Best .45acp Defense round

rrg991981

rrg991981

Joined
Oct 31, 2006
Messages
778
I am looking on some recomendations for a personal defense round for my Kimber Custom II LAPD Swat and I was thinking the 230gr. or 185gr. Golden Saber or The 165gr Federal Hydra-shock PD rounds. What do you guys use and recomend.

Ryan
 
230 grain federal hydra shock for me. Only thing I stoke in my guns(1911's) unless I'm at the range. I always go heavy grains with my defensive handguns,over Penetration has its inherant risks and worries. Good choice of weapon BTW. Outstanding firearm.
 
The Golden Sabre and Hydra-shok are great rounds.
The Gold Dot is better IMO.
Newer better technology.

From The Speer Gold Dot website.
"We created the first bonded-core handgun bullet. Our method is so innovative that we hold patents* on the process. Using our proven Uni-Cor® technology, we bond the copper jacket to the lead core one molecule at a time. We've virtually wiped out the cause of most bullet failures — core-jacket separation. In the process, we've assured high retained weights and excellent penetration.

What about expansion? We have you covered. Most bullet makers add the hollow point cavity at the very last operation. This is not very smart if you want premium performance. We, however, form the cavity in two distinct steps. Very smart.

The first cavity operation establishes the limit of maximum expansion--a bullet isn't very effective if it rolls back so far that it falls apart--and precuts both the jacket and the core for symmetrical expansion. The final cavity operation establishes the rate of expansion. The flexibility of this two-step proces lets us tune each bullet to its intended velocity range. Bullets for low-velocity cartridges have a deep cavity; those for high-velocity have a shallow cavity. Very smart, indeed"
 
Corbon 185 gr. JHP. Sig Sauer P220
230 Gr Winchester Ball in my olde 1911.

--Mike L.
 
All good choices try BLACK HILLS 185gr JHP either standard or +p loads. Also comes in 200gr and 230gr JHP. Black hills is very resonable priced outstanding ammo. For what most charge for 20 round you can get 50.
 
No it's a pretty safe round to pick as a defense round and a great manstopper. If it 230 +p load it has one hell of kick. But standard loads are no problem.
 
really hydrashok is pretty old technology, IIRC federal is gonna replace HS with something new soon.

the very best SD ammo is eithe winchester ranger, speer gold dot or remington golden sabre, in .really any calibre, not just .45.

i prefer the 230gr stuff myself, and non +P usually.
 
All good rounds IMHO. Practice placing a quick round in the nose is the kicker. If you can do that 99 times out of 100 any 9mm on up oughta meet with success.
 
SIFU1A said:
really hydrashok is pretty old technology, IIRC federal is gonna replace HS with something new soon.

the very best SD ammo is eithe winchester ranger, speer gold dot or remington golden sabre, in .really any calibre, not just .45.

i prefer the 230gr stuff myself, and non +P usually.
Click to expand...

Law enforcement has it it is call HST there is no post and the cavity is wide.
 
Corbon DPX is an excellent choice too. Any of the premium rounds will work very well ,there isn't significant difference between them . Just find one that is 100 % reliable in your gun ,that's a MUST.
 
I prefer 185 grn bullets myself. Look into Magtech Guardian Gold 45 acp+p 185 grn hollowpoint ammo. It has almost 550 ft lbs of energy which puts it leaps ahead of most other defensive 45 acp ammo on the market. This round makes a 45 acp what it should be.
 
One of the attractive thing about the old .45 is that even military ball stuff has a pretty good reputation.
 
the FBI HRT (their Swat team) is using the Rem golden saber out of 5" barrel....so it must be a pretty decent performer.
 
My 40 S&W loads puts out 499 ft lbs of energy, 9mm 500 ft lbs, 357 mag 900 ft lbs, 357 sig 630 ft lbs, 10mm 950 ft lbs, so if my 45 acp rounds wont exceed 500 ft lbs of energy I am not interested. I was shooting 1/16" plate steel today and the 9mm, 357 mag, 357 sig, 40 S&W, 10mm would all penetrate it. 38 special, 380 acp, and 45 acp wouldn't penetrate it. Granted I was shooting plinking ammo in all of these calibers and the +p 45 acp will blow holes through it easily. Choose your 45 acp loads for self defense carefully as there are a lot of weak loads out there in the 300-400 ft lb range. With the Magtech Guardian Gold 185grn 45 acp +p you have 540 ft lbs of energy out of a 5" barrel. This makes the 45 acp a much more impressive caliber than most people know it as. You get excellent expansion and good penetration. Good luck on whatever you choose.
 
I like Speer Gold Dots myself.

Ranger SXT, Gold Dot, Corbon DPX, etc - whatever you choose just make sure you run enough through your platform(s) to make sure they are reliable. 250 at the mininum, 500 is my rule of thumb. Expansion is second to reliability.
 
Far more important that the bullet is the placement and the function.

.45 cal firearms have been killing people quite well for a very very long time, over 200 years if you go back to cap and ball and beyond to flintlocks, 230 grains of projectile of any shape, placed properly will stop most people from wanting to fight anymore.

Find a round that goes Bang every time, feeds every time, ejects every time, and then learn to hit tennis balls at 25 yards and you will be fine. I carry Fed 230 HST +P over others because it works well in my gun and my supply is continous, I do not have to look for other outlets. I would also say never by any SD ammo in boxes of 20, that is a marketing ploy and raises your cost of ammo significantly. I pay about 18.50 a box for HST in 50 round boxes when I buy by the case.
 
i agree shot placement is critical but if ya are gonna spend the $$ for good ammo ya outta know WTF because some of it performs a lot better than others. also most of the new high performance rounds are designed with feeding in mind unlike a lot of stuff 20 yrs ago, imho a good quality pistol (ie glock, SIG, kahr, etc) with good modern ammo should approach 100% reliablity, if it didnt i wouldnt carry it & would find something that did, i can remember back in '85 or so trying to get a colt commander to feed speer 200 gr hollowpoints, just had to do it, never could make it feed them with regularity lol, thank goodness those days are over.

IIRC FBI HRT does carry golden sabre, i would wager a suprisingly large % of PD's nationwide carry either ranger, gold dot, or golden sabre.

also agree ammo selection isnt that big a deal w/a .45ACP, not like say a 9MM, but hey, if i am gonna spend the extra $$ i want something thats gonna work. and on something like a 9MM, ammo selection is critical,
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top