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Best .45 Pistols for Concealed Carry

Hi Annihilator,

Info is good. We can reconcile new info with our prior knowledge and reach conclusions.

As we know, the .45 Auto is a powerful handgun cartridge.

My direct experience with a Colt Officers Model is it was no easier to conceal carry than a full-size 1911-A1.

I have a friend who dropped big money on a 3" shorty .45 ACP. I watched him and another friend shoot it. They were shooting standard velocity 230 grain factory ammo. Both had difficulty controlling the shorty's recoil. 230 grains is a lot of bullet out of a shorty. I can only imagine recoil from a polymer shorty .45 ACP. My friend concluded that his very expensive was too much cartridge in too small a package and sold it.

As most posters here certainly know, the .45 ACP is my favorite self-defense cartridge. If it were feasible, I'd urban carry my Springfield Armory TRP .45 ACP. Reality is it's too heavy, especially when loaded with 230 grain ammo.

Self-defense handguns are outcomes of personal decisions. What's right for me might be all wrong for another.

Another subjective opinion: I believe that the 1911-A1 is the best designed handgun to ever grace Earth.

Because of my experience with shorties chambered for powerful cartridges, if I wanted to go with a .45 ACP for concealed carry, it would be my SA TRP 1911-A1. Practical criteria excludes that option.

My suggestion based upon personal experience is if a survivor wants to go with a shorty, assure that a gun's recoil system is engineered to mitigate recoil. I've yet to experience such a shorty .45 ACP handgun.

A lot of life requires compromises and substitutes. For me, the perfect concealed carry handgun is my Springfield Armory EMP 3 9MM. I know that the 9MM does not nor will it ever equal the .45 ACP. However, with 147 grain Fed HST LE standard pressure ammo, it is very easy to keep its muzzle on target.

I am not trying to steer anyone away from a .45 ACP shorty. I'm merely suggesting that thorough research should be completed before buying.
 
Hey SATRP,

I had one of the early Colt Officer Models when they came out, not very dependable or durable, I think it was close to 300 rounds and the recoil spring plug popped out, the little tab on the bottom had a history of snapping off, well, mine did, I took it to SSK Industries and had a Ed Brown full length recoil assembly installed on it, with this setup, you had to grind a small portion of the recoil area on the slide that hits your frame. Good gun, but very heavy to carry. I figured if you was going to carry a small 1911, you might as well get the Commander or the light weight Commander.
 
SATRP said:
Hi Annihilator,

Info is good. We can reconcile new info with our prior knowledge and reach conclusions.

As we know, the .45 Auto is a powerful handgun cartridge.

My direct experience with a Colt Officers Model is it was no easier to conceal carry than a full-size 1911-A1.

I have a friend who dropped big money on a 3" shorty .45 ACP. I watched him and another friend shoot it. They were shooting standard velocity 230 grain factory ammo. Both had difficulty controlling the shorty's recoil. 230 grains is a lot of bullet out of a shorty. I can only imagine recoil from a polymer shorty .45 ACP. My friend concluded that his very expensive was too much cartridge in too small a package and sold it.

As most posters here certainly know, the .45 ACP is my favorite self-defense cartridge. If it were feasible, I'd urban carry my Springfield Armory TRP .45 ACP. Reality is it's too heavy, especially when loaded with 230 grain ammo.

Self-defense handguns are outcomes of personal decisions. What's right for me might be all wrong for another.

Another subjective opinion: I believe that the 1911-A1 is the best designed handgun to ever grace Earth.

Because of my experience with shorties chambered for powerful cartridges, if I wanted to go with a .45 ACP for concealed carry, it would be my SA TRP 1911-A1. Practical criteria excludes that option.

My suggestion based upon personal experience is if a survivor wants to go with a shorty, assure that a gun's recoil system is engineered to mitigate recoil. I've yet to experience such a shorty .45 ACP handgun.

A lot of life requires compromises and substitutes. For me, the perfect concealed carry handgun is my Springfield Armory EMP 3 9MM. I know that the 9MM does not nor will it ever equal the .45 ACP. However, with 147 grain Fed HST LE standard pressure ammo, it is very easy to keep its muzzle on target.

I am not trying to steer anyone away from a .45 ACP shorty. I'm merely suggesting that thorough research should be completed before buying.
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Everyone has their own capacity for recoil and I don't fault them for that. I owned a Kimber Tactical Ultra II in .45 ACP and never once thought the recoil was unmanagable. I now have an XDs in .45ACP and it is also easily controled in recoil.

The weight of the two firearms are within an ounce of each other with the XDs being 26 OZ and the Kimber at 25 OZ . The XDs is shorter OAL by .5" and has a .250 longer BBL.

I agree that a person should make sure they can handle the recoil of any firearm before they lay down the dollars to buy.
 
Hi papa,

I cannot deny the validity of your premise. Yet we must consider physics. We can calculate recoil based upon quantities of known variables.

Obviously, men with stronger grip strength will be able to mitigate recoil physics.

One of my friends who was shooting my other friend's shorty .45 ACP was a stud. He worked out just about every day. He could not keep the shorty's muzzle on target due to recoil.

I'm not recoil averse. I've fired large, magnum handguns. In tactical situations where we want every advantage possible, I want my handgun's muzzle to remain pointed at a threat.

BTW, I did fire a small-size .40 S&W with 180 grain factory ammo. It's recoil was more noticeable than my friend's full-size Springfield Armory Target Model 1911-A1 .45 ACP firing 230 grain factory ammo.
 
papa said:
I agree that a person should make sure they can handle the recoil of any firearm before they lay down the dollars to buy.
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I have a .45 SA Ronin that I quite enjoy shooting, but the following day my hands ache something brutal, like I've got arthritis. My 9MM RO Target I can shoot until the cows come home.

My father-in-law was in the building game all of his life and he always used to say I had soft hands. I guess he was onto something.
 
I have been a .45ACP fan my whole life, with exceptional fondness for the 1911 platform. However my weakness amongst many is the Detonics which many may have never heard of, It is with a doubt the most pleasant shooting smallest 1911's ever made.

The original Detonics pistol, a modified and much smaller version of the Colt Model 1911, made it initial appearance in 1977. Billed as the world’s smallest single-action autoloader chambered for the .45 ACP cartridge, the Detonics Mark I was an instant hit with law enforcement officers.

Not content with their original little .45 ACP powerhouse, the Detonics people went back to the drawing board and created a new cartridge that is a real blaster. The .451 Detonics Magnum is virtually identical in (external) dimensions to the .45 ACP, except for case length. The .451 Detonics is only some .050′′ longer, but the added capacity is enough to allow considerably heavier powder charges to be used without exceeding safe pressure limits.

According to the loading manual, four different propellants will produce velocities exceeding 1,300 feet per second from a 185- grain bullet. The Detonics manual specifically states that seating depth is critical. Overall cartridge length must lie between 1.220 and 1.235 inches, using bullets no longer than .558 inch. Average velocity for all four loads was 1,188fps vs. an average of 1,284 for velocities given in the manual. It may be assumed that velocities in the neighborhood of 1,300fps would be possible with careful load development.

A velocity in excess of 1,300fps is truly attainable with a 185-grain slug, the .451 Detonics would produce a muzzle energy of more than 700 foot pounds – a remarkable improvement of raw power over a factory-loaded .45 ACP. The base price of the pistol is $754 (1984).

What makes the Detonics recoil much less than a standard full size 1911 is the 3 recoil springs needed for the cycle rate from such a small pistol.

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It may be due to my build, but I do not find shorter-barreled firearms noticeably easier to conceal than longer barreled options. Width, followed by grip length, seem to be the primary obstacles I face. I own an XD Mod.2 45 with a 4" barrel, the Mod.2 Subcompact with a 3.3" barrel, and the XDS Mod.2. I shoot the 4" model the most accurately. The Subcompact does not offer enough of a concealment advantage over the 4" to make up for the difference in accuracy.

The XDS is by far the easiest to conceal, and I can shoot it accurately enough at self-defense distances. While the XD Subcompact is a better gun than the double-stacks listed in the article, it is the least likely of my XD's to be carried. Your mileage may vary, but I would rather adjust my wardrobe a tiny bit to accommodate the 4" XD, or go with the XDS if my wardrobe won't allow me to carry a larger gun.
 
wmg1299 said:
It may be due to my build, but I do not find shorter-barreled firearms noticeably easier to conceal than longer barreled options. Width, followed by grip length, seem to be the primary obstacles I face. I own an XD Mod.2 45 with a 4" barrel, the Mod.2 Subcompact with a 3.3" barrel, and the XDS Mod.2. I shoot the 4" model the most accurately. The Subcompact does not offer enough of a concealment advantage over the 4" to make up for the difference in accuracy.

The XDS is by far the easiest to conceal, and I can shoot it accurately enough at self-defense distances. While the XD Subcompact is a better gun than the double-stacks listed in the article, it is the least likely of my XD's to be carried. Your mileage may vary, but I would rather adjust my wardrobe a tiny bit to accommodate the 4" XD, or go with the XDS if my wardrobe won't allow me to carry a larger gun.
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I get what your point is. My problem is I absolutely do not want to carry inside the waistband and shorter barrels make that practical.
 
Had 2 G30 SF’s. Both of em were tack drivers. Never had an issue with them and they carried well I wish I had those pistols back. But that’s neither here nor there. Lots of good options out there. I have several to carry and if I need to I’ll carry my DW of my FNX.
 
BangBang said:
Had 2 G30 SF’s. Both of em were tack drivers. Never had an issue with them and they carried well I wish I had those pistols back. But that’s neither here nor there. Lots of good options out there. I have several to carry and if I need to I’ll carry my DW of my FNX.
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The FNX45 is one sleeper of a pistol. I’ve had two, both a tactical and a regular, and liked them both...but they duplicated my USP45’s, which I just like more.
 
Lately my EDC is either my S&W Shield 45 or my Glock 30. Both are reliable and accurate. The Shield is easier to conceal but the Glock holds more rounds.
 
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