Bullet Choice?

[Spirithawk]

What do you all prefer to feed your 1911 .45s? If hollow points, for carry, then what kind?

[mcwoodduck]

I am not sure it really matters.
I think one premium projectile is as good as another.  And some will claim you need 185 grainers and others will claim 230.
I think your best bet is to get a box of what you like and try them out in the gun before you carry them.
If your 1911 is a FMJ only then you may want to look at the new Guard Dog load by Federal that has the profile of an FMJ but a polymer inner that folds back and expands. 
I think you need to figure out what works in the gun and what you feel confident will stop an attacker.
 

[Victor3]

 Since both of my 1911s are stock military (neither super accurate target guns nor for carry), I cast round nose 225gr (lyman mould# 452374) and 200gr truncated cone (452630) for them. Both work flawlessly in my guns and cost next to nothing.

[Bigeasy]

For all around shooting, I like the 200 grain cast semi wadcutter at about 800 fps., though 230 grain round nose, cast or jacketed works well also, especially in finicky pistols.  Last year, myself and a few friends tested a pretty decent selection of available hollow point self defense ammo.  We used bundles of newspaper, soaked in water for a consistent test medium.  The 230 grain Gold Dots, and Winchester PDX's seemed to give the best combination of penetration and expansion.  Personally, I use the PDX load as my carry load.  When carrying a 1911 in moose / black bear country, I load a 240 grain hard cast lead bullet hot, but safe, to about 1000 fps.  I took a large whitetail in Maine a few years ago with this load, with thru and thru penetration thru both shoulders.
 
Larry

[Mikey]

For everyday carry (personal defense), general hunting backup and general plinking and fun shooting I prefer one of two slugs:  either the Lyman Keith style #452423 238 gn cast semi-wadcutter or the Mag-Tech 230 gn fmj-swc, and over 6.5 - 6.7 gns of Unique for somewhere around 875'/sec.  From either my Springfield Government Model or my old lightweight Colt Commander both these loads shoot to poa at 25m.  Couldn't ask for better. 
 
I will shoot other stuff if I have slugs hanging around but those two I mentioned above are about the best choices I have seen. 

[SharonAnne]

I use only factory ammunition for defense. Too many lawyers will use hand loads against you. "Look, factory ammunition is not good enough for him, he makes his own killer loads that are more deadly". I know it is crap but it happens.  I stagger my load, each 185 gr, Silvertips then Hydra Shok.

[ole 5 hole group]

If your looking for HP/Jacketed bullets for carry - I have found the 230 grain gold dot in front of 6.5 grains VV N340 and a Federal 150 primer to be very accurate and suitable for carry - no difference in accuracy, if you substitute WLP primers for the Federal 150. 
 

[sk330lc]

I use only factory ammunition for defense. Too many lawyers will use hand loads against you. "Look, factory ammunition is not good enough for him, he makes his own killer loads that are more deadly". I know it is crap but it happens.  I stagger my load, each 185 gr, Silvertips then Hydra Shok.

and you think they won't use , the fact that you Stagger rounds?   

[irold]

Haven't bought a box of ammo for a long time.  I like to roll my own.  Perhaps your right , a good lawyer may tear me apart....That being said ....
 
My Springer likes 200 gr lead SWC over either bullseye or W-231.  Both loads shoot in the 900 FPS range , can't remember exactly.  And both more accurate than I can shoot.  Not sure how they'd preform in a defensive situation , hopefully I'll never find out.  Don't think I'd want to be on the recieving end of one though.
 
regards , irold

[FPH]

I saw a guy put through the ringer for using evil + P loads.  All my PD loads are factory.

[SharonAnne]

oh sure a shyster might try that. However, you are more likely to be sued for shooting too little than too much.

[Old Fart]

I looked into the whole reload vs factory stuff. Any decent lawyer will get right past that in your defense. After all in a self defense situation do you what a round that only kind of kills the bad guy? It's already a deadly weapon to begin with, it's not gonna become "more" deadly just because you use reloads.

[FPH]

I looked into the whole reload vs factory stuff. Any decent lawyer will get right past that in your defense. After all in a self defense situation do you what a round that only kind of kills the bad guy? It's already a deadly weapon to begin with, it's not gonna become "more" deadly just because you use reloads.

And how many hours is an Attorney  going to charge you to do that.....I'll stick with factory.....couple of hours buys a lot of ammo.

[Mike in Virginia]

Use what you know to be the best.  In a criminal trial, the only fact that will get you convicted is your unreasonablness is firing.  The handload may come into question in a civil trial, but whether or not you get charged crimanly, you will always be sued.  If you kill someone, his next of kin will sue.  If the bad guy survives, he will sue you. 

[FPH]

God forbid you use a Black Talon.  Civil suit is were I have seen it made an issue,and one criminal trial against a LEO using hand loads

[Victor3]

 Massad Ayoob was an expert witness on many shooting cases and recommended never to use reloads for the reasons that SharonAnne noted.

[mcwoodduck]

God forbid you use a Black Talon.  Civil suit is were I have seen it made an issue,and one criminal trial against a LEO using hand loads

So get the SXT by Winchester.
Instead of a single triangle they now have two that open up.
SXT= Same eXact Thing as the Black tallon, just a shinny bullet instead of the evil black bullet.
Hey are the anit gunners racist, they dislike any of the black rifles, handguns, shotguns, and ammo.

[animal]

I practice with my various reloads for recreation but carry any personal defense 230 grain hollow point, usually Hornady. Hopefully (usually what happens) if you have to pull a gun out
you are gonna get the rear view of someone haulin it.