Defense ammo for short-barreled 45

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corneileous

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After watching a few videos on ballistics from a 45acp XDS 3.3” barrel, the expansion and penetration results into ballistics gel through several layers of denim were sufficient enough for me to settle on a Springfield XDE 3.3 45 for my new carry pistol but after reading some other information, is a regular 230gr hollow point going to have enough velocity to fully do it’s job in a real life situation after being fired from a short barrel? I dunno, I’m not really at this point regretting the 45 and thinking maybe I shoulda opted for the 9-mil version but after watching those few videos, I settled on the 45 because I figured since the 45 was only two rounds short of what the 9mm version can hold, I figured more punch/larger wound channel would be better, so I got the 45.

What do you guys think? I’ve been practicing with just regular ole 230 grain full metal jacket‘s and actually carry the 230 grain federal premium HST‘s as my defense ammo. Not sure really what all is out there in a lighter bullet weight but should that be something worth looking into? Thanks.


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I carry a 3" 1911 Colt new agent , most 1911's are designed to fire the 230 gr. hard ball for reliable feeding . That's what I use , 230 grain FMJ.
 
Based on what I've seen from watching ballistics gel tests on YouTube, 185gr loads seemed to do better out of shorter barrels.
 
Forte S+W said:
Based on what I've seen from watching ballistics gel tests on YouTube, 185gr loads seemed to do better out of shorter barrels.
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Yeah, I read an article last night talking about that and the guy who wrote the article said that even though a 230gr hp fired from a short barrel like that still showed really good expansion but he also mentioned that because the 45 is already slow as it is that there was plenty to be said about a lighter bullet being able to travel faster just to make sure of proper expansion and a little less felt recoil, which I will admit that felt recoil is one of the could-be negatives about this little pistol but, I’ve been able to overcome a lot of that just from learning how to grip the pistol, not limp-wristing it and by putting that talon grip on, that really seemed to help with the grip as well.

But what choices are there out there in lighter grain weights for 45 ACP? I think I have a box of the 45 ACP 165-grain Hydra-Shok jacketed hollow points that was originally bought as accidents but how would those compare to the extreme expansion of the HST’s?


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I'm interested in the same and have been scanning the web, seeing all kinds of conflicting reviews/results. Currently, my carry ammo is 185gn Gold Dots which were surprisingly cheap (stoking a Glock 30S). As far as recoil, I don't feel much difference between 230gn ball and the 185gn GDs.

As far as mixed results, some have claimed that over 50% of GOOD/EXCELLENT quality 9mm HP do not expand in actual shootings. I figure a .45 ACP, ball or HP will never be smaller than .45". Also, I've seen gelatin results of 45ACP ball that doesn't even exit 16" of gelatin when shot from a short barreled .45.

The best performing 380ACP ammo that penetrates to the FBI minimum only expands to about .45". 45ACP gets that minimum and beyond if it yaws/tumbles, FMJ or HP.

Lastly, I picked up my G30S more for 4-legged critters when hiking than 2-legged critters, but figure it'll work on both. My usual carry piece is a G19 in 9mm with HST rounds. That should be good for social work.
 
jmhyer said:
For some time now, the tests from The Lucky Gunner have generally been my go-to reference for SD ammo selection. If you haven't seen this yet, maybe it will be of some use to you...
https://www.luckygunner.com/labs/self-defense-ammo-ballistic-tests/#45ACP
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That’s good info right there and I’ll have to print that out for future reference but like for the 45 ammo that was tested; they used a pistol that had a barrel that’s roughly between 3 and a half and 3 and 3/4 quarters of an inch in length- how would those results differ if the test pistol had a barrel that wasn’t much over 3 inches?


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jmhyer said:
In my opinion, the difference between 3.3" and 3.5-ish" would be negligible.
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I’m not trying to split hairs here or nothing but it’s more like closer to 3.75 inches, not “between 3.3 and 3.5ish”. It’s 3.64 inches to be exact compared to 3.3.

But maybe it is negligible and subjective but I’ve also read that even though it may not seem like much, it can make more of a difference than it would seem it wouldn’t.


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in a "real life" situation you will need about 4" of penetration into a human torso to reach the vitals. any .45 acp round you choose will do that.
 
corneileous said:
I’m not trying to split hairs here or nothing but it’s more like closer to 3.75 inches, not “between 3.3 and 3.5ish”. It’s 3.64 inches to be exact compared to 3.3.

But maybe it is negligible and subjective but I’ve also read that even though it may not seem like much, it can make more of a difference than it would seem it wouldn’t.


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There’s a website called ballistics by the inch that will give you projectile velocity as a function of barrel length for a number of commercial leadings. They won’t have every barrel length possible, but my guess is you can do some interpolation to get an idea.


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Aguila Blanca said:
Several of the big ammo manufacturers now offer special "short barrel" versions of their self-defense ammunition lines specifically for use in smaller, concealable pistols. Look at Remington, Hornady, Speer, and others for short barrel loads.

For example:

https://www.sportsmansguide.com/pro...gun-45-acp-bjhp-230-grain-20-rounds?a=1710533
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I dunno, maybe the 45 ACP is different, I don’t know but there for the longest time when I was still carrying my 9mm Ruger LC9S, I carried it with those 150 grain federal premium HST’s that were designed for compact and subcompact pistols but after starting to wonder about them, I did a little reading around and found out that those didn’t really do what they were supposed to and that people were having much better ballistics results with just regular old plain-jane 124 grain hollow points over those that were supposedly designed for short barrel pistols. That’s why before I got my new XDE which is my replacement to the Ruger, I went back to carrying 124 grain HST‘s in it.


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JERRYS. said:
in a "real life" situation you will need about 4" of penetration into a human torso to reach the vitals. any .45 acp round you choose will do that.
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OK so, if that’s the case- which I’m not trying to be facetious at all, if you say that virtually any 45 ACP will give me the required penetration into a human torso and do the job, what are your thoughts on maybe changing up to 165 grain low recoil federal Hydra shock lightening up a little on recoil on this pistol? Which yes, I know, I’d have to practice with them to see if there really is any felt difference in recoil to me and if there is an improvement in my shot placement with the lower recoil ammunition but in terms of ballistics, how are the Hydra shocks compared to the HST‘s?


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any conventional .45 acp will do what you are asking. with the lighter rounds you start losing intermediate barrier penetration. with the lighter rounds (in any handgun caliber) you have less sectional density and less mass to aid in deep penetration. if shooting through car doors, windshields, wood doors, hollow mental doors, mailboxes ect are a reasonable expectation for you then I would advise against a light for caliber round. if somebody breaking into your home or attacking you on the street where you fire relatively close then I don't see why the 165gr. would be a bad choice given your concerns.
 
TunnelRat said:
There’s a website called ballistics by the inch that will give you projectile velocity as a function of barrel length for a number of commercial leadings. They won’t have every barrel length possible, but my guess is you can do some interpolation to get an idea.


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Click to expand...


Good info. I think I may have seen that once before when somebody referenced something like that to sho me the loss in a 22mag out of one of those little NAA pugs.


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Lucky Gunner test already linked is a good resource.
I shot 230 HST out of a XDs through 4 layer denim into water filled gallon jugs, it expanded.
 
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