45 +P for carry

[olafpfj]

My search fu is lacking.

I've been carrying my M&P 45c now for almost a year and it is time to change out the ammo.

I currently carry Hornady Critical Defence 185gr. After thinking about this for some time I feel that I'm doing myself a great disservice and missing the whole point of carrying a 45 with this round.

I am thinking of going to the extreme other end and carrying a stout, hard hitting 230gr +P.

Thoughts and suggestions appreciated.

[Dave2]

If the gun and your wrists can take the beating, why not?

Or I guess a better phrasing would be "what are the ballistic differences?"

[A-R]

for what it's worth, 230-gr +P Hornady TAP shoots well in my full-size M&P45. i don't notice much difference in recoil between these and the 230-gr standard pressure Winchester PDX and Speer Gold Dot I've also shot through it.

[mbw]

What Andy said-

[olafpfj]

If the gun and your wrists can take the beating, why not?

Or I guess a better phrasing would be "what are the ballistic differences?"

I'm not worried about my wrists. 27 years of drumming have made them rather tough.

Ballistic differences are hard to determine. Data from the Hornady website only lists ballistics from a 5" and 3" barrel for the 185gr CD and a 5" barrel for the 230gr +P TAP.
Comparing just the 5" data they list 1000/411 for the 185 and 950/461 for the 230 +P.

I'm starting to give myself a headache playing all the variables and decide whats best and I think I've come to the same conclusion as many other experienced shooters. Pick what you like and use it.

I feel that I should give myself every advantage and supposedly on paper the 230gr +P loads have more ooomph. I'll give some +P a go and see if I like them.

Hopefully I'll go my whole life and never get to find out if it matters or not...

[AEA]

They definitely have more ooomph!

I carry them in all my steel handguns. They could also be used in Aluminum frames but not a steady diet.

[MoJo]

You were asking for some suggestions - - - here's the .45 ACP 230 gr +P loads I would carry If I were to carry a +P in .45.

In no particular order:

1. Federal HST 230 gr +P
2. Winchester Ranger Talon 230 gr +P
3. Black Hills 230 gr +P
4. CorBon 230 gr +P

My .45 ACP carry load is Federal HST 230 gr. I don't think +P in a .45 is needed - - - If you do go for it.

[CC Italian]

Personally I don't think 45 acp +P is bad at all for recoil. My snub nose .38, 10mm and Glock 27 all seem to have snappier recoil then my old .45. But yes, 200-230 grain IMO. Big and heavy is the .45acp. As long as the bullet penetrates and expands the 100fps gain means little if it effects your rate of fire and accuracy. The .45acp is not a magnum. Just a really big and heavy bullet that has proven to get the job done. Of course don't forget that you still have a .45 caliber bullet with no expansion if the hollowpoint fails to open.

Remington Golden sabers for 230 grain non +P and of course the short barrel gold dots are supposed to be great for the .45.

[smtimelevi]

I've fired hornady 230 g +p ammunition from my kimber. I hardly noticed any difference from 230g target ammo (remmington).

Go for it, what could it hurt except a bad guy?

[olafpfj]

Well it looks like the 2 hardest hitting 45 rounds are the Speer gold dot 200gr +P and the Winchester Ranger 230gr +P

They both seem to average around 490-500 lbs/ft across all the websites I found. Out of what length barrel or how they actually got that number is anyones guess.

Its really hard to believe much of anything when everywhere I check online gives different data for the same rounds...

I can find the Speers off the shelf at Bass Pro in Grapevine but obviously the Rangers will have to be ordered. I'm leaning more towards the Rangers due to them being a 230gr load and well...you can't argue with mass now can you...

I have some of the old Winchester Black Talons in 9mm +P+ but I don't load them in my Sig 226 because my wife would have some issues with them as its the nightstand gun. Plus I don't have that many left. The +P+ didn't seem all that much more snappy than WWB 115gr practice ammo and I'm expecting the same from the 45 +p loads.

I'll pick up some Rangers and post my completely unscientific, anecdotal musings on the subject

[74novaman]

Its really hard to believe much of anything when everywhere I check online gives different data

Yup; and if it ever happens, it's 95% down to you, anyway - not the arrow so much.

I'd amend that to say as long as its a decent modern hollowpoint. Remember the thread in "never again" recently where the Ohio guy shot a thug point blank 3 times with a .45acp glock? If I remember right, 2 were FMJ and one was a "PowRBall" round. None of them did very much damage. Then again, he did get away from the situation after that, so I suppose they were good enough.

[Keith]

We all know that the heavier bullet willl penetrate deeper. The problem is at 950 FPS is slow and thats from a 5 inch barrel so yours will be slower. Ive read(FBI testing) that you need over 1050 fps to get a hollow point to expand. So the 230 will go deep but if it fails to open you might as well just carry cheaper 230 grain +P FMJ.

For self def we need that hollow point to open! This is one circumstance were velocity is more inportant then bullet weight.

[Jumping Frog]

Ive read(FBI testing) that you need over 1050 fps to get a hollow point to expand.

That used to be very true. However, now they are also designing alternative hollow-points that are engineered to expand at lower velocities. It all depends on the bullet, the brand, and the specific gun.

There is no substitute for testing a specific ammo in your own gun.

Personally, I am carrying Winchester Ranger RA45TP, a 230 gr +P. I also fired 150 rounds of that ammo through my 1911 before using it for EDC.