10 mm magnum revolver easy to make or not .

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dgr416

Single-Sixer
Joined
Jan 4, 2008
Messages
179
Location
Georgia
I was thinking about making a 10 mm magnum revolver out of my dan wesson 357 super mag that's a 357 maxium .I have an extra barrel or could get one made and a cylinder for 10 mm magnum to shoot 10 mm mag 10 mm and 40 sw .I could do this I think because of the easy change barrel .This would not ruin the value of the barrel .It weighs 4 pounds so it could handle the recoil .I looked up Gary Reeder but he's taking no more pistols for work .I just think this would be a cool pistol .The other choice would be a 10 mm super red hawk rechambered to 10 mm magnum .I think my dam wesson would be super accurate .This should be an easy conversion .You can make 10 mm mag brass from 6.8 spc brass just learned that too .
 

needsmostuff

Blackhawk
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Sep 4, 2008
Messages
525
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Tucson,AZ
When I get the urge to embark on an obscure cartridge, I set a goal first.
That goal is to collect or make at least 200 pieces of brass and useable dies before acquiring the firearm.
It has saved me a couple of times.
I have and shoot sometimes a 401 Powermag. Think of it as a rimmed 10mm. Every piece of brass has had to be made and that kind of sucks the life out of it, at least for me. Fun at first but it gets monotonous.
Working with a common 41mag simply rechambered to 41GNR would get into the same ballpark. Much less conversion work and be a whole lot easier to feed.
 
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contender

Ruger Guru
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Sep 18, 2002
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Lake Lure NC USA
I would have a conversation about the possibility of doing this type of conversion with a known custom gunsmith or two,, (such as Hamilton Bowen) to get an idea of what would or would not work.
People like him have the knowledge AND experience to give good solid information.
 

Onty

Single-Sixer
Joined
Dec 17, 2000
Messages
491
When I get the urge to embark on an obscure cartridge, I set a goal first.
That goal is to collect or make at least 200 pieces of brass and useable dies before acquiring the firearm.
It has saved me a couple of times.
VERY sound advice!
I have and shoot sometimes a 401 Powermag. Think of it as a rimmed 10mm. Every piece of brass has had to be made and that kind of sucks the life out of it, at least for me. Fun at first but it gets monotonous.
Working with a common 41mag simply rechambered to 41GNR would get into the same ballpark. Much less conversion work and be a whole lot easier to feed.
401 Powermag brass could be made from 41 Magnum. Or, if dgr416 wants to utilize full cylinder length, longer version using 414 Super Mag brass https://www.starlinebrass.com/414-super-mag-brass .

As for 41 GNR (44 Magnum necked down to 41 magnum) wouldn't work for dgr416 because he wanted also to use 10 mm Auto and 40 S&W. I am assuming he is thinking about modifying cylinder same way Ruger had done on Redhawk 45 Colt/45 ACP, so rimmed cartridges could be used as well as rimless pistol cartridges using clips.

Another way is to get Ruger 38-40/10 mm Auto Convertible https://www.gunsinternational.com/g...special-38-40-10mm-combo.cfm?gun_id=101914612 (description is little off...). As for second cylinder in 40 S&W, I am not sure is BH cylinder in 357 Magnum is long enough. If not, another way is to get custom blank cylinder, 30 Carbine or 357 Maximum cylinder, and modify it to 40 S&W. I know, third cylinder wouldn't be cheap proposal, however, converting DW 357 Super Mag to 10 mm rimmed/10 mm Auto wouldn't be cheap either.
 

needsmostuff

Blackhawk
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Sep 4, 2008
Messages
525
Location
Tucson,AZ
401 Powermag brass could be made from 41 Magnum. .

Easy to say , harder to do . You have to have a lathe to use the 41 mag brass properly.
I use shortened 30-30 brass as I can get it done with my meager skills and tools.

.

As for 41 GNR (44 Magnum necked down to 41 magnum) wouldn't work for dgr416 because he wanted also to use 10 mm Auto and 40 S&W. I am assuming he is thinking about modifying cylinder same way Ruger had done on Redhawk 45 Colt/45 ACP, so rimmed cartridges could be used as well as rimless pistol cartridges using clips.

.

Yeah, another thing better on paper then in reality .
Sure, it would work but I can't see a cylinder with that much free bore being much of a shooter with the shorter rounds. Sure 38/357 or 44Mag//44SPL. pull it off but 45C/45ACP not so much.
Often it's better to have one size brass and download when desired.
 

BearBiologist

Buckeye
Joined
Dec 4, 2021
Messages
1,832
I fail to grasp "WHY"?

I have Ruger SAs in 45 Colt, 41 mag, 44 mag, and 454 Casull, as well as Glocks in 357 Sig, 40 S & W, and 10mm. I can use my Glock 20 or load down 41 mags. The 10mm is a good cartridge but a lot less trouble to simply use my Glock 20 (and more rounds). If I want more, I'll hot load my 45 Colt Blackhawk or use my 454 Casull SBH (Reeder Custom). Or simply look for a 10mm Ruger (probably cheaper).

Both Lipsey's ($$$$) and Omaha Outdoors have 10mm Ruger DAs in stock.
 
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Biggfoot44

Blackhawk
Joined
Sep 6, 2009
Messages
829
I get it . Just Because is sufficient reason for a Project , and sometimes Really Obscure is a Feature , not a Bug .

At first glance ( the gun portion) would seem relatively simple . New ( inner) bbl of proper diameter and external threads is basic stuff for any reasonably competent 'smith . Rechamber cylinder , with sourcing the reamer being the challenging part . If you don't persue further action work or customization , you're done .

That said ; That's a really long bullet jump with .40 S&W .
 

flexjr

Bearcat
Joined
Oct 30, 2013
Messages
28
Why kill a maximum for a 10 mm mag? Pretty sure you can use a standard cylinder length gun to do that conversion.
 

Biggfoot44

Blackhawk
Joined
Sep 6, 2009
Messages
829
Dang , y'all made me actually look into the 10mm Magnum

Featured round in AMT's AutoMag lV . And pretty much only the AutoMag lV .

Performance more or less equivalent to
41 Mag . John Taffin has published data for 10mmM

There is a degree of talk around the internet about lengthening the chambers on S&W M610 , to allow the use of
40 , 10mm , and 10mm Mag with Moon Clips .

To the extent that this is a worthwhile concept,. the best starting point is a large frame DA Revolver , already using 10mm in Moon Clips .

Unless I'm overlooking something really . really obscure , that's a catagory of One , the S&W M610 .

A .357 Maximum donor plat form offers no advantages , has it's own disadvantages , and the .357 Maximum is a desirable rarity its own self .

The OP would be best served to aquire a M610 for this project , and use the Maximum for a different project involving a rimmed ctg of suitable length .
 

TENFAN

Single-Sixer
Joined
Mar 15, 2000
Messages
226
Location
TALLAHASSEE,FL USA
I have a S&W 620 that I had the chamber lengthened to 10mm. The gun is currently with Jack Huntington having a .357 cylinder converted to .38-40 and fitted to the gun. I would talk to him about it
 

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KurtC

Single-Sixer
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Dec 17, 2007
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New Jersey
30 years ago, when Smith and Wesson came out with the 610, I had Hamilton Bowen rechamber the cylinder to 10mm magnum and remark the barrel.

200gr bullets were around 1400fps. The recoil would cause the bullets in the taper crimped auto cartridges to creep forward in the cylinder, so a heavy or roll crimp must be used.

You can use 10mm or .40 in an emergency, but the excessive free-bore effects accuracy. The powder residue makes it difficult to switch back to 10mm Magnum.
 

Onty

Single-Sixer
Joined
Dec 17, 2000
Messages
491
Easy to say , harder to do . You have to have a lathe to use the 41 mag brass properly.
I use shortened 30-30 brass as I can get it done with my meager skills and tools.
Not so difficult as it looks, no need for lathe. Strong press, 10 mm die and STP or Lucas lube should be enough:

#19 According to John Taffin's writings, all you need to do is run .41Mag cases through a carbide 10mm sizer die and voila.

# 20Yes, a .401 Herter shooter/reloader told me that he did that very thing regularly whenever he wanted to do some cheap shooting. I guess that's why my nephew was also tickled over the once-fired .41 Mag brass I gave him.


As a matter of fact, I was thinning rim cases on the lathe when making .455 Webley Mk I brass. Very soon I gave up working on lathe and made small tool to squeeze the rim https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...unshaved-webley-mark-vi.887034/#post-11912354 , post #25.

Yeah, another thing better on paper then in reality .
Sure, it would work but I can't see a cylinder with that much free bore being much of a shooter with the shorter rounds. Sure 38/357 or 44Mag//44SPL. pull it off but 45C/45ACP not so much.
Often it's better to have one size brass and download when desired.
I agree with with you. As a matter of fact, I never shoot 38 $ 44 Special loads from 357 & 44 Magnum revolvers. If I need target loads for 357 or 44 Magnum, I search and work until I got a good one, there are plenty of good target loads for these two calibers. Of course, I wouldn't go on serious bullseye competition with magnum revolvers. In that case I will get one of those wonderful 38 Special S&W revolvers

So, if for 10 mm for various 10 mm cartridges, I would rather go with Blackhawk 38-40/10 mm Auto convertible, and additional cylinder for 40 S&W.
 
Joined
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I was thinking about making a 10 mm magnum revolver out of my dan wesson 357 super mag that's a 357 maxium .I have an extra barrel or could get one made and a cylinder for 10 mm magnum to shoot 10 mm mag 10 mm and 40 sw ...

I like your idea, since it sounds like you would be able to convert back and forth between the two calibers! I expect you would have to have the barrel made, or your spare .357 Max barrel rebored to 10mm, because I don't think sleeving a larger caliber barrel down to 10mm would work. IIRC, Dan Wesson used different barrel/frame threads for the different calibers, to prevent KABOOMS (someone attempting to fire a .429 projectile through a .357 barrel, for example). Obviously, you would want to minimize that possibility with your custom 'convertible', as well.
 

JStacy

Blackhawk
Joined
May 6, 2016
Messages
503
Location
south Texas
Starline has 10mm mag brass. Jeff Quinn on Gun Blast site did a 10mm Match Champion out to 10MM Mag . He had Tyler gun works in west Texas do the conversion , although I am sure Alex Hamilton could do the job well and probably a little cheaper. I have has two friends who used Gary Reeder and were not happy with the work he did. Buy a 10 mm Super red hawk and have it converted and you would already be set up
for moon clips and all. If you had a custom cylinder made for your DW , Doug Turnbull does those, it with the custom barrel would cost almost the same amount as a new 10MM SRH or 10 MM Match Champion. Your money your choice but I would put Garry Reeder down the list aways if no other smith would do the work. I would check Alex Hamilton , 10 ring precision, first to do the work on which ever gun you do the conversion on. I know Alex, very good man, and excellent gunsmith and I would highly recommend him. Jim
 

aciera

Bearcat
Joined
Jul 23, 2016
Messages
76
Well a 10mm is about a 357 in HP
A10mm Mag about a 41 Mag.
I was thinking about lengthening the 10mm chambers in a converted SingleSix.
No reason to go to a supermag frame.
Do a 414 on that....
 

Moki

Bearcat
Joined
Dec 4, 2005
Messages
46
Location
BC, Canada
I have shot 10mm since 1988 but in semiauto handgun I also have a 18" T/C Custom Shop Contender carbine barrel in 10mm.

I've been dreaming about getting it rechambered to 10mm magnum for years but find the project keeps getting shelved this thread has revived my interest again.

I just checked my local reloading component supplier/gunsmith website it shows he has both 10mm brass and 500 10mm magnum Starline brass in stock which would be enough to get me started for a long time.

This is my 10mm Contender carbine scope is a Leupold 2.5x compact

 

needsmostuff

Blackhawk
Joined
Sep 4, 2008
Messages
525
Location
Tucson,AZ
Not so difficult as it looks, no need for lathe. Strong press, 10 mm die and STP or Lucas lube should be enough:

#19 According to John Taffin's writings, all you need to do is run .41Mag cases through a carbide 10mm sizer die and voila.

# 20Yes, a .401 Herter shooter/reloader told me that he did that very thing regularly whenever he wanted to do some cheap shooting. I guess that's why my nephew was also tickled over the once-fired .41 Mag brass I gave him.
Sorry for the long delay on what is close to a zombie thread but I just saw your response.
I was afraid someone will try this and ruin some equipment.
Don't care where you read it that does not work . Good press bad press carbide die super lube whatever , won't work.
The cartridge will size nicely till you hit the rib . Dead stop. That is solid brass and will not compress ,not even little .
If you pull it out there it looks like a belted mag rifle case.
If you try to force it thru I can guarantee it will get stuck hard enough to rip the rim off trying to extract it.
In my case it actually pulled out the carbide ring also!

Back to the part about looking like a belted case. That's where the lathe comes in , turning that belt off.
I have danced this dance and that is simply the facts.
If you believe you have seen Taffin write something different I would like to see a reference because fellas are gonna lose dies trying.
 

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