wear on the hammer pin, sear and hammer hooks.

StrikeFire83 said:

10mm is and will continue to be a boutique caliber.

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That might still be true, but for how long? As far as ballistics are concerned, it's a very good caliber on paper and in practise one of the heaviest hitters you can get in 1911 format. There are even high-cap options available. For the first time in years several gun shops are sold out on 10mm factory ammo around here.

There definitely is something going on, 10mm may finally be mainstream in the (near?) future.

PabloJ said:

I heard this caliber does nice job on steel dumpsters....or is it on junk yard car doors? Is that true?

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I kind of doubt it. I was shooting at an old propane tank (Definitely not full, it already had plenty of holes in it) with a 9mm, .40S&W and .45 Colt. The 9 and 40 bounced right off leaving rather unimpressive dents.

The .45 Colt would put a hole in it, but only when using "Ruger Only" loads.

A 10mm is certainly more powerful than a 9 or a 40, but it doesn't have the bananas compared to a .45 Colt that pushes a 250gr bullet over 1250ft/s.

So, Car door yes. No problem. (thin gauge sheet metal wont even stop a 9mm)

Dumpster steel....maybe but don't bet on it.

MachIVshooter wrote:

That creates other issues, though. Put in a really stout mainspring, now you've got the hammer grinding on the underside of the slide. It's also going to increase your trigger pull and increase wear on the hammer pin, sear and hammer hooks.

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You don't have to go super stout, another two pounds will do just fine. The hammer will always grind against the slide of a 1911, but keep something in mind once the hammer is past half cock the hammer loses pretty much all resistance. After that the hammer will become fully cocked and will only go up so much and really won't do anymore to a slide regardless of what weight mainspring you have.

You bring up wear and tear on some of the internals in the 1911, keep in mind that even though the mainspring will wear down the sear and hammer hooks the two pound difference in mainsprings will be miniscule in terms of wear, maybe dozens of rounds when compared to the tens of thousands he'll be running through his pistol.

It will indeed increase your trigger pull but not by much and with practice it shouldn't be a problem. However that's entirely up to the shooter to decide whether or not lighter recoil or a slightly heavier trigger pull is worth it.

What you do need to worry about is when you put in an oversized firing pin stop, they come at a 90 degree angle and create wear on your hammer if it hasn't been rounded off ever so slightly (just enough to get rid of the sharp angle).

A little filing on the extractors is supposed to help the most but I have not done that yet

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Hardly worth the trouble, reduced mine from ~35' to about 30' still way to far to be able recover most of them where I shoot.