45 ACP vs 45 ACP +p

uni82

I have been on the forums searching the difference. All the differences I have found were the 45 ACP vs 45 GAP and 45 ACP vs 40 S&W or blah blah blah. I haven't found one in regards to the differences.

Is it just like the 38 special and 38 special +p. Just more pressure to gain more velocity?

Can the 45 acp +p be shot out of a chambered 45 acp or does the firearm need a 45acp +p?

Thanks!

Hawk Carse

You can shoot .45 ACP +P in a standard gun. I have never heard of a +P pistol, although some brands "rate" their guns for +P.
.45 ACP +P is loaded to approximately 10% higher chamber pressure than standard .45 ACP. If they choose the powder well, you will get about 5% more velocity, 10% more muzzle energy. You get that much more recoil and blast, too; and I guess you could say you would get 10% faster wear on the gun.

uni82

Thanks!

perry shooter

In My Opinion the ONLY time a 45ACP +P is needed is in use for hunting Big game at ranges most shooters don't use a 5 inch barrel semi auto Pistol. Bullet placement is more important then another 10% in Muzzle energy. The 230 grain .452 bullet has done the job for 100 years.control of a 1911 gets Harder as recoil goes up . 3 misses in a row with ACP+p will not give you better results then one dead center of mass hit with standard ammo.

RCrosby

I'm with Perryshooter all the way on this one!
That said, if you feel you must shoot +P ammo you might want to consider a heavier mainspring and limiting the number of rounds you subject your 1911 to.

sandwarrior

+2 with Perry shooter and RCrosby.

The 1911 wasn't intended for harsher use like the +P's put it too.

In a fixed type firearm it wouldn't make a whole lot of difference until you actually transgressed on the safety standards of the firearm. Meaning too much pressure = kaboom! But that takes a lot in a handgun. I mean by simply loading it up so hot it comes apart when firing.

A semi-auto on the other hand not only has the max pressure to deal with it has minimum and maximun FUNCTIONAL limitations. Meaning, there has to be enough charge to make it work, as you increase you get optimal performance. But, increase further and you won't necessarily get a KABOOM! like you would with a revolver, aka wheelgun. More than likely you will get hard recoil slams that the springs weren't engineered to hold, then cracking of the slide stops or other parts of the frame. Then you'll get a full on broken semi-auto. That's because the semi-auto not only has to function for pressure, it has to function dynamically. Non-dynamic function of a semi-suto leads to failures...sometimes catastrophic when you have no idea they will happen.

My opinion is stick to standard loads in semi-autos and leave the +P's for roundy/roundy guns. Continuous functioning is going to save your life a lot better than one great big fireshow!

dcs shooters

+100 with perry on this.
With a good HP bullet that size why put the extra stress on your pistol [?][?]

62fuelie

We used the standard velocity Hydra-Shok 230 HP for years in service. On every shooting they expanded reliably to .75 or more and only one suspect was still hostile after the first hit. These were used in 1911s, Sig 220s, Glock 21s and H&K USPs and fed reliably in all.

243winxb

SAAMi lists the 45 auto +P with 185gr. bullet at a working pressure of 23,000 PSI.http://www.saami.org/specifications_and_information/index.cfm?page=CC