.45 ACP V .45 LC?

[Paladin UK]

Didnt know quite WHERE ta post this ? sooooooo, I chose here!!!........................

Any pards know which hits harder.........

Factory .45 LC
Factory .45 ACP          Assumin they are usin similar booolit /powder types

Paladin (Whats kinda innerested ta know  ) UK

[St. George]

From Barnes' - 'Cartridges of the World' - the most commonly-found factory (or military) loads.

.45ACP military load - 230 FMC - Flake - 855 Muzzle Velocity - 405 Muzze Energy

.45 Colt - 255 Lead - Flake - 860 Muzzle Velocity - 420 Muzzle Energy

Both of these are loaded with smokeless.

Both hit 'hard' - but the .45 Colt load hits a bit harder.

Vaya,

Scouts Out!

[OldMike]

I have always looked at the .45 ACP and the .45 LC as being very similar ballistics wise...  There is nothing like a slow moving large hunk of lead!

[Adirondack Jack]

Not for nothing, but initially, JMB loaded his .45 ACP with a 200 grainer at over 900 fps, looking for energy vs lead on target.  The army, after the famous stockyard tests (where one big thing they rated rounds on was how much a bullet strike could make a hanging animal swing, and the .476 Eley did "best") decided they liked heavier and slower, so we got the 230.

Regardless, the .45 ACP is just about a perfectly efficient handgun round.  Nothing much is gained by adding barrel length, etc.  Compared to it's BP daddy, it makes a whole bunch more sense for smokeless.

[Paladin UK]

Thanks fer yer reeplies pards,

I know I`m a bit `predigest` But I jest LURV the ole 45 Loooong Colt fer CAS!!

All the time when we were trusted with Cartridge handguns I`d never bothered with the .45 LC. A pard of mine had (If memory serves right), a #29 in .45LC and I lurved my Series 70 gold cup, and shoulder to shoulder there was next ta nothing accuracy wise betwixt em! ............Good days!!

Paladin (Whut lurvs his Yellaboy ) UK

[Shotgun Franklin]

This assumes guns the rounds were originally designed for. It is possible with more modern designs to push the .45 Colt to near .44 Mag velocities.
The question might better be which round is more effecifent with smokeless powder or black powder.
With smokeless in the guns they were introduced with the .45 ACP gives better burn and more energy per grain of powder.
With BP, the .45 ACP is much closer in power to the .45 S&W.

I've shot deer with both a .45 ACP and a .45 Colt using factory ammo. The results were very simiilar.