Is it my imagination? Or are people trending away from .45acp?

[PistolBob]

My favorite handgun? The loaded one in my hand when I need a handgun.

 

[gglass]

First, the 9mm stasi came for the .380, and people said nothing. Then they came for the .40S&W, and still people said nothing. They then came they came for my .45ACP...

 

[88E30M50]

Thanks for all the replies Gentlemen.
I didn't really want to start a caliber debate, .45acp will certainly get the job done in a SD situation. And 1911's are cool, no doubt!
I have just noticed the past couple of years people selling off their .45's, it seemed to me with more frequency.
Maybe just my perception?
Maybe they had multiples? Maybe they only had one or two and decided to "move" them in the name of caliber commonality?

Me personally, I carry a .40 right now. I have carried over the years, 9mm, .40 and .45.
I like to carry higher capacity weapons because I want more rounds on board. I have never been in a self defense situation where a firearm was needed, and not sure how I would really act in a real world encounter.
I hope I never have to find out either.
And in today's world most likely there would be more than one assailant. From what I have read about 9mm as a carry round, we should carry "heavy" for caliber and use +P ammo as well, to achieve similar wound channels as .40 and .45.
I don't know how true that is, but to me it makes sense, which is one reason I have chosen the .40 as my carry caliber.
It seems the "typical" .40 caliber offerings are only one or two rounds less in a magazine as 9mm offerings.

the biggest advantage to .40 that I see right now is that most ammo is similar in feel. You practice with ammo that is pretty close to your EDC in performance. With 9mm, lots of people practice with WWB level ammo, then load up the hottest 9mm they can find for carry. 9mm may approach .40 in performance but it also approaches .40 in recoil to get there. No free lunch there.

Beware of the shooter that shoots thousands of rounds of mild 9mm and half a box of +P carry ammo. They may throw rounds all over the place in a stressful situation because they just are not used to the recoil impulse.

.40 can make you a better shooter unless you reload hot 9mm or are willing to drop the cash to practice with hotter ammo.

 

[88E30M50]

Sorry if I killed the thread Gunner.

Back on topic, it might be that with the unrest, COVID and incoming administration, people are letting the range toys go to bolster their self defense capabilities. Lots of us trust the .45 with our lives but for a lot of people, they have and carry other guns and the 1911 or other .45 in the collection is just for weekend grins. I could see a bump in .45 sales if a part of that segment of gun owners trimmed their collection to add a 2nd or 3rd carry gun in their favored caliber.

Just my two cents

 

[Tombs]

Beware of the shooter that shoots thousands of rounds of mild 9mm and half a box of +P carry ammo. They may throw rounds all over the place in a stressful situation because they just are not used to the recoil impulse.

A comp is a really good solution for that. The hotter the ammo gets the harder the comp works.
With practice ammo it doesn't do anything, with +P you know you shot something hotter but the gun stays flatter.

 

[2A_Tom]

I am a one gun wonder. I love my 1911A1. I love 4.5 ACP. I love my Marlin Camp 45.

I recommend new shooters get a 9mm. I hate to say that I have been telling people to go with a Glock and a Ruger PC carbine.

Because 9 is cheaper to keep up your proficiency.

 

[gregkl]

I am a one gun wonder. I love my 1911A1. I love 4.5 ACP. I love my Marlin Camp 45.

I recommend new shooters get a 9mm. I hate to say that I have been telling people to go with a Glock and a Ruger PC carbine.

Because 9 is cheaper to keep up your proficiency.

Funny. I don’t own a Glock but yet a Glock 19 is my top recommendation when people ask me for input.

 

[88E30M50]

The CZ P07 is the gun I recommend to new shooters. It’s easy to shoot and I believe is safer than the Glock or P10 for an inexperienced shooter.

 

[WebSnyper]

I started off with wheel guns (357), went to semi auto's of various calibers (had some bad experiences with non reliable semi auto guns of various sorts or other guns due to my ignorance at the time, that just did not fit my needs well).

I settled on 45 ACP with a Glock 21 & a Glock 30 pairing in early 90's, but had trouble finding a holster, etc I liked/worked for me, and gun sizes at the time were an issue. Loved shooting 45, but did not love the guns at that time.

This pushed me to 40 and Glock 23/27 combo, but found while I liked carrying the 27, I did not like shooting it in 40. Then transitioned to 9 mm several years back, Glock 19/26. Since then I have transitioned through a few phases of various guns, but all still 9mm, currently combination of Sig 365/320 for carry.

So I definitely have transitioned through several calibers and have generally preferred not to try and support various calibers at the same time. I tend toward the stack them deep (multiples of same/similar guns etc) vs wide array of calibers and standard operating procedures. I have also tried to stay with very mainstream calibers that normally can be found for reasonable prices (obviously these are not normal times), since I don't reload.

 

[88E30M50]

While I am by no means trying to move away from .45, I am probably going to let my G30 and maybe G21 go. I’ll probably replace those with a P227 or CZ 97B but the funds might go towards a P226 .40 project.

 

[flatlander]

Set to acquire my 3rd .45 1911 hopefully by the end of the week since Jan. Had zero prior to this. My answer would be no, I'm not moving away. I'm moving back.

Bob

 

[88E30M50]

My 1911s are not going anywhere. . The plastic stuff, maybe but it’s not limited to .45. There may be a 9mm or two finding new homes to fund a new addiction.

 

[gregkl]

My 1911s are not going anywhere. . The plastic stuff, maybe but it’s not limited to .45. There may be a 9mm or two finding new homes to fund a new addiction.

Hmm...new addiction. I wonder what that could be...

Be sure to let me know if you let loose of any 9's.

 

[geoexchange]

I've been a .45 guy most of my life. I've been legally carrying a 1911 or some variant for 30+ years, including in the military and as LE. I'm perfectly comfortable with it under most situations, and have been in DGU situations. I learned to shoot handgun with a 1911, I've shot IPSC and bullseye with the 1911. BUT. Earlier this year, a friend brought out a P365 for me to play with, and I HATE to admit it, but I fell in love. Easy to shoot accurately, easy to carry, AND I now have 12+1 on-board with modern 9mm ammo. Does it have the power my .45 did? No. Do I FEEL as confident with it as I do my 1911's? Of course. My pistol is nothing more than something to get me OUT of a bad situation or TO my rifle. But I have to admit my comfort level is much higher when I'm in the city with a 12+1 and two 12 round backups as opposed to 8(or 7)+1 with 2 8(or 7) +1 with a .45. I'm a decent shot, and still believe accuracy is more important than caliber -or capacity, but getting gas in an inner-city gas station makes me really wonder if capacity isn't a concern - in that situation. In the winter, around the rural areas, I still carry my 1911's. I practice weekly with both platforms; and I am comfortable, confident, and proficient with both. I do admit that I'm a little more COMFORTABLE with the P365, and it takes a LOT for an old 1911 guy to say that!!!-

 

[churchmouse]

I've been a .45 guy most of my life. I've been legally carrying a 1911 or some variant for 30+ years, including in the military and as LE. I'm perfectly comfortable with it under most situations, and have been in DGU situations. I learned to shoot handgun with a 1911, I've shot IPSC and bullseye with the 1911. BUT. Earlier this year, a friend brought out a P365 for me to play with, and I HATE to admit it, but I fell in love. Easy to shoot accurately, easy to carry, AND I now have 12+1 on-board with modern 9mm ammo. Does it have the power my .45 did? No. Do I FEEL as confident with it as I do my 1911's? Of course. My pistol is nothing more than something to get me OUT of a bad situation or TO my rifle. But I have to admit my comfort level is much higher when I'm in the city with a 12+1 and two 12 round backups as opposed to 8(or 7)+1 with 2 8(or 7) +1 with a .45. I'm a decent shot, and still believe accuracy is more important than caliber -or capacity, but getting gas in an inner-city gas station makes me really wonder if capacity isn't a concern - in that situation. In the winter, around the rural areas, I still carry my 1911's. I practice weekly with both platforms; and I am comfortable, confident, and proficient with both. I do admit that I'm a little more COMFORTABLE with the P365, and it takes a LOT for an old 1911 guy to say that!!!-

I am right there with you my brother.
I have come to love the offerings from the CZ people and they recently bought Dan Wesson so their influences are showing up in the 1911 line up from DW. I have 2 off them.

But to my point. (No sigs.....) when I have the time to compete I run one of my Shadows. The capacity is the key when you are running against the timer. I seldom if ever miss with that platform and the low recoil inherent to the design allows me to stay on target. I also find myself a more accurate shooter with the CZ 97 (.45 ACP) over a 1911 just enough to be noticeable. I have very mixed emotions about that.

But out in the real world getting fuel in the inner city I still rely on my 1911's in 45 ACP I just mag up to the 10 round offerings. If I feel the need I will holster a 10mm 1911 just because.

I have no confidence in the 9mm to do what I know the other rounds will do.

No knock on you folks that rely on the 9mm. CKW (cpouse) has 2 CZ's in 9mm for HD as she can handle that much easier than the much heavier and recoil prone 1911. But myself.........

 

[223 Gunner]

Classifieds seem to be full of .45's.

 

[STFU]

Classifieds seem to be full of .45's.

That's like saying there are more Chevys in the classifieds than Teslas.

Because they have been around longer and more people bought them to begin with. ;-)

 

[jolly rancher]

What was new becomes old until it becomes new again and the cycle continues. I started handgun shooting in the mid-70s and was a disciple of the wheel gun (38spl / 357mag) until about the late 80s when wonder-nine fever got a hold on me and I switched from the wheel gun to the 9x19 platform. When Slick Willie pasted the AWB in 94. Salted my 9mm away for a rainy day and then when back to the wheel gun but also pickup a 1911 in 45 acp and this was the start of a nearly 15 to 20 year love affair with all things 45. I was shooting a lot back then and with serious practice I got very good with the 1911. The AWB ended in 2004 and I slowly drifted back to the 9x19 and why not cheap ammo, lower recoil, standard 9x19 magazines were cheap and plentiful again and the performance of 9x19 was greatly improved. Today I do not shoot as much as I did 20 years ago so to be honest my ability to shoot a 1911 platform in 45 acp suffers. I now find myself actually preferring to shoot and rely on my old standby of a S&W K frame. So my point is people do not always use the caliber that is the biggest and baddest but use what works for them within the constraints of the law and their abilities. If there is a new AWB I am sure just like back in 1994 people will rediscover the 45 acp all over again.

 

[Route 45]

That's like saying there are more Chevys in the classifieds than Teslas.

Because they have been around longer and more people bought them to begin with. ;-)

I would bet that there are about twice as many 9 mm pistols in circulation in the US than 45 ACP pistols. In fact, three times as many might be a safe bet.

 

[Trapper Jim]

I would bet that there are about twice as many 9 mm pistols in circulation in the US than 45 ACP pistols. In fact, three times as many might be a safe bet.

same can be said for 4 cyl cars and pressed lumber. Good for the masses but for the one... not so much.