I love stories about turkey hunting; the skills, the planning, the stalk, the choice of shells and shotguns. This time of year, all I have to do is walk out the front or back door of the house and there are large flocks roosting on the lawn and nearby trees, or playing those freaky turkey games. Once they hear the door open, it isn’t pretty. They stampede into the surrounding woods, leaping for low branches, trampling one another, bouncing off of shrubs. Heck, I just walk out and pick up the ones that are knocked unconscious. Sorry for the digression, it takes me a bit to settle in and focus…
I want to say that the Remington 1911 R1 10mm Auto needed some of my personally finessed handloads to extract all of its potential. Actually, I was having so much fun shooting the pistol I burned up all of the factory ammo on hand and had to crank out some handloads. That’s OK, it presented an opportunity to expand the checkout into a broader array of ammunition.
Left, from left to right – The first bullet is a basic 155 grain Remington jacketed hollow point made for 40 S&W and 10mm Auto application, typically sold in bulk and relatively inexpensive. It is a well made bullet and will not fragment at 10mm Auto velocities.
The second bullet is a 180 grain brass jacketed hollow point Remington that is loaded into Remington Golden Saber and Ultimate Defense ammunition. I tend to use the same at anappropriate weight in lots of my defensive handguns. Pushed, they nearly double in size, penetrate well as a defense against human assailants and they do not fall apart.
The 180 Grain Remington BJHP is a land rider. The heel of the bullet is groove diameter, everything forward is bore diameter as pictured right. It cuts down on bore friction and still delivers good accuracy.
The third bullet, the Hornady XTP/Mag is a 200 grain tough jacketed bullet that is excellent for hunting. It expands less than the Remington bullet, even at elevated 10mm Auto velocities and is a good pick for hogs and deer as a jacketed bullet.
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Rather than to metaphorically drive down the road and into a ditch with handload development and a short schedule, the handloads listed are those I have worked with in the past, but represent mainstream reloading manual data. I planned to shoot the Remington R1 Hunter from a Ransom Rest, but weather and schedule changed that to me, a couple of hands and a couple of bags of shot. So the best way to look at the Hunter’s accuracy is better than an old guy with bifocals.
Alliant Power Pistol is excellent in moderate capacity handgun cartridges. It is relatively low in cost, easy to meter or scale, charge performance will calculate out within a few FPS, and it is consistent from one lot to the next.
I want to like CFE. I must, because I keep trying to work it into my handloads. Hodgdon marketing data says no copper fouling, top velocity and minimal muzzle flash. Empirically I can say it does produce low muzzle flash, can’t really see the difference in copper fouling and it always is low on the velocity totem pole. It did work out well on the down loaded 180 grain, it did have low flash and it would work as an easy to handle home defense load.
Blue Dot… I am not sure what made Alliant lose its mind and trash their own product, Blue Dot, for a period of time. Apparently, they have gotten over whatever it was and now represent it without reservation. It remains, as it has for many years, in wide use and in mainstream reloading manual listings. If you don’t mind a bit of muzzle flash, it does a good job with the 10mm Auto in getting excellent velocity at reasonable pressure levels.
Longshot is another good, consistent powder that works well in the 10mm Auto. It burns clean, generates moderate muzzle flash and seemed a bit soft on recoil or recoil acceleration. I tried Alliant 2400 just to get to the limit of slow powder possibilities and it did not work well at all. It is terrific and most of my rimmed cartridge loads like the 44 Mag, hot 45 Colt loads, the 454, etc. where case capacity is a bit greater and bullet weights a little heavier. I think Power Pistol took the lighter weight performance award and Blue Dot on the heavy end.
The thing is, the 10mm Auto is a moderate capacity cartridge. At 24 grains, it holds approximately 1 grain less than the 45 Auto, so its power comes from pouring on pressure; 37,500 PSI compared to the 45 Auto’s 21,000 PSI. By comparison the 41 Magnum holds approximately 35 grains and the 44 Magnum just under 40 grains. Very slow burning powder will not get it done with the 10mm Auto.
A handful of a pistol, but not a handful to manage
The Remington 1911 R1 Hunter is hand filling and does feel like an extension of the hand. It is one of those pistols that you know you can hit with and it will hit with convincing power. I shoot a lot of 45 Auto 230 grain in maximum loads. The big 10mm loads seem less in recoil with perhaps a shorter recoil impulse than the 45. I went through a pile of ammo and my hand and wrist felt no stress, the grips didn’t abrade and the pistol stayed tight from start to finish.
I could easily see hunting deer in this part of Maine. The trees and brush are dense, the terrain is steep and rocky. having the R1 Hunter in a hunting rig would make it so easy getting around and that long sight radius would make for critical shot placement.
So what do I have to grumble about? I think I might clean up the trigger a bit to lose any tiny remnants of creep and get the pull resistance down closer to the 4 lb mark… Alternatively, I will just keep shooting the pistol will eventually get there on its own. Very nice pistol, terrific combination.
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