To stay alive, a .45.
Note: This is one post on “the best .45 caliber concealed carry pistols.” Internet search will provide many, many more.
Want to start a regular brawl on social media? Jump onto a Facebook gun group and proclaim, “A 1911 in .45 ACP is a heck of a lot better for self-defense than any lousy Tupperware 9mm!”
Or vice versa. “The 9MMs are the best pistols ever—get a clue 1911 Dinosaurs!” And within 18 seconds, the verbal punching will begin as the 1911 “Fudds” duke it out with the 9mm “Whiz Kids.”
It’s lots of sound and fury that doesn’t signify much, because actually, both calibers work fine for those of us who practice concealed carry. Both calibers, and the handguns in which they are chambered, can and will protect us in case of an emergency. And both calibers and handguns have their plusses and minuses, relative to each other that are simply inherent in the way they are designed.
Take the case of the .45 ACP for example.
Developed over a century ago by John Browning, the .45 Automatic Colt Pistol (ACP) was made to work in a semi-automatic pistol Browning had designed for a U.S. Army handgun competition. The cartridge was built around a large bullet (230-grains, or just over 0.5 oz.) that left the muzzle at a relatively slow 830 feet-per-second.
The pistol and cartridge were accepted by the Army in 1911 and the pistol was dubbed the Colt M1911. For a good 100 years, the term .45-caliber pistol” and “1911” were pretty much interchangeable.
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by Brian McCombie