I feel that this question must have been asked and answered a million times in the internet, for for all my searching I can't find a solid answer based on hard facts "It probably won't work because of different profiles on the chain plates"...."it will probably work fine because the spacing is the same" blah blah blah. Someone must have actually tried it!
I am in the early stages of building a bike and found a new 105 10sp chain in one of my bins, hence the question.
Not a solid answer but sram chains aren't specific as far as i know and work fine on both. Don't see why it shouldn't work.
On my xt cass and mech 1x10 set up I am currently running a 105 as my xtr is a bit short now for the bigger ring I'm using. Also ran pc951 and a pc971 on the 1x10 and they all work fine.
The plates are slightly differently profiled to optimise shifting differently, but they're absolutely cross compatible.
I've got a 105 chain running on a SLX cassette. Absolutely no bother. (1 x 10 btw)
105 on my XT 11-36
no bother at all. shifts perfectly
It will work fine.
I've got one on the hardtail with an XT rear and Works thick/thin, works fine.
I had an Ultegra 10sp on XT mountain bike and it worked fine
Thanks everyone! One less thing to buy.