There never was much wrong with the venerable .45 ACP, or the 9mm. Both have been around for decades. But the .45 is a big ugly, slow round that limits how much you can put into a handgun, and the 9mm is perceived as weak by law enforcement—simply because some shooters think you need to fire a lot of them to compensate for lazy technique.

Anyway, with regret, we see that the FBI has elected to standardize on the 10mm round, a new cartridge that attempts to balance the worst of the .45 ACP and 9mm. In other words, we found a way to take the trendiness of the 9mm and put too much recoil behind it.

The Czar predicts that despite its better-than-.45 range and greater-than-9mm recoil, this round is a dud. No doubt all the .45 and 9mm manufacturers are retooling their existing stock to 10mm-mogrify them, which historically always results in a crappy weapon, as opposed to designing something from scratch.

Here is a simple suggestion. Why not start over? Take something that can be more easily retrofitted into existing weapons but offers more energy (say a shade over 10mm, like 10.16mm?). Heck, the case head could be the same, making it easier to convert weapons without crippling their utility. And by using a slightly larger caliber, you can reduce the length proportionately and get great performance for a fraction of the recoil. A good manufacturer, like Smith & Wesson, could probably get a round like this in actual weapons within four years. Glock could probably get a competitive version out in the same time or less.

Just a thought.

The Czar of Muscovy

Божію Поспѣшествующею Милостію Мы, Дима Грозный Императоръ и Самодержецъ Всероссiйскiй, цѣсарь Московскiй. The Czar was born in the steppes of Russia in 1267, and was cheated out of total control of all Russia upon the death of Boris Mikhailovich, who replaced Alexander Yaroslav Nevsky in 1263. However, in 1283, our Czar was passed over due to a clerical error and the rule of all Russia went to his second cousin Daniil (Даниил Александрович), whom Czar still resents. As a half-hearted apology, the Czar was awarded control over Muscovy, inconveniently located 5,000 miles away just outside Chicago. He now spends his time seething about this and writing about other stuff that bothers him.