Just wondering what you think it is capable of, and what loads you would use. Blue sky/cabin fever thread. I realize that on its best day, the old warhorse is not in the same league as an SAA in .45 Colt running factory loads.

I know of some game that has been shot and killed with the 45acp and 1911.

Generally I prefer some thing a bit more powerful.

I’ve killed a deer with one, but that was a special circumstance, not hunting.

If I was willing to accept the restrictions of bow hunting re range and target selection, I’d be willing to hunt black bear and smaller with one. It isn’t optimal, but it would work. I’d get to work on my tracking skills if I did it... the deer didn’t die what I would call quickly. No shock effect.

I've killed about a dozen deer with a Colt, S&W, and Sig .45. Tested several bullets. Best one for damage and fast kills was 200 gr. Horn. XTP.

WVH
Did you stoke that 200 gr. Hornady XTP up pretty well?

200 gr. Speer flying ashtray with 7.7 unique is a deer killing deal. don't even know if they still make that bullet but it sure worked. that load came from an O L D Speer book.

I seem to recall threads here about using a 250-grain hard cast in "Old Slabsides" to good effect. I will look for them.

I'll be darned. I must get the .45 ACP hunting load itch every December. Here's a thread I started a year ago. Good info in it, but not necessarily devoted to hunting with the 1911.

http://forums.accuratereloadin...2911043/m/6921075842

Check out the 45 super loads on Glock Talk. The thread is 100 pages long and mostly about G20 and 21s with special parts to make them capable of shooting without eating the frame. It IS, however, a specialty load and special requirements like bullet seating depth and several other things must be slavishly observed. The thread starter I believe is Fly and Scuba. Be Well, Packy.

I popped a feral pig with my carry gun but it was a coup de gras. I would shoot a whitetail at my typical hunting distance. But there may be some singed hair involved. I would use the super loads, but not regularly. Only a few to sight in and then hunt. But I shoot my 5" 1911 with a really heavy recoil spring. Be Well, Packy.

have!
as well as 10mm, 45 colt, 357, and the odd popgun ...

until i got my 625-9, the 10mm was my fav pistol to take "hunting" .. generally stalking in dense pin thickets and or stalking the feeders in midday .. the 45colt fully replaced that role .. lots of piggies have fallen to both

Thanks fellas. Packy, headed over to Glock Talk. Haven't been there in ages.

Jack Rabbits; at the NTC, with a 1911 and hard ball ammo, off my M151, windshield down and covered with a shelter half for tactical reasons of course, cruising through the sage. (I wasn't driving).
At night.
It doesn't knock them down; so much for the KD theory. They just stand there and shake, then fall over.
I roasted one spitted on a tanker's bar; fairly tough but not bad tasting.

I do not recommend this, but the biggest buck I ever saw killed a 140ish eight pointer and the biggest body on a deer I ever saw was killed with a Colt Series 70 1911 in 45 ACP.

It took two 7 round magazines to end the day. But that buck did fall to hard ball.

It was a grassy, dry field. The buck was walking up to paralleling a cattle fence. In thick cover I think he would have been lost. I could not have been more than 10.

quote:

Originally posted by dpcd:
Jack Rabbits;....
It doesn't knock them down; so much for the KD theory. They just stand there and shake, then fall over.
I roasted one spitted on a tanker's bar; fairly tough but not bad tasting.

same here -
cotton tails with a 45 colt just fall over .. they aren't blown into space by "massive flying ashtray!!

jack rabbit, huh? i've got a long story on them, but let's just say that the best way i've ever found to eat ole cactus jack is to smoke them until they are just falling apart and make spaghetti sauce with them

An Arizona-born friend grew up on a ranch near the border, and swears the only really true chili is made with stewed jack rabbit.

I inherited some loads from my friend Sam which have a 210ish grain (weighed after recovery)hard cast Keith style bullet but I have no idea what powder and someone else got his notebook.
I’ve been carrying my Kahr TP45 this season and the load looks legit out to 50 yards.

The Hornady factory +P 230 gr XTP does 900 fps out of my S&W 625. I think it would take care of a deer.

Had a friend that took a whitetail deer here in MI. with a good old .45ACP 1911 just shooting box-stock 200g +P Speer Gold Dots.
He was in a tree stand so it was a fairly close shot but he said it dropped quickly.

For the last 2 years I've hunt deer with a 10mm 1911, but I haven't bagged one yet with it. My hand loads are pushing 180g LBT GC slugs at @1350FPS and I am not too worried about having to chase them far if I get the chance to line one up...

The round will certainly do it; consider how many men have been killed with it, + remember the War Ordnance bureau tested it in before adoption by shooting beeves in the Chicago stockyard to positive results.

Sure would. Although my current state will not allow semi-autos for hunting. I have run a 255 grain Cast WFN at 800 fps with starting loads in a Series 70 Gold Cup. Top loads in the 1911 ran upwards to 900 with proper recoil springs and is a ballistic duplicate of the 45 Colt original loadings. What's not to like?

Drop 13 of these in an Springfield XDM Magazine and go check the cows on the farm. Not the nice 1911, but I'm not going to cry if it gets dirty or covered with cow flop or afterbirth when tending the herd.

I have many miles in the woods the last 50 years with my 1911 on my hip. Shooting hard cast Lyman #452460 220 grain bullets, it put quite a few blue grouse in my pot plus one black bear. The bear was a one shot kill on a spot and stalk hunt.

Nicely done, sir!

Agreed!

For me?

A new owner IF I ever got one!

Never liked 'em at all.

George

quote:

Originally posted by Bill/Oregon:
An Arizona-born friend grew up on a ranch near the border, and swears the only really true chili is made with stewed jack rabbit.

In my neck of the woods it's stewed Snowshoe Hare

quote:

Snowshoe Hare

I have snared, shot and eaten a lot of snowshoe hares in in my life.

Guess I need to try and make chilly out of them.

I would like to hunt some snowshoe hare but you won't find them in the state of Misery. We rarely have snow. Although people complain about it today, I remember snow banks/drifts way over the height of the snowplow. And making snow caves that just got more firm with each night's freeze until they warmed too much during the day and collapsed. A 1911 or 22 would be fun for the four footed snow bunnies. I have a two footed snow bunny on license, sitting here at the table looking at her computer. Kind of cute... Be Well, Packy.

quote:

Originally posted by NormanConquest:
The round will certainly do it; consider how many men have been killed with it, + remember the War Ordnance bureau tested it in before adoption by shooting beeves in the Chicago stockyard to positive results.

... which they could just about match the relic of the 45 colt!

I don't see the 45 ACP as a big game hunting round, and see automatic pistols as defense guns..

Not that it can't be done, just feel the 357 is marginal on deer, the 44 mag. and the 41 mag. is about the ultimate, all things considered. most of my pistol hunting as been for mule deer and Javalina, and some of my wild Spanish goats on the ranch.

Ray, how about a 260 gr HP at 1300? A 45 super. Be Well, Packy.

quote:

Originally posted by packrattusnongratus:
Ray, how about a 260 gr HP at 1300? A 45 super. Be Well, Packy.

Not the 45acp.

I just said it was a super and I shoot it out of a 45. But I use a different spring and guide rod in a different gun. Be well P. Packy.

I know that one of the best known Maine guides uses a 45 acp as his backup bear gun. Would trust his knowledge anytime

Had an old retired sheriff tell me.

"IF you can't do it with a Ruger
.45 Colt, you'd better get a rifle".

I'd never fired one til I bought one
after that. Never looked back since.
Impressive boomer. More so with heavy
slugs.

George

Well..what can one kill with a .45 Colt 255 SWC at 950 fps...most anything?

Buffalo Bore .45 ACP +P Outdoorsman load runs a 255 at 925 fps...and the .45 Super at 1075...

I know NE450No2 has killed most everything Texas has to offer with a 1911 .45...

Bob