Range
Before heading out to shoot, this pistol spoke to me and requested the DoubleTap diet. I get it because DoubleTap Ammunition cut their chops on beefy and boomy 10mm loads back in the day. That plan worked for me, so I rounded up an assortment of hardcast, light-for-caliber, lead-free FMJ and jacketed hollowpoint ammo, all in the black and blue boxes.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to follow and signup for notifications!
Before I broke into the premium, I tested out a practice handload I whipped up. I made this one to be a pussycat practice load, even somewhat light by .40 S&W standards. I used 6.0 grains of Vihtavuouri N320 to drive a 155-grain plated bullet. I chrony-ed this one at just 1,060 fps — a true pleasure to shoot, but the only thing 10mm about it was the cartridge case. When I shot for accuracy at 25 yards, it pleasantly surprised me, turning in a 1.14? five-shot group. Considering I didn’t even try for precision with this batch, consider me lucky. I took this as a sign of things to come with the real stuff, so I broke out the boomier ammo.
The DoubleTap FMJ weighs in at 200 grains and zipped along from the 4.5? barrel at an average of 1,058.3 fps. A 25-yard grouping measured 1.95?.
Next up, I went with an interesting carry load. The DT 155-grain lead-free is an all-copper bullet, and its lighter weight allowed me to break the 1,240-fps barrier by a couple of feet per second. Accuracy: 2.02?.
The Godfather of Boom at DoubleTap also makes a 200-grain hardcast load for occasions when deep penetration matters. This one clocked in at 1,149.7 fps and produced a 2.53? group.
Last, I checked out two different controlled expansion JHP loads. The 150-grain moved at 1,357.5 fps and grouped into 1.24?. The 200-grain offering clocked 1,107 fps and produced a 1.29? group.
I have to say I wasn’t surprised by the frequency of one-inch-plus groups. I’d reviewed a 9mm XD-M Elite model some time back and found it shot exceptionally well too.
Want a little more beef for home defense, carry, or those trips into the wild? Consider a super-sized XD-M Elite.
Subscribe To American Handgunner
