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Tanaka M&P M10


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History

 

The modern Smith and Wesson M10 has its roots dating back to 1899, when Smith and Wesson first developed their .38 Long Colt hand ejector revolver. Many would consider this piece to be the beginnings of the first modern revolver, with a swing-out cylinder and easy reloading, compared to the archaic fixed cylinder revolvers of the past. In 1902, S&W chambered the .38 hand ejector for their newly developed .38 special round, though it was chambered for other calibers as well. In the Indiana jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark, Indy touts a Smith and Wesson .38 2nd gen. hand ejector revolver, chambered for the British .455 Eley round, then later seen in the movie for the more common .45 ACP round.

 

In 1958, with Smith and Wesson's new numbering system, the Military and Police revolver of WWII (a newer version of the .38 hand ejector from 1899) was christened the M10. The SW M10 is still in production today and continues to use the .38 special round.

 

 

woodM10.jpg

 

 

 

Impressions.

 

With the new release of the M10, I initially thought it to be ugly, too old-school, and unwieldy to be even considered a worthy airsoft revolver. However, after watching Raiders of the Lost Ark (again) on cable, the "modernized" relative of the original SW hand ejector that Indiana Jones used in the movie was beginning to look much better....

 

Indy.jpg

 

 

The outer barrel is ABS plastic, like on many of Tanaka's revolvers, but also has a standard metal cylinder, hammer, and trigger. It has a decent heft for its size, and definitely does not feel toy-like by any measure.

 

 

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As you can see, the horrible grips, like the ones that come with the M29 6 inch N-frames, are plastic that is supposed to emulate wood. Not only do they look plasticky, they FEEL horrible. I would also like to add that I've slapped on a K-frame square butt Hogue rubber monogrip not only for a more tactical look, but also because of comfort. I have small/medium sized hands and the skinny profile of the stock grip prevented me from curling my finger around the trigger when firing one-handed. I had to constantly re-adjust my hands even when using both hands, especially when firing double action, and as a consequence, accuracy went out the window.

 

With the addition of the Hogue monogrip, comfort was immediately re-established and my shooting accuracy improved drastically. If you have small to medium sized hands and are thinking about using this revolver as more than a paperweight, either as a skirmish gun or target piece, the first upgrade you should buy for this gun are a set of larger grips.

 

Accuracy:

 

The moment we've been waiting for. Is the accuracy going to be horrible, like on the M66 4 inch, because of the barrel length? Given its new release, did Tanaka develop any new designs that would aid the M10 in resolving their reputation for poor accuracy?

 

accuracyM10.jpg

 

 

Ahhh, sweetness. This 1.6 inch grouping was achieved from a measured 20 feet away with .25 Excel BBs, green gas, and firing in single action only. As with all of my accuracy review tests, I fire 6 shots, and take the tightest 5 to measure the the diameter of the grouping. This represents outstanding accuracy from the 4 inch barrel and adjusted hopup (set for .25), and it's fairly obvious Tanaka continues their trend of "PEGASUS-2" system of revolvers with the M10. Also worthy of note is the hopup itself. The hopup rubber isn't a flat chunk of rubber sitting in the barrel on the M10. It's more rounded and smooth, and the hopup allen screw sits further into the frame, unlike the M500. Why is this an improvement? With the M500, when I turned my hopup all the way down, sometimes the allen screw would protrude too far into the space the cylinder rotated in, impeding firing. Gone is that annoying issue with the M10. Now, you can enjoy non-hopup style shooting at your convenience, without the hop screw rubbing against your cylinder.

 

At longer ranges, the M10 was able to consistently hit my chimney, which sits about 40 feet into the air and was 60 feet away. With .25 BBs and adjusted hopup, the M10 was shooting BBs past 100 feet, with about a 50/50 chance of hitting a crouching human target at that range. Nothing spectacular, but an improvement from Tanaka's older revolvers, and understandable given the 4 inch barrel. The consistency of the M10 is far superior to the 2.5 inch M66 and M500 reviewed earlier, meaning, there were less extreme "hooks" that were present in a long-range shooting situation.

 

Conclusion:

 

I don't regret buying this revolver at all. Though not as flashy as the M629s and M66s, it is a fair improvement in technology as far as accuracy and consistency, but unfortunately, still falls short of Marui or KSC-like GBB performance. It's a more than capable plinker and target piece, and can easily be used in Urban CQB or mid range combat with no issues. Besides, for $129.99 + shipping from Redwolf, you can't go wrong with such a classic and accurate revolver. Even if classic revolvers aren't your thing, you can, at least, put on the fedora and leather jacket and pretend to be Indiana Jones for less than 150 dollars.

 

 

niceM10.jpg

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Jesus, that's pretty impressive accuracy for a Tanaka revolver. Can you give us some fps figures? Most importantly, shot-to-shot power consistency. Also, is the first shot after some idle time often underpowered (like the M29 I used to have)?

 

Also, LOL @ your choice of background for the title pic.. wtf? :D

Edited by Utty
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Jesus, that's pretty impressive accuracy for a Tanaka revolver. Can you give us some fps figures? Most importantly, shot-to-shot power consistency. Also, is the first shot after some idle time often underpowered (like the M29 I used to have)?

 

Also, LOL @ your choice of background for the title pic.. wtf?  :D

 

I would imagine FPS consistency would be poor because of the tiny gas cylinder, but it does punch through my cardboard target box with no issues, so I'm thinking at LEAST 280 FPS....However, I will try to run it through a chrono for some actual figures.

 

About the weak shots after gas settling, I haven't noticed this issue with the revolver, but I've only let it sit about 5-10 minutes before firing it off. The chrono will answer these questions shortly though...

 

The title pic....a little inside joke. I attend the University of Hawaii @ Manoa, and in one of the US's most restrictive (read: UK-like rabid left-wing politicians/Democrats) states when it comes to gun laws. Funny thing is, the only person in our state who is allowed to carry a concealed weapon is the Chief of Police's daughter, after she had a stalker....

 

Over the past 12 months, there were three kidnappings/sexual assaults regarding girls walking alone to their dorms on campus. One was seriously beaten up by her assailants, and there have been no arrests. If only our state cut down on the hypocrisy and let women, if not everyone, carry concealed instead of the Chief of Police's daughter, all of these embarassing and traumatic instances could have been avoided. It's obvious the the police cannot protect the female student body around our campus because these kidnappings took place within the span of 2-3 minutes. I really want to see one of the pigs' faces though if they accost a girl and she pulls out a .44 magnum from her purse! :D

Edited by seth
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  • 2 months later...

Is there anyway you can compare the M66 and the M10, to see what are the differences between the two, which contribute in the M10 being a great shooter, while the M66 is poor (accuracy-wise)?

 

I just received my M19 2.5" revolver, and even though I haven't done any great shooting with it, the accuracy was nothing to write home about. I am new in Airsoft, but a seasoned shooter. I've managed to get very decent accuracy from other Airsoft pistols (mostly 1911s), but with this one, I am lucky to have all BBs on the target at 8 m.

 

Many thanks and rgds

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Well, I am not sure if the modification described below helps, but I found the Tanaka's way of mounting the rear sight, leaves a lot to be desired. So, I spend some time fixing this issue, as described here:

 

http://forum.m1911.org/showthread.php?t=7542

 

Did it helps? I can't be positive, with the original accuracy of that revolver, I just can't be sure. It looks as if it has reduced the vertical spread of the shots, but I just can't be sure.

 

Rgds

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