Why is the Military buying 185 grain .45 acp ammo?

Are you talking about the 150,000 rounds the Marines procured late last year? That was for competition shooting, not combat use.
 
Not the particular rounds described in that Request For Quotation. But who's to say "never"? If a particular load fills some future niche in combat, they may end up using it. Haven't there been some "weak" versions of other calibers used in the past for subsonic/suppressed applications?
 
The standard 230 grain .45 is already subsonic.
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Yes, that's why I was talking about other calibers - just to give an example where a seemingly "weak" or otherwise puzzling choice of cartridge might make sense for a certain application. In this case, 185 gr .45 seemed like an odd choice until you realize it's for competitive shooting and not combat.

I think it's folly to look at a Request for Proposals or other procurement documents to try to make predictions about what the next combat weapon or cartridge is going to be. You may as well study chicken entrails.
 
Why would they be using 185 gr. fmj swc match ammo in combat?
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You know DNS, if that 185gr SWC/FMJ was a thick one, and they drove it at 1150 fps, I'd say it was a better combat load than the 230 gr punkin ball!

But we know they really got powerpuff target stuff.

Pitty, cause I do think the 230 RNFMJ is a way outdated design.

Deaf
 
It is probably for training or competition.

The USAF Academy Combat Shooting Team also uses Federal 185grn SWC. I don't know why the AF picked it, but that's what we got. It has noticeably less recoil than WWB or UMC 230grn hardball.

None of the ammo I've seen used for competition/training is what is commonly issued to combat troops (save 12ga. 00 Buck). Obviously, .45acp isn't standard issue, and the 5.56mm was all 55grn M193.
 
You know DNS, if that 185gr SWC/FMJ was a thick one, and they drove it at 1150 fps, I'd say it was a better combat load than the 230 gr punkin ball!
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I agree.

Didn't JMB originaly design the .45 ACP with 200 grain bullets?
 
Didn't JMB originaly design the .45 ACP with 200 grain bullets?
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Back in the very early development and testing stages of the .45 ACP, the round that made if through the tests and was given approval was a 200gr ball at 900 ft/s. However, a round of revisions ended up with a standardized load of a 230gr ball at 850 ft/s. I doubt there is a huge difference between the two.
 
You know DNS, if that 185gr SWC/FMJ was a thick one, and they drove it at 1150 fps, I'd say it was a better combat load than the 230 gr punkin ball!
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Yeah, sure, but they aren't driving it to 1150 fps and even if they did, I would hope they had more than 150,000 rounds. I believe the current Federal 185 gr .45 acp fmj swc Gold Medal, MATCH ammo zooms along 370 fps shy of 1150 fps.

They just aren't going to be taking their competition pistol ammo to the sandbox for military operations in any sort of volume.
 
Back in the very early development and testing stages of the .45 ACP, the round that made if through the tests and was given approval was a 200gr ball at 900 ft/s. However, a round of revisions ended up with a standardized load of a 230gr ball at 850 ft/s. I doubt there is a huge difference between the two.
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Yes but since most makers can easly make the 230gr go aat 950, and a 200 grainer past 1000 fps, and with SWC style FMJ slugs quite capable of being offered, why stick with the old punkin ball?

I really doubt the miltary uses old 1911A1 WW2 .45s anymore. SOCOM no doubt uses some real nice custom 1911s that feed anything.

Deaf
 
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