An interesting caliber. I always felt more attracted to the 10mm, which can accomplish about the same energy in a 1911, at standard pressures.
I agree with you. 10mm really is a great round for giving magnum performance in an autoloader, plus you get more capacity then .45. It would be my go to, except for one issue - ammo availability/compatibility. I don't really spend thou$ands on guns, so anything I do own for carry or practice needs to widely available. I don't shoot revolvers, so I would only consider owning a handgun in 9/.40/.45 (and maybe .357 Sig). 10mm is an excellent round, but if I buy guns for it, put my practice toward it, etc I've put myself at a disadvantage - if things go south in a big way, ammo will be very hard to come by. With .45 Super, I can get that near magnum performance, and also feed it .45ACP if thats all that's on hand.
Before getting into this topic any further I'd like to know: (1) Exactly 'What ' is wrong with 45 ACP pressure? (2) 'What ', again, is this 45 Super cartridge supposed to be good (or 'less foggy') for? (3) Finally, 'What' do you want to do with 45 Super that you're apparently reluctant to attempt with 45 ACP?
Nothing is "wrong" with .45 ACP (at least as far a pistol cartridges go), but it is not in the same league as the other common ones in terms of maximizing performance. (For semi-autos) caliber choice is some combination of bullet size/weight X speed X magazine capacity = effectiveness (I'm excluding recoil here, because that is widely variable depending on the ergonomics of the gun and the skill of the shooter). Different rounds have different stats, but within in a reasonable range (9mm-.45) you should be able to make trade offs, but still get a similar overall "value" of effectiveness (yes, this is a little abstract, but when you really want to find the most lethal caliber for a purpose, there really isn't a better way to compare them). 45ACP kind of lags behind other common rounds (9mm, .40, .357 Sig, 10MM) a bit, because it is pretty underpowered for its given size and case volume (this is simply a byproduct of the era it was deigned in), thus it's overall "effectiveness" matrix (considering the factors I listed) is lower. 45 Super is really just .45ACP updated with modern materials and methods. The fact that you can get much higher performance out of the round, without changing the external dimensions at all (FYI for those you don't .45 Super and ACP are
identically sized) or making it less safe proves that. It's .45 ACP if it was designed in 2011 instead of 1911
yeah
Why would you want an easy and forgiving cartridge to reload, with virtually infinite case life, in a pistol that will last tens of thousands of rounds and easy follow up shots?
........and then there's the legendary lack of stopping power.
Valid points, but I don't reload, so it's not important for
me. Also, .45 Super isn't any harder on a pistol than 10mm (less so in fact), so a gun that could handle it would last plenty long, assuming you change out the requisite part at proper intervals (which I already assume is a given for any self-defense handgun).
Also, sorry, but "stopping power" is a myth. Pretty much any round you shoot out of a handgun is relatively
bad at incapacitating people and .45 is no magic exception, it's just a different kind of compromise (like all round):
https://www.policeone.com/police-he...ne-cop-carries-145-rounds-of-ammo-on-the-job/ (TL;DR cop shoots bg with 14 rounds of .45ACP, including 6 to vital organs. He doesn't go down till he gets two in the brain. Autopsy report shows he wasn't under the effects of any drugs or mentally ill).