Are there 45 ACP that are fun to fire

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I have a Sig P220 that's as accurate and durable as the day is long. But it does not handle recoil well. The best shooting .45 I've ever shot - wait for it - my Taurus PT-145 Millennium Pro. Yeah I couldn't believe it either until I shot it. It's not as accurate as a 1911 but it's a CCW pistol, not a combat pistol. My Sig is as accurate as every "stock" 1911 I've ever shot but of course you can make a 1911 sing like a bird when it comes to accuracy. Some of them come that way I guess but those are more expensive than my friends can afford for what IMO is best used as a target pistol. Yes I know people carry them but IMO there are better choices for a carry weapon. Both my .45's are better for carrying IMO. But that's just me. And yes I know it seems like I'm biased toward my stuff. It's like this. If I didn't like what I have I'd sell it. I actually carry a .40 XDm now but I won't be selling either of my .45's. Both are extremely reliable and accurate. The Taurus shoots crazy accurate to about 20 yards but the short barrel doesn't hold bullets on track past that. The Sig will do 50 yards very accurate and 75 MOM.

Seriously though I'd look into a Taurus Mil. Pro but do some research into which generation to get. There are differences.
 
I never thought the .45 was all that bad---but then again a lot of my younger days were spent shooting full power .357's and .44 mags.
 
Not having control of where the rounds are going has nothing to do with recoil. Excessive recoil will require more time to get back on target for follow up shots, but it should not affect accuracy.

A gun with a lot of recoil can induce flinching which will send your shots off target.
 
All guns that go boom are fun to shoot! ! ! :p:D

Could be a hand size thing. I dont like the fit of a glock 42, but the Sig p238 is a great fit.

be safe
 
I have found the Glock 30S to be especially comfortable & effortless to shoot ... might be worth a look.

That said, other than the G30S I own seven .45ACP pistols and I have enjoyed every .45ACP pistol that I have ever fired, including my first (1911A1) when I was ~10 years old. ;)
 
All of them! I haven't found a .45 ACP I don't like to shoot.

That said, the softest, pleasantest .45 I've shot is a Gen 4 Glock 21.
 
I've always regarded the 1911 as rather a teddy bear to shoot. It has a bit of muzzle flip but it isn't anything like the flip of my snubby .38 shooting +P ammo. I have a Taurus TCP and after shooting 100 rounds of .380 out of that thing I had all I wanted of it for that day. I shot an S&W .500 the other day and while it did have a bit of recoil it really was not bad at all, I was expecting a lot more. I have to ask how much experience do you have shooting a handgun? Maybe you need to shoot a heavy, full size gun and in something like a 9mm.
 
ddsmac said:
I think it was the recoil. They were 230
This pistol has only had 24 rounds through it in it's life. It just seemed like I had no control of where the round was going.
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I'm reading 2 things in this posting.

1) "No control of where the round was going" makes me think you were having accuracy struggles. Not entirely unheard of using GI thumb-nail sights, especially if you don't have 22-year old eyes any more. Not meant to offend anyone either, I'm 31 and have trouble using those kind of sights. (Working at a computer hasn't been great for my vision...)

2) "I think it was the recoil" makes me think you're finding the recoil sensation unpleasant, potentially leading to flinching causing the part I quoted in #1. Honestly, the first thing I would check is are you fighting the recoil? I mean seriously bearing down and trying to keep the muzzle of the gun down when it goes off? If so, STOP THAT! NOW! You can't fight recoil and win, therefore what you should be doing is holding the pistol in a way to let it do what it's going to do, which is go up and come back down.

Now after all of that, my suggestion is to get a nice 9mm you like, shelve the Remington Rand as a collector's piece and get some shooting instruction.
 
" Honestly, the first thing I would check is are you fighting the recoil? I mean seriously bearing down and trying to keep the muzzle of the gun down when it goes off? If so, STOP THAT! NOW! You can't fight recoil and win, therefore what you should be doing is holding the pistol in a way to let it do what it's going to do, WHICH IS GO UP AND COME BACK DOWN. "

EXACTLY!!

And once you figure that out, then it really gets to be fun!!
 
Replace the recoil spring and install a compensated barrel. I bought one from Gun Parts with a built in comp. Helps a bunch.
 
Are there 45 ACP that are fun to fire?

Depending on who's shooting it there is no easy answer. In a black or white world?

No. There are no "fun" to shoot .45 guns. Generally they have exacerbated recoil response and most of the folks who find them "fun" (which is a relative concept) are folks who can't understand why anyone else would have a problem with them. My Wife's favorite pistol for 90% of her life time so far has been a Colt Officers ACP in .45. She no longer shoots it because it is painful and "not fun"...the slide is hard to rack and the safety takes two hands for her to disengage. The recoil requires her to resort to analgesics and ice afterwards.

So the simple answer is no. The correct answer is maybe not depending on the shooter, his size, experience, age, recoil tolerance, hand size, strength, etc.

VooDoo
 
I have always enjoyed shooting 1911 pistols but not everyone is into these pistols.

I also have an H&K USP and a Glock 41 in this caliber and they are both just as fun and satisfying to shoot as the 1911s I own.

Heckler and Koch offer a number of pistols in the .45 acp and a trial fit at the local gun shop may encourage you to try one out.
Same goes for the several variations that Glock offers.

Sig has some pretty nice handguns in the caliber as well.
 
Did you remember to face Utah and bow to the spirit of JMB before you shot the 1911A1?

No seriously though, if from the stories of others you expected the 1911 types to be brutal you will usually find them to be so.

I actually find the 1911 series to be one of the more pleasant handguns for me to shoot......on the other hand I started shooting them as a youth some 45+ years ago and it has been my favorite and most shot center fire since....and for a bit with a Ace conversion kit it was my most shot rimfire as well.

I have found few folks that with decent training can not shoot them fairly well. I dislike the plastic guns myself, but I am trying out for the Crumudgeon Society Grumpy old Fart of the year award.

-kBob
 
Our Ruger KP90s are fun to shoot: pretty good DA triggers, very good SA triggers and given their size they're the softest shooting 45s we own. No longer made; you can usually find 'em out there. If you're hankering for more than 7-8 rounds though, the P90 is not for you.
 
Though I shoot mostly 9MM these days because of ammo costs my SIG P220, SIG 1911, and HK45 are all a ton of fun to shoot.
 
Try the Sig p220. The more modern sights (relative to a WW2 service 1911) will help a lot. Felt recoil/muzzle flip is noticeably less than the 1911 as well.

I'd personally keep that ww2 Remington Rand in semi retirement, as a collectable. Especially if it happens to be original and not a mix master or refinished.
 
I have a WWII vintage Remington Rand 1911 from my Dad and it is no fun to fire. Are there 45's that are easier to use or is that the nature of 45's. I was thinking of getting into the 3 gun shooting but having to use the 45 is not my idea of fun. Any information would be helpful.
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Have you ever had ANY kind of real handgun training? A little knowledge of different stances and grips combined with someone who knows what they're doing who will watch you and tell you what you're doing wrong can make a huge difference.

Youtube and the advice of 99.99% of the military and law enforcement who've never had any real pistol training will help you very little, and can easily cause problems that you'll fight to overcome later.
 
.45ACP is wimpy. Don't get into magnum revolvers.
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My Smith 629 can have less felt recoil than my Sig P220 depending on the grip. If you hold a Sig P220 wrong it will twist your hand back and hurt your wrist.

Try the Sig p220.
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Again my Sig can have quite a bit of felt recoil if you aren't holding it just right. My Taurus pushes straight back which allows you to absorb a lot of recoil by bending your elbows slightly ahead of time. Of course that's against the rules of most modern stance mechanics but with work I learned to overcome any accuracy issues that popped up as a result of bending my elbows a bit. I had shot the same stance for 25 years but I made that slight adjustment for my Taurus and it has worked out very well. It does take work keeping your sight picture the same because when you start bending your elbows it's a matter of how much did you bend them the last time and am I bending them the same amount this time. It certainly can affect accuracy.
 
Try out a modern 1911. Maybe one with a rail so it's got more weight on the front - might help with muzzle flip.

My Springfield XDM a is a 45 and I have no complaints. Very accurate and easily controllable
 
ddsmac said:
I have a WWII vintage Remington Rand 1911 from my Dad and it is no fun to fire. Are there 45's that are easier to use or is that the nature of 45's. I was thinking of getting into the 3 gun shooting but having to use the 45 is not my idea of fun. Any information would be helpful.
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I have two .45acp guns and I find both enjoyable to shoot; S&W4566, Ruger Blackhawk.
 
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Perhaps it's an acquired taste? A straight GI 1911 can be a bit of a chore, but it's mostly due to the little bitty sights ... I confess, I find my LW Commanders, Kimber CDP Pro, SA LW Champions/Micro-Compact a bit "kickier" if I'm shooting one immediately after shooting a full-size 1911, but they can be fun to shoot regardless.

I like my FNX-45, love my S&W 4506, SIG P-220s and 227, even our two Taurus PT-145s are okay ... Frankly, every .45 I've ever shot was more fun than some of the little .380s ... or any .357 Magnum revolver.

Reminder: must find an HK-45 to add to the stable ...
 
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