George Hill
Staff Alumnus
Last week I mentioned buying myself a little Detonics .45 Combat Master. I also mentioned that I was kinda looking for a cartridge that would have better ballistics out of that short tube. Normal 230 grain loads need the longer barrel in order to run up to speed. As I mentioned before my favorite load for the .45 has always been the 230 grain Hydra Shok. The mighty Hydra out of the normal GM length barrel gets about 850 FPS from the loads I personally tested. The Personal Defense loading weaker, shooting about the same velocity with a 200 grain bullet. Both loads loose about a 100 FPS in the Detonics - So I’m looking at only about 750 FPS. Other standard loads are even slower. I need speed. Lots of it… or that 100 FPS penalty will really bite me.
Hornaday is one of my absolute favorite ammo makers. The make in my opinion the finest rifle cartridges that you can buy off the average gunshop self. The “Custom” line is just wonderful stuff… and my pet FAL’s preferred food. I checked out the pistol line up and found some great .45 cartridges from the Custom line. These are generating over 1,000 FPS from standard length 1911 barrels. Some say they are too hot for the 1911 and entended for hunting revolvers. Well - that some seemed to be the two knuckle heads behind the gun counter.
[Side note] Where do gun shops hire some of these guys from? Some of the most gun ignorant folk have been standing behind these counters passing themselves off as gun experts! Now, I have met some gun shop guys that really knew gun stuff… Life long shooters that just happened to land a job in a gun store. Others, seem to be born retail clerks that just happen to be at a gun store. Two things I want to make clear:
1. Gun stores should hire SHOOTERS first, and Clerks second.
2. I would quit my techie management job in a SECOND to work at a good gun store! Even if that meant taking a pay cut. [/Side note]
Back to what I was saying…
These guys in this gunshop said that this Hornady load was too hot for a Springfield GM 1911 and would probably blow up an old Detonics… First off - I don’t think there are enough .45 ACP chambered revolvers out there for Hornady to bother cranking out factory loads for… Second off - one of these fellas told me FOR A FACT that KIMBER does not use any MIM parts in there guns… Ah, yeah, they do. At least they did when I was at the factory. (I have visited most US manufactures, just for fun.) So I know that this fella was a less that ideal source for information. This Hornady Custom .45 fodder IS made for the 1911… Mostly for handgun hunting. It uses a hunting bullet and sends that bullet down range at a respectable speed with very good accuracy. This isnt intended for personal defense, or Law Enforcement - Doesn’t come in a flashy box - doesn’t get magazine attention that I have ever seen like GOLD Dotted Sabers and Silver tips or anything neat. What it is - is just a plain old hunting load… A powerful load that barks with more authority than a pack of German Shepherd police dogs and kicks like Clydesdale. My Springfield Government Models handle it with no problem. The Detonics? Well, it would have the ballistics that I’m looking for - no question… problem is that this load is just a tad bit - UNCONTROLABLE!!!
Okay - good stuff… just not for the Detonics. I think I found a good carry load for the bigger guns - stuff is even cheaper than the Hydra by 2 bucks… But I’m looking for food to feed my little gun. Lets keep looking.
Cor-Bon is a maker of some good hot stuff - but I ain’t finding any Cor-Bon around SLC. Moving on to Triton. Triton can be found in SLC on occasion - when your lucky and stop buy the store shortly after they get some new stock in. They also can be ordered online with very little fuss.
[Side note] I have had very good luck with online ordering and I actually prefer it to slugging it out with Salt Lake City Traffic… Which I can PROOVE is worse than Washington DC or LA… You see the Utah Department of Transportation is staffed by COMPLETE LUNATICS who close and tear down freeway interchanges on-ramps and off-ramps like the Mad-Hatter changes his seat at the table. Driving in SLC sucks and at least in DC or LA, you are reasonable sure your exit WILL BE THERE! One reason I like Ordering better than playing fetch.[/Side note]
Triton has 3 lines of ammo that can be had for the .45 (and other calibers) that are interesting.
The Quik-Shok, Hi-Vel, and CQD loads. Now, while the QS loads are great on small furry critters in .22 (blew up a possum with that - worked better that regular .22LR stuff which can just irk a possum…) Thanks to our Dr Walt Welch here, I am tending to favor solid deep penetration for anti-maniac work… so I ain’t interested in the QS stuff. Same reason I dont really care about the CQD stuff which is made like an aspirin tablet - compressed powder… in this case powdered tin and copper. Interesting load - maybe good stuff for shooting steel plates…
This leaves the Hi-Vel line. Triton loads 4 different .45 ACP variants and 2 more in Super… Nice!
I don’t work for Triton - so I ain’t writing a commercial for them. Not without some stuff from Fernando’s bank account… or ammo stock pile! All these loads are good and spicy and should make most shooters rather pleased I would think.
I am interested in the 165 grain Lite load… The Detonics Combat Master has a shorted grip than an Officer’s ACP and is about the same size as Cylinder & Slide’s Adventurer pistol… This makes holding on to the gun under abrupt recoil a challenge… at least if you want fast follow up shots. The .45 Super is definitely out of the question! The “Lite” option is no slacker - 1100 FPS, and 443 foot pounds of energy… not bad for a .45 ACP belly gun! Triton claims that this ammo is “designed specially for shorter barrels with out excessive recoil.”
While I don’t have any of this ammo to test yet (Ordered Online and will get it in by about this coming Thursday - perfect for heading out for the weekend… Problem, that weekend is another wedding I must attend! Dang it!) I will test this stuff at the first chance I get! Second option from Triton is the 165 grain or 185 grain +P loads. These generate 1250 and 1150 FPS respectively - but this is out of normal length tubes… I wonder - what they will do out of a short tube? Kick like a mare, I’m sure! But I may have to sacrifice IPSC rapid fire speed for solid terminal ballistics… I can deal with that. Going all the way down to 165 grains isn’t my ideal… I’ll have to make a compromise some place. The question is where.
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You might laugh in the face of FEAR... but unless your armed, its a nervous, unconvincing, little laugh.
Hornaday is one of my absolute favorite ammo makers. The make in my opinion the finest rifle cartridges that you can buy off the average gunshop self. The “Custom” line is just wonderful stuff… and my pet FAL’s preferred food. I checked out the pistol line up and found some great .45 cartridges from the Custom line. These are generating over 1,000 FPS from standard length 1911 barrels. Some say they are too hot for the 1911 and entended for hunting revolvers. Well - that some seemed to be the two knuckle heads behind the gun counter.
[Side note] Where do gun shops hire some of these guys from? Some of the most gun ignorant folk have been standing behind these counters passing themselves off as gun experts! Now, I have met some gun shop guys that really knew gun stuff… Life long shooters that just happened to land a job in a gun store. Others, seem to be born retail clerks that just happen to be at a gun store. Two things I want to make clear:
1. Gun stores should hire SHOOTERS first, and Clerks second.
2. I would quit my techie management job in a SECOND to work at a good gun store! Even if that meant taking a pay cut. [/Side note]
Back to what I was saying…
These guys in this gunshop said that this Hornady load was too hot for a Springfield GM 1911 and would probably blow up an old Detonics… First off - I don’t think there are enough .45 ACP chambered revolvers out there for Hornady to bother cranking out factory loads for… Second off - one of these fellas told me FOR A FACT that KIMBER does not use any MIM parts in there guns… Ah, yeah, they do. At least they did when I was at the factory. (I have visited most US manufactures, just for fun.) So I know that this fella was a less that ideal source for information. This Hornady Custom .45 fodder IS made for the 1911… Mostly for handgun hunting. It uses a hunting bullet and sends that bullet down range at a respectable speed with very good accuracy. This isnt intended for personal defense, or Law Enforcement - Doesn’t come in a flashy box - doesn’t get magazine attention that I have ever seen like GOLD Dotted Sabers and Silver tips or anything neat. What it is - is just a plain old hunting load… A powerful load that barks with more authority than a pack of German Shepherd police dogs and kicks like Clydesdale. My Springfield Government Models handle it with no problem. The Detonics? Well, it would have the ballistics that I’m looking for - no question… problem is that this load is just a tad bit - UNCONTROLABLE!!!
Okay - good stuff… just not for the Detonics. I think I found a good carry load for the bigger guns - stuff is even cheaper than the Hydra by 2 bucks… But I’m looking for food to feed my little gun. Lets keep looking.
Cor-Bon is a maker of some good hot stuff - but I ain’t finding any Cor-Bon around SLC. Moving on to Triton. Triton can be found in SLC on occasion - when your lucky and stop buy the store shortly after they get some new stock in. They also can be ordered online with very little fuss.
[Side note] I have had very good luck with online ordering and I actually prefer it to slugging it out with Salt Lake City Traffic… Which I can PROOVE is worse than Washington DC or LA… You see the Utah Department of Transportation is staffed by COMPLETE LUNATICS who close and tear down freeway interchanges on-ramps and off-ramps like the Mad-Hatter changes his seat at the table. Driving in SLC sucks and at least in DC or LA, you are reasonable sure your exit WILL BE THERE! One reason I like Ordering better than playing fetch.[/Side note]
Triton has 3 lines of ammo that can be had for the .45 (and other calibers) that are interesting.
The Quik-Shok, Hi-Vel, and CQD loads. Now, while the QS loads are great on small furry critters in .22 (blew up a possum with that - worked better that regular .22LR stuff which can just irk a possum…) Thanks to our Dr Walt Welch here, I am tending to favor solid deep penetration for anti-maniac work… so I ain’t interested in the QS stuff. Same reason I dont really care about the CQD stuff which is made like an aspirin tablet - compressed powder… in this case powdered tin and copper. Interesting load - maybe good stuff for shooting steel plates…
This leaves the Hi-Vel line. Triton loads 4 different .45 ACP variants and 2 more in Super… Nice!
I don’t work for Triton - so I ain’t writing a commercial for them. Not without some stuff from Fernando’s bank account… or ammo stock pile! All these loads are good and spicy and should make most shooters rather pleased I would think.
I am interested in the 165 grain Lite load… The Detonics Combat Master has a shorted grip than an Officer’s ACP and is about the same size as Cylinder & Slide’s Adventurer pistol… This makes holding on to the gun under abrupt recoil a challenge… at least if you want fast follow up shots. The .45 Super is definitely out of the question! The “Lite” option is no slacker - 1100 FPS, and 443 foot pounds of energy… not bad for a .45 ACP belly gun! Triton claims that this ammo is “designed specially for shorter barrels with out excessive recoil.”
While I don’t have any of this ammo to test yet (Ordered Online and will get it in by about this coming Thursday - perfect for heading out for the weekend… Problem, that weekend is another wedding I must attend! Dang it!) I will test this stuff at the first chance I get! Second option from Triton is the 165 grain or 185 grain +P loads. These generate 1250 and 1150 FPS respectively - but this is out of normal length tubes… I wonder - what they will do out of a short tube? Kick like a mare, I’m sure! But I may have to sacrifice IPSC rapid fire speed for solid terminal ballistics… I can deal with that. Going all the way down to 165 grains isn’t my ideal… I’ll have to make a compromise some place. The question is where.
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You might laugh in the face of FEAR... but unless your armed, its a nervous, unconvincing, little laugh.
