Is 45acp fading away?

I doubt that it has "obscurity" in its future but my own personal observation is that it and .40 are giving a lot of ground to the previously, prematurely claimed-dead 9mm.

I have personally parked my beloved .45 1911s for the most part in favor of 9s from Micro to full sized.

Todd.

Discussion is heavily influenced by what is trendy and the new hotness. The .45 is not trendy and definitely not the new hotness. For handguns, you have to be a subcompact polystriker in 9mm or a duty-size polystriker in 9mm to make the covers of gun magazines, blogs, or high-count YouTube reviews.

The .45 will remain popular with a vast number of shooters who are not desperate to follow the lastest fad, and just want something that works.

The 45 ACP will still be in use when the world passes away.

Yes, .45ACP is dead. Send me all your .45 ammo so I can give it a decent burial.

flightsimmer said:

The 45 ACP will still be in use when the world passes away.

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Agree.

Yeah 9mm is almost half the market for ammo sales, 45 was like 10%.

I have big hands; I'm a big guy. I went into a new gun store a few years ago, and the sales guy was really pushing the latest wonder 9, emphasizing how light it was, how easy to conceal it was, etc. I told him that I doubted I could handle it safely since it was so small. He tried to tell me that my concerns weren't warranted, so I took it into my hands. He looked at the pistol in my hands, and said, "Ok, well, have you seen the FNX-45? Or maybe you'd be interested in this P220?"

I will keep a sharp eye out to see if my .45's start to fade away. So far they are as visible as ever.

kimberkid said:

... So, what say you?
Is the short, fat & slow 45acp fading into obscurity?

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Nope ... relative to my carry preferences, at least.

My most recent NIB handgun purchase (a few years ago) was a 3" .45acp Springfield Armory XDs Mod2 (already had one of the original .45acp "Mod1"s for a few years). It has been my EDG for a long time. Prior to that I was usually carrying my .45acp Glock 30s.

It will fade away like the revolver did. And the 45-70. And the 1911. And the lever gun...and ...well, you see where this is going.

As long as the red, white and blue flies somebody will be making, carrying and shooting the .45 ACP.

I am going to go out on a limb and say that by the end of this year or early next year you will see a return of the .45 ACP to a greater % of sales. I will save my reasoning for later.

No, don’t be silly

In the event of a stupid future nationwide AWB (10 round mag limit) and no grandfathering, 45 acp will become more popular.
That popularity would apply to those willing/able to carry something bigger than a pocket gun.

The only 9mms that I can shoot well are the big, old guns.
I've got really big hands.
I handle most .45s just fine.
YMMV.

I think the 45 still has a role, although a more diminished one. All rounds have their hey day and their waning points. Some times as other factors change popularity rises and falls. There may be a day in the future when it will begin to rise in popularity again. I don't see it fading completely, at least in my lifetime.

kimberkid said:

After learning the basics on 22LR dad introduced me to the 1911 45acp which has been a lifelong companion.

Even as far back as 20-30 years ago I’ve owned a Beretta 92, SiG 226 and a couple other 9mm, 380 & various other smaller calibers but when we regained the right to carry concealed, along with most NFA rights in 2007, I like many people started looking seriously at smaller pistols for carry. Now I own nearly as many 9’s as I do 45’s and haven’t purchased a 45 for several years.

It occurred to me a few weeks ago, and I’ve been watching for threads on 45’s on all boards & social media I’m a member on, and it’s becoming a rare thing to see anything on 45’s ... even with 40S&W falling from favor with LEO departments they seem to be leaning to the 9mm as well.

So, what say you?
Is the short, fat & slow 45acp fading into obscurity?

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Sure. I'll take what you don't. Send them to me.

My nightstand and carry gun is a .45 ACP, a SIG-Sauer P220. I do have a Glock 19 and a SIG-Sauer P226 however.

Zahn said:

I have big hands; I'm a big guy. I went into a new gun store a few years ago, and the sales guy was really pushing the latest wonder 9, emphasizing how light it was, how easy to conceal it was, etc. I told him that I doubted I could handle it safely since it was so small. He tried to tell me that my concerns weren't warranted, so I took it into my hands. He looked at the pistol in my hands, and said, "Ok, well, have you seen the FNX-45? Or maybe you'd be interested in this P220?"

I will keep a sharp eye out to see if my .45's start to fade away. So far they are as visible as ever.

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Yep, visible and still going for top dollar at auction.

In lean times as you can see good jhp rounds are hard to come by.

As they say, a 45 never shrinks. A .45 hole where there wasn't one previously isn't bad. If you could only occasionally find iffy range ammo slow and heavy beats fast and pointy.

Add accuracy and soft recoil (in full size platforms and certainly the 1911 government model) and it's really a great big bore round. If you ever have occasion to fire one off indoors you'll appreciate subsonic rounds with good terminal effect.

I love the round in a 1911 and from the sw governor any 45 acp round has zero recoil. Pretty impressive when the revolver weighs like 28 oz and recharges quickly from moon clips.

Count me as a fan for life.

I think the 45 AARP round is slowly dying. I never seen 45 auto's anymore. Its either 9mm, 380 or 40. Last gun show I went to had hundreds of 9mm's and 380's, and like 3-4 45's

Barring the current nonsense you can still find 41 Magnum and 44-40 Winchester online. I am sure 45 ACP isn't going anywhere.

here before the shortage, 45acp ran $28/box for FMJ in most stores. Walmart had low end stuff for around $20, and steel case for about $16. 9mm ran $17/box for FMJ, about $14 for low end, and occasionally 9-13$ for steel case and Perfecta.
The new generation of shooters are interested in blowing ammo quickly, and thats normal.
The Clinton ban was not about "Police safety" or city crime like it was sold, it was always, from the start, about ending gun culture by making firearms boring to the generation coming to legal age in that era.
It was a spectacular success, and between a vacuum in gun culture, lack of education, and media presentation of firearms as deathrays, and glorification of murderers we can blame that law on the huge rise on mass shooting in this country. Sorry for the side rant, but I think its relevant.

But those that never fell into the culture eventually got jobs, put down the game controllers, and went and tried to figure it out on their own. Now they blast, and leave trash. They're figuring it out, and I have seem many millennial's finally figure it out. But its a big hole to clime out of. I know many new .45 acp buyers, but ALL of them started out blasting trash, and doing magdumps. They all graduated into disciplined, safe, responsible shooters. At that point the 1911, and .45ACP seems to be where everyone goes. But the boards are mostly the younger crowd.
The same thing can be said for 30-06, .308, and the many European cals that dominated the new buyer market. .223 is all anyone can buy in magdump quantity. Look at the uptick in PCC's for evidence of that now that .223 isn't really cheap.

Target shooting and sports are going through the same thing game hunting did when regulations killed off the culture for most of the country in the 60's-90's. Some still want to, but cant find a mentor, and the regulations are too complicated and cost of entry too high to make the effort without that help. Unlike hunting, shooting sports seem to have not lost society's interest, but building a culture from the ground up is messy hard and expensive -which is what this is all about. You can't shoot $300 worth of ammo every month making $12.50/hour with a $1500 rent. So 9mm takes the prize. FWIW, I have been carrying a 9mm since 2004 so I have a high opinion of it. I have personally talked many people out of .45, and into 9mm, for the above reasons, and others (flinch, malfunctions, pistol price). I still have my .45 though.