1gr8bldr
Senior Member
I'm trying to decide what to buy for my 10mm Glock. I will eventually hand load, however, season is coming fast so I don't expect I will find the time to work up a load. I realize that most factory loads are no where near the potential of the 10mm, so I will likely go with the hotter, either Underwood, Buffalo or Dbl Tap. Brand does not concern me much since I will likely not continue to buy. The bullet selection is my interest. Lets talk bullets. Some would say, more, more, more penetration, however, there is a point that your not transferring energy to the animal. A bullet that penetrates a block...say 15 inches is transferring much, much more energy to a block than a bullet that penetrates 35 inches, in regard to a life size animal, because at 15 inches, it's likely passing through. once it passes through, all remaining energy is a waste. so the goal would be to find a bullet that expanded well, that would pass through every time, yet have no waste of energy. I have seen bullets pass through and get caught in the hide. This was real close to optimal, needing a little more energy to get the guaranteed pass through. Some get caught up on having the bullet retain all it's weight for driving purposes. I understand this if your on the verge of not getting pass throughs, such as a 243. I guess I come from a different crowd. I have always shot ballistic tips and put 100 % of the energy into the deer, not even looking for a pass through. Yes, I have heard that some ranches don't even allow ballistic tips and I have heard stories where we chased a dbl lung shot deer 2 miles also. We all know that these come from misplaced shots where no bullet would have killed the animal. With this mindset, you can see why I don't always agree with the typical bullet choices. So, I'm pondering, what is needed and what is wasted energy blown into the dirt beyond? Which bullet will expand enough to use up and utilize some of the wasted pass through energy of the 10mm. I appreciate the discussion so I might better evaluate my thoughts