In order to participate in the GunBroker Member forums, you must be logged in with your GunBroker.com account. Click the sign-in button at the top right of the forums page to get connected.
Options
Shooting 45 GAP in a 45 ACP Taurus
Henry0Reilly
Member Posts: 10,878 ✭✭✭
I had a customer come in and show me a .45 GAP round and ask if he could buy some. We don't carry that. I asked if he had a Glock and he said it was a Taurus 24/7.
I looked at the gun at the slide definitely says 45 ACP on it, so I sold him a box of 45 ball rounds.
Later I got to wondering if it was possible someone had re-chambered the Taurus in 45 GAP and I had sold the guy ammo he couldn't shoot.
I looked at the gun at the slide definitely says 45 ACP on it, so I sold him a box of 45 ball rounds.
Later I got to wondering if it was possible someone had re-chambered the Taurus in 45 GAP and I had sold the guy ammo he couldn't shoot.
I used to recruit for the NRA until they sold us down the river (again!) in Heller v. DC. See my auctions (if any) under username henryreilly
Comments
I checked the Taurus website and they do not make a .45 GAP pistol. He probably has an ACP pistol and has somehow got things mixed up. If he returns I would refer him to a gunsmith to check out his gun.
This means that when the slide goes forward into battery, the breech pushes the top cartridge in the magazine forward. As it goes forward the rim slides up under the extractor. The engagement of the extractor in the rim actually controls headspace. This would enable the shorter .45 GAP to fire and function correctly in the Taurus, even though the Taurus barrel is chambered for the 45 ACP cartridge.
I do this all the time with my Glock G 20/10mm. When I run out of ammo and don't feel like reloading, I go down to wally world and buy a 100 round white box of .40 S & W. This stuff runs through my G 20 like s**t through a goose.
Head space is controled by the distance from the breech face to the back side of a cartridge rim(or belt on a belted magnum case), that is in contact with the chamber mouth, OR it is controlled by the breech face, and the distance to the mouth of the cartridge in the chamber, OR it is controlled from the breech face to the fulcrum of the case shoulder, in the case of beltless, bottleneck cartridges. It can also be controlled on rimless pistol cartridges by the use of moon clips, for use in revolver's. IT IS NEVER CONTROLLED BY AN EXTRACTOR...PERIOD.
One way of controlling the headspace of a straight rimless pistol case, is to the case mouth, which is standard practice. The other way is to fire it in a revolver, using moon clips, which give the case substantial support. The EXTRACTOR, is NEVER a function of headspace control. There is to little area to control anything with the extractor, except feeding. Yes, it might hold the cartridge firmly enough for the firing pin to ignite the primer, but it controls NOTHING after ignition, and that is what head space does.
Furthermore, one of the basic rules of firearmws safety, is to use ammunition, for which the firearm is clearly marked, and designed for. To recommend, and condone the use of other ammunition than what the manufacturer recommends, is dangerous, and unprofessional. It is one thing to do it yourself, as it is YOUR FACE you are going to be modifying, not some relative newcomer.
Best
Because the 45 GAP produces higher initial pressures than the 45 ACP, and problems have arisin in the 45 GAP chambered guns, I would not shoot a 45 GAP in a 45 ACP chamber.
Head space is controled by the distance from the breech face to the back side of a cartridge rim(or belt on a belted magnum case), that is in contact with the chamber mouth, OR it is controlled by the breech face, and the distance to the mouth of the cartridge in the chamber, OR it is controlled from the breech face to the fulcrum of the case shoulder, in the case of beltless, bottleneck cartridges. It can also be controlled on rimless pistol cartridges by the use of moon clips, for use in revolver's. IT IS NEVER CONTROLLED BY AN EXTRACTOR...PERIOD.
One way of controlling the headspace of a straight rimless pistol case, is to the case mouth, which is standard practice. The other way is to fire it in a revolver, using moon clips, which give the case substantial support. The EXTRACTOR, is NEVER a function of headspace control. There is to little area to control anything with the extractor, except feeding. Yes, it might hold the cartridge firmly enough for the firing pin to ignite the primer, but it controls NOTHING after ignition, and that is what head space does.
Furthermore, one of the basic rules of firearmws safety, is to use ammunition, for which the firearm is clearly marked, and designed for. To recommend, and condone the use of other ammunition than what the manufacturer recommends, is dangerous, and unprofessional. It is one thing to do it yourself, as it is YOUR FACE you are going to be modifying, not some relative newcomer.
Best
+1
Yeah, you probably can cycle .45GAP through a .45ACP gun. The bullets are identical, the case diameter is the same, and the ballistics are substantially similar.
But there are several good reasons NOT to do this:
a. Operating pressure on GAP is higher, by design, in an attempt to replicate 45ACP pressures in a shorter overall length cartridge. Lots of 45ACP platforms do NOT respond well to overpressure rounds, particularly in quantity.
b. Despite the attempt to replicate the 45ACP ballistics, the 45GAP actually comes up a bit short. Presumably you have a 45ACP because you want those ballistics, right (I mean isn't that pretty much THE point?). So why not get them?
c. 45ACP ammo is not only much more readily available than 45GAP, its typically cheaper too.
45 GAP is basically the "answer" to a question nobody asked. The story goes that Gaston Glock's ego wanted a cartridge with HIS name on it (like 45 automatic COLT pistol, or 40 SMITH AND WESSON, or even 357 SIG), so he directed his engineers to come up with one, and this gimped .45ACP is the best they could come up with.
So unless you happen to have a box of 45GAP and a 45ACP pistol and its an emergency, I don't even know why you would WANT to do this, even if you "could".
Incidentally, you probably "could" get a regular .45 ACP pistol to run .45GAP, assuming appropriate barrel, spring, and possibly other changes. . .though again, why bother?
I don't know for a fact, but probably the Taurus is a "Controlled Feed" pistol.
This means that when the slide goes forward into battery, the breech pushes the top cartridge in the magazine forward. As it goes forward the rim slides up under the extractor. The engagement of the extractor in the rim actually controls headspace. This would enable the shorter .45 GAP to fire and function correctly in the Taurus, even though the Taurus barrel is chambered for the 45 ACP cartridge.
I do this all the time with my Glock G 20/10mm. When I run out of ammo and don't feel like reloading, I go down to wally world and buy a 100 round white box of .40 S & W. This stuff runs through my G 20 like s**t through a goose.
I just pick up extra barrels. I have a 20C and have an extra 10mm (non ported), 40 S&W, 357sig, and 9x23Dillon.
They are fairly reasonably priced.
I have been to the scene of a drive by and id'ed GAP and ACP shell casings found there. The victms said there was only one shooter and he was firing a Glock pistol. They said the shooters gun seemed to jam a few times when he was shooting. I am going to hazard a guess that the GAP's the gangster idiot had mixed into in the magazine were causing the jams. In any case; yes, you may be able to fire .45 GAP rounds in the .45 ACP, but they SHOULD NOT be used in a gun not chambered for it.