imported post
Agent19 wrote:
If that was the case everyone would be carrying 10mm as the FBI proclaimed it was the best years ago and only steered way from it because some agents (wimps imho) could not handle the mild recoil of this truly awesome Semi Auto pistol round.
Well, this isn't entirely true. The "popular story" is that the recoil was too high for th ecomfort of field agents, but the REAL story is that the firearm that S&W sold to the Bureau ( S&W model 1076) had many functional issues.
As a fan of the 10mm, I'm getting a little tired of hearing this story. As someone who owned a Colt Delta Elite for over 5 years and put nearly 10,000 rounds through it, I can say without hesitation that in a 1911 platform, the 10mm has less kick than my Taurus 689 4" firing .357 magnum +P, or my ParaOrd S-14.45 shooting 230gr defense rounds. I have fired the S&W 1076 (but never owned one) and I can say that it IS a little more "snappy" than the Colt, but it's still nowhere near as punishing as a full-house .357 magnum load, and a little lighter-feeling than a hot .45acp...
Tests done by the FBI and independent labs have shown that the S&W model 1076 has a nearly identical grip angle and bore offset to the 1911, and those same tests show that the S&W 1076 actually has LOWER recoil (in terms of measured ft/lbs) than a 1911 firing 230gr FBI loads. The recoil is felt as "sharper" or with "more snap" but the actual ft/lbs of force exerted on the hand of the shooter is lower than the 1911. So the "heavy recoil" claim as the reason for the demise of the 10mm in Bureau use is simply not true. If anything, the "recoil problem" was ACTUALLY due to the fact that the FBI had started hiring and fielding more female agents in the late 1980's and folks with smaller hands CAN find the S&W 1076 a little hard to handle because of the depth and thickness of the grip.
The S&W 1076 had an MIM extractor and sear. It was determined after a while that many of the malfunctions this gun was experiencing were due to the fact that these critical parts were failing due to the rigorous action of the 10mm round because MIM parts aren't nearly as durable as forged parts.
There have been rumors that the S&W 1076 was actually based on a 9mm platform. This is not true. It was a unique receiver, machined specifically for this model, and it's dimensions and specs are somewhere between S&W's platforms of similar design for their 9mm and .45acp models. Instead of using a platform which was proven for .45acp +P loads (which is essentially what Colt did with the Delta Elite), S&W designed a receiver/frame that had rail strength and linkage points similar to their .45acp, but had a profile more like their 9mm models. This under-engineered frame certainly contributes to the perceived recoil of the S&W 1076, and may also contribute to long-term reliability issues.
Another drawback to the S&W 1076 is that is has a low capacity for a duty-carry semitauto of only 9 rounds. Supposedly, the Bureau issued some 11 and 15 shot magazines, but they are nearly impossible to find, and none were ever made for the civilian market. At 40oz, with only a 9-shot capacity, the S&W 1076 is a lot of gun with not a lot of capacity compared to other similar platforms like the Para Ords in.40S&W or .45acp or the 10mm Glocks.
So there are a LOT of reasons the Bureau dropped the S&W 1076 in 10mm. Almost none of them have to do with it's "perceived recoil" being to high.
Let's bury that myth already.