The 10mm Auto is not everyone’s cup of Tetley. It creates 37,500 psi of pressure and has a sweet tooth for 180-grain bullets that average about 1,300 fps muzzle velocity and about 708 ft-lbs. It is a hard-hitting round that offers stout recoil. I’ve always thought the 10mm Auto tries its best to destroy pistols. At the very least it tries to rattle grips panels loose and aftermarket magwells. Sometimes iron sights, too.
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1911 Platform for the 10mm Auto
The 1911 pistol design is a good platform for the 10mm Auto cartridge. It makes sense since the 1911 was one of the first pistols chambered for the caliber. Numerous manufacturers of the 1911 platform chamber guns in 10mm Auto. Tisas, a firearms maker in Turkey, is one of those manufacturers and produces the model D10. The Tisas is a full-size, aka government size, 1911 with a forged stainless-steel frame, barrel, and slide. The slide stop—the Jesus nut that keeps the pistol together—is carbon steel.
I’ve run a few .45 Auto pistols from the Tisas Issued Series that are dead ringers for World War II era 1911A1 pistols and found the quality and performance to be excellent and at a reasonable price. I expected the D10 to have the same quality and performance with more power and a bit more kick.
Series 70 Design
The D10 uses a Series 70 design so there is a firing pin block in the slide. Most 1911 purists prefer Series 70 guns compared to say Series 80 guns, which link the trigger to a firing pin block. The Series 70 design is a cleaner designer and does not have a firing pin block built in.
Contemporary 1911 Features
The Tisas has a two-tone finish with a matte stainless frame and black Cerakote slide. All the controls—skeletonized trigger, slide lock, grip safety, hammer, magazine release, and manual safety—also have a black Cerakote finish. This gives the pistol distinct and rakish good looks.
There are no markings to take away from the aesthetics except on the left side of the slide, which has a large X. The Roman numeral for 10 was my first guess. Maybe the D10 has that X factor? Maybe X marks the spot—in the web of my hand. Either way, I could have done without the X marks the spot engraving. A nice, small discrete D10 rollmark would work better for me. The Tisas eagle logo is at the rear of the slide in the spot Colt reserves for its prancing pony logo. But that’s trivial since the D10 runs and runs well.
The D10 Slide
Slide serrations are cut both forward and aft and are deep offering a good grip when racking the slide or performing a press check. Sights consist of a dovetailed front post that is wide and serrated to cut sun glare. The dovetail is something seen in more high-end 1911s. It’s a nice touch. The rear sight is Bomar target style and fully adjustable. It offers a wide notch with just enough space to allow light between the sides of the front sight. This is a good compromise sight if you plan to hunt with the D10 or carry it for defense. The front blade is a bit too wide for action shooting. I’d prefer a thinner front sight. The adjustment screws for the rear sight clearly marked. The shooter-facing edge of the rear sight is serrated to minimize glare.
The barrel chamber is marked 10mm. Tisas uses a GI-style muzzle bushing and a single stout recoil spring. The spring is strong to handle the recoil from the 10mm Auto round, so it takes a bit more effort to rack the slide.
The Checkered Grip
The front grip strap and flat mainspring housing have 25 LPI checkering which provides a good hold without being sharp and toothy. It allows you to hang onto the pistol without the texture gnawing the skin of your hand. The contoured trigger guard is undercut for a higher grip which can help with managing recoil. With a snappy round like the 10mm Auto, you need to rethink the grip texture. The G10 grip tones down the texture, which is a good thing for a 1911 chambered in 10mm Auto. More aggressive textured grips are fine for 1911s chambered 9mm and 45 Auto, but course textured grips on a 10mm Auto will chew you up.
The left grip has a smooth channel that allows a right-handed shooter easy access to the magazine catch button. The rear of the thumb safety is nicely blended with the frame with no sharp edges that can abrade the skin during recoil. The bottom edge of the grip is beveled and the magwell has a distinct chamfer to aid reloading. Another feature usually found on more expensive 1911s is the inset in the frame for the slide stop. The beavertail and speed bump are what I expect of a 1911. The beaver tail keeps me safe from hammer bite and the bump is large enough to disengage the grip safety even if my grip on the draw is not perfect.
Included in the hard case are two 8-round stainless steel magazines with nice size rubber bumper pads. A bushing wrench, wire brush, and patch rod are also in the case. Foam cutouts in the case hold all the pieces in place.
Inexpensive Yet Well Built
What is impressive about the D10—other than the 10mm Auto caliber—is that there is no wiggle between the slide and frame. The slide racks smoothly. If I didn’t know this was a $700 1911 I would have guessed the pistol cost was at least $1,200 since is so well built.
Going hot in 10mm Auto is not for the faint-hearted or those predisposed to flinching. The cartridge creates recoil that requires you to pay attention since it has power and performance between the .357 Magnum and .41 Magnum. The recoil from a .357 Magnum revolver can be stout depending on the frame size and material, and plus revolvers transfer all the recoil to the shooter’s hand. A semi-automatic pistol, however, like the 1911 pistol absorbs some of the recoil and the D10 does a great job of it. The fact is if you want to tote and shoot a powerful round, recoil is the price of admission.
Trigger Time with the D10
I used one trying round and two defense rounds while I rung the D10 through its spaces. The Armscor 180-grain FMJ had an average muzzle velocity of 1081 fps and 467 ft-lbs. of energy. The best 5-shot group with the Armscor training round was 2.0 and I averaged 2.1 inches at 15 yards. Moving to the bear killer or defense loads, I tried Federal HST pushing a 200-grain JHP at 1122 fps with 559 ft-lbs. of energy. That should be able to handle Cocaine Bear or some other mutant beast brought on by global warming.
The best group measure 2.2 inches and my average was 2.4 inches. Winchester Defender is stoked with a 180-grain Bonded HP and squirts out the barrel at 1180 fps. Its muzzle energy is 466 ft-lbs. The best was another 2.2-inch group and the average was 2.65 inches.
The D10 Has Some Zing
Touching off the Armscor FMJs you can immediately tell by the recoil this gun means business. The defense loads were noticeably hotter with more zing at both ends. For speed shooting and reloads, I ran a bunch of Failure Drills and found the big 10mm can get away from you if you don’t pay attention with those two fast shots to the center of mass. The one surgical headshot was easy to master due to the trigger and the sights. Though the sights are not the best for fast shooting—there needs to be a bit more light on the sides of the front sight blade by using either a smaller front sight blade or opening up the rear notch. Again this is just trivial bitches on a gun that ran without incident. It is a very capable pistol at a very affordable price.
Magazines And Holster
The stainless steel magazines hold eight rounds and are easy on your thumb when loading. Empty magazines dropped free and the slight chamfer simplified reloading. To tote the D10 you need a heavy belt and sturdy holster. The D10 weighs 40 ounces fully stoked and that’s some heavy metal to carry on your hip. I like Kydex for striker fire pistols, but I opt for traditional leather with a 1911. I used a Falco rig consisting of an A105 IWB “Falcon” holster and K102 belt. All two pieces had a deep mahogany brown finish. There is no retention screw on the holster, just friction. There was a break-in period and there always is with leather, then the draw was smooth.
Is the Tisas D10 Worth It?
If you are looking to get into a 10mm Auto, then the Tisas 1911 D10 is an inexpensive option. This pistol offers a lot of quality and performance for a little coin.