Is the 45 acp "dead"?

[PolarFBear]

I am in the time of life to pare down the "inventory". Did a local gun show and had half a dozen 45 acp using firearms on my table. It was a mix of SA, DA-SA and revolvers, all quality pieces. Not a single person gave any of them a look! What was under review by patrons were 22's, 9's and .380. What has happened to the "manly" caliber? Out of spite I bought another (actually traded a 22) 1911, a Springfield, and went home happy.

 

[chaim]

The .45ACP crowd has been aging for quite some time. There will always be those who appreciate a good 1911 in .45ACP, especially since the platform and chambering are so closely associated. However, the selection of non-1911 .45s have been long dwindling.

Heck, I'm a fan, but have far more 9mms and even .40S&Ws than .45s (actually, I have the same number of working .40S&Ws, three of each, with one non-functional .40 that I need to send to Taurus to get fixed, I've only been putting it off for about 10 years). I'm probably going to trade my Officer and Commander sized 1911s (a RIA and S&W respectively) on one steel framed full-sized 1911, and I will probably trade my .45ACP home defense gun (a DAO SIG P250) on another .45ACP auto for home defense, so soon the difference will be greater. Most of what I buy and shoot are 9mm, and most of my ammo purchases are in 9mm (I only keep a few boxes of .45 on hand and only buy more when I use it, I stock a little .40 and a fair amount of 9mm at any given time, and I buy both in bulk once in a while).

Given modern bullet designs, I'd rather have 15-17 rounds of 9mm or 12-15 rounds of .40 vs. 8-10 rounds of .45 in the same sized package.

 

[Rob228]

It's not dead but .45 ammo sure is expensive these days. If someone wants to spend more money to shoot something that gives them a perception of manliness that's fine with them. That money might be better spent in the gym.

I haven't shot either of my 1911s in about three years.

 

[TunnelRat]

I’m noticing that locally in stores I see as many 1911s in 10 mm as 45 ACP, sometimes more. Mine are in 45 ACP but I’m not opposed to trying 10mm. I just don’t want to devote the space to storing another cartridge. I think for a lot of people it’s convenient to get a 1911 in say 9mm as they already stock that cartridge. I like to switch it up just a little bit so I don’t mind a different cartridge. At the range a lot of the 1911 style pistols I see are 9mm. They do shoot very easily.


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[SIGSHR]

On another board there is a message sequence about "What happened to 40 caliber?", the criterion was the amount of policed up brass.
Haven't fired any of mine in years, when I got back into shooting after a long layoff I started with 22LR till I got my skills back, at present with today's prices and shortages of ammo and components I stick with 22. I have a Ciener unit on my Colt Mark IV.
45 ACP "dead" ? How many new handguns have been introduced in 38 Super, 10MM Auto, etc. ?

 

[reynolds357]

I am in the time of life to pare down the "inventory". Did a local gun show and had half a dozen 45 acp using firearms on my table. It was a mix of SA, DA-SA and revolvers, all quality pieces. Not a single person gave any of them a look! What was under review by patrons were 22's, 9's and .380. What has happened to the "manly" caliber? Out of spite I bought another (actually traded a 22) 1911, a Springfield, and went home happy.

If Magazine capacity restrictions pass, 45 will become king again.

 

[The Verminator]

Don't count the .45 ACP out yet.

Those in the know still prefer it.

 

[105kw]

From what I've seen at my LGS, they aren't having any trouble selling every 45 Auto, in about any design they can put in the case.
40 S&W seems to be a lot slower in sales to either 9mm, or 45.

 

[L. Boscoe]

Is the 45acp "dead"

I got back into shooting after a 30 year absence, and went to my
old favorite, the 45acp. I have 3 9mms and 9 45's. Plus some odds and ends of other calibers and revolvers.
I like 45 because I reload, and the cartridges are bigger and less finicky about OAL than 9's. I don't reload nines, as I can buy new
for about 30 cents a round, and it costs me 26 cents/45 to reload,
just not worth the effort of changing the press and getting finicky.
Most 9mm guys I see are young and don't shoot 45s.
The very serious bullseye shooters almost all shoot 45, because it
is a requirement, I think.

 

[Aguila Blanca]

Is the 45 acp "dead"?

No.

 

[XDforever]

I EDC my Shield 1.0 in 45acp at least 3 to 4 days a week. Love this gun!

Joe

 

[jetinteriorguy]

I don’t think the .45ACP is anywhere near dead as far as gun production and sales are concerned. As far as how often they are shot, not nearly as much as 9mm according to the amount of brass on the floor at the range.

 

[darkgael]

Not dead. No. If you shoot factory ammo, it has gotten expensive. Reloading helps affordability. Even that, though, has gotten considerably more expensive. Like everything else. It used to be that I could produce a box of accurate .45 ACP for about $3.50 using my own cast bullets and about double that for factory cast. Nowadays both primers and factory cast cost has driven that up to over $10 a box. Having a .22 conversion is worth helpful.

 

[Adventurer 2]

I was wondering about the death of the 45 recently - I have a 45 shield that’s been on consignment for 3 months now. I bought a 100 round box of 230 grain Federal at 70 cents per round. I reload but haven’t bought a brick of pistol primers in several years - I think Covid inflation pricing for primers is 110ish per 1000. If I run out of primers and have to buy ammo as I just couldn’t find primers I’ll buy the 30 cent 9 mm round over the 45. I wanted to purchase the CZ P10 F in 45 - never saw one in my area for sale before it’s demise. That all said - my home defense pistol is still a 45.

 

[Metric]

I haven't shot 45 in years. I don't dislike it, but I do have the feeling that it's a huge step up in price without the corresponding step up in performance. When I feel the need to go above 9mm, I look to 10mm.

 

[BillM]

45 is expensive to shoot unless you reload. The guns get rather
large to carry if you want over 8-10 rounds. It doesn't fit the current
"tactical" hype well. BUT--if they pass legislation limiting magazine
capacity the same thing will happen again as it did in 1994--and there
will be an upsurge in sales of 10 rd capacity carry gun size 45's. If you
can only have 10--might as well be big bullets.

 

[FrankenMauser]

If no one was looking at your handguns, it was probably due to condition and/or pricing, not the fact that they were revolvers and .45s.

.45 Auto is far from dead, just as the 1911 is not only far from dead, but selling in larger numbers every year.

 

[TunnelRat]

45 is expensive to shoot unless you reload. The guns get rather
large to carry if you want over 8-10 rounds. It doesn't fit the current
"tactical" hype well. BUT--if they pass legislation limiting magazine
capacity the same thing will happen again as it did in 1994--and there
will be an upsurge in sales of 10 rd capacity carry gun size 45's. If you
can only have 10--might as well be big bullets.

The same argument about rise in popularity of the 45 ACP if magazine capacity restrictions pass was mentioned above. I think that’s true in some cases, but I’m not sure how true it is overall. Pistols designed around 45 ACP generally have larger frames than those designed around 9mm/40SW. For some that’s not an issue, but with the current trend to smaller concealed carry pistols and with a lot of women moving into the shooting space larger framed pistols don’t necessarily fit as many hands. Then as others mentioned there is cost and lastly differences in recoil.

For a period of time I had a number of friends in MA, which does have magazine capacity limits. I would shoot there with them fairly often. I got the impression larger caliber pistols were more popular there than in some other states for the reason you mention, but I don’t know if it was a dramatic difference. I still mostly saw 9mm pistols.


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[TunnelRat]

.45 Auto is far from dead, just as the 1911 is not only far from dead, but selling in larger numbers every year.

But what percentage of those sales of 1911s are 45 ACP versus other cartridges? You can sell more 1911s in a given year than one previous, but it doesn’t mean you sold more 45s.


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[SR420]

My .45 is primarily for suppressor use, and I prefer shooting suppressed guns so MY answer to your question in NO.