re: the poster who suggested the Tokarev
I too live in the Portland region. 45 ACP is almost nonexistent at the local stores, but if you are diligent, and happen to stop in when it's there, it can be yours, if you are lucky. Cheapest I've seen is $20 for 50 rounds of white box at Bi-Mart. If they have it, of course.
So these days I always take my Polish Tokarev with me to the gravel pit, no matter what other firearms I bring. I just got into the 1911, but my Toks have accompanied my .357 Model 19, my 9mm, my 9mm Makarov pistols, each and every one of my long guns and my shotguns, for a long time now. Before I had a couple of Tokarevs, I had their inferior cousins, the CZ52s.
I can get surplus 7.62x25 Tokarev delivered to my doorstep for 10-13 cents per round, depending. This is an outrage ! Used to be under seven cents ! I have gone through thousands of rounds of this stuff, and always keep at least 1.5K stowed away no matter what.
Sure, it's not chambered in .45, but the TT-33 is a Browning derived design, and those humongous piles of 7.62 Tok still flooding into our country make great plinking ammo.
Plus, have you ever seen what that stuff does to what it hits ? I've tested it on all kinds of objects, and let me tell you, if I had a choice of what to be shot at with, that would be way, way down on the list.
Sure, it's a little 85 grain pill, but most of that surplus is pushing 1400-1500 fps or more. Read Fairbairn and Sykes "Shooting to Live" for more on the old 7.63 Mauser round the 7.62 Tok is derived from...those Shanghai cops made a point to inform the reader that nothing struck fear into the hearts of their personnel like the mere mention of that round, and that .45 or even larger caliber rounds often surprised them by failing to live up to their expectations.
www.gutterfighting.org/files/shooting_to_live.pdf
That old .30 Mauser round had a really fearsome reputation for shattering bone and inflicting awful wounds. The authors used the word "pulped" to describe what one little round did to a man's arm, which was later amputated.
OK. It's not .45 and it's not a 1911, what is ? But until prices come down, it's the cheapest thing going...