What is Your Favorite Factory 45 ACP Load...

I like 230 grain Gold Dots for social work, 230 grain lead or FMJ for practice.

Only problem I've encountered with a .45 is that my SIG 220 stumbles on 200 gr. LSWCs. Not an issue, just an observation. You have to test each gun/magazine combination.

Giz
 
Practice: I load 230 grain round nose lead bullets to standard velocity. Same POI as my carry load.

Defense: Remington 230 Golden Saber. I've read this is the load the FBI specified in it's acceptance testing of their Baer and Springfield custom .45's. Good defensible choice in court,and even if it doesn't expand, it's still 230 grains, so at worst it should equal hardball. (Actually, I think it would be hard to distinguish a major performance advantage between ANY of today's 230 HP's from major manufacturers. If they work in your pistol, they're all good choices.)
 
I like the COR-BON 45-185 JHP. I feel for civilian use, it's the top round. Velocity is 1150 form a 5" barrel, 1120 from a a 4 1/4" barrel. It has excellent stopping power from looking at Sanow/Marshall resuls. Penetration is excellent for civilian use....not over penetrative like some of the heavier (230 gr jhps) rounds out there. Another advantage that I find with COR-BONs ammo is tha low flash. This load puts out a couple sparks instead of the big ball of fire that some of the less expensive ammo does. If I were in law enforcement, I "might" go to a heavier bullet.
 
For practice I use a variety of 230gr fmj. For defense I like & use several loads, depending on the pistols bbl. length.

Fullsize: 230 GS, 230 HS, 200+p GD

Compact: 200+p GD, 185 GS, 185 GD

{long shot}
 
a hornady 200 gr fmj flat point on 9 grains of AA#5...

Oh wait you said FACTORY ammo ;)

I practice with UMC 230 gr hardball, its loaded to about the same specs as 230 gr federal hydra shocks, prints the same point of impact in my 45's and isn't rated as a +p load, so its easier on the service life of the weapon.

Often for IDPA matches, etc I use a 200 gr semi wadcutter on 5.5 grains of red dot. Its not a screamer but it still "makes major" and it works.
 
I don't have any favorite factory ammo...

I like my handloads better than any factory loads, BUT... I do like in .45 ACP:

Corbon, any weight bullet, +p
Triton Quik-shoks, 165 gr.
Black Hills 200 gr.

I keep the .45 loaded with Corbon 185's when it is in the nightstand...
 
For practice or carry I use all my 45 loads.

My favorite IPSC/USPSA load is my 230g TMJ-RN at 730fps, and my favorite carry load is my 230g Golden Saber at 780fps.
These velocities are MY favorites, from MY gun (1911 Caspian).
 
I carry Georgia Arm's 230gr. Gold Dot's. Georgia Arms rates them at 850 FPS. That's what I practice with also. And what I will shoot IDPA with. If I decide to go with a less expensive round for economic reasons then that is what I will carry. I believe that the way you train is the way you will fight. Even a tiny difference in point of impact could be critical with my life on the line.
 
For self defense, I prefer federal 230gr Hydra-Shoks. For practice I try to use the least expensive load that will duplicate the characteristics of the Hydra-Shok.
 
i like the golden sabers from http://www.cccammo.com in either 185gr or 230gr. they are very cheap ~12.75/50. they have kind of an interesting flash. it's kind of sparkly. but they work great & you can afford to shoot a lot more of them than most premium defense loads.
 
[b]One More Question[/b]

Good to hear about all of your favorites! The 230 Hydroshocks seem to be the most popular here.

What factory cartridge has fed least reliably due to bullet profile?

I have a prediction, but will wait and see what your experiences have been.

Best regards,

eq
 
That's become a hard question for me to answer. Several months ago I bought a Kimber Classic Gold Match. The first two hundred rounds through it was a combination of Corbon, Mullins, and some hardball I picked up at Walmart. I had about four failures to feed. Can't remember which.

Last week I fired almost five hundred rounds through it without cleaning it. Georgia Arms 230 gr Gold Dot, UMC FMJ,
Federal Hydrashok, and Winchester BEB. Not one malfunction.

Yesterday, I fired a hundred rounds of the Georgia Arms Gold Dot. I had one failure to feed on the last round in a magazine. I cleared the weapon, reloaded the round in the magazine, and fired it. The slide did not lock back. Upon examining the magazine I found that a bit of sand had prevented the follower from moving all the way to engage the catch. Conclusion-dropping the magazine in a previous string and then reloading it had resulted in a fouled magazine. I need to buy more magazine so when I practice I don't have to worry about cleaning magazines at the range.

After this happened, I decided to practice malfunction clearing as it has been a while and I have never practiced this enough anyway. I loaded an empty case in each of three magazines. The Kimber fed each empty case. I'm beginning to have a lot of confidence in this firearm.
 
.45 Auto loads:

230 gr. Federal Hyda-Shok for defense.
230 gr. Winchester USA for range work.

My only .45 caliber pistol is my HK USP. I plan to get a 1911 sometime in the future.:)
 
Carry: 230gr Remington Golden Saber. It's just a tad more accurate than the 185gr HydroShok, or the 185gr Silvertip.

Plinkin': 230gr Wolf, or S&B. Whichever my wallet will let me get my hands on at the time.;)
 
200gr +P Gold Dots. fast, and big. Plus, I've seen damage from a 45 GD, and it was impressive. Also saw a couple hydras 'fold in' during winter clothing testing. no thanks.
 
For defense- 230gr. Hydrashok. For practice- 230gr. ball by MagTech, CCI Blazer. Also,185 gr. FMJTC by Winchester( white box).
 
For defense- 230gr. Hydrashok. For practice- 230gr. ball by MagTech, CCI Blazer, 185 gr. ball , Winchester white box.
 
230 grain FMJ. I am partial to Winchester, but any 230 grain FMJ that goes boom makes me happy. WinClean is runner up.
 
Practice: PMC, UMC, or White Box (in that order of preference), all in 230 grain fmj.

Carry: Federal 230 grain Hydra-Shoks in guns with 5 inch barrels; CorBon 165 grain jhp in Kimber Ultra Carry (3 inch barrel); depends upon particular gun's performance with a particular round for guns with barrel lengths in between these two extremes (e.g., G30 or Commander-length).

Unreliable performance with particular cartridge: As much as I like the CorBon 165 with shorter barrel lengths, I have a "high end" 1911 clone with a commander-length barrel which simply doesn't like this round. It eats everything else I've tried in it without a glitch, but it malfunctions about once per magazine with the CorBon 165. My hunch is that this is "due to bullet profile," but who knows. Wish I didn't have the problem.
 
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