Hope I’m Doing This Right

I don’t know if any reloading-genius readers want to help me out, but I am posting some casing photos anyway.

I loaded some defensive rounds for 10mm. The recipe is from Speer, but they recommend CCI primers (surprise), and all I had were Wolf.

Powder: 10.7 grains Blue Dot
Bullet: Speer 0.400″ Gold Dot
Casing: new Starline
Primer: Wolf large pistol
OAL: 1.250″

I shot a couple of rounds in the yard. I haven’t chronographed them yet. I am hoping for a 1200 fps from a Glock 29’s short barrel, with a little more pep from the Glock 20. I used the Glock 29 to shoot the reloads.

Down near the rim, the cases bulged from about 0.420″ to about 0.433″. The primers are flush with the rims. There are rectangular marks from the hole around the gun’s firing pin.

I looked at a Hornady (factory) little-old-lady round I shot, and the bulge is identical. The impression from the firing pin is a bit less pronounced, as is the impression from the hole the firing pin rides in.

Is this an acceptable casing, or am I going to blow the gun up?

I put my Chrony together. Lost a couple of the steel rods that hold the diffusers up. I ordered 36″ of 5/16″ drill rod so I could make two more. Some people recommend using wooden rods instead, because if you shoot a wooden rod out of the Chrony, it won’t do as much damage.

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Got some input from an experienced reloader. He says a rectangular mark on a primer is normal for Glocks, as is a “firing pin drag mark.” Guess I’m ready to shoot. Weather and the good Lord permitting, I’ll be chronographing these dudes tomorrow.

I’ve been reading a lot about Gold Dots in 10mm, and it looks like speed may not be everything. You can push them to over 1300 fps, but some people have found that they come apart at that speed, while speeds in the 1200’s do a great job of damaging the target while maintaining integrity. That would be good news, because shooting this caliber at any speed is work, and not having to use maximum speed will reduce recoil.