Heavy 10mm 220 Grain Berry’s FP-TP Bullet

Berry’s 220 grain 10mm flat nose thick plate bullet is a welcome addition to their extensive lineup of target bullets. It caters specifically to the group of shooters who wish to use a very heavy bullet from their 10mm pistol. For target practice, handloads built with this bullet can substitute quite nicely for the expensive specialty bear-defense 10mm ammunition commercially available.

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About the 10mm

The 10mm semi-auto cartridge first appeared in 1983, but the original pistol suffered from a lack of suitable magazines. Colt and Smith and Wesson were both interested in the powerful cartridge and produced pistols for it. The FBI and other law enforcement agencies adopted it for a time, but quickly replaced it with the more compact .40 S&W.

The 10mm languished for some years, but soon attracted the attention of handgun hunters and outdoorsmen who wanted a semi-auto for defense against wild animals, particularly bears. Handguns for bear defense have traditionally been large, heavy, powerful revolvers in .41, .44, .45 and even larger calibers. The 10mm semi-auto falls a little short of that power level, but it is easier to shoot well, often weighs less, and holds more ammunition.

The revolver vs. 10mm semi-auto debate will likely continue for a long time. Both have proven themselves against attacking bears, and it is undeniable that the 10mm semi-auto continues to gain more popularity.

About Berry’s 10mm 220 Grain Flat Point-Thick Plate Bullet

Heavy 10mm bullets are intended for bear defense or use on other large animals. 200 grain, 220 grain, and even heavier 10mm bullets are available for handloaders or in loaded ammunition. Deep penetration with a handgun bullet depends on weight, shape, and bullet construction. A heavy weight, a flat nose or meplat, and a relatively long bullet length are all key in getting the deep penetration required to reach the vitals on a large charging bear.

Most loaded 10mm specialty ammunition intended for bear defense is quite expensive, ranging from $1 to over $2 per round of ammo! The Berry’s 220 grain flat point thick plate bullet is intended as a high quality, clean-shooting, budget-friendly practice bullet for such occasions. These bullets have a different construction from a conventional jacketed handgun bullet: plated with a lead core. Loading it provides an alternative to practicing with expensive specialty 10mm ammunition.

From Berry’s Bullets:

Berry’s Superior Plated Bullets® are the finest bonded copper-jacketed bullets available today. Starting with a swaged lead core, they are electroplated with copper to their final weight, leaving no lead exposure. They are then re-struck to precise specifications, ensuring a solid bond and providing consistency with every round. Indoor range safe and unbelievably accurate, Berry’s Superior Plated Bullets® are the choice of shooters everywhere.

Specifications:

- - Cartridge Name: 10mm
  - Cartridge O.A.L.: 1.250″
  - Max Velocity: 1500 fps
  - Bullet OAL: .716″

- Load data for our Superior Plated Bullets® can be found in any manual or on any powder manufacturer’s website.
- Cast or jacketed data with the same grain weight and profile will work with our bullets.
- You can use a taper or a roll crimp.
- Don’t over crimp the brass after seating. This causes bullet core separation, leading to increased copper fouling and accuracy issues.
- Don’t exceed the recommended maximum velocities listed. This creates bullet core separation and accuracy issues.

Berry’s designed these bullets for target practice. These thick plate bullets have a suggested maximum velocity rating of 1250 fps on the box, but Berry’s has updated that to 1500 fps, which is well above what can be achieved with this heavy of a bullet from a 10mm semi-auto pistol.

Handloaders can use published load data for any cast or jacketed 220 grain 10mm bullet for this projectile, but it’s important to crimp moderately to avoid damaging the plating. A heavy crimp can damage the plating and lead to poor performance.

I’ve shot thousands of Berry’s plated handgun bullets over the years, from both revolvers and semi-auto handguns. I find them to be clean-shooting bullets, leaving little to no bullet residue in the barrel. They have also been impressively accurate. I consider them as a great bullet for handgun practice at a reasonable price.

We tested some 200 grain Berry’s bullets in full-power 10mm loads a few months ago. Those loads averaged 1147 fps from a 4.6” GLOCK 20.

This 220 grain Berry’s Bullet offers a chance to replicate the bullet weight of various specialty bear-defense 10mm ammunition offerings at a great savings.

Cost Savings

For this article, I searched for 220 grain and heavier 10mm ammunition. I pulled data for high-quality ammunition that is worth every penny when faced with an angry bear, but expensive for blasting at targets.

The Berry’s 220 grain plated bullet offers handloaders an inexpensive option at $0.20 per bullet. It’s worth noting that the cost of new brass is about half the expense of each round of handloaded ammo. Collecting, cleaning and reusing the expended brass cases makes the handloads even more of a bargain.

The Load and Tests

Some 220 grain specialty ammo is rated at over 1100 fps from a 4.6” GLOCK, but Hodgdon’s online reloading data center topped out at velocities in the 900 fps range. I chose Hodgdon’s CFE Pistol for this test as it showed good promise with the online data.

CFE Pistol flowed nicely through the Lyman powder measure and produced tight ES and SD figures.

Hodgdon’s listed maximum load of 5.8 grains produced a disappointing 875 fps average, about 100 fps below what had been predicted. It was, however, a pleasant load to shoot.

I decided to bump up the powder charge a bit without getting too wild. It’s good to remember the limitations of the handgun. At 6.2 grains, the 220 grain Berry’s was averaging 931 fps. The recoil was more noticeable but not obnoxious.

Do not use this data! Always be very cautious about approaching or exceeding published maximum powder charges.

Building the ammunition was a straightforward process. I used Lyman’s Brass Smith All-American 8-station turret press, a proven favorite of mine, with Hornady dies.

I used the expander die to slightly flare the case mouth for easy bullet seating and I primed off-press using the Frankford Arsenal Platinum Series Perfect Seat Hand Primer.

This priming tool easily accommodates a hundred large pistol primers and has adjustable seating depth. My load used Winchester large pistol primers, but any standard large pistol primer will work. There is no need for a magnum pistol primer with these loads. The Lyman powder measure threw charges of CFE Pistol that were within 0.2 grains of each other.

After checking to make sure that all of the cases were appropriately charged, I seated the bullets and crimped them with a taper-crimp die. I greatly prefer using a taper crimp with semi-autos.

It helps build reliable ammo that feeds extremely well. Even with a taper crimp, take it easy. Too aggressive a crimp can harm the plating on these bullets and can also buckle the case during the loading process.

The GLOCK G20 is likely the most popular 10mm semi-auto on the market. It’s been available for decades and is reasonably priced. The standard magazines hold 15 cartridges each, which should be plenty for most bear encounters!

To accommodate a steady diet of heavy 10mm loads, consider installing a higher strength recoil spring of 20 pounds or more. That can help avoid damage to the pistol. We did not change out the standard recoil spring and observed no problems with the GLOCK pistol.

Short on time, I didn’t do any formal accuracy testing. Informal shooting on steel out to 20 yards showed that the load was quite accurate, hammering the same area of the targets when I did a good job of shooting the GLOCK. My conclusion? It’s more than accurate enough for good training.

Conclusion

Shooting the big GLOCK is always fun! These heavier loads required me to pay more attention to my grip and to recoil control.

The ammunition I’d crafted was reliable, accurate, and hard-hitting, even in the 900 fps range. For training purposes, these handloads with the 220 grain Berry’s Bullet are a good substitute for expensive specialty ammunition.