Colt joins the 10mm revival with Delta Elite's rebirth

Reports of the demise of 10mm pistols are greatly exaggerated, as Mark Twain said about himself when finding his obituary in his morning newspaper. At right is the new/old Colt Delta Elite 10mm Stainless, an old 10mm pistol newly brought back into production by Colt.

I love my job as a gun store salesman and gunbroker poster for a local gun shop, which is how I came to hold this fine piece of Colt workmanship in my hands and take photos of it for posting. It's up on gunbroker now for a mere $950 if you want one.

(P.S. Too late. The Colt Delta Elite is already sold. It didn't stay on gunbroker but a bit more than 24 hours. That was fast!)

I wrote earlier about the revival under way in 10mm pistols and being a 10mm gun lover, I'm delighted at this market correction. Frankly IMHO there is no finer pistol caliber than 10mm. It offers the size and grain weight that nearly equals the famed one-shot stopper .45 ACP with ballistics that far outstrip that caliber.

In my view, 10mm is the perfect pistol caliber and I'm still perplexed as to why the .40 S&W, which is a shortened 10mm, didn't find a way into my heart. Millions of law enforcement and civilians love .40s, so I expected I would, too. But alas, when I bought my first it turned out to be probably my last also. I bought a Steyr M40-A1, loving Steyr pistols, but I just didn't care for the caliber when it came to actually shooting it.

It's recoil is sort of weird, a slapping kind of torque that twists in my hand and I've got pretty big hands. I love shooting 10mm, .357 Sig, .45 ACP, .44 Magnum, .44 Special and all three flavors of 9mm I've tried, 9x19, 9x23 and 9x25, but I just don't like .40. So I swapped it for a 9x19mm.

But getting back to 10mm, I met a genuine fellow 10mm gun nut the other day in the gun shop. This gentleman has an entire collection of Bren Ten pistols and is one of the early members of the Bren-Ten Forum, where he snatched up the username of SCrockett for Sonny Crockett.

In case you're not an old gun nut like me, Sonny Crockett was the Bren-Ten-carrying detective in Miami Vice, that TV cop show of the olden days, recently revived as a cop movie.

And the Bren Ten, the daddy rabbit of 10mm pistols, is supposedly being revived also by gun manufacturer Vltor under a new name, the Fortis. According to the Vltor blog, its promised arrival in early 2009 has been pushed back a bit due to overwhelming demand for other products, in particular military contracts. I'm looking forward to seeing my first Fortis.

10mm Pistol's Demise 'Greatly Exaggerated'

In addition to being gun nut in general and a pistol nut in particular, I'm even more peculiar than that. I'm a weird caliber lover. Love .357 Sig. Love .44 Special. Love 9x25mm (DoubleTap only).

Had a brief fling with .38 Super and 9x23mm Winchester, but they didn't work out. Not due to the calibers but because the barrel to convert my Glock 20 was "experiental" and it wouldn't feed properly. I'm still hopeful of a conversion barrel for my G20 that will actually work.

But until then, I am also a certified 10mm nut. First pistol I bought after 9/11 was a S&W 1076, the FBI duty weapon from 1990-95 until the feds wimped out and went with .40 S&W. I traded it straight up for a highly customized G29, the "baby" Glock in 10mm with a 3.76" barrel. Can you say pocket rocket? And of course, I also bought a G20 which is fine full-size 10mm pistol. (See my pair of 10's above, G29 and G20.)

And lo and behold, after being written off as dead, 10mm caliber is making a comeback, almost as if it's quoting Mark Twain, saying "Reports of my demise have been greatly exaggerated."

One of my gun-nut buddies says:

10mm is making a little bit of a comeback:

Glock is supposed to release the G20SF and G29SF this month.

Colt is making a new 1911 Delta Elite 10mm that should be out soon.

EAA has a bunch of 10mm options.

The latter refers to European-American Armory, which imports the full line of Italian Tangfolio pistols which are available in compact, full-size and even long slide with scope mounts in 10mm, as well as .38 Super, 9mm, .40 S&W and .45 ACP. Swap a slide and you got any caliber you want.

And now in other 10mm comeback news, the daddy rabbit of all the 10mm pistols, the very first one which was almost still-born, the Bren Ten, may be resurrected soon under a new name!

Quote:

Tucson, AZ - Feb 01, 2008 - Vltor Weapon Systems today announced the launch of the Fortis Pistol Project, a modern version of the famous Bren Ten style pistol. Originally released in 1982, the Bren Ten pistol was designed to advance the state of the art in handgun technology. Designed to fill the need for a full size, full power, double action pistol, the Bren Ten created immense interest as a potent choice for law enforcement and military use. Developed as a pistol and cartridge combination, the Bren Ten was the first production pistol to chamber the powerful 10mm Auto cartridge. In its original loading, the 10mm Auto was capable of launching a 170gr buller at 1,300 fps - generating over 600ft/lb of muzzle energy. Unfortunately, the original Bren Ten and its successor fell victim to business management and financial problems - but the demand for a high quality American made, full size, double action pistol has still not been filled. According to Eric Kincel, the General Manager for Vltor, the Bren Ten may have truly been a design that was ahead of its time; "Now is the time to make this pistol. With today's precision manufacturing techniques and the superior materials available, the Fortis will be a pistol line that is everything people hoped previous attempts would be." Eric pointed out that the Fortis is nearly identical to the original Bren Ten in exterior appearance and ergonomics, but that some changes have been made to improve reliability, safety and strength. "The Fortis, while based on a twwnty-five year old idea, is very unique. It offers a high tech, high quality pistol that more than fills the demands for a full size, magnum power auto loader." The first released Fortis will be a "duty gun", a full size, all steel, high capacity 10mm Auto that will reliably answer the call of professionals and sportsmen that rely on a good pistol. However, Eric is quick to point out that the Fortis Project is a line of pistols based on one common design. "There will be other versions of the Fortis...different calibers, sizes and options specific to certain applications." When asked if they intend on releasing a faithful reproduction of the original Bren Ten, Eric's answer was simply "We sure want to". Fortis Pistol Proposed Specifications (subject to change in final production) * Manufacturer - Vltor Weapon Systems * Model - Fortis (original release) * Type - autoloading pistol * Operation - Semi-automatic, Double/single action * Caliber - 10mm Auto (others to follow) * Barrel length - 5.00" * Overall length - 8.75" * Height - 5.75" * Width - 1.30" * Weight - 38 ounces * Safety - reversible thumb and firing pin block * Sight radius - 6.88" * Sights - Adjustable, 3-Dot combat style * Rifling - 5 Groove, radiused, RH twist * Stocks - Engraved polymer panels * Capacity 0 12 rounds * Finish - Black Steel Slide and Subdued Finish Stainless Frame" http://www.vltor.com/ and http://vltor.wordpress.com/

From the most recent entry on the Vltor-Fortis Pistol blog, Dec. 10, 08:

Quote:

Fortis Pistol receivers after undergoing final QC inspection and waiting for the machine operations -- by the time you read this, they will be being made into the last run of pre-production guns, the next round will be for delivery!

Last word is they're shooting for SHOT '09 for the unveiling of the new Fortis/Bren Ten II, which is Jan. 15-18 in Orlando, Fl.

No photos of the complete Fortis pistol on their site except this thumbnail.

Here's what some of the originals look like from Bren-Ten.com, the definitive source:




Sounds like a good plan to me.