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Just curious


John Dunn

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This is strictly a hypothetical question: If L10 Division decided to allow 9mm/38super etc. to score major, would you switch from your .40 or .45 to one of these smaller calibers? There is no capacity advantage. Are you a believer in the idea that the smaller caliber = less recoil at the same power factor?

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I would switch in a second to simplify my life. One kind of brass, powder, bullet. I know keeping the lots separated would be a challenge.

Lighter bullets equates to less recoil but there is a cut off point. There are 135 grain bullets for .40 but hardly anyone uses them. It is a VERY small difference.

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if someone shot limited all the time, he would have to switch to 38 super to stay competitive because of the magazine capacity.  but, since that's not part of your question,  yes, i'd change to be able to use lighter bullets, less recoil.  

lynn jones

(Edited by lynn jones at 10:42 am on Dec. 13, 2002)

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Yes, I'd switch. <gasp! the crowd recoils in shock> There might not be a capacity advantage but you can get 10 shots of .38 Super/.38 TJ/.38 SC/9x23 in a standard length 1911 magazine - which I find handles a bit more smoothly than a long 10-shot .45 mag. My only hesitation is that it's fairly easy to get a .45 magazine feeding correctly, and easy to not have problems with loaded rounds bumping the slide stop and locking the action open with ammo still in the magazine. But with a .38 Super, etc. and especially in 9mm Para, the magazine, and the mag/slide stop relationship have got to be absolutely spot-on on you're gonna have problems.

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Some stages there would be an advantage with the extra couple of rounds. Most stages it would be a wash. So it comes down to making major with a light, fast bullet that gives a whole lot of muzzle flip and blast or a heavier, slower bullet that doesn't blow the RO's glsses off. There are lighter bullets in the .40 but they are not used much because of this blast. When I was shooting .40 in Open I grabbed the wrong ammo and loaded some open ammo into my limited gun damn sure won't make that mistake again! My hat ended up 3 bays over!

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I've shot light bullets in 40 and don't really like the sensation. Its just a little too sharp for me, but saying that Matt B won that IPSC North American Champs with 150gn 40cal bullets so its doable!

I'd expect a super to feel similarly snappy if everything else was the same, and the downside is the smaller diameter bullets would be less likely to cut the line.

P.D.

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"Some stages there would be an advantage with the extra couple of rounds."

The question was about Limited-10, not Limited. There's no question how many rounds there will be in the magazine, with either caliber: 10. The question is whether you want those 10 rounds in a long tube (.45) or a standard length tube (.355).

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  • 4 weeks later...

No way would I change from my .45 auto.  The recoil/blast from my .38 Super is nasty with major loads.  My .38 Super is only used for IDPA with the piss weak loads needed to be competitive in ESP.  I'm too cowardly to try shooting minor in L-10.

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  • 4 weeks later...

Just a newbie guess:

The 10mm has a larger case volume, so it needs a larger primer to get a bigger flame and higher initial pressure inside the case, in order to ignite the powder.

With a smaller case volume, it doesn't take as much of a priming flame to increase pressure in the case to ignition levels.

Sound plausible??

DogmaDog

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Geez, am I the only guy who read those articles on designing the .40 S&W cartridge all those years ago? ;) They went to a small primer because they were concerned about the ejector possibly hitting the edge of a large pistol primer and causing a detonation out of battery when racking a live round out of the chamber.

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