Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska 45 ACP for backup

Done!

255 grain WFN GC at 1150 fps, very controllable, penetrates deep and straight, kills dead.

Yeah, 255 WFN GC would be my second choice in a .45.

Get you a .44, .454, .475 or .480 and fish on!

At 45acp, and 9mm, velocities a hard cast bullet basically works as a hardball. Plus you can get a little more velocity from them.

Yep and a 255gr cast is a heavier bullet than a 230gr fmj.

Excellent! That’s the type of information I was needing.
I do flyfish and am more familiar with the 1911 than revolvers. Although I could buy one and practice with it before hand.
Thanks again to all!
Tom

i do like my 1911`s alot but when i go back up in bear country i will still take my short 4 inch barreled revolver in a 44 Mag.,revolvers are easy to learn to use and shoot.

That's what I was thinking. Reasonable price too.

unless they are scandium..... I'll take what I can shoot any day over what hurts and isnt controllable.

OT I wonder how many carry 454 and 460 and 500 can actually shoot a cylinder full DA and hit a grapefruit at close range under stress... that said even a 44 mag with full on loads..

Its one thing to take a carefully aimed shot at something not attacking you, vs having to pray the first round or three somewhere in there hits CNS

I use a Smith 629 4" for backup. Load 240 grain cast with 17 grains of 2400. It's about a quarter less than max, but I can shoot it and control it. Very heavy bullets in a 1911 seem to have a more pronounced muzzle flip for me. The Smith works better for me.

The muzzle brake on the Clark 460 Rowland conversion noticeably reduces muzzle flip.

I had that load fail to feed in a Mk IV Series 70 Colt. Definitely check them for function in your pistol.


Okie John

After my 9mm bear incident My wife and daughter wanted to know why I had the 9mm rather than my usual 44 Mtn Gun.
I took them both to the range, put out half a dozen 4"x4" pieces of wood scraps on the ground 15 feet in front of us and asked them to hit as many as possible as quickly as possible with the 44 and fairly stiff loads and then the 9mm.

They learned a new appreciation for the only hits count theory.

Phil. Hmm. Good thoughts there.

St Georger, thats the load i run in the 329, but its a handful there. In a standard 29 or 629 its a nice enough load. The extra weight helps.

I have experience muzzle flip in a 1911 too, but the fact that the slide tends to bring it back down I like, and the fact the 1911 has a nice trigger typically.... I like those things... I;ve' learned to deal with Glock triggers though.

This pretty much answers the question for me. Practice the 'Phil Drill' [formerly the Bill Drill] 6 shots into 6" under 3 seconds from the holster. That places 882 grains of hurt on the target critter if using147 gr BB hardcast. Most could do that w/ a Glock19 and adequate practice. Few can do that w/ a big revolver or auto.


mike r

Some years back, there was a young GI fishing the Kenai at the confluence with the Russian. He and friends had an encounter with a brown sow. Do t recall if it was a bonafide charge or not. He ended up shooting the sow with a 1911, with i suspect ball ammo. As i recall the sow backed off and died.


ETA: Tried to Google the story, but no luck.

Anyone else recall the details?

It is very effective. The loads I run in mine have very little muzzle rise, and I probably have 100 fps left on the table, but it takes a longer time to recover.

A 255 grain WFN at 1150 is going to leave a mark, then factor in that you can get 8 of them on target pretty quick, and compare a reload to one in a revolver, especially single action.

I have a 4.62" .44 Mag, and I get 1200 fps with a 300 grain WFN, so it definitely has a sectional density advantage, but is it worth losing the firepower? I've decided that with the bear we have here, I'd rather carry the Super or Rowland. Besides, bears ain't never been a problem....yet....but I've had a few go-rounds with feral dogs.

What is the fine for shooting a Brown Bear without a license?

If the killing was deemed justified there is no fine, but you have to skin the bear and turn in the hide, claws and skull to F&G and fill out a report.

Nothing if he’s trying to eat you. Probably a lot if he wasn’t.

hopefully a lot like as in you can't afford it a lot.