Who makes the "best" .45 ACP Ball?

i roll my own but as far as brands i prefer hornady over hodgdons tightgroup pistol powder.

i find the runout and weight to be very close from bullet to bullet, +- 1/20th grain. which i guess is why im more accurate with them (4" @50 yds)

sorry not much help with the factory stuff.

S&B is inexpensive and "seems" pretty hot compared to the American stuff.

Black Hills is 230 gr. of joy.

FlyinBryan, I do the exact same. Hornady FMJEncapsulated over 5 grains of Titegroup. Less flash than WWB and FAR less than the cheaper brands of FMJ. I also load a HP38 +P loading for 185gr. FMJ when I am on business trips in case of autobody or glass work. I figure the extra speed will allow it to be more flexible in barrier situations. Hornady components rule!

.455Hunter: Black Hills or WWB for any "strategic" hoarding (cheap, effective and hoardable). I would suggest maybe even Hornady (factory loadings) for FMJ, but they are hard to find in a local sense and relatively expensive (but you can count on it being accurate and reliable, not to mention some +P FMJ loadings for .45 ). Hornady would definitely be a carry FMJ in my mind and I use their components in my carry ammo. UMC and AE were always VERY high flash to me and Lawman over priced for what was recieved. Blazer Brass isnt too bad, relatively consistent and cheap, but high flash (or inconsistent flash). Federal Gold Match is WAY overpriced. I shot some and was not impressed compared to my handloads or Hornady. Its great ammo for a competitor that is very into the match, but doesnt handload (that must be one rich dude).

This sounds like a perfect excuse to spend several days at the range, with chronograph, with gun and with a real assortment of ammunition. Chrono a bunch of different manufacturers offerings and see which one has the lowest SD.

but.........yep, a but,.........every brand pistol will need different ammo, even every individual pistol in the same brand will need different ammo - there seems, in fact, to be no answer.....

Is there a best ball? It's all crap compared to a good hollowpoint IMHO unless your gun won't feed anything else, like a 1911 or something. My P90 eats anything. I don't shoot ball. Even my practice reloads use my own cast Lee 200 grain tumble lube SWCs.

A lot of dead Germans and Japanese in WWII would argue the point of 230 ball being crap...if they could. But I digress, I currently shoot 4 1911's (2 custom and 2 factory Colts) and none of the 4 have a bit of a problem digesting anything from a H&G 68 SWC, Nostler 185 hp, Remington 185 SWC, or even 230 Ball. If your 1911 isn't reliable with anything but ball it A: wasn't assembled and timed correctly at the factory. B: Wasn't throated right (see A). or C: Your magazines aren't tuned.

I'm not saying I've never heard of feeding problems, because I have. Virtually every one who actually tried to correct the problem (as opposed to just bitching about it) had it traceable to one of the above problems.

As was mentioned before, I would recommend purchasing whichever brands are in regular supply in your area and spend some time at the range testing for accuracy. Velocity is very secondary. Ball ammo has to be traveling at least 820 fps in order to be stable and accurate at 50 yards. At 25 yards or less it should all shoot well, depending on the accuracy potential of your 45.

My hard ball gun will shoot any kind of match ball into 3" or less at 50yds. I have a few boxes of WCC90 match ball that groups under that. That stuff is only used for Camp Perry. I don't shoot the EIC matches since going distinguished in 2003, after all someone needs to call the line.

FWIW

Stork

Is there a best ball? It's all crap compared to a good hollowpoint IMHO unless your gun won't feed anything else, like a 1911 or something.

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Someone's poking the hornets' nest this morning.

I've shot WWB, Federal, and Remington UMC. Out of those 3, I like UMC the best. Seems to be more accurate. I haven't tried any of the match grade stuff though.

Hornady's Custom 230gr. FMJ, shot pretty much to the point of aim, with my Ruger P97. It never had a problem feeding any FMJ round, or HP for that matter. I went with Hornady, because they had the best price on "premium" FMJ loads at that time. To tell you the truth, I don't know if there is a real difference in performance, between the high dollar FMJs and the generic stuff, but I like to keep an assortment of high quality ammo, so I gave the Hornady's a try.

It's all crap compared to a good hollowpoint IMHO unless your gun won't feed anything else, like a 1911 or something. My P90 eats anything.

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So do my 1911s. But they have the distinction of being superbly accurate, instead of like a Ruger or something.

I used to use IMI Uzi, when I used ball. It was always accurate and seemed a little hotter than normal.

I seem to recall a post by 1911Tuner a while back that stated that the PMC ball was close to USGI hardball spec and as a result was very kind to 1911 pattern pistols....

I love Fiocchi ammo. It's the "hottest" factory ammo (along with "Hirtenberger") that I've shot so far and it's extremely accurate in all my handguns.

Wwb 1+

Which is "best"?... best at what? Accuracy/target? reliability? Self defense?

For practice, I usually use either Winchester White Box or Blazer Brass 230 gr FMJ.

For self defense/concealed carry, I use Hornady TAP 230 gr +P JHP.

Wasn't PMC using the Russian "Salut" shotgun powder in their .45's for a while?

My favorite hardball .45, you can't get anymore. It used to be Winchester White Box was actually over-run military contract ammo or military ammo that batches failed QC for a minor problem, like being a few FPS slow.

So WWB used to come with WCC headstamped & dated brass with sealed primers.

Nowadays, Winchester has white box as their cheap practice ammo, and it's not .mil-spec anymore.

http://www.doubletapammo.com/php/ca...d=156&osCsid=61efaca57b285ff6e713215bee2326da

Kinda ball ammo...

Or actual ball:

http://www.doubletapammo.com/php/ca...id=96&osCsid=61efaca57b285ff6e713215bee2326da

I'll say either Blackhills or Hornady.