45acp for personal defense

[Sam1911]

How much better is a hollowpoint in 45ACP compared to round nose ball?

Well...IF it opens... it could be nearly 1/2" better. Or more specifically, it may open, doing more damage, AND increasing drag that delivers the energy to the target and slows the bullet down before it blows out the other side.

The idea being that a .80" hole where the bullet is nearly spent before it exits the body is better than a .451" hole drilled right through where the bullet retains a fair amount of velocity as it travels beyond.

How important that is might be considered a matter of philosophy...or maybe even religion!

 

[orionhawk]

I had a Mil-Spec a few years back. It ate everything I fed it except Cor-Bon. I sent it back to SA for an unrelated issue, and mentioned that, and they fixed it, too. You could also try PowrBall or Federal EFMJ... both penetrate well, and reliably, although they don't expand quite as far as normal HP, and they have a basically full-hardball profile.

 

[xXxplosive]

You know what they say:

" A 9mm may expand but a .45 will never shrink".

 

[NMGonzo]

get a .50 gi if you are worried about the .45 ball performance

I only carry .45 ball on mine.

Makes big holes.

 

[The Lone Haranguer]

i have also read that hollow points will not chamber in my gun because of the lack of a throated barrel and polished feed ramp.

I think the Mil-Spec (somewhat of a misnomer, IMO) does have these features. Try some in your gun to see if they function. The Remington/UMC "green box" in the 100-round boxes at Wal-Mart (if you can find any) won't break your bank. A good 1911 can feed many hollowpoints that approximate the shape of ball ammo without modification, too.

 

[SharpsDressedMan]

The .45 is what a 9mm wants to be when it grows up (expands). The .45 is "pre-expanded". A hollow point .45 probably only gains about 10% better shock than the FMJ because is needs to get a lot faster than 1000fps to expand reliably and consistently. I do not feel "undergunned" when restricted to FMJ's in a .45 handgun.

 

[Full Metal Jacket]

remington golden sabers have a fmj profile.

 

[Ben86]

A hollow point .45 probably only gains about 10% better shock than the FMJ because is needs to get a lot faster than 1000fps to expand reliably and consistently.

From my experience properly designed .45 hollow points expand just fine at their posted 850-900 fps. If you gun feeds it, buy all means take advantage of modern bullet technology.

 

[smoothdraw]

I use hollowpoints that my weapon reliably shoots and cycles. And have no problem to use 45 acp balls also as long as my weapon is known to be working on my guns. I stopped using fancy 45 hollowpoints because i can't practice a lot with them so expensive. So i just buy a box of 500 or 1000 of generic new 230 gr hollowpoints. I Run them in my IDPA match for multiple weeks both for my carry and for my HD 1911's then use them.

 

[S&Wfan]

My .45ACP shown here has zero problems feeding everything I've ever run through it.

I DO carry a smorgasbord of .45ACP for this handgun, sitting in this little "holder" when I use it traveling as my car gun . . . for some rounds penetrate better in case you NEED it to penetrate on the highway . . . other loads for expansion.

Heck, in this little holder, I see some old design Federal Hydrashok, some Speer "flying ashtray" that I loaded over Federal 150 primers, some good old Remington 230 gn. hardball . . . and even that nasty 117 grain, now discontinued Aguilla "flamethrower" stuff that penetrates glass and car doors real well (amazingly) in actual junk yard LEO tests.

Which do I prefer? It is all effective in .45ACP, IMHO. Nearly 1/2" diameter bullets cut a big blood channel.

Emmm . . . I keep it loaded with Federal Hydrashok though, or Remington Golden Sabre for the first six rounds.

T.

 

[mljdeckard]

You (not to mention many other people) need to get rid of this 'overpenetration' concern. If a round wasn't powerful enough to go through a human target, you don't want to carry it at all. The idea of JHP ammo isn't to stop overpenetration, it is to create a bigger wound channel AS it 'overpenetrates'.

You also have to remember, regardless of how well the bullet does when it hits the target, you aren't always going to hit the target.

I carry 230 gr HSTs, which routinely expand to the size of a quarter, but if for some reason you were caught carrying 230 gr hardball, it's more than adequate. (Inasmuch as any handgun can be called adequate at all.) Still very close to the same size as most 9mm JHP bullets when they expand. Many carry 230 gr hardball. Remember, the 1911 with 230 gr hardball has probably saved more soldiers' lives than any other pistol/bullet combination.

If I was leaving the range and I still had my mags loaded with hardball, and I had to use my gun defensively, I wouldn't be thinking; "Oh no!! I have let myself get caught in a situation which requires me to shoot a bad guy with horribly inadequate fmj ammo instead of magical JHP ammo and now I shall surely be killed!!" No. I would do the exact same thing, the exact same way.

Test your gun with a good JHP round, it will probably function just fine.

 

[JTQ]

I usually carry ball ammo, but I do believe hollow point ammunition is probably a little more effective.

On the other hand, there are people out there carrying .380 pistols with 3" barrels. You could be shooting target ammo out of your .45 ACP 1911 and be better off than those guys. On the other hand there are folks carrying .44 magnums. It's all relative.

 

[Buck Snort]

The 1911 Automatic Colt Pistol and the round it fires are almost 100 years old. It goes without saying that during that span of time the bullet development business has come up with something superior to straight ball ammo (although I'd sure hate to get hit with one of them!). Only a fool would use ball when there's really good JHPs availble. However, suit yourself, its your money and your life.

 

[Vern Humphrey]

There are two ways to get reliability from hollow point ammo in the M1911. One way is to tune the gun for hollow points, the other way is to tune the ammo for the gun.

A long time ago, ammo makers woke up and smelled the coffee. Most modern hollow point ammo feeds just as well as ball ammo in unmodified M1911s.