Do I need a .45GAP?

[pikid89]

I have a friend who carries one as part of his job with Florida Highway Patrol

additionally, it appears that Glock is making the G37 in a Gen4, so there are some still buying them it seems

 

[wally]

the XD came in .45 GAP at one time, then they discontinued it.

And the first one I ever saw was right next to the then new XD45 and as soon as you picked up the XD45 it was clear nobody would need .45GAP. The problem was Glock's grip design not the 0.1" length of the .45ACP vs. .45GAP.

 

[Hangingrock]

The New York State Police, Pennsylvania State Police, Georgia State Patrol, South Carolina Highway Patrol, and Florida Highway Patrol have all adopted the Glock 37 and 45-GAP.

The 40-S&W was used previously by Pennsylvania State Police, Georgia State Patrol, South Carolina Highway Patrol, and Florida Highway Patrol. The 9mm-Luger was used previously by the New York State Police.

For those that say there is no apparent application or need for the 45-GAP the previously mentioned law enforcement agencies thought differently.

As for me I’ll probably continue to muddle thru life without the 40-S&W or 45-GAP experience thus getting by with the 9mm-Luger and 45-ACP.

 

[David E]

Springfield's EMP was originally going to be chambered in .45 GAP. For whatever reason, they changed their mind and chambered it in 9mm and .40 instead.

That Kahr didn't pursue it is interesting. The window for cool guns being chambered in this round has closed several years ago.

.

 

[Sol]

Let me sum up these posts; yes, buy 45 articles of Gap clothing and never buy a pair of jeans for life.

It's just and oddball cartridge with no stellar qualities with a very limited platform. Stick with ACP and scrap GAP.

 

[leadcounsel]

I don't have a 45 GAP nor have I ever shot one. It's a cool concept but the .45 ACP is probably too much to unseat. Perhaps had it come out before the .40 caliber and the .357 Sig it would have had more success.

I've never studied the ballistics, but it would have to be significantly better AND less expensive for me to want to switch over... I already have too many calibers to stock.

I'd give it a try if I lucked into a nice cheap pistol and ammo. But I'm not looking to go pay much more for one.

 

[David E]

If you have a .45 acp revolver, the GAP is a nice round for shooting your 625 in competition. They eject slightly easier and are slightly quicker to reload. I won a State Revolver match once using handloads assembled in GAP brass.

 

[Ohen Cepel]

If someone gave me a truck load of GAP ammo then I would buy a pistol to shoot it in. However, aside from that I know of no reason to buy one.

 

[wally]

The New York State Police, Pennsylvania State Police, Georgia State Patrol, South Carolina Highway Patrol, and Florida Highway Patrol have all adopted the Glock 37 and 45-GAP.

Check out the details of the contracts, they generally go something like this:

The Sheriff's Office switched last year to the Glocks after using Smith & Wessons. The Glocks cost the agency $350 per gun, compared with $560 for the .45-caliber Smith & Wessons deputies were using.

Its called "buying market share". Glock is willing to throw good money after bad in an attempt to save his namesake round which really isn't original but a rip-off of the .45HP which is made in Europe for a few places civilians can own guns, but not in "military" calibers. Its got to grate that most of his LE pistol sales are in .40S&W

 

[Hangingrock]

Check out the details of the contracts, they generally go something like this

Do you not think that as an example S&W won't do the same thing to regain a share in the law enforcement market place. S&W is no virgin or without sin in marketing their product. Like it or not its the way business is done. The only group that is paying close to the MSRP is the common citizen customer.

 

[JohnKSa]

I have found it most useful that .45 GAP produces a .45 ACP +P level of power from a 9mm sized pistol.

It produces .45ACP standard pressure performance but operates at .45ACP +P pressures.

 

[mgmorden]

No. It's one of those cartridges that if we were starting from scratch wouldn't be a bad idea, but with other established offerings on the market its just not going to catch on. It doesn't do enough new.

 

[Ash]

Well, to correct things a bit...

40S&W wasn't the first. There was the 41AE which did everything the 40 would later do with more power in the same size with the rim of the 9mm. But, Action Arms lacked the panache of S&W, so when the 40 came out, that was that for the 41AE. In any case, the trouble was that the 10mm was being down-loaded for the FBI, which made no sense to keep the long "magnum" case for the round, so the 40S&W gave the FBI performance in a smaller case.

.45GAP wasn't first in its concept, either. The South Africans did it first a few years earlier with the poly-framed .45 Truvelo. It was the exact same concept, a 45 caliber round in a smaller frame. The Truvelo pistols were later picked up and manufactured by Wilson Combat as the ADP as well as Heritage as the Stealth. The GAP wasn't the first, just a Glock copy of the South African product.

In any case, the GAP was a failed idea because few people really wanted it before hand. 9mm and 40S&W guys already had their pistols and were not pining for something bigger. Big bore guys had their pistols and were not really lamenting the lack of smaller grips. There was grey area where some griped, but that was a small market. When GAP came out, a few vocal supporters trumpeted the end of the ACP. But, why would all the ACP owners scrap their pistols (in platforms they really liked) to adopt a new caliber? They wouldn't. With the vast numbers of 45acp firearms out there, ACP was secure. Would the 9mm and 40S&W guys trade out theirs to get the GAP? No again. So, it was limited to expanding the armories of those who already sided with 9mm/40 or those who liked the ACP. As mentioned, few really wanted to go up or down, depending on the preference, and that left a very small market, really, for the GAP. It plays second fiddle to both the 40S&W as well as 45acp in power.

And, the large number of detractors was itself evidence of the gaffe Glock made. Not enough 9mm guys supported it (other than its being the size of a 9mm pistol) because they were already convinced in the superiority of their round, and in 9mm you STILL get more rounds in the magazine than GAP. Not enough ACP guys supported it because, well, they had their platforms and had no need to change. Some lamented the fact that ACP guys wouldn't roll over, but why should they?

 

[Walkalong]

That is pretty much it, it just didn't appeal to enough people. At least not enough to switch.

 

[powder]

No, you need two.

 

[jmfc606]

I have a friend who works for the NYS Police. He said they are transisioning away from the GAP. The guns are being replaced with 45acp's. So there should be a glut of Police trade ins in the near future. I believe there are around 6000 troopers statewide

 

[claiborne]

Nope.

Why would you want a GAP when an ACP is so much more available?

 

[stressed]

No point today IMO.

What's going to disappear first; .45 GAP or 9x23 WIN?

 

[Ash]

Guys still shoot the 41AE, so it can be done. If nothing else, these will be "collectible" in the future.

 

[HexHead]

I have a friend who works for the NYS Police. He said they are transisioning away from the GAP. The guns are being replaced with 45acp's. So there should be a glut of Police trade ins in the near future. I believe there are around 6000 troopers statewide

The idiots in NY will probably melt them down.

 

[righteoushoot]

The idiots in NY will probably melt them down.

That Sir, is an insult to Idiots around the world!

You will no longer feel safe walking around the South Bronx at 2:00AM in the morning if these guns hit the streets.

 

[psp7304]

The New York State Police, Pennsylvania State Police, Georgia State Patrol, South Carolina Highway Patrol, and Florida Highway Patrol have all adopted the Glock 37 and 45-GAP.

The 40-S&W was used previously by Pennsylvania State Police, Georgia State Patrol, South Carolina Highway Patrol, and Florida Highway Patrol. The 9mm-Luger was used previously by the New York State Police.

For those that say there is no apparent application or need for the 45-GAP the previously mentioned law enforcement agencies thought differently.

As for me I’ll probably continue to muddle thru life without the 40-S&W or 45-GAP experience thus getting by with the 9mm-Luger and 45-ACP.

The Pennsylvania State Police have transitioned to the Gen4 Glock 21.

 

[Walt Sherrill]

Someone, earlier in this exchange, mentioned that .45 GAP was Glock's solution to a Glock problem -- the large grip of their .45 double-stack weapons. That was a good summary.

While I haven't tried the GEN4 grips with the smallest inserts installed, it sounds as though this modification of the design will make the large .45 (a.c.p.) guns work better for those with smaller hands. That will arguably reduce GLOCK'S need for a .45 GAP solution to the Glock grip size problem.

I have a .45 GAP (Glock 38), love shooting it, shoot this particular weapon better than most of the .45s I've owned, have had no problems finding ammo (even during the worst periods of the great ammo drought, which seems to be lessening), and I've never had to pay that much (if any) extra to get it.

I understand, too -- based on comments on this and other forums, from owners who have done it -- that the 19 and 23 slides will work on the Glock 38 frame, too. So, if worse comes to worst, I may be able to buy an after-market or used slide in a different caliber and not be totally out of pocket.

Seeing as how a lot of different calibers remain in use despite limited demand (i.e., 10mm, .38 Super, .32 magnum, etc.) including a wide variety of the premium SD -- they clearly aren't selling THAT much (high quantities) of any of those loads -- I suspect I'll be able to get ammo for .45 GAP for a long time to come.

 

[Hangingrock]

The Pennsylvania State Police have transitioned to the Gen4 Glock 21

psp7304 Thank you for the current information. I did not know that.

 

[Magnuumpwr]

Well reading all the post, I better get on the ball and buy the three models before completing the 357 Sig models.