Is hunting with a 10mm handgun recommended?

[[holo]]

Please grade how effective 10mm is in deer hunting from 1-10. 1 being impossible, and 10 being just as or better than the average deer hunting cartridge.

 

[D.B. Cooper]

Lots of variable in there. 10mm as a small following up here (AK) for bears, but the general rule of thumb is you have to hand load for it to really get anything extra out of 10mm. Other than HSM Bear loads and Buffalo boar, most factory 10 mil is more like a 40 SW +P.

You also have to think about what firearm are you going to hunt with. Glock and Springfield Armory make handguns and I think one of those cheap-o companies (I forget which) makes or made a semi-auto carbine. Someone made at one time a revolver. I wouldn't consider any of the guns (that I'm aware of) in 10 mm as efficient hunting firearms.

I think choosing 10mm limits your options compared to the options you would get from 44 magnum or 454 Casull/45 Colt. But 44 magnum presents its own challenges in rifle/carbine firearms. If I were going to be hunting white tails in the southeast in brush, and I had to use a pistol or other straight-walled cartridge it would be 44 or 357 over 10mm.

 

[earlthegoat2]

For deer and hogs it is probably in the 5-6 range. Adequate when everything goes right but there are many better options out there. Kind of like 223 for deer.

I don’t think I would recommend it to most folks over a long gun unless they had a bit of handgun hunting experience.

 

[redbullitt]

A glock 20 with a 6 inch barrel and red dot would do fine for deer here if you can shoot and take appropriate shots. A 200g xtp can make 1200 fps and a 180 xtp can easily do 1300 fps. 180 gold dots go a little faster, but they may over expand in some cases deer hunting. A 180 or 200 wfn cast bullet can go a bit faster yet if you prefer that type of bullet.

Underwood and buffalo bore sell nice hot 10mm. Doubletap in my eperience does not.

 

[Rock185]

I don't hunt, but have a shot and reloaded 10MM, .357 and larger Magnums a fair amount. I don't know if it helps, but I've found .357 and 10MM chronographed ballistics to be similar. Also shot and loaded .41, .44 Mag, .454 Casull, etc. The 10 is definitely not in their ball park, other than top 10MM loads sometimes overlapping light to moderate .41 Mag loads. So if you have in mind what type of hunting might be appropriate with a .357, I suspect 10MM would yield similar results...

 

[Alex Clayton]

Please grade how effective 10mm is in deer hunting from 1-10. 1 being impossible, and 10 being just as or better than the average deer hunting cartridge.

The round "can" be perfect for this. Depends totally on the kind of Deer and the hunter. Can you hit what you shoot at with the gun in this caliber? A cannon is as worthless as a .22 if the hunter just shoots "at" game. With a hunter who can place the shot where he wants, and chooses a good slug for the caliber? Can drop a Deer in it's tracks every time.

 

[jmr40]

With the better loads I'd rate the round every bit as effective as 357 mag and closer to 44 mag than a lot of folks would. At least from similar size guns. A typical Glock or 1911 in 10mm is about the same overall length as a 3-4" revolver. From 3-4" barrels magnum revolver rounds are significantly slower than the numbers that were taken from 8" barrels that are published in charts.

The short answer is yes, a properly loaded 10mm is effective as a deer or black bear hunting round. And if that is what you have I'd use it if I wanted. But if I were buying a handgun to hunt with a 6" or longer barreled revolver in a magnum cartridge is a better option. The extra barrel length adds velocity, increases sight radius and along with a generally better trigger and sights is usually is more accurate.

In my opinion a 10mm semi-auto is a good option for large animal defense due to it's smaller size, lighter weight, and increased ammo capacity. I'd use mine in a pinch to hunt, but it wouldn't be my 1st choice. But that has more to do with the gun than the cartridge.

 

[Buzznrose]

You also have to think about what firearm are you going to hunt with. Glock and Springfield Armory make handguns and I think one of those cheap-o companies (I forget which) makes or made a semi-auto carbine. Someone made at one time a revolver.

Cheap-o? What does that mean?

Neither Glock nor SA make a 10MM carbine, but other companies do.

Ruger makes a 10MM revolver.

10MM with the proper ammo will certainly kill a deer, but it’s limitations should be accounted for, as should the limitations of the shooter.

 

[JDeere]

For hunting purposes it depends on many variables. If I were picking a firearm for where I am hunting I would remove as many variables as I could when choosing what to use. Wounded game sucks...

 

[jmorris]

If 1 is impossible, I’d put it above that.

If 10 is better than average rounds, I’d put it below that.

The more than adequate 30-30 is likely below average as far as rounds folks use these days (not counting the .223/300 Blk) and the 10mm is a good bit below it.

I’d put it at the bottom of what I’d use down with 357 magnum.

I’ve killed similar sized animals and larger with .22 lr and 9mm but they were either already on the ground or in a trap.

 

[buck460XVR]

Please grade how effective 10mm is in deer hunting from 1-10. 1 being impossible, and 10 being just as or better than the average deer hunting cartridge.

The average deer hunting cartridge is shot from a rifle. Impossible is just that. As being a viable deer hunting caliber, the 10mm is only as viable as the hand that is holding it. Handgun hunting is a completely different animal, regardless of caliber. If you are a good deer hunter, are proficient with your 10mm and know it's limitations, it can be very effective.

 

[Buzznrose]

Just reread the OP.

Grading the 10MM for deer hunting is only relevant if you grade it against other handgun (true pistol caliber) cartridges. Against almost any common deer hunting center fire rifle cartridge, all pistols fall short.

On a scale where .22LR is a 1 and 500 Mag is a 10, I’d put the 10MM, with proper ammo, at a 6/7 with the .357 magnum, a below the .41 mag/.45 LC.

My opinion. YMMV

 

[mcb]

It works very well for a handgun cartridge when you do you part and stay within the pistol's and the shooter's range and abilities.


Both of these does (~130lbs live weight each) dropped in their tracks. Hit with a handloaded 10mm Auto pushing a 200gr XTP to a muzzle velocity of 1250 fps from my S&W 610 revolver.

 

[Iggy]

The 10 is a fine cartridge, but I think we owe it to the game we are hunting to use a gun that is guaranteed to be a clean killer rather than one that might get the job done if everything goes just right.

 

[CraigC]

It's comparable to the .357Mag, which makes it a fine cartridge for deer sized game out to 50-75yds. People who don't know any better like to tout it as a proper bear defense cartridge but it is not. Wishful thinking does not kill bears.

With the better loads I'd rate the round every bit as effective as 357 mag and closer to 44 mag than a lot of folks would.

Not even in the same ballpark. Top end 10mm loads are comparable to the Keith .44Spl load, albeit with a smaller bullet that also has a smaller meplat relative to its overall diameter due to feeding constraints. What the 10mm does with a 220gr, the .44Mag does with a 355gr.

 

[daniel craig]

Everybody up here in the NY knows that the deer are armor plated and that anything less than 338 win mag just isn’t effective

(that was a joke)

If you get close enough and shoot well enough it’s no more or less effective than a lot of other things people hunt deer with. Would it be my first choice? Probably not. Would I hesitate to use one of it came down to that or a bow? Nope.

 

[sixgunner455]

It’s a pistol. Load it for hunting, hunt like it’s a pistol, and it’ll do fine.

 

[Highland Lofts]

Pistol calibers just don't have the shock that rifles deliver.
My oldest son shot a nice eight point buck with his 10mm Kimber 1911 and a six point buck with a Ruger Blackhawk 44 mag revolver that I gave him.
Nice heart shots in both deer. They took a lotyle to go down. The same shots with a rifle they expired pretty fast.
A couple of my friends shot deer with handguns with the same results.
So useing handguns as a first line of hunting is not for me. I will stick with a rifle for deer.

I would give the 10mm and the 44mag a rating of 3 maybe 4.

 

[D.B. Cooper]

The round "can" be perfect for this. Depends totally on the kind of Deer and the hunter. Can you hit what you shoot at with the gun in this caliber? A cannon is as worthless as a .22 if the hunter just shoots "at" game. With a hunter who can place the shot where he wants, and chooses a good slug for the caliber? Can drop a Deer in it's tracks every time.

This is probably true of almost any caliber.

 

[D.B. Cooper]

The more than adequate 30-30 is likely below average as far as rounds folks use these days (not counting the .223/300 Blk) and the 10mm is a good bit below it.

Given the issues I've had finding the right projectile to shoot accurately in my 44 mag carbine, I've gone back to 30-30, at least until I can resolve those issues. 30-30 gets a lot of trash talk these days, but it's as good as it ever was. And yes, I'd take a 30-30 over a 10mm any day. Even comparing pistol cartridges to pistol cartridges, for hunting, 10 mm would be 2nd or 3rd to last. for my grizzly bear defense gun I went with a 44 magnum over a 10mm, even though the neither is truly "enough" and the 44 is significantly heavier to carry.

 

[D.B. Cooper]

Everybody up here in the AK knows that the deer are armor plated and that anything less than 338 win mag just isn’t effective

Fixed it for you. LOL

Would I hesitate to use one of it came down to that or a bow? Nope.

Bowhunting and handgun hunting both have that challenge of requiring the ability to get much closer to the game than with a rifle. I see it sometimes amongst rifle hunters, too. Guy I hunt with is a much a better hunter than I am. He won't take a shot at over 100 yrds, and he'll put in the work and time to get that close. I'm a much better marksman than I am a hunter, so I'll take shots out to 300.

 

[ApacheCoTodd]

I think you'd have to specify the deer and the terrain for me to weigh in very much.

I've laid plenty of deer low, on and east of the Mississippi including Texas and Minnesota.

I felt better sometimes with a .41 but the .357 performed wonderfully when carefully loaded and carefully fired.

I've used 9mm in carbines as well.

A 10? I guess it'd be fine given my experiences with *smaller* handgun rounds. Assuming a quality *hunting* round cycled in your pistol.

So, generally speaking, given how I hunt, I'd give the 10 a score of 7 maybe 7+. Can't imagine hunting - outside of an emergency scenario - with anything I'd score much lower.

Todd.

 

[Alex Clayton]

This is probably true of almost any caliber.

Certainly within "reason". A decent shot could drop Deer with a .22 LR but, that does not mean they should. The real rub is so many hunters shoot "at" game. If hunting the small Deer we have up here that often weigh less than many dogs people can use 300 Win Mag but, if they are just shooting at the Deer the caliber does not magically make up for poor marksmanship or poor shot choices. A hunter that shoots at the game hoping to maybe make a hit, hoping that his poor skill will be made up by a more powerful cartridge is still just a very poor hunter.
The round the OP asked about is or can be great for Deer. IF the person using it knows what they are doing. You can't make up for lack of skill or lack of common sense by moving to larger calibers.

 

[[holo]]

The 10 is a fine cartridge, but I think we owe it to the game we are hunting to use a gun that is guaranteed to be a clean killer rather than one that might get the job done if everything goes just right.

Yeah, I guess that seems fair.

 

[Ru4real]

Please grade how effective 10mm is in deer hunting from 1-10. 1 being impossible, and 10 being just as or better than the average deer hunting cartridge.

Average, by definition, is a 30-30 Winchester at 10.

10mm is a 5.
44 Mag and 45 Colt are 8.
30-06 is a 15.

So yes, a 30-06 is at least 3 times better than a 10mm. My opinion, of course.