10mm vs .45ACP

Am Shooting Journal ^ | 6/26/2018 | J Hines

[w1n1]

If you're looking for a powerful cartridge for your semi-auto handguns. Then it boils down to a couple of choices.
The 10mm and the .45 ACP.
Both of these are widely popular so many will have a difficult decision to choose. Some folks that have the money will get both. However, for this scenario we need to choose one.
Even if you do own both a 10mm Auto and a .45 ACP handgun, how do you know which one is best for certain task?
Both of their capabilities overlap each other but their characteristics and traits differ.
Each has distinct strengths and weaknesses.
Anyways, we'll keep this un-biased and help you decide which one is best for you.

Brief History
.45 ACP: John Browning's Masterpiece
John Browning .45 ACP is the iconic cartridge for over 100 years.
His thinking was on designing a cartridge to shoot a big full metal jacket, slow bullet that has knock down power, alias "man-stopper".
It was a highly popular among gun enthusiasts.
Typically a .45 ACP load is a 230-grain bullet that fires at 830 fps for 355 foot-pounds of muzzle energy.
This was the gold standard for short range with knock down power in a handgun, this ruled for many decades.

10mm Auto: Jeff Cooper’s Conception
During the 1970s and 80s shooter only had 2 choices for the semi-automatic handgun cartridges, it was the 9mm Luger and the .45 ACP.
Legendary gun trainer Jeff Cooper wasn’t satisfied with the two cartridges. So, he teams up with the Swedish ammunition company Norma A.B. to build what he considered the ideal combat handgun cartridge.
The result was the 10mm auto: its a medium-bore cartridge that really has a "kick ass" punch.

Which Cartridge is Best for You?
So which one should you buy?
Just like with everything, it’s really a matter of what you intend to use your handgun for.
On the 10mm side of the fence they like to point out that it has more energy at 100 yards vs the .45 ACP does at the muzzle.
But, the .45 ACP counters that it is bigger at 100 yards than the 10mm at the muzzle. Read the rest of this 10mm vs .357 magnum here.

[Ancient Man]

When the SHTF, try to find 10mm in BFE.

[DuncanWaring]

How many people can reliably hit a target at 100 yards with a pistol (I can’t)?

I’ve never been shopping for 10mm ammo, but I’m fairly certain .45 ACP is far more available.

[NorthMountain]

From a purely technical perspective, the 10mm is superior to the .45 in almost every respect.

Even though .45 is no longer a standard issue military cartridge, though, it still beats 10mm in simple availability.

[yarddog]

If I could afford a new pistol it would be a full frame Glock in 10mm. It is superior to the .45 Auto in most respects.

Still I would love to have a new series 70 Colt in .45.

[dangerdoc]

I own, shoot and reload both. The only thing uncommon about 10mm is the brass. Buy a couple thousand pieces and you should be good for years.

[1_Inch_Group]

Both please!

[Carriage Hill]

The .45 drops 3-5” at 100yds; I don’t know what a 10mm drops, but I think it has a flatter trajectory, like my old Glock 32 .357SIG did. That said, at 100yds, I want to be using my AR-10 or one of the AR-15s, instead of either pistol.

I’ve seen some guys who are very proficient at 100-150yds with a .45, and I marvel at their skills.

When I had my nursery business, I had a range on the 20ac property, and family/customers/friends and I used to by ammo by the palet load from a common carrier. It was cheap back in the 90s/early 00s. Not so much now.

[FreedomPoster]

Many local law enforcement agencies use .45 ACP, and the military does still use it (SEALs with the H&K SOCOM and probably some other SpecOps groups). While some LEOs use 10mm, there are a heckuva lot more using .45. And there are just tons of 1911s out there in private hands, such that .45 will be readily and widely available for a long, long time. You just can’t say that about 10mm.

[marktwain]

Silly article.

Does not even mention the 9X23, the .38 Super, the 7.62X25, all more powerful than the .45 ACP. Then there is the .45 super.

Even back in the 70’s there was the 7.62x25, the .38 Super, the .380 ACP, and the .32 ACP.

[T-Bone Texan]

A grammatical error in the very first sentence of this article.

Somebody has stepped up their game!

[Bulwyf]

I can hit a target with my kimber at 100, but you’re lobbing it in. There’s a better tool for that. It’s called a rifle heh.

[NorthMountain]

Police aren't military, they're civilians. SEALS can do what they want; that doesn't make their choices "standard issue".

As for the rest: Yeah. Availability.

I don't own either, right now ... but .45 is higher on the list than 10mm.

Because availability.

[ChuckHam]

Be like me and own both. The best of both worlds.

[Joe 6-pack]

I have a first generation Colt Delta Elite. I love her dearly and the first time I ever shot it, there were quite a few differences that set it apart from a .45. I was shooting steel plates and with a .45 there is a very small, but perceptible delay between the trigger pull and hearing the hit on the steel. The 10mm, by comparison, was like shooting a laser blaster, both in terms of velocity and trajectory. Much is made about the recoil of the 10, but in my experience, it feels sharper, faster and more straight line than a .45 which in my hands seems to have more of a slow, torquey upward roll. In rapid fire with my Delta it’s easier for me to stay on target than with a 1911A1 in .45.
All that said, your remark about ammo availabity is why my SHTF go to is a CZ75B in .40.

[Lurker]

“When the SHTF, try to find 10mm in BFE.”

Excellent point. I know a few guys who shoot 10mm. It’s an excellent cartridge. But only one of them has more than a couple of hundred rounds for it. That’s because he reloads. Brass for it is hella expansive tho, compared to .45. And it’s not always available.

We settled on .45 as our standard. We bought bulk FMJ when it was cheap and saved the brass. We’ve got at least 1,000 loaded rounds each and a pile of brass that must weigh 30 pounds.

We’ve got another 2,000 projectiles, mostly 200 grain JHP and enough powder and primers to load it all at least twice. Bullseye works well enough for us so it’s our standard.

We worked up a nice loading that pushes that 200 grain pill at just over 900 FPS or so. One or two of those will stop almost anyone within 50 feet or so.

Best,

L

[Lurker]

Mr. Hines desperately needs an editor. The rest of the article borders on incomprehensible.

L

[mountainlion]

Click bait

[OKSooner]

Yes, a silly article. Today's edition of x vs y, and poorly written clickbait at that.

Unfortunately this is the best work of American Shooting Journal, their/his usual stuff is just more stupid stuff with guns.

[DCBryan1]

Both....but suppressing a .45 ACP is alot easier. THWACK!