.45 ACP a bad choice for first handgun

[woad_yurt]

Aside from black powder dabblings, my first cartridge shooter was 7.62X25, which is a little bit of a handful, and I got along just fine. If the guy wants a .45, it's his money, right? He'll either do fine or he won't. I'd just wish him well, make sure he knows about safe practices and how to use his gun of choice. If he hates it, he can trade it for something else.

BTW: .22 handguns and rifles came much, much later for me. I cut my teeth on 7.62X25 and 8MM Mauser. One can start beefy and go lighter later on.

 

[Bentonville]

.45 is a good choice for a handgun. Perhaps all the handgun he will ever want or need. HK45c is very soft shooting in my opinion.

 

[dbarile]

Let him buy it. Make sure he buys a good one. If he complains about the recoil call him a baby. If he continues to whine, buy it off of him on the cheap.

OK Maybe I'm just grumpy today.

 

[atomd]

Whatever he has the most fun shooting is the best thing for him. Trust me, if you like doing it enough, you will pay money for it. Heck, a movie ticket is over $10 in a lot of places but they still sell em.

Recoil is a personal preference. Between .45ACP, 9mm and 40 S&W, sometimes one of them just feels better to someone. None of them really have THAT much more recoil in the overall spectrum.

 

[AKElroy]

My first hangun was a 7 1/2" Redhawk .44 mag. It was the first gun my 110 lb wife had ever fired, and she loved it. My first loads were Samson 240gr HP's, and they were hot. Recoil did not ruin me for other guns; I think just the opposite. Recoil is just not something to base a purchase on; you will get used to whatever you buy. The .45 ACP is a pussycat to shoot. Far more managable than a mid or compact .40. (my carry choice)

 

[JImbothefiveth]

There is a risk of getting a flinch, however, if it has too much recoil. Flinches are terrible for accuracy.

 

[ComradeBurg]

If he wants a .45 after hearing that ammunition is expensive then let him get one. I just had a friend buy her first gun which was a .45 and she loves it. The ammunition might be expensive but overall it's a good caliber and the recoil is certainly manageable.

Never try to steer a person's first handgun purchase to something you think they should have. Provide them with options and let them decide what fits them best.

 

[sandy4570]

Thanks everyone for the response. It seem like just about everyone love . 45ACP here. I went to gunstore yesterday and there aren't anything left , everything are on back order and a few M1911 there are out of his budget. He might have to end up with Cabela Remington 1858 with Kris Konverter cylinder if he insist on .45 ACP. I still going to take him to the range and try the Glock and Norinco .

 

[ArmedBear]

Americans know what a .45 will do. They're still learning to trust new improvements to 9 mm etc.

Uh...

Any improvement that's been applied to the 9mm has been applied to the .45ACP as well.

It's not like any engineering has been done with the 9mm that hasn't been done to .38 Special, .40 S&W, .45 ACP, .357 Magnum, and every other round out there. Relatively speaking, the rounds all fall in the same pecking order as they did 10, 20, and 30 years ago.

So the .45 is as far ahead of the 9mm now as it was in WW II.

Besides, anyone who believes that a magic bullet will behave the same in the real world as it does in the laboratory is not thinking things through. Pre-cut hollowpoints are not considered a good idea for large animal defense, due to thick hides, etc. But last I checked, humans wore those same animal hides in the Winter time, when riding motorcycles, etc.

I'm not saying that the 9mm is worthless. I'm saying that, if you accept that the .45 was more effective than the 9mm in 1942, logic will lead you to the conclusion it's still more effective now.

 

[JohnBT]

".45 ACP a bad choice for first handgun "

I haven't seen any ammo for sale in the past month, so I'd say it's a bad idea right now.

That didn't stop me from buying an FNP-45 USG. It's not as big as it seems considering that one mag will hold 15 rounds and it comes with one of those and 2 14s. Add the 3 15s I bought off the net and it takes 88 rounds to fill my 6 mags. That's just nuts, and expensive.

But like my 87-y-o father said, "I wish I'd had one of these in WWII instead of that Colt they gave me." It bit him regularly.

John

 

[colorado_handgunner]

Here in CO, 45 is far easier to find than 9mm. I have not seen any nine (and I ammo shop 1-3 times a week) in over 3 months!!!

45 is easier than starting on 40 too!

 

[David E]

First response got lost in cyberspace...

The military doesn't care how well a recruit shoots the gun in Boot Camp. I shot all of 15 rds from a 1911 while being shoved up against the shooting partition. There were 90 holes in the target before I got to it.

The 9mm in the guns I mentioned DO kick less enough to matter.

The Glock 21-SF is NOT based on the Glock 37, as they are totally different frame sizes.

I completely agree with commnet regarding the "feel" and pointability of the SF variation and like it quite a bit.

.

 

[jaholder1971]

It's not my personal first choice and i can name a boatload of reasons to go with something like a Ruger Mk III 22/45, but since i'm not bankrolling the piece...

 

[jahwarrior]

How can I talk to my coworker about not getting the .45 ACP for his first handgun? The ammunition is very expensive in my area and he only has $500 budget so most likely he will get Glock , Springfield XD or Springfield Mil-spec 1911. I am going to take him to the range with my reload .45 and hope that the recoil and muzzle blast might help streer him back to the 9 mm but I have a feeling that we will have so much fun at the range and my argument will be lost .

stop giving out bad advice, for starters. just because you think 9mm is better, doesn't make it so. the recoil of a .45ACP through a 1911 is considerably less than a .380ACP through a mouse gun like a P3AT. your logic is FAIL; these aren't the droids you're looking for.

 

[chrisb507]

I'm considering my first handgun based partly on ammo costs.

It looks to me that a .45 is in the same ballpark (by cost per round) as a .40, .32 or a .357 mag. More expensive still would be the .45 GAP, .357 Sig or 10mm.

So, for a first handgun based on the cost of shooting it a lot, you could do better (.22, 9mm, .38), but you could do worse.

 

[Confederate]

He should consider a S&W 4506, one of the finest .45s available and much more reliable than any 1911 I've ever seen; plus it has the same grip angle as the 1911. It also has better sights.




The 4506 is a big gun, and ultra reliable. It's as reliable as
a gun can get.

 

[ArmedBear]

So, for a first handgun based on the cost of shooting it a lot, you could do better (.22, 9mm, .38), but you could do worse.

Lately, when I've seen ammo for sale at all, .38 Special and .357 ammo for practice are close to, or exactly, the same price. Do NOT buy a .38 Special because you think the ammo is affordable. (I load the stuff, and yeah, it's affordable to load it yourself. But factory ammo is not.)

9mm WAS relatively cheap, then it went up fast, then it was available for some reasonable prices again, and now it's essentially not available at all.

If you buy a gun based on the price of factory ammo, the only caliber, and I mean the ONLY caliber to consider is the .22LR. Even when 9mm was cheap, it was close to 10 times the price of .22.

 

[Norinco982lover]

My wife shoots the .45acp just fine. She actually notices almost no difference between my XD45C and her XD9SC. I am SURE that she would have no problem with carrying my XD45C for self defence and she is 5'3" and maybe weighs a buck.

~Norinco

 

[Confederate]

I agree, Bear. I'm also one of the few to believe that .22LR ammo is suitable for self defense when used in a decent firearm with decent ammo. I certainly would NEVER want to walk in on a guy with a loaded Ruger Mark II/III auto if I thought he was going to shoot me. Those guns can be rapid fired to an amazing degree of accuracy and each round has the capability to go zigging and zagging anywhere in the body it wants.

I knew a guy years ago who got shot by a .22LR from a little over a mile away. He felt a little stinging sensation and then extreme disorientation. He ended up almost dying from it. They found the spot where the shooters had been shooting, but they never found the people as it was a popular shooting place.

 

[PSYCHOBILLY]

.45 acp was my first handgun.

 

[Norinco982lover]

My father-in-law is the Director of Surgery at the hospital I work at. He has worked a lot of places as a nurse and has seen patients come into the ER who had been shot from close range with a .22 handgun. The bullet stopped on the side of their temple and fell to the ground. The patient just needed a few stitches.

Times/places when a .22 round can be fatal...9mm and/or .45 IS fatal.

~Norinco

 

[Dr. Tad Hussein Winslow]

.45 is fine. If it's a full sized handgun with non-+P loads, it will have less felt recoil than most .40 handguns. I say tell him to go for it, but gawdsakes do himself a favor and get a high-quality gun (i.e. not a Glock). My 3rd handgun was a Glock 21 (before I knew how many vastly better choices were out there), and I shot it fine. Obviously, if he gets the steel 1911, recoil will be tame. And a +1 to the SW 4506 and the CZ 97 as recoil-tamers.

9mm and/or .45 IS fatal

Except when it's not. 80% of gunshot recipients survive their wounds.

 

[ArmedBear]

I have been fortunate enough not to be shot, nor to have to shoot anyone.

So I can't say what the best self-defense caliber is, from personal experience.

However, I think that one shouldn't buy a defensive pistol because it's cheap to plink with. Get a fun gun, and shoot it for fun. Ruger 22/45 is often on sale new for $250 and is a bargain for a reliable, accurate .22.

And if you buy a centerfire for defense, it won't be cheap to plink with, so buy the one that will work the best, not the one that has marginally less expensive ammunition!

Don't choose a 9mm over a .45 just because the ammo is cheaper. Neither one is cheap enough to go shoot cans all afternoon with factory ammo, and your life is worth a few extra bucks for a better caliber if that's what you find appropriate.

My life is worth the price of .45 ammo. Isn't yours?

 

[Rellian]

the first autoloader I bought was a 9mm glock 17. Had it for years, good gun. When I got my hands on a 1911, I really did not notice any 'significant' jump in recoil or muzzle blast. I look at it this way, I have no beef whatsoever with 9mm (it's a fine caliber), but if I can get a little more punch for the same amount of trouble, I'll pay the extra buck or two for the shells.
(But in truth the way things are going he won't be able to shoot much no matter what he gets)

 

[Prion]

Definitely 9mm just because dry firing is so important. The 9mm round is so sparse it's all he's gonna be able to do!

Get a .45, jeez some people make it out to seem like shooting a .45 is akin to firing 12g 000 magnum buckshot rounds out of a hand cannon!