Agreed! This is a great site for info on the 10mm!  Glad to see you finally joined.

At the upper end of your price range is a Dan Wesson Razorback 10mm. I have a Valor in .45, and I must say Dan Wesson makes a quality firearm at an excellent price.

A lot of guys on this forum seem to like Rock Island Armory's 10mm. It costs about the same as a Glock and comes with a fully supported chamber. 

I have a Colt Delta Elite. I paid a little over $1,000.00. You will find that this gun has many fans, as it is the first 10mm 1911 to be manufactured. It does not have a fully supported chamber, which is of concern to some shooters. Mine is a great shooter and given the opportunity, I would buy another.

Quote from: The_Shadow on April 04 2017 12:44:12 PM MDT
I like accuracy and clean burning performance, Blue Dot gives me with jacketed and cast bullets 170 to 200 grain selections.  Longshot and 800X can exceed the velocities here but I find accuracy can suffer some.

Great answer.  I'll pick up a pound of blue dot next chance i get.  It sounds like the powder that I'm looking for.  What are your thoughts on Unique for 10mm?

So, I've been reading through the load data posted in this section and I'm getting a pretty good feel for what would be a good load for my purposes.  I am working up some mid range loads for my Delta Elite using 200 grain FMJ projectiles, and I have a couple questions for you veteran 10mm reloaders:

1) It looks like Blue Dot and Unique yield similar results.  The Blue Dot seems to give similar performance with less chamber pressure, but the Unique seems to give similar performance with less powder.  For those of you who have used both, which do you recommend and why?

2). AA#9 looks like it works well.  I use it for .357 SIG and get pretty good results, albeit with a huge muzzle flash and loud boom.  Do any of you guys use it?  How does it compare to the Unique or Blue Dot?

3)  I already use Unique and AA#9, so using one of these powders for my 10mm loads will save me having to stock another brand of powder.  However, I have heard many recommend blue dot for 10mm.  Is blue dot superior to AA#9 and Unique when it comes to 10mm loads? 

Quote from: Ten2six on April 03 2017 07:19:03 PM MDT
Look for ones made by Metalform. They are identical to factory mags but you don't have to pay for the pony to be stamped on them. I use them and can't tell a difference.

Found them.  Thanks for the tip!

So, I want to buy some spare mags for my Delta, and I've been looking at a few different brands. The factory mags seem to work well but at $42.00 each, I'm looking at some other options as well.

Midway has some Mec Gar mags that are attractively priced.  Before I buy, I wanted to know what you guys think. I'll spring for the factory mags if they are the best, but if I can get the same quality and reliability for the same price, I would rather go that route. What do you guys think?

Quote from: vtr107 on April 03 2017 06:14:43 AM MDT
The delta elite is fine w/o the supported chamber, just watch what you feed it. I agree with what other have said, spend the 600 on another 10mm with the supported chamber. These are my two 10mm, the delta is a first gen that I bought new back in the day, and the kimber is my 10mm with the suported chamber. They both have quite a few mods done to ensure reliability and to enhance accuratcy, they shoot as good as they look.

The bar-sto barrel I bought right after I got the delta, just never installed it (it's still rocking the stock barrel.

Those are some very nice looking pistols!  I love the blued slide over the stainless frame.  Reverse two-tone always looks great.  I see this is your first post.  I'm new here too, and have found this forum to be full of very knowledgeable members willing to help. 

In terms of whether or not I will actually put a different barrel into the gun, I am still unsure.  I like the 180 grain / 1250 fps SIG performance ammo that I have been running.  It gives mid-range .357 Magnum power with very manageable recoil.  I can easily fire off a double tap or string of shots without getting significantly off-target.  I bought it for use as a woods gun, and the biggest animals in my area are black bear with the occasional (but rare) coyote or mountain lion.  I'm not sure the ability to fire full-power loads will greatly benefit me given the size of the animals in my area and the difference in recoil.  Besides, if I need a big hoss, I've got a .44 Magnum, which I am fairly handy with.  We will see how things evolve.  I'm really happy with the gun so far.  It is my third Colt.  All three seem to be very well made and reliable.  To me, Colt offers an excellent balance of price, quality, and heritage.  I don't really feel the need to drop major coin on a Dan Wesson, and have never really been interested in Rock Island Armory. 

Very nice.  The G20 is an excellent piece of hardware.  Like you, I'm new to the world of 10mm.  You haven't experienced life until you've shot a Magnum powered round out of an auto loader.

When your gun budget replenishes, you also need to add a 10mm 1911 to your arsenal.  The 10mm makes the 1911 live up to its own legend.

Yankee Marshall is a bit of an acquired taste, in the same vein as Nutnfancy.  You have to get past his eccentricity before you can hear what he has to say.

I use Speer gold dot 125gr duty rounds. They run at 1350 fps, which isn't the fastest for .357, but they don't have a problem blowing a watermellon to pieces. 

I get them in the 50 round boxes from sgammo.com. They function nicely in my P229.  I recently procured a SIG Nightmare 1911 in .357.  I haven't run them in that yet, but I'm curious to find out how they do.

Thanks for all of the replies!  Especially for the load data worked up especially for the Delta Elite!  (I definitely copied that and saved it.) You guys are of great help.

Hey guys, this is my first post.  It seems that this site has established itself as an authority on 10mm handguns according to a few of the other forums that I frequent.

I recently purchased a Colt Delta Elite.  It's my first 10mm handgun, and I bought it knowing fairly little about it other than its a Colt, and it has been improved over the original iteration.  After some reading, I have discovered that it does not have a fully supported chamber, so you can't really shoot the big loads out of it without the possibility of the dreaded KB.   

I like the gun and have no desire to sell it to buy a Dan Wesson or STI.  It is reliable and has not had any issues shooting the SIG elite performance 10mm ammo, which seems to be a mid-range 10mm load based on what I've seen.  (180 grain projectiles @ 1250 FPS) In terms of the ammo I plan to shoot out of it, I probably won't go much hotter than that.  However, I would like to use this gun for hunting and would like the ability to shoot some of the top range stuff on occasion, again, without the fear of my gun turning itself into a grenade. 

I've been looking at Bar-Sto barrels, and it looks like they can supply and install a ramped barrel for somewhere in the neighborhood of $600.00.  In your experience, is this conversion sufficient to reliably shoot the heavier 10mm loads?  What do you guys think?  Thanks for the help.