A Mech-Tech carbine in 45ACP is certainly versatile and practical weapon, but a Mech-Tech carbine in 10mm is a Future Weapon. A 10mm Mech-Tech carbine is perhaps the only 10mm carbine available today. Though HK did make a 10mm SMG.
I would really like to see a 10mm Mech-Tech carbine on an episode of Future Weapons.
A carbine chambered for a rifle round is vastly more capable, though. Interchangable ammo has never been that popular in practice, though. Even in the 19th century, Winchester never chambered a carbine in .45 long Colt.
I agree FW1000. I personally like the idea of a pistol and carbine pair. I have had a matching pair in 44mag, a Super Redhawk revolver and a Marlin 1894. I reloaded my ammo and wanted to be able to reload one cartridge for both handgun and rifle. I no longer have this pair, but liked the common ammo usage. A 44mag out of a rifle is a potent round, plenty enough for deer, boar and black bear. The 44 mag pistol was defineatly not a concealed carry gun and had more power than I wanted in a pistol. That was a few years ago. I currently have a Glock 29 10mm pistol that I conceal carry. I'm looking at the Mech-tech CCU's for the same reasons as before. The 10mm is potent yet manageable in a handgun, out of a carbine, even more so. Load one ammo type, interchangeable ammo and magazines, same trigger feel, function and action, it's a solid idea. As far as home defense goes, I feel it would be perfect. More accuracy, control and range than a shotgun. Plenty of power to be effective, but not the overkill of a true rifled cartridge in that setting. Would I want to be dropped in the middle of Iraq with a 10mm Mech-tech CCU as my only weapon? Nope. Would I want confront an intruder with a .308 carbine rifle in my house with a wife and kids, in my suburban neighborhood? Not really. As far as I'm concerned, there isn't one gun that is perfect for every possible application. Pistol caliber carbines do have their place, and in those specific applications, they shine. From the battlefields of WWll, to the modern day police cruiser, pistol caliber carbines have their place, and a 10mm carbine would be ideal.
The fact remains that even the 'vaunted' 10mm is a pistol class cartridge. It has neither the power nor the range of even a light rifle cartridge. Having a carbine sized weapon firing a pistol powered cartridge is counter-productive. It doesn't make sense to have a weapon the same size as an assualt rifle but fire a vastly inferior round. You might as well shoot the target with your sidearm. The whole purpose of a shoulder arm is to have a weapon that totally eclipses the sidearm in power, accuracy and range. That is the very reason why most SWAT and military CQB teams have totally dropped SMGs like the MP5 in favor of carbine assualt rifles like the M4.
Well you can tell that to all the Whitetails and Mulies that have been droped by a Ruger Deerfield Carbine (Mini-14) in .44 Magnum revolver cartridge. Im sure they will agree it was counter-productive.
Per many sources I have looked up the average 10mm velocity hovers right around 1300fps with about 600ft/lbs (plus or minue depending on the weight of the bullet) of energy at the muzzle. Granted out of a carbine those figures will be slighter higher due to the longer barrel but not significantly so. This is comparable to an old M1 carbine, which while a good weapon, is outclassed by modern assault rifles.
An M16A2 firing M855 ammo has a velocity of 3000+fps at the muzzle and ~1300-2000ft/lbs (plus or minus depending on the factory loading)....but it will also retain velocity and energy longer due to it's more effiecient BC. That last part is the big difference. A 10mm MAY have higher velocity and ft/lbs at the muzzle, but it will lose it fast due to it's big, wide flat bullet.
So in effect, it's STILL not in the same class as an assualt rifle for comparable size and weight of weapon. Believe me, if the 10mm round was better we'd be using it (as there are several SMG's and carbine size weapons that chamber it).
A 25% increase in velocity over pistol ballistics can be realized with a 16 inch barrel. Even Higher velocities are possible, up to 40%, when hand loaded with slower burning powder.
