.45 ACP Ammo Specs?

[W.R.Buchanan]

Lots of options and brands but I'd recommend Winchester 230 FMJ white box available most everywhere including Walmart. Not too expensive and good brass for reloading. I prefer 230 FMJ for plinking and target shooting in all my 45's. Have fun with your new Colt.

Ditto,,, best advice given.

You simply can't go wrong with this type of ammo in a 1911.

They will generally run 200 gr SWC's as well but if you are not reloading then just stick with the Winchester or Remington Target Ammo. Anything you hit with one of these will wish they hadn't gotten up that day.

The SD ammo out there is pricey, and will probably shoot to a different spot than your regular Ball Ammo. I don't even shoot that stuff in my carry guns. No reason to, as the .45ACP has been performing well for over 100 years on regular 230 gr Ball Ammo, and the 1911 was specifically designed around that very round.

Randy

[robert101]

I'm in the other camp and shoot a lot of 185 grain bullets in my 1911's. I too believe the felt recoil is less in the lighter bullet. I find the lighter bullets are less expensive so I pocket the extra few dollar instead of throwing it at the backstop. I do shoot a fair amount of 230 grain variants as well and my carry ammo is of the 230 grain stuff. Either way you picked a great gun. Have fun shooting.

[noylj]

Recoil is momentum is power factor.
105gn bullet at 800 fps is 84 and 148gn bullet at 800 fps is 118 and 250gn bullet at 800 fps is 200, and no one is going to argue that the 105gn bullet has the least recoil.
The "recoil" that action pistol shooters discuss is "felt" recoil, where the slow heavy bullet pushes while the light fast bullet snaps. So, which recoils more, the 105gn bullet at 1425 fps (for 149) or the 250gn bullet at 600 fps (for 150)? Momentum is the same, but the in-hand feeling will be quite different.
Now, personally, I always preferred the snap as it feels to me that the pistol cycles faster and the gun snaps back into position, while the majority prefer a slower slide and the sights not leaving the target (though, when I shoot the heavy/slow rounds, I don't see much difference in the sight movement, just feels fractionally slower).