10mm Ammo for Deer

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Captains1911

New member
I’m planning to hunt deer this season with my G20. Of the following 3 factory ammo loads, what would be the best choice for this task? I already have all three of these in my possession. I’ll probably limit my range to 30-40 yards.

Hornady Custom 180gr XTP
Doubletap 200gr Hard Cast
Buffalo Bore 220gr Hard Cas
 
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bamaranger

New member
XTP

I don't think you'll need the extra penetration offered by the two hard cast options. Whitetails are relatively thin skinned and small boned when compared to hogs or bears, which are the intended targets of the two cast loads. Additionally, the Glock polygonal rifling is said not to be compatible with cast bullets, yielding poor accuracy and fouling. The jacketed XTP seems your best option. The XTP has a good reputation for holding together while offering useful expansion. Hunt like a bowhunter, picking your shots and angles accordingly, and I'd be quite surprised if you have any trouble.

I load XTP's in my G20 when after deer, no shots yet!
 
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Captains1911

New member
bamaranger said:
I don't think you'll need the extra penetration offered by the two hard cast options. Whitetails are relatively thin skinned and small boned when compared to hogs or bears, which are the intended targets of the two cast loads. Additionally, the Glock polygonal rifling is said not to be compatible with cast bullets, yielding poor accuracy and fouling. The jacketed XTP seems your best option. The XTP has a good reputation for holding together while offering useful expansion. Hunt like a bowhunter, picking your shots and angles accordingly, and I'd be quite surprised if you have any trouble.

I load XTP's in my G20 when after deer, no shots yet!
Click to expand...
I was leaning towards the Hornady for those reasons as well…expansion rather than penetration. I just wasn’t sure because the documented velocity on that load seems to be about 150 - 200 fps lower compared to some of the other popular 180gr offerings (BB, Doubletap, and Underwood).

By the way, I’ve tested the BB and Doubletap hardcast in my factory Glock barrel and they seem to shoot just fine.
 
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stagpanther

New member
I have a couple of G20 builds, I use longer aftermarket barrels with increased head support. 10mm might be better than nothing for a critter defense cartridge, I'd personally opt for a Lehigh defense extreme penetrator going as fast as possible. On that note, I would chrono whatever you use so that you get a realistic idea of your velocity/range/energy limitations.

sorry--got this confused with the bear defense thread where someone mentioned 10mm.:eek:
 
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riverratt

New member
I'm not familiar with the cast offerings you listed but I'll weigh in with what experience I've had.

I've used 230gr +p in a .45 ACP and 180gr in .40 S&W to take a few deer. Both were XTP bullets and of the three deer I shot none had an exit wound (2 with the .45 and 1 with the .40) on 2 of the deer the expanded round came to rest against the ribs on the opposite side and the other resting just under the hide. The 10mm giving higher velocity may provide a bit more penetration or it may give the same penetration but expand a bit more. Either way none of these deer left anything remotely close to what I would call a trackable blood trail but died inside of a hundred yards.

I've killed several deer with a 265gr .43 cal rnfp traveling at 1300 fps out of my .44. The blood trails are short and typically good, always a full passthrough.

I've also taken 1 deer with a 158gr rnfp out of my 9mm traveling at 1000fps. Full passthrough with a marginal blood trail of about 75 yards or so. If it were me I'd choose one of the hardcast bullets if they shot good but that's just my opinion.
 
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Captains1911

New member
I just found a limited run of Black Hills 10mm ammo, loaded with the Hornady XTP bullet, advertised around 1300 fps. I think I'll grab a box of it.
 
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jmr40

New member
The hardcast loads are designed for max penetration to stop large predator attacks. You don't need that for hunting deer. Most any 155 gr or heavier HP should be fine.
 
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MarkCO

New member
Go with the XTPs. Shot a lot of stuff with 10mm using XTPs, other JHPs and Hardcast. I have shot an Elk with 180 XTPs at 80 yards...dropped in its' tracks.
 
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7.62 man

New member
I don't see any reason it won't work as long as you keep it down to short distances & you do your part & hit the vitals.
 
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CarJunkieLS1

New member
I know this is an old thread, but IME the best bullet for 10mm hunting is the Swift A frame bullet. I am using the 180gr version and they also make a 200gr version also.

The 180gr is 1320fps from my Glock 40 and 1490fps from my 10.5 inch AR pistol. I shot a 7 point buck at 18 yards with AR pistol. The deer ran like 60 yards bleeding profusely the whole way, my nephew who has never tracked a deer before led the charge and he was able to follow the blood with zero issues at all. The bullet hit in the ribs of the onside and broke the offside shoulder and stopped under the skin. The recovered bullet was mushroomed perfectly to .678 inches and weighed 177.4 grains.

For deer/hogs give me my A frames for everything else the 180 XTPS are loaded.
 
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JustJake

New member
Easy peasy ...

For deer hunting, I feed my most-awesome 6.2” 10mm Glock 40 either 200grn or 220grn poly-coated hard cast FP ammo from Underwood.

UW’s poly-coating not only doesn’t lead up the factory barrel, but it imparts a “slickness” to the hard-edged FP slug that makes it feed up the ramp smoothly every time, i.e., no jams.

Buffalo Bore 10mm HC ammo is good too, but it’s not coated. So you need to fire a box or two through your gun to be sure it will feed reliably.
 
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