What is the lowest powered 45ACP ammo?

[Brenainn]

I was shooting the other weekend and shot a 1911 45ACP at a little USPSA type match. I think they said it was low powered ammo (reloaded). I just liked the feel of it. I don't have a 45, and never have bought the ammo, so I don't know much about it.

I was just wondering what to look for if I wanted to buy "low powered" instead of the typical ammo from somewhere like Wal-Mart. Would it still be about $20 for 50? Or would it be less? Or is this something that you can really only get when reloading?

[icebones]

yep, most likley handloaded ammo with a low power factor,
the mild reloads i load for target practice in my .45 shoot alot softer and have less muzzle blast than store-bought rounds, loaded with just enough powder to reliably cycle the slide.

for store bought try some 185 grain rounds, a lighter bullet SHOULD have less recoil, unless it is loaded with higher pressure for less recoil, in short dont buy 185 grian +p loads. just plain 185 grain FMJ loads

[VARifleman]

The amount of recoil is pretty close to proportional to the power factor level that can be calculated with the formula in the USPSA rulebook (Bullet weight in grains X velocity / 1000 = Power Factor). It's just a momentum afterall. Something about bullet weight, is that for a specific power factor, a lighter bullet will have a shorter, sharper recoil impulse, as compared to a heavier bullet.

As for factory ammo, most .45 is loaded to hardball specs, which comes out around 185-190 power factor, whereas the stuff you shot was probably 170 power factor. The nice thing about shooting .40 in USPSA is that blazer brass actually gives 170 power factor, while most factory stuff is in the 150s or low 160s. I reload now for .45, and use 230 grainers going around 730 fps.

[1911NM]

Given the formula Rifleman has shown in his post for power factor, and most people shooting a .45acp in USPSA just want to meet the minimum for Major PF, yes reloading is the way to go. That said, WWB target ammo from Sprawlmart is a pretty soft load.

[bofe954]

You can get reloads made to your specs if you hunt around. Or http://www.precisiondeltasales.com/ can make some lower power factor stuff.

If you are even a little bit serious about competing with a 45ACP you better start reloading.

For the price of a couple thousand rounds you could get set up to reload.

[bdutton]

http://www.nsksales.com/

Neil is very helpful too. Give him a call.

[Tarvis]

Well, for a rule of thum don't shoot someone elses hand loads. As far as low-powered ammo, you're looking at handloading your own to get stuff that works good in your gun. I loaded some 230 gr 45acp ammo for competition to the specs in the book for 825 fps (749 fps needed for major caliber) only to find out that my 4.25" bbl poops em out at 700 fps. If you are really concerned about getting the right ammo in your gun, you gotta load your own.

[another okie]

Federal Gold Medal Match, which is a 185 grain full metal jacket / semi wadcutter is very mild. I haven't chronoed it to see what the power factor is. It's very accurate and it's also very expensive. I once purchased one box of it just to see what it was like. It's very nice.

I load a similar weight jacketed bullet (185) myself with 5.1 grains of 231 powder, which gives me about 700 to 720 feet per second. That will not make major - the power factor is about 130.