Author Topic: .45 ACP ammo recommendation (Read 2184 times)

dougk · « **on:** November 29, 2009, 02:06:05 AM »

What .45 ACP ammo would you recommend for carry and self defence?

thanks
Doug

John R. · « **Reply #1 on:** November 29, 2009, 03:32:18 AM »

I use 230 gr. HP. Winchester SXT. Any good 230 gr. HP should be fine.

Noreaster · « **Reply #2 on:** November 29, 2009, 06:58:03 AM »

As stated above. The Winchester round is a great round. Speer loads are bonded and are also very good. The thing with a 45 acp is, your starting out with a great round, expansion under penetration aren't as much as a worry as say a 9mm or 380acp.

Mikey · « **Reply #3 on:** November 29, 2009, 01:49:19 PM »

GI ball, and practice. A magic bullet will not make up for poor shot placement, although the magic bullet makers would have you believe otherwise.

Tonk · « **Reply #4 on:** November 29, 2009, 06:46:47 PM »

I use a Speer 200 grain hollow point backed up with 230 grain hardball ammo! These are put into the magazine alternating the two bullet weights. I try to shoot at least 3 times a week but at the very least I will shoot twice a week, a couple hundred rounds a session.

Bigeasy · « **Reply #5 on:** November 29, 2009, 07:08:05 PM »

Quote from: Mikey on November 29, 2009, 01:49:19 PM

GI ball, and practice. A magic bullet will not make up for poor shot placement, although the magic bullet makers would have you believe otherwise.

What Mikey said, though I do like the Remington Golden Sabers for carry use. They rate at the top for stopping power in the Evans/Marshal statistics.

Larry

ccoker · « **Reply #6 on:** November 30, 2009, 10:12:42 AM »

230g HST +p is my preferred round

dougk · « **Reply #7 on:** December 03, 2009, 03:47:51 PM »

I get the shot placement. However with 1.5 seconds to draw, aim and fire at a target at 3 meters there is not a lot of aiming. Hence I want to stack the deck as much as possible.

I ended up with the Speer Gold Dot 230gr.

thanks for the pointers.

ccoker · « **Reply #8 on:** December 03, 2009, 04:25:39 PM »

can't argue with Speer gold dots

S.S. · « **Reply #9 on:** December 04, 2009, 01:59:20 PM »

230 gr FMJ

dougk · « **Reply #10 on:** December 07, 2009, 09:16:21 AM »

GDHP (Gold Dot Hollow Point) 230gr

SHOOTALL · « **Reply #11 on:** December 07, 2009, 09:22:11 AM »

most any good HP . Ball ammo as good as it can be can pass thru. and bounce off hard objects more so than HP ammo . I like Federal hydroshok (sp)

Strat · « **Reply #12 on:** December 11, 2009, 07:21:45 AM »

230 gr FMJ, you can kill a motor with it.

drdougrx · « **Reply #13 on:** December 11, 2009, 08:40:33 AM »

230gr Hydrashocks for me.

WFN · « **Reply #14 on:** December 11, 2009, 09:07:56 AM »

230 gr FMJ. I prefer 230 over the 185 gr, and prefer FMJ over HP for penetration.

rio grande · « **Reply #15 on:** December 11, 2009, 11:31:57 AM »

Quote from: S.S. on December 04, 2009, 01:59:20 PM

230 gr FMJ

Thats the beauty of the .45... don't need trick bullets.
A friend has a .380, thats his only firearm, all he can right now find is FMJ...
worries about it for home defense.

SHOOTALL · « **Reply #16 on:** December 15, 2009, 05:02:43 AM »

What's trick ammo ?

williamlayton · « **Reply #17 on:** December 15, 2009, 05:08:30 AM »

YOU KNOW--magic bullets that will work with a bad hit.
No such thing-but-a hit is a hit and that makes the bad guy flinch.
Blessings

Tonk · « **Reply #18 on:** December 15, 2009, 11:44:59 AM »

I knew a fella once upon a time! A real watch ya call wiseguy who carried a Colt 1911 and only used 230 grn. FMJ bullets. His thoughts were, you don't need any mushrooming bullet because the FMJ .45acp makes a big enough hole to let the blood drain and it also will penetrate a motor block.

Now I personally have never shot any motor blocks with a .45acp but I suppose his point was it works and works very well in his line of work. I also once had a guy tell me that a .45acp is NOT a man-stopper! I told him to take 2 shots to the chest at 20 ft and then get off the floor and tell me that once again.

SHOOTALL · « **Reply #19 on:** December 17, 2009, 08:03:35 AM »

I watched a police film clip from a dash camera in a police car where a guy took a point blank hit from a 230 gr Federal HS HP in the near center chest . He then attempted to take the gun ( cop threw it away before he could )then beat the cop . Two more cops came and it took all three to get him cuffed . The guy may have been 5'8" , 150 lbs . The 3 GA. troopers were all 6' of larger. The guy was on pcp and died later . He could have taken the shots and stood up and told you .
Point is there is NO HANDGUN THAT IS 100% effective PERIOD . So anything you can do to increase the effectivness of what you tote is good sense on your part. That said the 357 mag 125 gr hp is documented to be the best man stopper with 1 shot stops . So why would anyone consider a ball load over a HP load in any cal. ?

rio grande · « **Reply #20 on:** January 03, 2010, 03:48:14 AM »

Quote from: SHOOTALL on December 17, 2009, 08:03:35 AM

I watched a police film clip from a dash camera in a police car where a guy took a point blank hit from a 230 gr Federal HS HP in the near center chest . He then attempted to take the gun ( cop threw it away before he could )then beat the cop . Two more cops came and it took all three to get him cuffed . The guy may have been 5'8" , 150 lbs . The 3 GA. troopers were all 6' of larger. The guy was on pcp and died later . He could have taken the shots and stood up and told you .
Point is there is NO HANDGUN THAT IS 100% effective PERIOD . So anything you can do to increase the effectivness of what you tote is good sense on your part. That said the 357 mag 125 gr hp is documented to be the best man stopper with 1 shot stops . So why would anyone consider a ball load over a HP load in any cal. ?

Because many HP's for one reason or another do not expand, and weight and penetration count for a lot.
I can't take sides though, I think a flat-pointed heavy .45 slug at 900 FPS is good, and I'd certainly feel OK carrying a .357 125 gr. JHP as well.
Attitude, accuracy, speed....more important.

williamlayton · « **Reply #21 on:** January 05, 2010, 12:50:19 AM »

I do know that round nose FMJ's cannot penetrate sometimes. If they hit a bone at an angle, maybe, a windshield at an angle they CAN glance.
A bullet, to my way of thinking, has need to deform to some degree in order to bite or penetrate.
I think that penetration will cause more stopping damage than anything.
HP's can fill up with clothing or flesh and not expand.
A fast moving FMJ can penetrate thru and thru and not hit a vital organ.
A slow moving, soft nosed bullet can hit a bone and stop--doing damage but not penetrate.
I am a great believer in shot placement--in the heat, we often will not get the shot placement we want due to movement, external clothing, or angle and then be left with makeing sure we hit and not miss---that is often, in a matter of seconds/one or two or three seconds, all we have.
Luck plays a part--circumstances--angles--just a lot of stuff we have no control over.
Now i do favor a bullet that will deform and feel that it has a better chance of doing damage and carrying over the speed and impact of the bullet better than FMJ's.
Blessings

Tn Jim · « **Reply #22 on:** January 05, 2010, 06:10:34 PM »

Even if a 45 HP didn't expand it would still be the equal of a FMJ. Either one will work, but I still prefer Gold Dot 230's.

Casull · « **Reply #23 on:** January 05, 2010, 06:41:58 PM »

Quote

That said the 357 mag 125 gr hp is documented to be the best man stopper with 1 shot stops .

That "documented" study was flawed. It did not address where the hits were made (a shot in the side of the gut counts the same as a heart shot). It immediately threw out all multiple hits. I wonder how many of those would have been one shot stops, if the shooter had stopped at one shot? Seriously, does anyone really believe that a 125 gr .357 will stop someone better than a 240 gr .44 mag hp?

Savage · « **Reply #24 on:** January 06, 2010, 03:39:26 AM »

Casull,
Statistics are for entertainment purposes only. IMO, interesting, but not always reliable. Usually good for government funding tho-----lol

Savage

Redtail1949 · « **Reply #25 on:** January 07, 2010, 06:12:47 PM »

it has been my experiance that the whole argument of FMJ verses HP was based on over penetration and in the case of HP a bigger wound channel. I will stick with hardball as it mostly is 100% reliable in feeding in almost every gun. it is when you try all the HP variations that you start having problems. i know all about the problem can be addressed by ramp and throat work . my series 70 would feed empty cases.

i have loaded all types for my weapons but have drifted back to 230 grain hardball at approx. 850 fps for the guns i pack or when i leave around the home for defense. that round is cooking (not the hottest i know) and will deal a would be attacker a serious reason to cease and desist.

Savage · « **Reply #26 on:** January 08, 2010, 04:48:47 AM »

I carry the "Ranger T" hollow points in .45 acp. I have confidence in their ability to penetrate, and I don't own a pistol that won't feed hollow points. Most any current production pistol will function fine with hollow points. If not, it's time to fix it or send it down the road.
Savage

shvlhead.45 · « **Reply #27 on:** January 10, 2010, 03:30:48 PM »

You mention you went with the 230 HST HP, good round.

I carry the 230 HST, the 230 Speer Gold Dots and I use the WW White Box 230 Personal Protection HPs for practise and I'm on the deer lease and I didn't bring the Colt for whatever reason. Have some Black Talons stashed away for SHTF situations and the first mag in my compact is power balls. That is what I trust my life with. If I think I'm going to a gun fight, I've been known to show up with rifles and shot guns in that type of situation and there has been a couple of times I had IDF on the other end of a short radio message as well.

Your number one priority is to determine what your pistol shoots without fail and use that.

v/r
SH.45

DAG460 · « **Reply #28 on:** January 25, 2010, 09:10:45 AM »

I carry Speer 230 gr. Gold Dots. And as stated before, if they don't expand you still have a .45 hole with penetration. I don't think the court will concider shooting engine blocks self defence. If you have time to shoot up cars you have time to run. The only time I see doing that is if you can't run fast enough and the BG is trying to run you down.

DAG

superpig1047 · « **Reply #29 on:** February 05, 2010, 05:57:51 PM »

I carry the winchester PDX1 bonded rounds in 230grn. They will retain their weight along with consistant 12-13 inches of penitration. They also consistantly open to at least .65 or greater even when shot through wall board or autoglass and do not shed their jackets. I would second that round with the Golden Saber 185+p. Either way technology can not relpace good shot placement or practice.