.45 Handgun For Bear Defense?
BY Herschel Smith
10 months, 3 weeks ago
While I have carried a .44 magnum before, I’ve advocated use of the .45 handgun all along for big predator defense. But not just shooting any ammunition. First, watch this video by Chuke’s Outdoor Adventures, where he advocates use of the HK USP 45 because it can handle 45 Super, then I’ll comment on the .45 Super versus the 450 SMC.
Just to make sure what I’m telling is correct, I’ll check one of several boxes of 450 SMC I’ve got. Yep, checking the box of Double Tap ammo, it says 230 grains, 1130 FPS (5″ barrel). I shoot it with a 1911, but with a 22# spring rather than the customary 16# or 18# spring.
In the late 1980s, gunwriter Dean Grennell took .451 Detonics Mag. brass and trimmed it to the same overall length as the .45 ACP cartridge case, thus creating the .45 Super. Grennell wrote an article for the February 1988 issue of Gun World Magazine, discussing his new version of the .45 ACP, which was capable of pushing a 185-grain bullet to 1,300 fps. In the August 1988 issue of Gun World Magazine, a second article about the .45 Super—written by Tom Ferguson—appeared. Ferguson was interested in Grennell’s concept cartridge, but he wanted to take things a step further. He took a handful of .451 Detonics Mag. brass and a 1911 pistol to Ace Hindman of Ace Custom 45s. Hindman came up with the idea of heavier springs in the 1911 to make it more suited to the higher-pressure cartridge.
In 1994, Fernando Coelho—owner of Triton Cartridge—reached out to Garey Hindman, Ace’s son, who was still converting 1911s and even some Smith & Wesson Model 4506 pistols to accommodate the.45 Super. The problem with the cartridge was a lack of suitable brass. Coelho had recently started Triton Cartridge and felt that with his background in load development, coupled with actual in-house pressure testing, he would be able to come up with reliable, factory-loaded, .45 Super ammunition. A deal was struck and Coelho reached out to Starline Brass to get the ball rolling. The folks at Starline worked with Coelho to establish correct internal case-wall dimensions, web-area thickness and overall hardness of the cartridge case.
But, just like the .300 BLK found fame because of its name, the.45 Super—as a commercial cartridge—was doomed because of what it was called. You see, when Ace Hindman passed away, his son trademarked “.45 Super.” When Triton made factory-loaded .45 Super ammo, Garey Hindman would get a royalty, which was something a bit unusual in the ammunition business. Because of this, no major firearm or ammunition manufacturer would offer .45 Super guns or ammunition. There was also the concern that a shooter might load and fire .45 Super ammo in a vintage .45 ACP revolver or an old 1911 and get an unpleasant surprise.
All this led to the birth of the .450 SMC. Coelho was fed up with the inherent issues of the .45 ACP/.45 Super cartridge case and the damage being done to the potential growth of the .45 Super. One of the case problems was primer flow; you could experiment with different brands of primers and powder, but most of the time primers would flow back around the tip of the firing pin. The solution: switch to a small-primer pocket and utilize a small-rifle primer. Coelho reached out to Starline again, asking the company to make .45 Super brass with a small-primer pocket. That solved the primer-flow problem and Triton Cartridge soon began offering factory-loaded .450 SMC ammunition. It was loaded to a maximum average pressure (MAP) of 32,000 psi, which is slightly higher than .45 Super pressures, but still less than the 37,500 psi pressure of the 10 mm. The new name—.450 SMC—solved the trade-mark problem, and Triton had two loads: a 165-grain bullet at 1,450 fps and a 230-grain bullet at 1,150 fps.
When Triton went out of business in 2003, it looked like the .450 SMC was doomed. But, another new ammunition company stepped up to offer one of the most potent and practical magnum-category, .45-caliber, defensive-handgun cartridges ever created. Mike McNett of DoubleTap Ammunition recognized the usefulness of the .450 SMC and his Cedar City, UT-based company now offers six .450 SMC loads.
Comparatively speaking, the hottest factory 185-grain .45 ACP load you can buy will generate only about 1,140 fps, and the fastest 230-grain offering only about 1,000 fps. Essentially, what you get with the .450 SMC are 10 mm velocities with a .45-caliber instead of a .40-caliber bullet.
Of course, since no one is manufacturing .450 SMC handguns, what you’re probably wondering is what you have to do to shoot .450 SMC in your .45 ACP. Well, a .450 SMC cartridge can be fired in any .45 ACP handgun. However—and this is a big however—it should only be fired in full-size .45 ACP handguns that have a +P rating. (A 20- to 22-pound recoil spring in your favorite 5-inch 1911, or a 21- to 23-pound spring in a Glock.)
Given the primer problems with the 45 Super, the 450 SMC is the clear winner in this contest.
As I’ve told the 10mm guys before, you can shoot your smaller bullets at over 1100 FPS, or you can shoot 230 grain bullets at over 1100 FPS. Take your pick.
As for the HK pistol, the advantage would be that its magazine is double-stack and holds 12 rounds. The 1911 I shoot holds 8 rounds. Here is the upshot of the 1911 design – with a Wilson Combat or Chip Mccormick Speed Mag, you can increase the magazine capacity to 10 rounds. The downside is that you have to get used to the bit of additional interference with the extended magazine.
The downside of the large bore revolver cartridges such as the .44 magnum is that the punch from a short barrel handgun (I consider 5″ to be short) is rather painful, especially when using something like Buffalo Bore loads. Pain when defending your life is irrelevant, but it’s not irrelevant on the practice range.
In any case, I consider 450 SMC to be a legitimate big predator defense round. If you want to use the HK or a Glock pistol for that purpose, that’s user preference.
On June 19, 2023 at 4:22 am, jrg said:
I never thought about a Glock 21 being a viable bear defense gun. Food for thought ! Thankfully, I live in region where wild bears are not found. Feral hog on the other hand, we have.
On June 19, 2023 at 10:08 am, Brian T said:
See the article, 9mm and up seems to be effective, use hardball ammo
https://www.ammoland.com/2020/03/update-handgun-or-pistol-against-bear-attack-93-cases-97-effective/?nowprocket=1#axzz71OWKVHhy
On June 19, 2023 at 10:14 am, 41mag said:
Bear attack in Prescott, AZ last week.
https://www.azcentral.com/story/news/local/arizona/2023/06/16/one-dead-after-bear-attack-in-prescott-ycso-responding/70330038007/
Dude was likely just getting up from an overnight and got mauled to death. I talked about this to aquaintances I met over this weekend (who also hike in Flagstaff whereas I camp, armed.). They were more upset about bears having to be killed after the bear takes a human life than they were about the man who was mauled.
On June 19, 2023 at 1:15 pm, MTHead said:
Paul Harrell showed that on actual meat-targets. Differences are slight. But a major point he makes is that of practice. One who is able to shoot a lot is going to be better positioned when it comes to shooting large charging aninmals.
The other is that HK’s are like beauty. It’s in the eye of the beholder. I find USP’s to be over large for what one actually gets.
I have a Springfield XD in 45 that holds 13 rnds. Same as Glock. Small mag extention gives me 14+1.
On top of all that is that bears don’t always give lots of warning. In which case the extra ammo might not mean much. But if they do. Shot placement means you might not need that much also.
I like to practice, and carry for the occasion. XD most everywhere. 44 for the Bitteroot country.
On June 19, 2023 at 1:25 pm, Bones said:
“Dean Grennell took .451 Detonics Mag. brass and trimmed it to the same overall length as the .45 ACP cartridge case, thus creating the .45 Super.”
I trim .460 Rowland brass to .942 inches to load .451 Detonics for my Detonics Scoremaster. Trying to work up loads to 1350-ish fps for 185 grain.
Not there yet, but even so, the guns shoots like a dream, and is accurate.
On June 19, 2023 at 7:10 pm, Chris said:
Interesting.
Enjoy.
https://dayattherange.com/?s=45+super
On June 20, 2023 at 12:13 am, Georgiaboy61 said:
The original M1911 handgun and the 45 Auto/ACP cartridge it fired, loaded with the 230-grain “hardball” (FMJ) round, were originally designed by John M. Browning in response to the inadequate performance of the U.S. .38-caliber service revolvers issued to personnel in the Philippines during and after the Spanish-American War of 1898 and the subsequent insurgency in that nation.
Charging Moro tribesmen, many bound head-to-foot to slow hemorrhaging from wounds received in battle, and high on narcotics to deaden pain, came out of the jungles swinging their swords and the relatively anemic .38 side-arm just wasn’t putting ’em down.
Browning’s 230-gr. FMJ-RN projectile was purposefully designed to be a big, slow-moving bulldozer of a round. The Army Ordnance Dept. had stipulated .45-caliber for the new handgun, and since the Geneva and Hague Conventions on Land Warfare were observed at that time by the U.S., hollow-point and/or expanding bullet designs were not an option for the new pistol.
He’d have to make-do with FMJ, so Browning compensated by making the bullet heavier and cutting velocity such that it would deposit the bulk of its kinetic energy inside the target, and not penetrate through-and-through as a faster, sleeker projectile might. His designs worked superbly in combat and the rest is history.
While the legendary .45 ACP round has much to recommend it as an anti-personnel round, it has not historically been thought of as a hunting or dangerous game cartridge, chiefly due to its relatively low operating pressure (19,000-21,000 psi), subsonic muzzle velocity and the relatively mediocre sectional density of that big 230-grain ball round.
However, the famous 45 Colt or “45 Long Colt” as it is sometimes – one of the then-recent predecessors of the 45 Auto – not only “won the West,” but also won a reputation as a potent stopper of large game when firing 255-grain hard-cast lead bullets.
The similarities of the old cowboy round, the 45 Colt, and its semi-auto cousin, the 45 ACP/45 Auto, suggest that it isn’t the caliber which is the problem for use with large/dangerous game, but the specific design of the bullet (projectile) used in either or both cartridges.
If you plan to run a .45-caliber handgun for large/dangerous game hunting or defense, then job one is to use the correct design and weight of bullet. In small-to-medium game, using HP/expanding ammo may be something with which one can get by, but against bigger, tougher and meaner species, you need a tough bullet which will break bones, penetrate deeply, and won’t break up or open prematurely.
Ideally, a solid-bullet such as something by Barnes or one of the many choices of hardcast lead available, to name two options. Swift A-Frame or the like also work well, according to reports I have seen. Failing that, FMJ is better than HP/expanding.
Job two is to pump up the relatively low operating pressure of the cartridge, and get more muzzle velocity out of that .45-cal. slug. Apart from garden-variety +P factory ammo, there are such specialty cartridges as 45 Super, 450 SMC, and 460 Rowland.
The former two will give 10mm Auto performance out of a heretofore standard 45-cal. handgun, and the latter will elevate its performance to the lower end of the 44 Magnum range, i.e. 800-1100 foot-pounds of kinetic energy at the muzzle.
However, be aware that 45 Super and 450 SMC require a stiffer, after-market recoil spring to be used for optimum performance, in order to keep from battering your otherwise stock/OEM handgun. And in the case of 460 Rowland, you’ll need not just a stouter recoil spring, but faster, stiffer springs in your mags, too, since the slide velocity will be increased so much that the stock/OEM springs can’t keep up and you’ll mis-feed or not feed at all.
The folks at 460 Rowland have really thought-out their modifications well. Any handgun so modified can still use standard pressure and dimension 45 Auto/ACP ammunition, with the simple expedient of reinstalling the OEM spring and using a stock magazine with normal rate springs. And with the 460 Rowland mods installed, the handgun can fire anything from +P 45 loads to those for 45 Super, 450 SMC and finally 460 Rowland.
460 Rowland ammunition, which is available from Buffalo Bore, Underwood, and other makers, can also be hand-loaded as well. Like 45 Auto/ACP ammo, the 460 headspaces off of the rim. To prevent the potentially dangerous misuse of 460 Rowland ammo in a stock 45, its case is a few ten-thousandths of an inch longer than the 45 Auto/ACP. However the cartridge over-all length (COAL) is the same as any 45 ACP/45 Auto. This is done by seating the projectile fractionally deeper in the case than is standard.
As of today, the best option for factory 460 Rowland brass is Starline. They make the 460 case, which looks like a stock 45 Auto case, but which is substantially stronger, thicker (especially in the case head area) and tougher than the original 45 Auto/ACP case, in order to withstand the substantially higher operating pressure of 460 Rowland.
It is rumored/said that 460 Rowland-modified handguns are now in use in combat by JSOC personnel. They have liked the 45 ACP for a long time, so maybe it shouldn’t be surprising that they like the versatility of the 460 Rowland conversion.