WestKentucky
Member
I try really hard to like 45acp but I just never can figure out why it’s so popular. I don’t dislike it, but other than slinging a bigger wad of lead I can’t really find anything that it excels at when compared with other rounds that are all smaller faster and lighter which means more capacity and more energy (velocity gets squared, mass just gets multiplied). 45acp isn’t a good hunting round, it’s not especially good as a target gun (not bad but not notably better or worse than others) and it’s arguable whether it’s better at self defense. 10mm however is a nice medium game round, with good ballistics and a lot of energy. My love for the .45 is that other people like it well enough to get large framed guns made which will house the 10mm as an afterthought. I vote 10mm.
If this were any time before about 1980 I might find some love for .45, but ammo technology has advanced and like most traditional cartridges the ammo doesn’t advance much due to limitations of old guns. A 45acp in a strong action and well supported can be a whole lot of fun, and that’s where revolvers come in, but you have a big fat cylinder that’s long on the guns built to take a .45, so you might as well use that length for more than just a nose hanging out.
If this were any time before about 1980 I might find some love for .45, but ammo technology has advanced and like most traditional cartridges the ammo doesn’t advance much due to limitations of old guns. A 45acp in a strong action and well supported can be a whole lot of fun, and that’s where revolvers come in, but you have a big fat cylinder that’s long on the guns built to take a .45, so you might as well use that length for more than just a nose hanging out.