Self Defense ammo for .45 ACP?

Just my .02$- (.01$ after our Dear Leader gets his cut)

These are my thoughts on the matter. and let me state once again for the record, I am not and expert on any of this, nor do I portray one on TV.
If I am confined to using FMJ's only, I would prefer to have a .45acp. In my opinion, the .45acp. is the only FMJ round that I consider fully adequate for SD. But again, I stress that this is just the opinion of an amatuer, namely me.
In a recent article by Masaad Ayoob in one of the Handgun Mags,he recounts a gunfight between a LEO and a bad guy in which the officer hit the BG in the arm with 185gr. +P CorBon JHp's. The Officer was not pleased with the fact that the 185gr. bullet did not go completely through the BG's arm and into his chest, although it did do massive damage to that arm, so he believed that the penetration was not sufficient. He subsiquently switched to 230gr. Gold Dots.
Having said all of that, I currently carry CorBons' 200gr. JHP round in my 1911 around my farm for SD, but do not feel "undergunned" when I stick one of my many loaded mags of FMJ in it. Sometimes when I am wandering about the property I like to do some plinking, and do not want to use those $1.00+ a round bullets to shoot at a stump.:p. I have loaded many rounds with the excellent Hornady 230gr. XTP, but in most instances, for me they just act mostly like a FMJ in my very informal testing.
My long time friend, who is an FBI senior field agent, carries his issue Springfield Armory 1911 with dept. issue 230gr. Golden Sabers, that round may be the best of both worlds.
I am sure that there are many, many very good .45acp. loads for SD out there, but none of them are any good if you do not put them in the right place!
Just my thoughts.
JMHO, and as always, YMMV.

Willy
 
I don't think any type of ammo other than 230 grain ball is suitable in most 45 autos, which I don't see as a problem because 230 grain ball is very effective ammo.

I haven't owned every type of semi-auto 45 ever made, so there may be exceptions to this, but I've fired many a round at firing ranges and have seen a lot of 45's malfunction, including some very expensive ones, almost all of which I thought was the fault of the shooters choice of ammo.

IMHO there's a place for hollow points and lead semi-wadcutters and non-standard loads, and thats in a sturdy revolver, not in a slide operated semi-auto with a spring loaded magazine and tricky feeding and ejection issues.
 
Apparently a prominent 1911 builder who can't make his 1911s function with JHPs!
Click to expand...

My thought as well.

Nothing wrong with shooting a FMJ but there is some great HP ammo on the market. If your 1911 is touchy about shooting HP, Pow-R-Ball ammo is a good choice.

My personal choice is Speer Gold Dots.
 
"IMHO there's a place for hollow points and lead semi-wadcutters and non-standard loads, and thats in a sturdy revolver, not in a slide operated semi-auto with a spring loaded magazine and tricky feeding and ejection issues."

I have to disagree; while some 1911 platforms get a little finiky with JHP loads, I have never seen any of my agency's P220's malfunction because JHP's were being fired through them. And while 45 ball is certainly a moderately effective round, JHP loadings have proven themselves to be much better in actual shootings. We don't carry them because they are fancy, cool, or trendy, but because they have a proven track record of effectiveness
 
.45 SD Ammo

Earlier this week at the indoor range I fired a clip of Hornady TAP FPD 200gr +P for the first time in my new SIG P-250C. No problems with feeding or accuracy whatsoever. This is the ammunition I will use when carrying.
 
I been using fmj for years. Guess what? Never had to use it on a human. But it does kill varmint dogs cats coyotes.......

Um comercials are made to get you to rush right out and buy the item whether you actually need it or not. We live in a comercial society....

Everyone relies on anothers data for their test results...... well cept for me. I use my own results done by me on actual flesh and bone.
 
Well, if you listen to some 45 aficionados, they'll tell you to use FMJ and just be sure to be within 5 inches of the person and it'll rip his arm right off!! :rolleyes:

Seriously, just use any big name brand modern hollowpoints...they'll work.
 
Clifford L. Hughes

Dear Genepix:

I have never shot anything with .45 caliber hardball except one large carp from a bridge. However, I have shot a large wild boar with my 625 Smith & Wesson. I was hunting with dogs so my shot was point blank. The bullet was a 200 grain Hornady XTP loaded to 1020 fps. The bullet hit the boar just in front of the neck and shoulder junction. The bullet then ranged through about ten of so inches, diagonally, taking out three inches of neck bone before it lodged just under the ear on the off side.

Semper Fi.

Gunnery sergeant

Clifford L. Hughes
USMC Retired
 
The only good reason that I can think of to use .45 ACP FMJ is if your handgun is not reliable with JHP's, in which case I'd think very seriously about getting a different handgun. My general rule of thumb is that for any handgun .38 Special/9mm or larger, use JHP's for self-defense and FMJ's for the range.
 
Lead SWC for targets, anything that works in my gun for social work. To keep it simple I have a few boxes of different varieties but my go to is still 230 gr ball. It worked 100 years ago and doggone it, if you hit what you are supposed to hit it works just as well today. Not glamorous but you can't argue with a track record as long as the one the old hardball bullet has
 
Hmmm, one shot of a Minie ball out of a musket or 5 or 6 .45" diameter bullets out of a pistol then a quick magazine change if whatever you are shooting at is still on its legs. Tough call, let me get back to you on that. ;) You never ever miss with the musket right?
 
For HD, I prefer Federal HST 230gr. or Speer Gold Dot 230gr.. I purchase the LE version in 50 round boxes and save some money doing so.
 
The 45ACP should be fed expanding ammo. Today, most JHPs or their cousins like the Pow'R'Ball will expand and do plenty of hurt in this caliber.

Some calibers or caliber/gun combinations you need to be very picky about ammo. The 38Spl snubby is like that - there's maybe half a dozen loads I trust in that class of gun and only two or three I'd prefer to carry.

You also have to be picky about the 9mm. The 45ACP, not so much. 357Mag, again, there ain't too many hollowpoints that will fail.

The two things to remember about 45ACP ammo is:

* If your barrel is on the short side, run lighter ammo - 185/200 range, +P if you can. 230gr out of a 3" barrel may have problems - not enough speed to expand. Speer has a 230gr Gold Dot labeled for "short barrels" that MAY be an exception - Speer has the ability to vary the JHP shape to match a given known velocity range BUT I haven't seen tests of this stuff yet. If I owned something like Glock's small single-stack 45 I'd probably run the Golden Saber 185+P or one of the lighter Gold Dots in a +P flavor - at least pending more info on Speer's 230gr solution.

* If your gun is jamming with JHPs, Cor-Bon's Pow'R'Ball is your savior. Same thing in 9mm by the way. Very good round - not the "very best" in all cases and a little on the light side, but it'll expand and still punch deep enough even out of a short barrel. The feed profile is the absolute very best you can get, period, end of discussion - as good as pure FMJ ball. Cor-Bon is selling huge amounts of this stuff and the people buying it are very well served, esp. in 9mm where it's the best you can do in the new micro-9mm class guns. (The Federal EFMJ is designed to do the same thing but it doesn't have enough heat on it...avoid.)
 
Once again any self defense load must be considered in light of the aftermath of a shooting.

Chose a factory load which feeds reliably in your weapon. That load should be one used by local law enforcement.

Should your local agency not authorize the use of a 45 cal. weapon then I would go with Hardball.

As SFC Reed said "if you can't shoot hardball you can't shoot."
 
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