200@1200, and 180@1300 is full 10mm performance, and a properly made Delta barrel can handle that.
Have you actually shot your Delta, or just worried about it?
I've shot those loads through mine with no issues.
I did have a case head blow out, one time, but that was a "barely over .40 load" in what was probably a tired case reloaded too many times.
I've seen some pics of Delta barrels that appeared to be way over throated, and those barrels are probably not going to work with hot rounds; is your gun a 1st generation model from the '80s-'90s, or a newer one?

 

200@1200, and 180@1300 is full 10mm performance, and a properly made Delta barrel can handle that.
Have you actually shot your Delta, or just worried about it?
I've shot those loads through mine with no issues.
I did have a case head blow out, one time, but that was a "barely over .40 load" in what was probably a tired case reloaded too many times.
I've seen some pics of Delta barrels that appeared to be way over throated, and those barrels are probably not going to work with hot rounds; is your gun a 1st generation model from the '80s-'90s, or a newer one?

Mine is the newer one with the beaver tail

 

Welcome to the forum.

My experience pretty much mirrors Rick’s.

I had one of the first ever runs of the Delta and had no case issues. And that was in the mid 80’s when the only ammo available was the hot stuff from Norma.

The reason I sold the gun was due to reported issues of the frame cracking and I didn’t want to get stuck with a bum gun.

Twenty years later I bought a new Stainless Delta and another one 6-8 years later. I’ve yet to have any case issues and I do actually reload the 10 mm.

Though I am somewhat ambivalent toward Colt, there are some guys that look for any excuse to bash them or just repeat what they heard so they appear to be knowledgeable.

 

I bought a Colt Delta rail gun around 2018 and had a lot of issues before I sold it about 9 months ago.

The nylon recoil spring guide cracked apart into dust and broke on me after 500 rounds which made an absolute mess of mangled plastic bits inside my gun. You might consider a flat wire recoil spring and full length guide rod. Colt customer service sent me the wrong replacement part, so it took over 4 weeks to get a recoil spring plug back from them. The extractor was not properly tuned - it had many failures to extract and it could not bind an empty case rim to the breech face. It arrived to my LGS (by order) with a scratch on the brushed portion of the slide behind the serrations that I had to buff out with 2000 grit sandpaper. Spent brass was dented 99% of the time. It is very selective about the magazines it will work with. I only had success with 8-rd wilson combat 920-series mags and colt factory mags. The new delta elites are not compatible with the vintage delta elite magazines. Its fit and finish are not on-par with companies like dan wesson.

Most commercial 10mm FMJ loading's are 'FBI lite' loads (e.g. federal and winchester 10mm). Magtech, CCI, S&B, and Sig v-crown make some 180gr 1200fps loads that the delta elite can handle without issue. Indeed, the barrel is not ramped and it does not have full chamber support. If you only wanted to shoot the hottest 10mm loads on the market, there are better 1911 options available. You could order a match grade kart/nighthawk/etc barrel, mill a ramp cut into the frame, then fit the barrel yourself. New production delta elites can handle the pressure from underwood loadings. If you need reassurance, call Underwood to confirm.

Overall, I've been jaded by colt on 3 guns. I had to send my series 70 government model to customer service because the front sight snapped off and it would not lock the slide to the rear on empty mags. My colt king cobra wood grips came loose and I had to reinstall a replacement pair sent from Colt's warranty. The delta elite is a fun 1911 but it certainly was not reliable for me and left much to be desired

 

My Delta has a BARSTO barrel and I love it.

 

I had a several of the DEs back in the late eighties, early nineties. I never had an issue with the 10mm case having any problems due to the style of its chamber. My buddy has a very recent one that we have shot a lot. No issues there either. We both handload 10mm and have made and shot some pretty hot stuff. In truth, we throttle down the stuff that we do most of our shooting with because there is no reason to put wear on a gun just to punch holes in paper. But for hunting and/or defense, our loads are second to no one's in terms of power. We shoot a lot of those in load development. As I have said. No problems. Nothing showing on the brass.

I was present when a fellow range member was shooting his 10mm Glock. All of his brass had a noticeable swelled out section near the base. He cheerfully explained that the bulged section is known as the "Glock Smile" and is supposed to be there because of the very unsupported chamber. I guess 10mm Glock owners expect it to happen as a matter of course. Nothing like that ever happened with any Delta Elite of any vintage that I have ever shot or seen shot.

I understand that there were some issues with cracked frames in the very early DE's. That was solved by removing the little piece of metal that bridged the top of the hole in the frame where the slide lock moves up and down. Probably for ease of manufacture Colt started making all of their frames that way at the time and they still are today. It ended any cracking problems. This was a very early problem, the cause of which quickly identified and remedied. DEs have not been known to have cracking issues since, that I am aware of.

It is important to understand that the 1911 was not designed to handle a round that puts out the pressure of a hot 10mm. That does not mean that it won't handle it. It does all day, every day. What it means, though, is that every heavy load you put through it puts a little more stress and wear on it than something milder would. A steady diet of hot 10mm is going to wear the gun out quicker than if it were a 45 ACP gun shooting the same amount of ammo. That is just the nature of the beast. But, unless you are one of these guys that shoot a thousand rounds a week, I doubt that you will wear it out to the point of breaking in your life time.

 

No issues with my late production Delta elite to date. And I shoot hot ammo out of it on a fairly regular basis.

 

I've owned 6 deltas. Currently own 3, 1 by Jason Burton, 1 by Ted Yost, and a early blued gun built by Jim Garthwaite.

The Burton is ramped, the yost and Garthwaite are not.

I shoot everything up to the original Norma pressures in them all. I shoot some High pressure Underwood and Corbin in the Burton. But not much.

If you want to shoot real 10mm the deltas are perfect. Buffalo bore is not real 10mm.

 

I've had my 82' model Delta Elite Gold Cup for 20 years and have shot everything from mild to wild through it and never experienced any problems with case bulging or anything else. Go out and shoot your gun and check the cases from time to time for problems to satisfy your concerns.

 

Should I change the recoil spring guide to a stainless steel one or keep using the plastic one

 

The plastic guide serves as a bit of a shock buffer in a delta. I wouldn't waste any time going for a flgr or steel guide.

 

"buffalo bore is not real 10mm" sorry, i don't understand what that means.

 

Buffalo bore is loaded to higher pressures than the 10mm cartridge was originally designed for. So it's a poor choice as a standard to go by for shooting real 10mm.

It's like complaining that a Single Action Army can't shoot Ruger only loads and so it isn't a real 45 colt revolver.

Deltas will shoot what the 10mm was designed to be. Original Norma loads are plenty hot.

That said I know plenty of shooters who have fired Buffalo bore in their deltas with no issue.

 

Here is a very informative video about the Delta Elite. Discusses the frame cracking issue as well as other things.

10mm is the Best Millimeter: the Colt Delta Elite - YouTube

 

I had one of the early ones and didn't hold to well, but to be honest I was reloading to the max and maybe some more.

 

I have two stock Colt Delta Elites from 2009 and 2015, a Ruger Super Redhawk, plus six-inch and five-inch Springfield Armory TRP Operators. The Delta Elites tend to put a "smile" on the spent brass from the unsupported area of the chamber if you reload. I shoot Buffalo Bore 180 grain JHP, Underwood 180 grain JHP, and Winchester Silvertip 175 grain ammo in all of them.

 

My God will this internet rumor ever die?

Delta Elites are GTG with full-house 10mm loads. End of story.

 

Why can’t the OP afford the SW 1006? That gun is a lot cheaper than a Delta Elite.

and if you want to shoot nuclear 10mm loads then get a Ruger Blackhawk Convertible. It’s cheap and it’s stronger than any 10mm pistols ever made.

 

Why can’t the OP afford the SW 1006? That gun is a lot cheaper than a Delta Elite.

and if you want to shoot nuclear 10mm loads then get a Ruger Blackhawk Convertible. It’s cheap and it’s stronger than any 10mm pistols ever made.

Clean 1006s, if you can find one for sale. They are right up in the ball park of a new Delta.

 

This is not exactly an "Internet Rumor".
Back about 1990 or so, I believe there was an article describing an endurance test of 10,000 rounds on the Colt Delta Elite and the Smith&Wesson 1006. I believe it was in Gun Digest.
Neither pistol survived completely intact. The Colt did not make it to the end of the test if I remember correctly. The S&W lost one of its safety levers by the end but was still shootable.
The test described in this article was the reason I chose to buy the 1006 and not the Delta Elite at the time. The 1006 is not really significantly bigger but the Delta Elite is a much better handling gun. As it turns out, I found that my typical handloads were a 180 Grain bullet at about 1100 FPS, so it wasn't like I was really running these guns all that hard anyway. This was already faster than the Federal 180 Grain factory loads which were a ballistic duplicate of the .40 S&W. No point in going faster since I am just punching holes in paper anyway. When I was working up loads, I ran some up to almost 1300 FPS, but those were getting on the unpleasant side and I didn't see the point of running so fast since I was getting some pretty terrific accuracy at about 1100 FPS.

- Ivan.

 

Underwood, Buffalo Bore, and Double Tap offer 200 grain and above 10 mm loads rated as follows (grain@velocity (in feet per second)):

Underwood: 220@1200 Hard Cast, 200 @1250 HC, 200@1250 jacketed
Buffalo Bore: 220@1200 HC, 200@1200 jacketed
Double Tap: 200@1300 HC, 200@1250 jacketed, 230@1120 HC, 200@1275 jacketed, 230@1040 two jacketed bullets

All three manufacturers specifically state that there ammo is safe in any 10 mm firearm in good working order. It's all about staying within SAAMI pressure limits.

If you want lower velocity ammo, there are plenty of ammo makers who sell it. For example, Blazer sells a 200 grain solid in aluminum cases rated at 1050 fps and HSM sells a 200 grain cartridge rated at 1093 fps. Other 10mm 200 grain loads can be found here: 10mm Auto Ammo handgun 200 grains | Best 10mm Auto Ammunition handgun 200 grains - AmmoSeek.com 2022

 

Why all the need to find the fastest round? Highest velocity? I thought reloading was about finding the most accurate load for your gun? Is it the ‘macho man’ thing? How hard can I make this gun kick? How much pain can I generate to brag about?

 

I try to load to factory (GI Ball) velocities with good accuracy. I don't try to hot rod the ammunition past that. I believe one should practice with something pretty similar to service ammunition.

 

As RickB mentioned, the Delta Elite is fine with full power loads (180gr at 1300fps). I have a late 80's DE and a newer DE. Both have no issues or case bulging shooting that load, even with cases that have been shot more than once. I was worried too at first, but it's not an issue.

 

I was an FFL from 1980 to 1993 when the AWB came down. As a dealer I got to order a lot of different firearms including the Delta Elite in 10MM when it came out. It was in competition with Jeff Cooper's Bren Ten.

I shot several hundred rounds out of my new prize. I'd field strip it and clean it regularly and noticed that the frame was cracking on the rail over the takedown hole. I sent it back to Colt and they replaced the frame.

All was good, right? Nope I shot several hundred rounds out of the replaced frame gun and it once again cracked! So I sent it back again after a lengthy conversation with the area Colt rep.

After a few weeks I got the gun back. They'd milled out the frame rail over that area. From my understanding that is still the practice.

I will say that I had a working relationship with a local company, Detonics in Bellevue, WA and shot their 10mm and .451 Detonics mag guns with no problems other than the cast front sight blowing off the slide of the .451.

 

After a few weeks I got the gun back. They'd milled out the frame rail over that area. From my understanding that is still the practice.

Yes, that is the standard Colt practice nowadays.

 

Interesting, that's the first report I've seen of a Delta Elite "in the wild" with a frame not already altered to prevent cracking. Also interesting that a hairline crack is a big concern, but a 3/16-inch "crack" is considered a fix.

 

This would have been in late 1987 or early 1988 as I remember.

I also got one of the first Combat Elite 1911's that had a big gouge in the chamber from a cutting tool, I'd guess.

Bittersweet, Colt replaced the barrel but it didn't have the Combat Elite stamping just a Colt .45 marking. I still have that one.

 

BARSTO fits fully case supported Colt Style 10mm barrels and my DE has one and I can shoot nuclear rounds but I have maybe put 35 rounds of HOT ammo of about 1500 rounds through an extremely accurate DE!

 

welcome to the forum! this thread is 2 years old, with the last post over a year ago. please read the rules. i think the mods will keep your posts up as they do offer useful information. looking forward to seeing more info from you, best