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Best .45 ammo

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esswun

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Now, while in the military I've been around a lot of armament and had the opportunity to fire and qualify with all sorts of weapons(M16, M9, Mark 19, M60, M249, yada, yada, yada), but on the flip side in my civilian life I never really got into the sport due to expense and a couple of pacifist wives, so I never found the need to understand the terms associated with it. Well, since I've now purchased a G21 and hopefully within the next year the new Ruger AR15 platform, I'm trying to understand the ammo. You might say to yourself, "What's to understand?", but I'll be honest, I'm ignorant about it.

Anyways, I bought 3 boxes of Speer Lawman trng ammo today due to it's availability since .45 ammo runs out so fast and the clean burning characteristics of the rounds. I hated picking off carbon on my rifle and I'm sure that will hold true on my handgun as well, so the more clean firing the better. I understand that the Gold-Dot's are preferred for self defense since they stop on target and don't go through said target which may cause unecessary injury to an innocent person. Is it uncommon then that someone that CC's uses this type of round for self defense? Also, these are 230 grain. Do the Hollow points have a higher grain capacity? I'm just trying to understand the difference aside from it being a hardball vs. hollow. And last question, what other manufacturers out there produce clean burning ammo? I want to be able to fire good rounds with my equally good handgun. Thanks folks.
 
The main difference is a good bullet like a GDHP will ostensibly produce a larger hole a the bad guy once it expands. The grain weights are about
the same... .45 ACP is predominantly 185, 200, and 230 grain loadings all the way around. The most popular bullet weight of these, is 230 grains,
by far. (It's the most commonly produced weight in the caliber. )

For defense purposes I recommend Speer 230 gr GDHPs or DoubleTap using the same bullets. The new Federal Tac 230s and Rem Golden Saber 230s
aren't bad either. Winchester Ranger 230 gr std. pressure load is also a decent performer as well.

For day to day practice,etc, The best way to make clean practice ammo is to reload it yourself. The only commercial ammo that is cleaner than the stuff I load for my own use is stuff like WinClean, CCI Lawnman cleanfire/RHT, etc... and all those are generally really expensive when you
can find them.

I reload a lot of .45 with Alliant Power Pistol and Winchester WST. Either of these with a fully enclosed bullet is easily cleaner than most factory
practice ammo. VhitaVouri also makes some really clean burning powder but it is often difficult to get your hands on. This by no means is an
exhaustive list, there are a ton of other powders that work well, too. Reloading is by far the best way to get what you want out of your
handgun- you can tweak your ammo to match your preferences. It also puts you in a position to shoot more for the same amount of money- I'm
probably saving about ~$10 a box now by reloading!

Another thing worth mentioning- Supposedly hollowpoints also can be "more accurate" under some circumstances as well, although I'm not a bullsye match pistol type, so I'd probably never see the difference, and I just stick to regular old 230 gr ball. Some people also use SWCs (semi wad cutter) bullets for practice, usually in the 185 or 200 grain weights... sometimes, however, certain guns don't feed SWCs very well, but it's not something you can really find out without testing your gun/magazine/cartridge combo. Sometimes tweaking the load or its length will help in this regard, or even using a different magazine. (eg, like in a 1911 where there are 100 kinds of aftermarket mags. )

Some other folks may come along here and give you more details about the differences between bullet styles and weights. What I've written
above is certainly not exhaustive by any means. [laugh]

-Mike
 
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Winchester White Box and UMC are the worst as far as dirty .45 practice ammo goes. I prefer the Federal American Eagle if I have a choice.

As for defensive rounds I never really worried about expansion with a .45. Most of the 9mm and .40 carry ammo is about expanding to where a .45 already is.

That said, the 185gr Winchester Silvertips are the most accuracte .45 JHP I have tried.
 
rcinma said:
Winchester White Box and UMC are the worst as far as dirty .45 practice ammo goes. I prefer the Federal American Eagle if I have a choice.
Click to expand...

Fed AE isn't bad but it leaves a fair amount of "muzzle fog. " It also discharges a fair amount of unburned powder flecks which conveniently attach themselves to your arms, especially if you have to use bug spray or it's a hot day outside. [laugh] If the sun hits it just right you can see the flocks of powder/crud floating through the air after you fire a shot. I've been shooting Fed AE in .45 for a couple of years, then started going between Blazer AL and Blazer Brass once AE went off the charts price wise, then when that got too expensive I started to reload. Blazer was relatively decent dirt wise, as I recall.

-Mike
 
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I've been wanting to get some PP rounds and was lucky enough to find a box of Winchester's at Wally World today and man was that .45 section empty! I thought they'd be a lot more expensive than practice rounds, but no they were the same price, 30 bucks. Is that normal? If it is, maybe I should be stocking up on hollows instead of just practice rounds.
 
AMMO ALERT!

Called up Wal-Mart today in Plaistow, NH and found out they had Federal 230Gr. FMJ's for $15.97!!!! Limit of 6 bricks per day! Check your local Wally worlds! Nice price for some practice ammo eh? [smile]
 
When reloading clean is really a function of both the burning characteristics of the powder as well as the type/degree of crimp used.....

One thing duke taught me in his reloading class was to shoot your new reloads at a clean piece of paper from say 5 feet out..... If you see a carbon swirl pattern on the paper around the bullet hole then you need to tighten your crimp.... Tightened the crimp, shot again and the carbon pattern vanished... Helped me dial in the crimp since too much cuts the life of the brass and too little resulted in carbon/unburned powder that had to be cleaned....[grin]

Burgermeister said:
I haven't advanced into reloading, but I'm wondering how "clean" ammo is reloaded? Is it a function of using a better/higher quality powder or primer than the commercial manufacturers use?
Click to expand...
 
I'm smiling like a proud parent.......[grin]

Bob J said:
When reloading clean is really a function of both the burning characteristics of the powder as well as the type/degree of crimp used.....

One thing duke taught me in his reloading class was to shoot your new reloads at a clean piece of paper from say 5 feet out..... If you see a carbon swirl pattern on the paper around the bullet hole then you need to tighten your crimp.... Tightened the crimp, shot again and the carbon pattern vanished... Helped me dial in the crimp since too much cuts the life of the brass and too little resulted in carbon/unburned powder that had to be cleaned....[grin]
Click to expand...
 
The GS 185 +P load is "fun" to put it mildly. I clocked it over a chrono coming out of a 5" 1911 at well over 1100 FPS. [laugh]

It's even more fun if you shoot it from something like a Glock 30. I shot it out of my G30SF and I felt this heat wave kind of blast on my hands- the only time I've ever felt that before was when I shot EC's 500 S+W magnum.

-Mike
 
Timber said:
had a chance to throw some Remington Golden Saber 185gr .45 ACP +P through the HK this afternoon. It is snappy, but extremely accurate. I was just playing in the backyard, so no reports on grouping, etc. Did manage to dig some of the rounds out of the hill. Very impressive.

goldensaber1.jpg


goldensaber2.jpg
Click to expand...

The Golden Saber 185gr was my absolute preferred choice when I was carrying a small framed .45ACP I searched and tested religiously for a carry round when I happened upon these. In both my Colt Defender and my ParaCarry, they were extremely accurate. I had been shooting 230gr fodder with limited success for years and overlooked these little gems. Out of those short 3-inch barrels, the RGS rounds felt rifle-like and group sized shrunk. They did indeed bark, but also had plenty of bite.... I'm going to be carrying a full-size HKUSP soon and will be seeing out new fodder to carry, (I don;t reload yet). RGS will be among the first I try out of the HK....
 
Timber said:
Mark- I was shooting these out of a full size HK45 and they were very impressive. [wink]
Click to expand...

I have some of the 230gr RGS in my new to me HK USP45, (HOORAY and thanks Mike!), but am going to search for my old 185gr friends - they were perfect out of a 3" barrel, I can only imagine that they'd perform better in the USP, (love that gun)...If you've got a shop with a supply, I'll be up that way shortly, (maybe for good)....By the way, if you're looking for a great training round that matches closely the feel and performance of the RGS, look to Winchester. I had a case of Winchester White Box 185gr FMJ. I would use those exclusively for training/plinking. I'm not sure if Remington makes the same offering, but I never found any. Sometimes, I would stack my mags with alternate RGS/WWB. I'm sure the velocity was different and the RGS was a bit more snappy, but the accuracy, (especially 25-yards and in), was identical...
 
Greg, you never struck me as the artistic type who would appreciate aesthetics. Bravo and I must say that choosing a round based on aesthetics is an excellent methodology. [smile][laugh]
 
Greg said:
Sheetrock and 2 1 gallon water jugs and another sheetrock..it was a while ago,but I'm pretty sure that's how I caught it.
Click to expand...

THE BOX OF TRUTH standard, Gotta love that. I like the samples.

-Mike
 

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