.45 Super

the Danish folks use them as polar bear protection with success on Greenland.
It might be more cost effective to buy as used one for your trip & pass it on afterward. Kind of a proven platform for what you after.
Just my 2 cents.
Good Luck
Pat
 
I've been shooting 45 Super in my Springfield V16 Long Slide (which was made for it) since about 2000. I've settled on the Buffalo Bore 255 hardcast at 1100 fps for my back country carry load. I practice using 230g standard fare hardball. It digests both with ease, shoots them both very accurately.

t6SwDB9.jpg



2XbDvJb.jpg
 

Attachments

  • t6SwDB9.jpg
    t6SwDB9.jpg
    44.2 KB · Views: 499
  • 2XbDvJb.jpg
    2XbDvJb.jpg
    220.8 KB · Views: 402
Last edited by a moderator:
Chris Ammo Guide has Power Pistol at 10.5 gr with a 230 grain bullet for 1200 FPS I just got some 45 Super brass and I’m waiting for springs and guide rod from Brownells
 
Chris Ammo Guide has Power Pistol at 10.5 gr with a 230 grain bullet for 1200 FPS I just got some 45 Super brass and I’m waiting for springs and guide rod from Brownells
Sounds good! Power Pistol is THE powder for .45 super. You'll have a blast with it and it packs a serious punch for a minimal investment and work
 
Finally got my 5.75" EFK Fire Dragon ported barrel... I can now load the .45 super up to almost 800 ft-lbs without beating the frame up! Pretty psyched. This gun will easily match the 10mm energy-wise but does so with heavier bullets. Current load is a hard cast 200 grain RNFP at 1,250 fps. Working my way up to 1,300fps.
20190528_214035.jpg
20190528_214125.jpg
 
Last edited:
Nice gun! I get just over 1100 fps with the Buffalo Bore factory 45 Super 255g hardcast out of the 6" barrel of my Springfield V16 Longslide
 
Nice gun! I get just over 1100 fps with the Buffalo Bore factory 45 Super 255g hardcast out of the 6" barrel of my Springfield V16 Longslide
That v16 is a sweet pistol. They are hard to find these days.
 
ChrisG...........sure enjoyed your posts. You are right, on many forums, a guy with little experience but vast wisdom and knowledge will correct you aggressively. I carried a 45 ACP in grizzly country two years ago....because it was what I had. Always felt a little undergunned............250 grains at 1000 fps is what I really wanted. Not 230 grains at 850, which is what I had. A very useful upgrade here. I am going to get one! ......FWB
 
ChrisG...........sure enjoyed your posts. You are right, on many forums, a guy with little experience but vast wisdom and knowledge will correct you aggressively. I carried a 45 ACP in grizzly country two years ago....because it was what I had. Always felt a little undergunned............250 grains at 1000 fps is what I really wanted. Not 230 grains at 850, which is what I had. A very useful upgrade here. I am going to get one! ......FWB
If you already have a strong .45 it is usually just as simple as ensuring to have a fully supported chamber and swapping the recoil spring. If you had a glock .45 there are so many aftermarket parts available that a glock 41 would be a real easy mod. But any modern pistol should take the bolt thrust of a .45 super. The strongest semis are the ones that can be converted to .460 Rowland so guns like the XD, Glock, 1911 and apparently the h&k USP is plenty overbuilt enough to handle a few hundred super rounds stock.
 
Thnx............have 1911...and 2000 rounds 45 ACP..........FWB
 
ChrisG...........sure enjoyed your posts. You are right, on many forums, a guy with little experience but vast wisdom and knowledge will correct you aggressively. I carried a 45 ACP in grizzly country two years ago....because it was what I had. Always felt a little undergunned............250 grains at 1000 fps is what I really wanted. Not 230 grains at 850, which is what I had. A very useful upgrade here. I am going to get one! ......FWB

That is some first class AH enabling gents! Well done!
 
I converted my Glock 21 to Super. I added a heavier spring and stainless guide rod. Also changed the barrel to a 6" fully supported Storm Lake. So far, I've only shot +P loads through it, but it's noticeably more accurate and easier to control with this set up. It shoots as accurately as an Ed Brown 1911 I used to own. Hard to believe, but true.
 
Thnx............have 1911...and 2000 rounds 45 ACP..........FWB
That's the great thing about .45 super! Your gun will still fire .45 auto just fine as practice ammo and when you need to howitzer a bear (yes I did just use howitzer as a verb), you load up some super rounds. You can actually get a mold made for a boat tail 300 grain bullet to fit in the case, and push those out of it at 950 fps to carry when you need something to punch something stem to stern
 
Thank you for asking this so politely. Most forums would see some guy coming in who had never seen a bear let alone hunted one, recommending that I "File 'dat frunt sight off yer .45 Sooper cuz 'dat bear gonna shove it where 'da Sun don't shine." Then proceed to tell me that anything short of a ".500 S&W Maggum" will simply bounce off a new born bear cub's placenta.

No the .45 Super isn't quite as powerful as a big bore revolver and I prefer it that way.... let me explain why:

I have put a HUGE amount of consideration into this and it is, for ME, the best, and most efficient choice. I understand that there is a mentality that a bear can only be stopped by a howitzer. I find this position has some merit in that, yes I would rather hit him with everything available on earth, than end up with him on top of me. That said, I hunt mainly black bear, which are neither heavy boned, thick skinned or all that tenacious. Coastal browns are a different story I hear. However, a 200 lb black bear will make a mess out of you if you get inside his personal bubble and he's wounded.

I have owned and shot almost every "normal" magnum handgun from .357 through .454 Casull. I would challenge anyone who thinks that they can carry a pistol projecting between 3 and 5 times the energy of 45 acp, from a gun with no recoil attenuation (reciprocating slide) to put more rounds on target and more accurately, than if they were firing a striker-fired semi auto. Sure, the auto-loader will undoubtedly produce less energy but it is easier to shoot and much faster unless you're Jerry Miculek. Not only that, but in my experience, the extra recoil and blast of a magnum never scales to a proportionately more profound impact on the animal.

The 45 Super will hit with a heavier, larger bullet than a .357 and it is easier to shoot accurately under stress and hits just as hard or harder with less perceived recoil (talking strictly energy here). The .44 outclasses it in bullet weight, but unless using boutique loads, the energy of a .44 mag out of a carryable package like a 4" gun isn't all that much higher. (Most of my REALLY hot handloaded .44 rounds with a max charge of H110 or 300MP came in between 600 and 800ft.lb out of a carryable firearm not the 1,300-1600fpe most would claim). Most revolvers are a 1 to mayyyybe 2 shot maximum on an incoming animal. If one of those misses and the other potential shot is marginal, you may as well have not shot him at all. I will take a faster handling, lighter recoiling, easier to shoot gun in what some would consider a "marginal" caliber over a cannon I can't shoot as well or as fast. More potential hits and more probability that the bullet will hit more or less where I wanted them to. Striker-fired semi-autos just aren't as sexy in the bear woods though...

This is a pretty good video of what I mean by the practicality of a bear gun:

Not scientific, but at least he did a good representation of the difficulty of using a revolver in that scenario.

Let's face it, a hard cast 147 grain 9mm+p will punch through the skull or body of almost any black bear living or dead. And I mean ALL THE WAY THROUGH. A .45 super will do it even better in all scenarios. If I could shoot a revolver with it's 3-foot-take-up, 10 lb trigger pull, better than I could shoot that XD45, I would. I love revolvers, but they are not the most pointable, easiest guns to shoot under stress, especially with any sort of speed unless you train extensively with them. Which few ever do, despite their bravado on online forums. I don't know a single person who shoots a big bore revolver, double action, better than a simple, boring, semi-auto. Not to mention the ferocious recoil and concussive blast for what amounts to, in practicality, an almost insignificant added impact to the animal.

I will stick to my .45 super and hopefully never need it. It is a compromise on weight, packability, capacity, shootability and recoil. I just don't think, PRACTICALLY, that it is that much worse than a .41, 44, .454 etc. It works when I need it to go bang, hits where I point it and follow-ups are lightning fast. IMO that means a lot more to me than 150 foot-lbs or 50 grains of bullet weight.

Any of the calibers above penetrate adequately and that is really the only qualifier for a handgun to me. Handguns don't create shock, they don't break bones well, and they don't create stretch cavities. The best you can assume is that they will penetrate where they need to go and break anything in their way. .45 super does that with gusto. Guys will argue over the added "X% more surface area on a big bore vs. .357". Let's face it, the difference between the .357 and the .500 is only slightly more than 1/8". That's nothing when comparing it to the size of a bear.

This is all by no means an affront to you @Shootist43. I respect your position and your vastness of experience beyond mine. I feel the "suitable sidearms for black bear defense" discussion becomes a totally and unnecessarily complicated debate very quickly. It needs to penetrate through a bear. That is the only qualifier to me.

However, if I can get a bear in close (like bow range) this year, I will maybe take a crack at him with the 45 Super and see how it goes. I'll post pics if I get him!(y)
I think this is a GREAT caliber conversion for .45ACP owners. The fact you can shoot .45ACP ammo also is HUGE. When I'm not carrying a rifle in the Colorado mountains, I carry my Glock Model 40 10mm with a six inch barrel and 220gr. Buffalo Bore hardcasts. I don't hunt with it, but like your .45 Super, it is good protection against a black bear, mountain lion or even more likely, a two legged animal who might get really stupid. I like your choice here.
 
This is very interesting. I saw a V 16 Springfield sell at an auction for 650, I wish I had bid on it now. How does one convert a standard 1911 to 45 super(if its possible or feasible)
 
This is very interesting. I saw a V 16 Springfield sell at an auction for 650, I wish I had bid on it now. How does one convert a standard 1911 to 45 super(if its possible or feasible)

Heavier spring and a full length guide rod all I did to mine
 
Thanks I will look into that. Pardon my ignorance, but no barrel or chamber modification is necessary?

None I think I did a 22 lb spring to start with
 
Thanks I will look into that. Pardon my ignorance, but no barrel or chamber modification is necessary?
Depends on the 1911. A fully supported chamber is necessary. The original style 1911 barrel was not fully supported.
10mmbarrel05.jpeg

The one on the right is fully supported and could fire 45 super no problem. The one on the left is an original unramped barrel which is not fully supported. Firing a hot .45 super out of the barrel on the left could potentially result in a case head rupture and a ruined gun.
 
Do folks reckon the .45 SMC is worth going up to?
 

Forum statistics

Threads
53,632
Messages
1,131,594
Members
92,714
Latest member
cazhino90
 

 

 

Latest posts

Latest profile posts

Early morning Impala hunt, previous link was wrong video

Headshot on jackal this morning

Mature Eland Bull taken in Tanzania, at 100 yards, with 375 H&H, 300gr, Federal Premium Expanding bullet.

20231012_145809~2.jpg
 
Top