Practice Ammunition Foe A 45 Caliber Hand Gun

[rock919]

I use Remington UMC for my Sig Sauer P226R. It is a 9mm. What do I use when shooting a 1911 which takes 45mm ammunition at the range? Do they sell ammunition to practice with? I understand I can use snap caps which are rubber bullets. I am inquiring about a bullet which would actually be used for target practice? I would appreciate your response.

[Doc Mustang]

The best rounds to use for practice are going to be Full Metal Jacket rounds or Ball ammo. It has the advantage of feeding well, and being relatively inexpensive. Any Brand will work and for the most part Cheap Rounds are OK. I would avoid any rounds that have steel cores or cases though.

Since you are asking on a Concealed Carry forum I will address this topic as well. Carry ammo will obviously be different than your prectice ammunition. It is possible to use a practice ammunition that shares some characteristics to your carry ammo. For example using a ball ammunition with the same bullet weight and approximate muzzle velocity of your carry load. But for some that is a bit silly.

Snap Caps technically speaking are not ammunition. They are hunks of anodized aluminum machined to exactly match various ammunition types but with a rubber stopper where the primer should be.

Snap Caps being solid aluminum will never go bang and are more difficult to confuse with live ammo than a drilled or dummy round. I use them for dry firing practice and I also use them for practice clearing weapons malfunctions.

They also have a good deal of value in revealing recoil anticipation in students. A snap cap loaded in a magazine with live rounds on the range allows a student (or me) to see their flinch quite well and take steps to correct it. (normally by a good deal of dry firing on the range)

Note that usage of snap caps for training or dry firing does not in any way relieve you of safe weapons handling requirements. All of the rules of safe firearms handling are always in effect!

[RevJimmyO]

I use Winchester White Box in .45ACP for target and have never had a bit of problem with it. I've used UMC in .40Win with no problem, and would not hesitate to use it in .45ACP.

[B2Tall]

I buy PMC Bronze .45 FMJ in bulk online. Ends up costing me about $16-17 a box and it's delivered to my front door. Flawless performance.

[SCfromNY]

Natchez to buy large amounts. If you do not buy in quantity you will killed by the shipping. The only "cheap" practice ammo that gave me problems was American Eagle.

If you feel you may someday reload start saving brass now. If you are possitive you will never reload Natchez has CCI with aluminuim cases cheaper than brass. Wal Mart is still your best buy for small amounts by which I mean less that 200 rounds.

[gregory44mag]

I buy PMC Bronze .45 FMJ in bulk online. Ends up costing me about $16-17 a box and it's delivered to my front door. Flawless performance.

Buy American and Americans work B2Tall. I always look at the box of ammo I am purchasing to make sure where its produced.

[rock919]

Thank you for your comments to my question. I appreciate your efforts. It is a lot clearer to me in regard to 45 mm target rounds!

[B2Tall]

Buy American and Americans work B2Tall. I always look at the box of ammo I am purchasing to make sure where its produced.

Considering the long trail of paid American workers who handle PMC ammo from the time it enters this country to the time it reaches my doorstep, I don't feel at all bad about buying a foreign-made product. As a matter of fact, sometimes the US import, distribution, and retail companies that handle such products employ more Americans than a heavily automated domestic factory would.

In any case, I appreciate where you're coming from and also appreciate your input.

[SGB]

Any quality 230gr fmj ammunition will do for practice. Winchester White Box, Remington Green Box, PMC Bronze etc .......... check out ammunitiontogo.com

[S&W645]

Any quality 230gr fmj ammunition will do for practice. Winchester White Box, Remington Green Box, PMC Bronze etc .......... check out ammunitiontogo.com

Yep. Any and all that are brass cased and non-corrosive. And on occasion I'll run thru the defensive loads to use them up and stay in practice. A 230gr FMJ does shoot differently from a 230gr JHP +P round in .45.