10mm Auto or .45 ACP?
Kind of a tough choice...
10mm Auto..seems more powerful, more accurate, can fit more rounds in a magazine BUT a lot of recoil, and more expensive.
.45 ACP...all around is a great cartidge (it seems to be the favorite of many), the 'specs' might not be as good but you still cant go wrong with it
What do you guys think?
I'd say 10mm Auto if you can afford/handle it. Either way, both cartridges are great (.45 ACP...just saying the name is just so badass 
)
And if you do come to a conclusion as to which round you prefer, could you please specify which weapon you would prefer firing the cartridge from?
For .45 ACP, I'd say H&K USP
For 10mm Auto..not that many choices, so Glock 20? not really too familiar with this
Comments
I am the #1 fan of the big 10mm. Make mine a Glock. Glock makes the best 10mm yet available. It is as powerful at a hundred yards as the badass .45 acp is at the muzzle. What does that tell you about the 10mm? The 10mm is effective against two and four legged predators. The 10mm is a hunter. The .45 acp is a defensive caliber not suitable for hunting. The 10mm Glock is higher cap than even the same gun in .45 acp (or .45 GAP for that matter). Recoil? In the full-size Glock Model 20 10mm recoil is manageable because the Polymer frame absorbs a lot of the recoil impulse.
Not intending to put the venerable .45 acp down, but it is early Nineteen-hundreds technology. It worked and works because it fires a slow-moving, fat, heavy bullet that puts day light through its target. This from the days that handgun bullets just didn't expand and so a wide n heavy bullet was necessary to sustain any kind of trauma and get your target's attention: OMG! I've been shot!!! Downside is this: The .45 acp is still a slow-moving, fat n heavy bullet that still gets attention but it performs poorly against barriers like sheet metal, doors and car glass. This is why the Highway Patrol switched from the .45 acp (Sig 220) to the .357 Sig.
The 10mm is a magnum class cartridge fired out of a modern double action semi-automatic high capacity pistol. This is as good as it gets. Recoil? Yes, but not like the wimps who were pencil-pushers and whined and cried and complained about not being able to handle the recoil. The 10mm got a bad rap like the .357 Magnum got a bad rap back in the day. The same lies told about the .357 are still being told about the 10mm: 1. That's a handcannon! (So what?); 2. Recoil is so bad it'll take the skin off your hand! (Aha! I mean: Ha, ha!); 3. (My personal favorite lie about the .357 Magnum): Why that gun is sooo powerful that it'll shoot through the trunk of a car getting away from you, go through the back fire wall, the back seat, the back of the front seat, through the driver, through the front fire wall and STILL break the engine block! These lies convinced non-gun persons that a .38 Special with ball-ammo was plenty for police officers to carry as their duty weapons. Today no knowledgeable person considers the old .38 Special police round (158 grain lead ball bullet) even a marginal stopper and we know that the .357 Magnum is the BEST manstopper to date. So you see how urban legends, lies and myths can suppress good handguns and calibers.
The 10mm was a long time coming and it is the BEST all-around defensive handgun available today. It has the same virtues as the .45 acp in that it too is a wide-bore and heavy with the added advantage of being fast enough to be effective against barrier (like sheet metal, doors and car glass).
So what's wrong with the 10mm? Not a thing except that the ammo is costly because it is not as popular as say the .45 or 9mm. When my life and well-being is on the line cost simply is NOT a factor. This is why I carried one on the streets as a street COP for more than a dozen years. Wouldn't carry anything else. I retired two weeks ago from a big Texas city police department and my Glock Model 20 is still with me.
I'd love to see Glock make a short-frame Model 20 (like their Model 21-SF). That would be great for a shooter with smaller hands. THAT would make the great 10mm more Universal because if your hand is too small you'll have trouble reaching the slide release and the magazine drop button. For shooters with relatively big hands (like mine) the Model 20 10mm is perfect.
I hope that helped.
H
I'm fond of 10mm..but it's just way too expensive and hard to find locally if you don't reload. Doubletap is one of the few places with hot 10mm ammo left and it's not cheap .
The Glock 20 is a reliable gun designed to shoot 10mm but the grip is a little big.
If you got a Glock 20 it would be wise to pick up a conversion barrel in .40s&w so you can practice for cheap.
The .45 acp is a good round.. but frankly it's even too expensive to practice all the time now due to high metal costs.
I guess it really depends on what you need . If you want a loud powerful gun you can even hunt with go for a 10mm. If you want a gun thats only for self defense get a .45
45 Acp Vs 10mm
Well if you ask me I think there both too big......... WHAT I always suggest is this.... What does the ammunition cost?? If your going to shoot a lot then be sure to consider that when you make a decision.... Online some of that .45 ACP stuff is $16 a box to start with and some 10MM ammo starts at $21 a box online... Maybe more at your local sport shop.... 2 boxes at the gun range on a saturday afternoon can cost you $40+ dollars....... If your up for that great!! But if not consider the .45....
I guess I would say the better ballistics and overall cartridge size are superior in cartridges such as the10mm Auto and .40 S&W, but for more compelling reasons such as cost of ammunition, wider appeal, and wider availability of products I would prefer a .45 ACP over a 10mm given the choice.
There is no doubt that 10mm Auto is fine cartridge that combines a lot of knockdown power in the way of 400+ ft/lb of energy at the muzzle with the ability to carry a lot of ammo. But with ammo prices going up daily and the majority (okay all of it) of my shooting done on range, paying the extra price tag for the 10mm. Might not be too bad if you reload.
10mm has fewer gun choices, few reloading options, few round posibilities, more recoil, more expensive. I like the .45ACP because, I find, it's actually more accurate in my opinion. There are more pro IPSC shooters using 45 than 10 not because of parts, but because it's a gun that works. They can do anything, but they always come back to 45. If a 45 won't work, chances are nothing will.
45 can be used for carry, home defense, hunting, you name it. It depends more on your accuracy and training then it does the power and speed at which you shoot. While it has slightly lower round count, it does have a larger size going in, and with the right round, coming out too.
Like many have said, 10mm was a big disappointment. You are better off with a 40 then a 10 anyday, but a 45 beat them both
I like the 10mm because it can do more. You can shoot everything from hot 200 grain hunting loads, to super fast 1600 fps 135 grain self defense loads, or to something in between to match your needs. And the Glock 20 is the perfect platform. The polymer frame acts like a shock absorber, so recoil is not really an issue IMO.
But the 45 ACP just may be the perfect solution to a specific problem, i.e. self defense. It delivers a big and wide bullet fast enough to knock down targets, but not too fast to make recoil uncontrollable. It's an almost perfect combination of size and speed for a self defense pistol round. And accuracy is excellent as it is used for bullseye shooting.
10mm Auto
10mm is a good round, but .45 is much more available. 10mm just never took off, kinda like betamax in the 1970's. If you want try a nice round with good stopping power, try a .357 sig, but from your tow choices, i would go for the .45 just because of the availability.
10mm is a little tricky, off the shelf ammo is not anywhere near the full potential of this round, you would need to order from either Double Tap or Buffalo Bore to reach this cartridges full potential, VERY expensive, you could always reload for it, or shoot the anemic off the shelf stuff.
If those were my only two choices of caliber, i would choose 45acp every time, ammo availability, ammo price, ammo choices are all better with the 45acp.
I'd choose one of 3 pistols for 45acp, in the following order:
HK USP45
Beretta PX4 Storm
Springfield 1911A1
If I had to shoot a 10mm, I'd get a Bren Ten or a Dan Wesson Pointman seven