.45 ammo

[Bhamrichard]

Yes I'm ignorant so I'm going to ask

I've got a Taurus pt145 mil pro and am curious about ammo types that I can use with it. I've seen .45 acp, +p etc, and though I've been researching a little, I haven't come up with much info on the differences.

Currently when I CC i have some speer hollowpoints in it but for SD, what's the better type of round to carry?

 

[LiveLife]

Remington Golden Saber

 

[mljdeckard]

+P ammo is loaded at 'higher than standard' pressure, but still within the allowable safe loading pressure for the round. It's a hot-loaded round. If you want to push a bullet of a given weight faster, this is how you do it.

I'm not a fan in general. The .45 ACP was designed specifically for a certain barrel length and velocity. (5", 850-875 feet per second.) I only use full-length barrels and guns, and standard pressure, 230 gr ammo. I see no problem with it that needs fixing. You generally tweak velocity for a couple of reasons. Either you are using a shorter barrel which gives less velocity, or you want more velocity from a standard-length barrel. To increase velocity, you must either use a lighter bullet, use +P loads, or both.

You can shoot anything that says .45 ACP, but if I recall correctly, that pistol is somewhat compact, meaning, if you use regular 230 gr ammo, you will lose velocity. I would look at 185 gr ammo for that gun.

 

[Ron James]

It is so very easy for someone of the Internet to state that so and so ammo is the best thing since cotton candy. The best ammo is that which feeds and fires in your auto , each and every time, regardless of brand or bullet type. you are the only one who can make that determination.

 

[moooose102]

Well, it's a 45, it was designed to kill people with fmj ammo. Any quality jhp ammo should be fine. If you check your owners manual, you may find that the use of +p ammo is not reccomended by the manufacturer. There are so many "super-dooper-stopper" bullets on the market now days, i can not keep them all straight. If you believe all the ads, every one of them totally out dates the other. So if you believe all that hype, and you buy the latest marketing gimick, you should be shooting ammo made in about the year 2525!

 

[Bhamrichard]

The speer ammo that I have is 230 grain, i've also used pmc and magtech all 230gr and I've not experienced any problems no matter which ammo i've used. Haven't tried any +p ammo in the 45, and am inclined not to. I also have a .38 that I've put +p ammo through and though it works fine, i.e. it goes bang on Q, i don't see a reason to put more pressure on it than you need to. I'm sure it comes from when i was much younger, my dad was always a big fan of Federal or Winchester ammo, i tend to try to buy those if I can find them.

I guess my ultimate question is: Should I be loading JHP, FMJ, etc types of rounds for SD. Are there any other choices? Obviously round nose i use for target practice (i'm not that ignorant anyway). What's the scoop? I need to go google this some more I can tell.

At this point I'm leaning toward the Federal Hydra-Shok, or Remington Gold Saber.

 

[benzuncle]

+1 230gr Remington Golden Sabers. Have never FTF/FTE in my PT-145. Reliable feeder; big pills.

 

[mljdeckard]

I use 230 gr, standard pressure Federal HSTs. Like they said above, ANY bullet that feeds reliably in your gun is better than a shiny, market-hyped, mean-looking, over-pressured one that DOESN'T.

 

[NMGonzo]

230 ball remington.

Standard pressure, nothing special.

 

[TG13]

pretty much anything will work for SD ranges.. 50-75 FPS isn't going to do much in a SD situation..

use the most reliable ammo you can find.. this includes ball rounds, they have been effective for the last 100 years, i don't see how they could be less effective..

 

[CamaroLovr]

185 gr Federal HST's. They should have sufficient velocity out of your short barrel to reliably expand and the HST's that I have tested have always expanded extremely well. If I were you I wouldn't use ball ammo just to prevent over penetration (I know not much of a chance with a .45 but still). Personally would steer clear of Golden Sabers. A lot of people have jacket/core separation and thats not good.

 

[Joshua M.]

+p, or not...in SD, a .45 is gonna hurt, even with a vest on, it is gonna make 'em flinch

 

[skoro]

Currently when I CC i have some speer hollowpoints in it but for SD, what's the better type of round to carry?

The Speer Gold Dots and Remington Golden Sabers are both very good. Winchester's new PDX loads are getting a lot of good reviews too but I haven't tried them yet.

 

[outerlimit]

The .45 ACP was designed specifically for a certain barrel length and velocity. (5", 850-875 feet per second.) I only use full-length barrels and guns, and standard pressure, 230 gr ammo.

Actually the original .45acp cartridge designed by John Browning was a 200gr. @ 900fps from a 5" barrel.

The army requested a 230gr. @ 830fps and that is the original 230gr. cartridge specs.

I like +P, there's nothing wrong with it.

 

[Fiv3r]

I just feed whatever .45 ammo I can find through my gun. +p, heavier, lighter, FMJ, JHP, etc.

I believe I have some 200 +p JHP loaded in it as we speak. However, as SD ranges I think just about any ammo type is going to be pretty effective.

 

[Bhamrichard]

The Speer Gold Dots and Remington Golden Sabers are both very good.

Are these aluminum casings? Doesn't look like brass in the pics I've found.

 

[outerlimit]

Should be nickel casings.

 

[skoro]

Are these aluminum casings? Doesn't look like brass in the pics I've found.

They're nickel-plated brass.