What the effective range of .45 ACP from a Carbine?

[briansmithwins]

Not much.

I don't have a .45 ACP carbine but I have been known to take my Uzi with the 10.5" barrel out to the local rifle match. I keep the irons zeroed at 100 yards and have flipped the aperture to the 200m setting when the targets were around that far away. I didn't hit them on the first shot but I could generally get my hits out at 220 yards or so.

The main problem is that pistol rounds are so inefficient ballistically that they drop like a stone. If you guy think .45-70 is a rainbow cartridge try 9mmP at 200 yards, much less .45 ACP.

BSW

 

[kBob]

FM 23-42 June 1974 list the maximum effective range of the M-3 and M-3 A1 Caliber .45 Submachineguns as "(approx)........90 meters"

Have the FM here on the desk next to the keyboard as I type.

That said a grease gun is not a modern semi auto closed bolt .45 carbine.

I have used an M1928 A1 on semi and with the lyman ladder sights to 150 yards to bounce gallon milk jugs and shoot through both sides of 55 gallon steel drums.

From a 1911 style handgun .45 ACP FMJ ball will also penitrate a 55 gallon drum front and back at 100 yards.

I would say that the most important thing is that the shooter be very familure with his carbine/ ammo combinations trajectory and choose a zero range that makes best use of that trajactory over the longest distance.

Talk of drop is always interesting as it depends entirely on what drop is measured from. Consider if a .45ACP M-1911was fired tanjental to the curvature of the earth that the drop of GI ball is only 21 inches at 100 yards ( check Hatcher's Notebook) If you are infact zeroed to hit point of aim at 25 meters with a 1911 you can in fact aim dead center of a 55 gallon drum and hit it most of the time between the rolling ridges, that is in the center third of the drum at 100 meters (try it) this ofcourse assumes you can hold a three inch groop at 25 meters. I found that with a M1911 A1 I could drop three to four of five type E kneeling man targets at 100 meters with the first five rounds with a spotter to watch that first round and then eight or nine of ten once I got the proper sight picture for that range.With the same pistol It was easy to drop three of five without a spotter a week later or as long as I rememberd my aiming point for that range. Yet the official max effective range is 50 meters.

See Maximum Effective Range is defined as the maximum range at which the AVERAGE soldier can obtain 50 percent effective hits. That is Cooks, Clerks, Jerks and Squirts in addition to trained Infantry and Military Police all averaged together.

The effective range of your Barfetta is determined by its accuracy, how it is sighted, how it is zeroed and your ability. I think 100 yards to meters is reasonable and 150 yards quite doable if you know your hold over.

I am however just-

-kBob

 

[Float Pilot]

I have fired controlled full auto burst from an FBI owned model 1928 Thompson at upper chest size targets post at 100 meters and was able to obtain good chest hits. At 50 meters they were all in a circle on the chest. At 25 meters I wrote my initials in the target. The Tommy is a wonderful, yet overly heavy and complicated firearm.

My duty arm for many years was a Sig P-220. I could put 8 shots into a silhouette at 100 yards if I aimed half way up the face or neck, depending on the load. But usually that was with Black talon and later Golden Saber. But I shot a qual course every week.

I have debated buying a 9mm or 45 acp carbine for years, (my wife wants an UZI) but can't really see how it fits any needs....

A true sub gun gives you multiple impacts within a short enough time that the central nervous system can not go into shock soon enough to avoid a shut-down. As does a buck-shot blast. But a semi auto pistol carbine has the same rate of fire as a semi-auto rifle-caliber carbine or rifle. But with much less effectiveness.

Now if you want a caliber / carbine that can be effectively sound suppressed,,, that is a different can of fish.

 

[kBob]

Floatpilot,

Friend in griz contry Montana aquired a 10mm AR15 upper for his frail wife as "better than the M-1 carbine she takes out to the back pasture" Not sure if she ever changed over though.

Olympic makes the conversion unit. mag adaptor and mags and I think they can build a whole new rifle on it. Magazines are expensive and sometimes not available last I heard though

Since you meantioned it he is also a liscenced "manufacturer" and at one point was after me to get a Marlin Camp .45 for him to do a dedicated can job on. Sort of a semiauto DeLisle. Fortunately I am extraordenarily tight fisted and a penny pincher so I never did.

-kBob

 

[JRadice45]

A .45 ACP rifle can be a 150 + yard gun. A few months back I was shooting my new .308 at 200 yards. Someone on the line brought out a Kriss super V semi auto carbine in .45 auto and let those of us who wanted to try it out. The range I was at had set up steel targets at about 150 yards. I loaded the rifle with one round (range rules), took a knee & put the top edge of the post at the top edge of the target and squeezed the trigger. about a second or so after we all saw a puff of smoke in the dirt about 6" below the target but dead center. It would take a bit of practice however it is not impossible to take a 45 acp rifle out to some distance

 

[mac66]

I have a Mech Tech carbine upper for my 1911. I can make reliable hits out to 100 meters or so. Same with my Uzi carbine. That being said, I can do the same with a pistol but it is easier with a long gun using the same ammo.