I carry a 1911 every day. My fallback is a P220 SAO. .45 is my caliber.

For the most part I reserve 45 for a winter time carry.

Gents,

A GOOD 1911 and some standard pressure JHP's and you're good to go...
To many folks are hung up on high capacity. I'll settle for a good reliable 1911 or P220, smile and be happy.

Wes

Geez, geezer-hood approaches...can't remember if I posted here and am too lazy to check all ten pgs. Too...I had back surgery (L-4/5), this AM and am not in tip top shape yet.

So too answer...Yep, I do still carry a .45, not often but ~20% of the time...in town and to the city. The piece below is by far my #1 choice for accuracy, weight on the belt and true (as opposed to mall-ninja) features plus a match bbl. and tuned trigger....Most will recognize it as a Sig RCS....melted exterior, night Novak type sights, checkered fore and aft, reachable trigger and good sensible controls. I carry it at 4:00 in my own or Bianchi's (Shown), Askins Avenger, for me, arguably the most useful of all OWB's ever on the market. Best regards, Rod

I find comfort in the large holes the .45 makes. Last month I sold my G30 Gen3 non-SF frame, this morning I replaced it with an unfired Gen4 full kit that, after multiple discounts/store credits, was "out the door" for under $300. I'm weak at the knees.

I don't walk around with a .45 but it's my choice for HD/Nightstand duty.

Bought my first handgun in the mid 70s. A .38spl and I can't recall even ever shooting a .45.

I tagged along on the county's qualification day today (because we don't have another instructor at my agency and it's kinda sketchy to sign off on myself), and brought a whole bag of pistols. I don't carry .45 much anymore, but I still wanted the option so I brought my P220 compact.

Unfortunately, the only .45 ammo my agency has is Sig 230gr Crown +P. This is one of the few times a year I get to shoot on the company dime, so I was't going to supply my own if we had some on hand. I usually shoot 230gr, and it's not a problem with most loads, but for some reason Sig made this stuff so long that it won't fit in P245/P220 Compact mags. It does fit in full-size P220 mags, but barely. Accuracy wise it was fine...I shot 100 with it. But I had to fight through multiple failures to completely chamber and failure to lock the slide to the rear, an issue I've never had in this gun with any other load.

Way to go Sig, making ammo that doesn't work in your own guns!

.45 is obsolete. If you want "more" than 9mm, there is no reason not to go with 10mm. You can have 10mm in pretty much any platform that launches .45, (so the 1911 guys, Glock guys are all covered) and the 10mm factory ammo loadings cover the entire power range from weaker .40ish like power to the .41 magnum and higher power range stuff.
The cost of 10mm is down and the availability is on par with 9mm.
Its a 9mm and 10mm world now.The .45 is kind of a relic.

I doubt that. I know many guys that carry 45ACP. It's not going away anytime soon.

“Those are fighting words!” Just kidding. That’s why there are so many caliber choices. I came to SIG and their P220 so I could carry .45 in a da/sa configuration.I’m old as dirt so .45 and I are a match.

I like the "Relic".

I haven’t carried 45 for a few years mostly because of the cost to train with it. I still have and enjoy carrying my 1911s and shoot a P220ST frequently at the range. I find the 45 acp recoil impulse to be more rhythmic and very satisfying to shoot. The advancements is 9mm bullet technology and the ability to shoot it fast and accurately have moved me back to 9mm for CCW. Bonus for being cheaper and giving me more capacity. Still, I have put more 45 acp down range than any other calibers and would not feel under gunned by strapping on the “ole relic” 1911.

quote:

Originally posted by longjohn:
.45 is obsolete. If you want "more" than 9mm, there is no reason not to go with 10mm. You can have 10mm in pretty much any platform that launches .45, (so the 1911 guys, Glock guys are all covered) and the 10mm factory ammo loadings cover the entire power range from weaker .40ish like power to the .41 magnum and higher power range stuff.
The cost of 10mm is down and the availability is on par with 9mm.
It’s a 9mm and 10mm world now.The .45 is kind of a relic.

The 10mm muzzle energy is nowhere close to the 41 magnum. That internet myth needs to go away.
The BB website has all of the specs on these two rounds . The 10 does beat the 41 on capacity.

quote:

Originally posted by 92fstech:
I tagged along on the county's qualification day today
...

Accuracy wise it was fine...I shot 100 with it. But I had to fight through multiple failures to completely chamber and failure to lock the slide to the rear, an issue I've never had in this gun with any other load.

You left your S&W Performance Center 625 at home???

quote:

Originally posted by RichardC:

You left your S&W Performance Center 625 at home???

I wish I had one to leave at home! The 642UC got to come play, though.

quote:

Originally posted by Nick B:
The 10mm muzzle energy is nowhere close to the 41 magnum. That internet myth needs to go away.
The BB website has all of the specs on these two rounds . The 10 does beat the 41 on capacity.

Agreed. Although I do appreciate the 10mm and have a few pistols chambered in that fine caliber, the fact is it is nowhere *near* as powerful as a full-house .41 Magnum. I also have a few .41's and anyone firing both can readily tell you the 10mm is awesome, but the .41 is simply commanding.

Also have to say, as much as I love the 10mm, the only place I think it's appropriate to carry a 10mm is out on a ranch, up in the mountains or on Miami Vice back in the 80's.

When the 10mm is at its best, using hotter loads, IMHO that makes it too powerful for the street. The .45 is still a great round and on the street or on duty, a nice warm 185 gr. +P JHP is a great defensive round, something I'd far prefer over the weak-kneed, puppy fart 9mm loads that the FBI's absurd "Protocols" recommend.

The only 9mm's I'd probably be comfortable carrying is either a 115 +P or +P+ JHP running about 1400 fps or a 124 gr +P JHP running about 1200 fps.

Even better, a .357 Sig 125 gr JHP running about 1450 fps.

But the idea that somehow ammo manufacturers have defeated Sir Isaac Newton and re-written physics for the FBI and the 9mm "is now the equal of very other pistol caliber rounds made", which is so inane, only a massive, bloated, unaccountable, criminal federal agency could come up with it.

.45's are neither obsolete nor obsolescent. Ask yourself, if you had zero choice and HAD to be shot in the gut, would you rather be shot with the Feeb's little 135 gr. running 950 fps or a hot .45 ACP 185 gr +P running 1200 fps? Between those two, if I had to be hit with one, I know which I'd rather be hit with and which one I'd rather put into some felonious killer trying to end my life.

The forty five is just fine.

I agree Texas Raider

No handgun cartridge is a reliable single shot man stopper short of a CNS hit. That said, I do agree that the physics of mass and velocity has a formulaic calculation of total energy that is natural law. The one variable that has evolved is the ability to transfer that energy to the target. As bullet design expansion became more reliable more energy began to transfer to target which creates better wound channels (ie more stopping power). That brings the final and most important part of the equation, shot placement. So if I subscribe to the premise that I’m going to shoot until the threat is neutralized, following the target to the ground then the energy difference between 45 or 9mm is negligible. I shoot both equally well, capable of fist size holes as fast as I can pull the trigger accurately (roughly .2 sec splits). When I do that with 357 Sig, which I carried for a decade, my group moves up to the size of a melon. When I guesstimate the addition of adrenaline and stress of a real life shooting those groups probably go up to melon and basketball sizes respectively. I went back to 9mm because I will be putting as many rounds on target as quickly as I can until the threat is no longer a threat. If center mass hits aren’t stopping the threat moving my aim to the pelvic girdle or the head may be required and I feel my best chance of being able to hit those is with a 9mm. My next choice would likely be 45acp out of a 1911 or P220. One of my instructors made a comment in a class which hit home, “if I ever need to pull my gun in self defense I hope it’s a shooting and not a gunfight, because in a gunfight the bad guy just has to get lucky”.

There's just something about the Glock 30. More accurate than it should be. A better choice in a more rural setting over a 9mm. Of course, the Glock 29 is an even better choice.

Although not for carry, you can't beat a suppressed .45 - SIG P227, or my new favorite a FN FNX-45.