The 10mm Auto was developed in 1983 by Jeff Cooper originally for the BREN TEN Pistol which was based on a modified and strengthened CZ-75 design. The story started in the 1970’s with Jeff Cooper looking for a handgun that would be an everything-for-everybody cartridge. The original designs were based on the 30 Remington case cut down and loaded with 10mm (.40 cal.) bullets and the idea was to have a higher case capacity that the 45 ACP, more powerful than the 9mm Para in a flat shooting, extended range cartridge. The idea centered around the 200/1,000 combination, (200gr. bullet at 1,000 fps). The guns were made by Dornhaus & Dixon Enterprises, with original cartridges loaded by Norma. There was a full-length article about the 10mm in the August 1984 edition of Guns & Ammo magazine and initial reports were favourable, leading to large numbers of orders. The 10mm Auto was also the handgun used by Sonny Crocket in the TV series Miami Vice as well as being briefly adopted by the FBI. Orders for this new wonder gun exceeded the capacity of the company to manufacture them, leading to quality problems, one of the most significant being some of the guns shipped to clients and dealers without magazines. All this led to the company going bankrupt in 1986.

There was a brief resurgence when Colt adopted the 10mm in their Delta Elite pistol, and the adoption by the FBI after the infamous 1986 Miami bank shoot-out. This all was not to be, and it was dropped by the FBI after a short while. Rumours were that the gun was too bulky for concealed carry and too powerful to handle with full loads, especially for female agents, and the S&W Mod. 1076 also suffered from metal failure/cracked frames and prone to jamming. The powder charge was reduced as a result of this and this led to a shortened case, evolving in the creation of the 40 S&W in 1990. (Erlmeier, Brandt Ref. 144A).

The loading by Hirtenberg was only done as a test lot and never went into production

Notice shipped with some orders