10mm HS6 loads, or others

[squawberryman]

I got this neat Nighthawk and am looking to make some stout loads for it. I went to the Gun Show this weekend and there was no Blue Dot to be had. That's not an experience buy, it was on a suggestion. So I've got HS-6 (two pounds) and there's actually a recipe for 180 grain bullets right on the label. I've got 200 Nosler's coming and was wondering if anyone has any experience with the 10mm. Although I'm leaning towards the powders I have, any experienced loads would be appreciated. Doubletap has a 230 grain load that runs 1120 fps so I know it's out there.

[bradshaw]

squawberryman.... so happens I've thrown a few water filled milk and juice jugs for aerial practice over the holidays and included the Colt Delta Elite in this practice. sierra and Nosler 180 JHP seated over 11/Accurate #7 is a favored load. Likewise Federal 180 JHP and 180 Hydra Shok. The old Hornady 155 JHP over 13/AA#7, like the aforementioned, also shoots straight out to 200 yards. The Sierra 180 JHP load I've shot out to about 400 yards, plunking clucks of driftwood on a small river swollen on meltsnow. If you saw the terrain you'd know this is mountain country, shooting down, not flatland.

I shot HS-6 in the 10mm, but settled on Accurate Arms #7 as a superior propellant based upon
* accuracy
* velocity
* perceived slide acceleration (a.k.a. auto pistol recoil

This last is a criteria vital to pistol longevity. Blue Dot yields very high velocity. Perhaps thanks to heavy powder charge weights, slide velocity with endstroke recoil become quite sharp. The 10mm Auto is a brilliant auto pistol cartridge. It is a high pressure cartridge stepping into the respectable bullet weight zone, so slide behavior is to be watched. Your Nighthawk is, I presume, a 1911, which, with the 10mm case, provides a fat round chamber to support that pressure. Some sort of recoil buffer should be a given.

As recent as this afternoon my Delta set aerial water jugs to vapor heaven. Followed by, I confess, two shots in a breeze to hit a stainless dairy pot at 200 yards. My windage was on. I slackened on the chip of front sight. Under the conditions, the most accurate Les Baer .45 ACP would have twice the wind drift, and twice+ the drop. A Nine Mike Mike, when you can find one accurate enough, would arrive drained of blood.

Maybe you want to shoot fish in the Gulf of Mexico. I love fish but am not a fisherman. My experience fishing for Northern Pike is limited to pistols on flooded spawning areas after the ice goes out, an Abenaki tradition. You paddle a canoe, spotting the roll of a modestly-scaled fresh water barracuda. Shoot beside the fish, not through it; the idea is to knock it out.

The 10mm should be a fine candidate. Reckon we're talking about the hydrostatic shock some folk claim is a myth.
David Bradshaw

[squawberryman]

Thank you sir. Off to the local GS to check their inventory

[sheriff]

Hodgens on their load data site lists data for the 135, 155, 180, and 200gr'ers with HS 6. FWIW.

[razor]

I had good luck with AA #9 in my Kimber. The deer and hogs sure did not like it.