.45 Colt vs. .45 ACP For Hunting?

Gatehouse said:
A 45 Colt handload will kill the hell out of lots of critters.

The 45 ACP is pretty light even loaded as hot as possible and launched from a rifle. Then again, it's probably similar to a 44-40 and I know that used to get used often.
Click to expand...

The 45LC is suitable for hunting medium sized big game at close range if shot from a rifle like the Rossi 92 or the Marlin 1894.
Handgun hunting is a moot topic in Canada but a friend of mine in Texas hunts hogs with a Ruger revolver in 45LC.
Actually it's a Super Redhawk chambered in 454 Casull and he uses "warm" 45LC loads in it for hogs and deer because the 45LC brass is a lot cheaper than 454 Casull brass.
 
Gunoholic said:
The 45LC is suitable for hunting medium sized big game at close range if shot from a rifle like the Rossi 92 or the Marlin 1894.
Handgun hunting is a moot topic in Canada but a friend of mine in Texas hunts hogs with a Ruger revolver in 45LC.
Actually it's a Super Redhawk chambered in 454 Casull and he uses "warm" 45LC loads in it for hogs and deer because the 45LC brass is a lot cheaper than 454 Casull brass.
Click to expand...

One of the reasons I bought a Ranch Hand in 45 Colt to add to my Mdl 94 in 45 Colt was to hunt with a "handgun" kind of thing in Canada.

I use 300gr XTP bullets at 1600fps from the Mdl 94. Seems to work pretty good on large black bear.

Getting back to the 45 ACP in a modern carbine, I don't think it's unreasonable to figure you can get 1100-1000 fps from 200-230 gr bullets with a handload. Which puts it somewhere around 44-40 capabilities. The 44-40 doesn't see much use today but at one point it was probably a popular deer cartridge. Never used one myself.
 
Gatehouse said:
One of the reasons I bought a Ranch Hand in 45 Colt to add to my Mdl 94 in 45 Colt was to hunt with a "handgun" kind of thing in Canada.

I use 300gr XTP bullets at 1600fps from the Mdl 94. Seems to work pretty good on large black bear.

Getting back to the 45 ACP in a modern carbine, I don't think it's unreasonable to figure you can get 1100-1000 fps from 200-230 gr bullets with a handload. Which puts it somewhere around 44-40 capabilities. The 44-40 doesn't see much use today but at one point it was probably a popular deer cartridge. Never used one myself.
Click to expand...

With that short, stubby, low volume case the 45ACP isn't nearly as flexible for hand-loading as the 45LC is.
For me the 45ACP is a handgun cartridge.
Ruger made a sa camp rifle which came in 9mm and 45ACP which would probably kill a deer (the 45ACP version) if you were close enough to smell its breath.
I saw one at Epps years ago.
Haven't seen one of them in years.
I don't think they were a hot item in regards to sales volume.
 
The ACP is unsuitable for deer sized game out of anything. The Colt is a different thing altogether. It can be loaded with some seriously heavy bullet weights.
 
Seems to me the ACP (with proper bullets) in a rifle would be a twin for the 44-40. Wouldn't be my first choice, remember the 30WCF killed and buried all those old cartridges in the hunting fields.
 
45 colt, with handloads, is fine for most North American game out to 100 yards or so. Anything the .44 mag will do, the colt will do as well, no problem. I know a guy who shot a 400+ lb grizzly with a single 300 grain bullet barn cast bullet with his Rossi 92 in .45 colt and had no complaints about it at all.

.45 ACP doesn't have as much juice. I know others may not agree, but I think it is enough for medium sized game like deer and black bear out to 50 yards or so, from a carbine, assuming you can shoot .45 ACP +P loads, like you can in a JR Carbine. I get an honest 1222 fps from 200 grain medium-hard cast SWC out of my JR carbine, 663 ft/lbs. That's significantly more powerful than .357 revolver loads that our American friends use to hunt with. No, I've never actually shot a blackie with it, but at closer range on a broadside shot, I would.

Mig25's thinking about .45 ACP +P being close to classic 44-40 is very close. Actually, with 230's in a carbine .45 ACP +P, compared to 225's in 44-40, the .45 ACP is going quite a bit faster - 750 fps for the 44-40 and around 1050 fps for the .45 ACP +P. I got the 44-40 numbers from Wikipedia, so a handloader may be able to juice it up a fair bit more...I don't personally know the 44-40...

Do some more internet research on "hunting with .45 ACP" if you're interested. Most of what you'll find is with pistols, but still decent information.
 
Last edited:
IIRC, the classic 44-40 load was something like a 200 grain bullet at 1200 fps (from a rifle since it was originally a rifle cartridge)
 
MiG25 said:
IIRC, the classic 44-40 load was something like a 200 grain bullet at 1200 fps (from a rifle since it was originally a rifle cartridge)
Click to expand...

That's similar to what I see in manuals. I think a 45ACP could do that in a carbine without much trouble. Guess it depnds on how strong the brass is. As I mentioned earlier, I have some 45-08 cases and a 200gr bullet at over 1200fps from a 1911 is easily doable.
 
...thanks for your advice ...lots to chew on there ...it's a custom job ...a guy owes me ...100$ single shot
 
I'd chance a 45ACP carbine for "close encounters of the ballistic kind" on deer but not hogs.
If you wound a hog at close range he's going to rip you up with his tusks and you need a lot of power and precision for a successful brain shot and the vitals in the body are protected by a layer of cartilage that puts the brakes on low powered bullets.
I saw a blue tick hound that a sounder of hogs had cornered and caught in thick brush.
All that was left was the head and shoulders (no, the hound didn't have dandruff ;)).
Hogs are nasty critters and need to be stopped immediately by the shot.
I'll leave hunting hogs with archery equipment and low powered pistol caliber firearms to the experts.
I've seen close hand what pizzed off hogs can do.
 
Gunoholic said:
I'd chance a 45ACP carbine for "close encounters of the ballistic kind" on deer but not hogs.
If you wound a hog at close range he's going to rip you up with his tusks and you need a lot of power and precision for a successful brain shot and the vitals in the body are protected by a layer of cartilage that puts the brakes on low powered bullets.
I saw a blue tick hound that a sounder of hogs had cornered and caught in thick brush.
All that was left was the head and shoulders (no, the hound didn't have dandruff ;)).
Hogs are nasty critters and need to be stopped immediately by the shot.
I'll leave hunting hogs with archery equipment and low powered pistol caliber firearms to the experts.
I've seen close hand what pizzed off hogs can do.
Click to expand...

I recall a magazine article written by Major George C. Nonte Jr, where he went hog hunting in Tennessee or maybe it was Arkansas. He took along two brand new products, a Series 70 Colt 1911 in .45 auto, and Super Vel 190 gr ammo which presumably had a velocity of 1000 fps. By all accounts, no lives were lost, other than the hogs' and the chops were said to be memorable. This was the article that first opened my eyes to the potential of handguns on big game; if I recall the timing correctly, I got Elmer's Sixguns shortly afterwards, and now . . .
 
Boomer said:
I recall a magazine article written by Major George C. Nonte Jr, where he went hog hunting in Tennessee or maybe it was Arkansas. He took along two brand new products, a Series 70 Colt 1911 in .45 auto, and Super Vel 190 gr ammo which presumably had a velocity of 1000 fps. By all accounts, no lives were lost, other than the hogs' and the chops were said to be memorable. This was the article that first opened my eyes to the potential of handguns on big game; if I recall the timing correctly, I got Elmer's Sixguns shortly afterwards, and now . . .
Click to expand...

...oh my!

...elmer's classic

thanks
 
Boomer said:
I recall a magazine article written by Major George C. Nonte Jr, where he went hog hunting in Tennessee or maybe it was Arkansas. He took along two brand new products, a Series 70 Colt 1911 in .45 auto, and Super Vel 190 gr ammo which presumably had a velocity of 1000 fps. By all accounts, no lives were lost, other than the hogs' and the chops were said to be memorable. This was the article that first opened my eyes to the potential of handguns on big game; if I recall the timing correctly, I got Elmer's Sixguns shortly afterwards, and now . . .
Click to expand...

I've actually hunted hogs (on the ground and not in the pages of a hunting rag) on numerous occassions and I'd prefer a firearm with more juice than a 45ACP handgun.
I have hunted with handguns and I'd have no hesitation taking my Ruger Super Redhawk in 454 Casull/45LC hog hunting.
The Rossi 92 in 44 Mag does the job just fine as does the Rossi 92 in 454 Casull/45LC.
As I said before I'll leave low powered handgun hunting of potentially dangerous game to the experts like Mr. Nonte.

Me wimp. ;)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom