Gun owner, ammo question.
 

Gun owners, what is your preferred .45 ammo?

What is your intended purpose? If you are a competitive range shooter, you will need to hand load your own, generally very low power to decrease the recoil. If you are talking about simply plinking or target practice, just buy the cheapest you can find (right now, that would be Wolf by the case via Ammoman.com, or whatever boxes Wal-Mart has on sale). If you are talking self-defense loads, I prefer Speer Gold Dot; Winchester Ranger would be second.

Thanks for the input.

No prob, Wanger. ;)

You dirty rat...

I would echo what statdoc stated. For target shooting I use any factory loaded ammo that is cheapest. FMJ (Full Metal Jacket) is fine. I do not shoot unjacketed bullets though. I usually wind up shooting jacketed hollowpoint ammo even if I'm just putting holes in paper. For defense loads, the Winchester SXT's are good and I would also recommend Federal Hydra-Shoks. They're kind of older and are regular velocity but it has been very reliable in actual shootings.

Got to disagree with you just a bit. The older Hydra-Shok has been well surpassed by more modern bullets. The newer version is called the HST, and is almost as good as the SXT/Ranger and Gold Dot. The Corbon DPX is also very good, but quite expensive.

Thanks for the update. I'm not too up to date on the latest and greatest. I barely knew that Glock "invented" a new .45 caliber. I only use SXT's as that's what I get my hands on easiest. I have some Corbons but like you stated, it's expensive stuff and there are other options that are just as good.

Links and sites..please.

Here is some info on the Winchester SXT. I can tell you from what I've seen with my own eyes, that ammo does exactly what it's supposed to. I watched an autopsy of a bad guy shot twice with .40S&W in that ammo and both bullets recovered from the body were in perfect expanded form and retained its integrity. Nasty but effective round for sure.

Here is a link to Corbon's site. They have some excellent ammo but it is premium stuff with the pricing to match.

One thing I take into consideration in deciding on ammo is the velocity of the load. With hollowpoints you want maximum expansion and bullet weight retention and to achieve that, the bullet must be a good design and there must be sufficient velocity behind it. You'll see "+P" and "+P+" designations to denote higher velocity loads. I think one has to balance the equation against individual needs and circumstances, including ability to make accurate follow-up shots and the type and caliber of weapon. For example, my .357 Magnum is a big, heavy 4" S&W that is for home defense with the possibility that my wife my need it. Do I need a full power .357 Magnum loaded in it under these circumstances, particularly when this gun is an indoor-only piece? I decided that it would be too much and load it with .38+P+ for a sort of ".357 Magnum light" effect. My personal saying goes that I'd rather hit a target with a .380ACP than miss with a .45ACP.

I'm sure statdoc has some excellent opinions to add.