i have a simple question...

[teamglock]

hi all


i have a simple question...

is carrying ball ammo OK?.... for self defense?.. i have a Taurus pt 145
will it do the trick?

 

[MCgunner]

A PT145 should feed something decent with a hole in the front. Put a few hundred rounds through it to make sure. Oh, sure, ball is better'n nothin, but so is .22LR. Ball under-performs in flesh and over-penetrates. I don't shoot ball. I've had a couple of 1911s that wouldn't feed anything, but ball. Sold one, one got stolen and I replaced it with a Ruger P90 and never looked back. I load the P90 with Speer 200 grain JHP. It feeds anything.

 

[teamglock]

i shot 200 gr didnt seat well in the mag

so i went with 230 gr jhp was to hot ...

?

 

[usp9]

will it do the trick?

Yes. It did the trick for decades before HP ammo hit the scene.

 

[MCgunner]

Yes. It did the trick for decades before HP ammo hit the scene.

So did 158 lead round nose in .38 special for cops. Don't mean it was very effective when compared to the hollowpoint +Ps. I mean, hell, we could all go back to using cap and ball with .36 or .44 round ball. It worked during the civil war. If the south had .357 magnum hollowpoints in M28s, they might have won that war.

That old line has dust all over it. We, as concealed carry civilians, are not restricted to ball ammo by convention rules of war. There's much better stuff out there. Just try a variety. Different meplats, bullet shapes, will work better than others in some guns. Just find a hollowpoint that works. Might give something with a Hornady XTP a try, tend to have a long bullet profile per weight of the bullet. Perhaps take a vernier caliper with you and measure OAL of some off the shelf loads, get something that more approaches maximum OAL. Might try 230 grain Speer Gold Dot JHP or maybe Federal hydroshock or something. There are 230 grain JHPs out there that work, don't have to be a 200 grain or 185 grain bullet. Ball is a last choice when the gun just won't function with anything better. The military uses it because they HAVE to. They are also more concerned with penetration of hard armor than we as civilians. We should be more concerned about over-penetration and the crack we could find our butts in if one of our rounds finds an unintended target. You can go to prison for hitting an innocent, at least in Texas, intended or as an unintended consequence of a justifiable shooting. And, you will stop the fight with less rounds fired with effective ammo.

Oh, before someone goes off on me about harming innocents in a justifiable shooting, tells me they can kill as many babies and moms as they want if it's justifiable, you are responsible for where that bullet finally ends up. Here's the Texas statute right out of the penal code. I've saved it for all these air heads that insist on arguing the point. I've had 'em tell tell me I was full of it, before, that they didn't care if they hit grandma in the car down the street if it was a justifiable shooting. Yes, I do worry about over-penetration, at least in urban settings. Besides, I want my bullet to do maximum damage to the BG, not targets beyond.

§ 9.05. RECKLESS INJURY OF INNOCENT THIRD PERSON. Even
though an actor is justified under this chapter in threatening or
using force or deadly force against another, if in doing so he also
recklessly injures or kills an innocent third person, the
justification afforded by this chapter is unavailable in a
prosecution for the reckless injury or killing of the innocent
third person.

 

[FMJMIKE]

.45 ACP FMJ will do the trick!!! So will a .22 LR if you hit the right spot......

 

[MICHAEL T]

We should be more concerned about over-penetration

I never knew the 45 acp had this problem till HP started becoming the ammo of choice . 9mm ball has always had that over penterating problem .But 45 at least in old days wasn't known for its over penteration. Can't say never happend but not like people think today. Remember 45 earned its Rep as a man stopper with 230gr BALL ammo. No some new and improved HP. I carry HP today but I don't have trouble packing ball either. Been toten a 1911 close to 40 years.

 

[The Lone Haranguer]

Because of its blunt shape and low(er) velocity, .45 ball is a better "stopper" and less overly penetrative than 9mm ball. You can still do better. Even if a .45 hollowpoint doesn't expand, it still makes a .45-caliber hole. If it does expand you have an even bigger hole. I want all the advantage I can get. And a modern design like this Taurus should have no problem feeding hollowpoints. If it does, have it repaired or retire it.

Finally, remember that the biggest reason for the target not going down after you shoot it, is that you missed it.

 

[tiger rag]

It will and has done the job . But better options are out there.

 

[Prepster]

There's nothing wrong with carrying hardball. However, .45 acp has enough oomph that hollowpoints will still get enough penetration, so I'd say experiment a bit to find one that runs well.

 

[Squawker]

If your gun has trouble with hollow points, try the Federal Expanding Point Full Metal Jacket. It feeds as well as ball, and gives the expansion of a hollow point.

 

[NavyLCDR]

Is your PT145 having problems feeding hollowpoints? It's a poor design on Taurus' part. The magazine does not fit into the gun tight enough and the feedramp is too steep.

We first got ours and it would jam 80% of the time for my wife, but functioned flawlessly for me. Finally figured out that her hand fit completely on the handgrip, allowing the magazine to "hang" freely in the handgrip. My hand is too big, so my pinky finger was under the magazine pushing it up into the gun.

We sent it back to Taurus and they replaced a few parts and it got to be down to about 20% FTF with her. I carry the Taurus now, with hollowpoints, because it has been 100% reliable with my natural grip, she got a Glock G27.

If your's is FTF HP's, two things will help-

Grip with the pinky under the magazine, if you can.
Use round nose hollow points - they are less likely to give you problems than flat nose hollowpoints such as Hornadys XTP's.

Best bet, if you want to shoot hollowpoints is to trade the gun in.

And then there is the slight problem with the safety function on this gun....

 

[moooose102]

hi, i am a fellow taurus 45 owner. mine is a 24/7 pro. IMO, while carrying fmj ball ammo is o.k. for P.D., i prefer J.H.P. rounds. the 45 has more than enough power/speed to make a hollow point function properly. and the amount of shock transfered to your target would be much higher with hp rounds than fmj's. also, there is a much lower chance of over-penatration with hp's than fmj's. the 45 was developed for pd with fmj ball ammo. but it's performance improves dramaticly with hp's.

 

[moooose102]

p.s. something you can do to improve the feeding of your magazine is dismantle the mag, clean it well with alchohol, then spray the inside with lyman's spray moly bullet lube. wait 24 hours, then reassemble it. you will notice immediatly how much easier the ammo slides up the magazine. i have never had an issue with feeding, i did this on a whim, and it works great.

 

[CajunBass]

I carry FMJ in my Colt Commander. Mostly because I'm too lazy to go to all that trouble to buy a bunch of hollow points and see which one works. I've got a bunch of hardball, it works well in my gun. I'll use it.

 

[greener]

I carry lead round nose, lead semiwadcutter or coated metal jacket. Higher power hollowpoints are probably better, but I've yet to find anyone willing to take a few of the "bad" rounds to demonstrate they don't work.

 

[weregunner]

JHPs would be a excellent pick. If not then as stated by others the Federal EFMJ would be a good one to go with.

Here's the .45 ACP roundup for those eho wish to delve into ths deeper. Not a definitive source by any means, but a compilation of ammo info.

http://www.taurusarmed.net/forums/index.php?topic=8921.0
http://www.taurusarmed.net/forums/index.php?topic=8590.0