Clint Smith Only carries "High quality ball" 45 auto ammo?

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I've seen it. And lots of guys carry hot 10mm. But many more....don't. It is more than most guys can handle to shoot defensively, which is why it was downloaded to begin with. A few spaces down on my list of projects is a Fusion Arms 10mm long slide, but it will be for woods carry/hunting backup, I'm not taking it to a defensive pistol course.
 
Me gots S&W 457s and some Hornady Zombie green insert thingies. That means I have better gun and ammo then Clintie Smith. Is Thunder Ranch where they crush cars with monster trucks?
 
What if your personal experience, with your personal 1911, lead you to believe loading anything but FMJ might produce an FTF at an inopportune time?
I'd sure "limit the effectiveness of my tools."
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I would FIX THE GUN or select a HP load that DID work
For example, My particular 1911 does not feed Speer's Gold Dot short barrel load ... I didn't bother figuring out why, it was a test box and the gun does feed regular GDHP as well as a bunch of other HP loads ... so far the only one I've tried that didn't feed was that one particular load. It also beat up the mouth of an all-copper load on multiple chamberings ... there's two loads to avoid while it has fed every other HP load I tried. And that testing was with junky magazines, I should re-do it with the Wilson magazines I upgraded to, there's a chance those rounds would work from a better mag.

So, if my cheapo Citadel-brand, made in the P.I., compact 3.5" barrel 1911 will feed most HP, there is no excuse for any modern production gun to fail to do so. Fix your gun or leave the antique in the cabinet.
 
I'm no Clintologist, but I'm a little surprised.
  • Clint carries a Les Baer .45. If that's undependable with HPs, this is the first I'm hearing of it.
  • Clint specifically teamed with Corbon, and chose their DPX ammo to carry the Thunder Ranch label.
Having said that, we all know reliabilty comes first. But I think most of us also agree that an HP's terminal ballistics are superior to ball--even in .45!

I've heard this "Clint uses ball ammo" before, so I have no good reason to doubt it. But I don't carry .45 ball, nor did Clint ever tell me I should.
And if you watch Handguns TV you will notice that lately Clint is carrying and shooting the SA XD Tactical.
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Ah. Well, maybe THAT's the gun that won't feed HPs dependably! ;)
 
From what I know about Clint Smith I suspect he'd answer the question if someone would send him an email and ask it.
 
There is no downside to using JHP. If it fails to expand, it has the same effect as FMJ. There is no upside to FMJ. It is what is, period.

All pistol bullets suck. None of them are adequate. You need to give yourself every possible advantage when you are fighting for your life, even if it is a small advantage. This includes premium JHP ammo.
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This is exactly the way I think about the subject.


I have a feeling Clint Smith knows handgun rounds are not all that effective and decided on using ball so as to a) not kid himself by using some guaranteed 'magic' HP stopper b) allow for practice with the very same ammo he uses (try that with DPX ammo) and c) he intends to aim well and not spray-n-pray.
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Knowing your defensive is already marginally acceptable for the task, you would load the worst possible ammunition choice so you don't kid yourself? Practicing with the ammunition you use isn't a suggestion that you exclusively shoot a single load, it's a suggestion that you put enough of your defensive ammunition downrange that you've got a decent feel for it, and if it is any different than your ordinary practice rounds.

Just because you have a gun that holds more than six or seven rounds or use the best ammunition option available doesn't automatically mean you don't take shooting someone seriously and are just going to wildly blast away in your attacker's general direction. It just means that you have more chances to correct the attacker's deficiencies before you run out of ammunition, and that the bullets you give him have the best chance to do what you want them to.
 
And if a modern pistol doesn't reliably feed JHP ammunition, not just a sigle load it doesn't like, but if it as a rule can't be depended on to feed any in-spec ammunition, it needs to be considered a range toy. Maybe the .45 SWCs are an exception, but those are atypical of autoloading cartridges, JHPs are not.
 
pabloj said:
me gots s&w 457s and some hornady zombie green insert thingies. That means i have better gun and ammo then clintie smith. Is thunder ranch where they crush cars with monster trucks?
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:D :D
 
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Unless mentioned, and I didn't read all the responses, it should read, Clint Smith uses only "High quality Ball ammo" in his carry gun. Because that is what the ammo company gives him to shoot at his facility free, and that is what they pay him to say about what he carries in his carry gun. At least this is what I am guessing.
 
I suspect Clint Smiths "range toy" full of FMJ's is capable of correcting a lot of "deficiencies".
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I suspect he wouldn't be caught dead carrying an unreliable weapon.

So my statement wouldn't really apply to him.
 
In one side with a .45 bullet, thru a lung or two, and out the other side. Bad guy is stopped post haste.

Put the shot where it needs to go (the boiler room) and worry not what makes the lung hole.
 
If an experienced shooter logically deduced that ball ammo would have better odds to feed than any other design, why all the grief? My Colt National Match will digest about everything. FMJ. My EDC lw Commander. FMJ.

Since I have started shooting a revolver, Jerry Miculek influences me. Dean Brevit influences me. Mr. Borland influences me.

I have a Glock 34. 147s plated. David Sevigny influences me. Jesse Harrison influences me:evil:. Randi Rogers influences me.

I own 1911s. Too many top shooters who use them to name.

Do I light candles? No.

Anybody who recognizes the accomplishments of the top shooters and does not consider advice or action, well sour grapes.
 
The ammo companies and their paid hacks in the magazines along with SD pistol training mafia have convinced a lot of people that they must use ridiculously priced SD ammo...stuff that is too expensive for most people to shoot...at the same time, they tell you never to load your own.
While some of you have no problem buying this stuff, I simply cannot afford to hear the sound of a dollar+ flying down range with each pull of the trigger.
There really is no reason the "magic bullets" cost so much, other than people are willing to pay it...this is shown clearly by the 20rd "consumer" packaging ammo, when the exact same round is available in LEO 50rd boxes for quite a bit less...
My Glock 30 is loaded with old tech JHP that I can afford to shoot. I would not be afraid to load it with a good full power FMJ round. After all, I have found an FMJ load which shoots extremely accurately in my pistols, and I do keep a mag of it handy for my Glock.
 
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the exact same round is available in LEO 50rd boxes for quite a bit less
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which is why I buy in the LE boxes almost entirely.
I also make sure I know multiple loads that will function in my guns, as I sometimes can't find a deal on a particular load.
 
If an experienced shooter logically deduced that ball ammo would have better odds to feed than any other design, why all the grief?
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Because this logically leads to one problem. All the experianced shooters don't agree on everthing.
Of course this has lead me to two logical conclusions.
1: No matter what letters follow a name (PHD,MD or what have you) wrong is still wrong and everybody's wrong sometimes.
2: No matter what your level of training and equipment when the SHTF you may still loose.
 
I am sure that when the legendary Japanese swordsman Musashi announced that he would take on all comers using a wooden sword, he was met with the same reaction some here have about an expert shooter using FMJ. Yet he met and defeated skilled swordsman who carried the finest steel blades..using his wooden boken.
Technique and skill always trumps equipment. Even Musashi knew the proper, accurate application of force ends the fight...whether it was Musashis wooden sword, or Clint's 45 FMJ.
 
This always tickles me.

I shoot ball ammo in training and want my carry time to have the same performance.

If you can afford to train with the same "high performance" .45 ammo that you will carry, more power to you.

If head shots performed with 230gr. FMJ don't do the trick, get out the 12 ga.; the zombie apocalypse is on!! :D
 
Clint can do as Clint wishes. I'll do what I wish.
My GUESS is that Clint is concerned about feeding.

My Springer 1911 Special Bulid has never misfed a HP.

AFS
 
If the weapon I carry could only reliably feed ball ammo when JHPs are more effective then I would say its time to change to a different platform.
 
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