Is the .40 S&W cartridge compatible with 10mm? Consider: it's the same bullet the case is shorter & if IIRC, the case is the same diameter it's like a 10mm Special
Well, yeah. It's my understanding that 10mm was a bit too much for the FBI, so they scaled it down and made .40.
heh, heh, OK, to head off any potential flame war... I have a G23 and I absolutely love the .40 S&W cartridge.
Yeah, its like a .380 ACP and 9mm. Similar dimensions, except length, but you can't shoot one from a gun designed for the other.
As I understand, the headspace on the 10mm round isn't compatible with a .40 chamber. I could be wrong. It's happened once before.
Short answer...no. Long answer, it depends. It all has to do with feeding. 10mm is too long to fit in a .40 S&W autoloader, and .40 S&W is too short to feed properly, and probably too weak to cycle the action, of a 10mm semi-auto. As someone said, it's like the difference between .380 and 9mm Luger. If you had a revolver chambered in 10mm (I've heard of such beasts, but I believe they're custom made), you could shoot .40 SW just fine in it most likely, because the differences in case length wouldn't matter. This is why .38 Special (a shorter and weaker cartridge) can fire in a .357 magnum revolver (a longer, more powerful cartridge with the same width). If you buy the Ruger Redhawks with the convertible cylinders, you can even shoot 9mm Luger out of your .357 (same width, cylinder just has to be able to handle moonclips since 9mm is a rimless cartridge).
ulm, the 9mm case has a slight taper to it whereas the .380 is a straight case. Also the .380 case is designed to have pressure blowback around the case to cycle the action, the 9mm uses recoil. You can fire a .380ACP round in a 9mm gun for sure, but you will notice alot of blowback (black scorch marks) all around the case of the .380 if fired in a 9mm chamber. It is theorized that continued shooting of a .380 in a gun with a 9mm chamber will eventually damage the metal in the chamber because the gas isn't properly sealed with the .380 case. The gas is hot enough to "cut" the metal from what I understand. This would especially be bad if the frame is either aluminum or polymer. You would also have to cycle the action on the gun everytime you wish to shoot. .380 in a 9mm not a good idea and never should be considered unless in dire of circumstances. Ofcourse, NEVER try to fire a 9mm round out of a .380ACP pistol. Even if you manage to get the action to close, the pistol would blow up if a 9mm round was fired in a .380ACP pistol.