My Philosophy on the 10mm Ronin

By Robert A. Sadowski

You’ve probably heard the term “self-rescue.” Think about it. You are alone or with your family, maybe stranded, and your mindset ratchets up. Then the wolves start to circle. Could be the four-legged type or the two-legged type. You call law enforcement, and they are on their way. Time is not on your side, so you go through the color code in your head and orange just turned to red. Your edge is your training, mental alertness and your equipment.

Your Edge

As I started to use the Ronin 1911 in 10mm on a day-to-day basis, I thought the name of the pistol was appropriate. A ronin is a samurai without a master. The literal translation is a “wave man”, which means drifter, wanderer or someone who finds the way without belonging to one place. I wouldn’t consider myself a drifter nor a wanderer, though life or fate has a way of drifting and wandering into our lives. Those of us who follow the EDC way understand. We train and prepare for that moment, and if it unavoidably drifts into our lives, we hope we are prepared.

It happens in the deep woods where the ground is not flat or on concrete — mega grocery stores, coffee shops, restaurants, the corner store. The drift is the situation we find ourselves in, like it or not. We train for situations we hope never happen. The training keeps our mind sharp and our bodies fit.

The Ronin 1911 is not particularly unique, but it does have style. I look at the Ronin in 10mm as a firearm pared down to essential features: large sights, good trigger and a grip designed for 10mm recoil. Nothing more, nothing less. A tool with a warrior’s soul. Chambered in the 10mm chambering, it has the power when you fight alone and need an edge.

The front sight is a bright fiber optic so your sight picture pops even in low light. The rear sight uses white dots and a huge notch, making it faster and easier to acquire the red dot front sight. I like the contrast. The rear sight also offers a ledge for one-handed cycling of the pistol. The trigger breaks around 5 lbs., which suffices. The lower front of the grip is checkered and the top rear is smooth so the web of my hand does not get chewed during recoil. But, the caliber is the thing.

I also like the simplicity of the bushing design. G.I. bushings are the way John Browning designed it, so a user can easily field strip the pistol without tools. The need for a paperclip to break down my pistol rubs my fur the wrong way. I like the old-school set up.

Breathing Fire

The 10mm can best a .357 Magnum and comes in just behind a 41 Magnum in the power category. That’s real power out of a semi-automatic pistol. The 1911 mechanism helps absorb some of the recoil so it is more manageable than a magnum revolver. You don’t get that whacked in the palm of your hand like you can with a revolver, nor do you get the characteristic amplified muzzle flip from a magnum revolver. Sure, it has a single stack of ammo in the magazine, but the round can potentially punch through vehicles when needed.

For me, the 180-gr. bullet is the sweet spot for the 10mm. Many niche manufacturers like Buffalo Bore, Cor-Bon, Double Tap and others amp up the velocity of the 180-gr. bullet to about 1300 fps. Lighter bullets like 155 and 165 grain get a 100-fps pop in velocity to 1400 fps. Underwood loads a 140-gr. Lehigh Xtreme Penetrator lead-free bullet to 1500 fps. This is some serious speed.

My Way

I carry my 1911s in a DeSantis Inner Piece leather holster. I like this inside-the-waistband (IWB) rig because it has a tab (or “wing”) protruding from the bottom of the holster that pushes the grip into your body. This ensures the 1911’s grip doesn’t print. The mouth of the holster is reinforced so it stays open, so re-holstering is easy. It hides easily under an unbuttoned flannel shirt.

The 10mm may not be an option for everyone, but the 10mm in the Ronin platform is a good option for me. It has punch when I need punch. All in all, seems like a winner to me!

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