

45… the classic warhorse.45 ACP (Automatic Colt Pistol)

Supersonic loads, on the other hand, usually use 155- to 165-grain bullets. If you’re interested in subsonic ammunition, the standard bullet weight is 180 grains. Smith & Wesson and Winchester co-developed a cartridge to replicate the ballistics of the FBI load in a cartridge with a shorter case. 45-caliber size weapons, more compact handguns were now a practical option. Now that a reduced-pressure load was on the table, the powder capacity and cartridge case length of the 10mm Auto were no longer necessary. Using a 180-grain bullet at a velocity of 950 ft/s, the new “ FBI load” fulfilled the Bureau’s criteria. As standard-pressure 10mm Auto ammunition proved to be too powerful for recruits to control, the solution, then, was to use a less-powerful load. At these velocities, the 10mm Auto was a powerhouse, rivaling the. The original Norma load, introduced in 1983, consisted of a 200-grain bullet at a muzzle velocity of 1,200 ft/s or a 175-grain bullet at 1,350.

45 ACP were on the list, John Hall of the Firearms Training Unit submitted his own 10mm handgun for testing in 1988 as an alternative. In the late 1980s, the FBI developed a new set of criteria for testing and evaluating handgun ammunition following the 1986 shootout in Miami–Dade County, Florida. 40 S&W delivers a larger, heavier bullet than the 9mm and more rounds per magazine than the. Introduced in 1990 and derived from the 10mm Auto, the. 45 ACP, the primary criticisms are insufficient magazine capacity, followed by weapon size.Īs I discussed in another article, the diameter of the permanent wound cavity and penetration depth are among the most important factors determining ammunition effectiveness. Accurate, easy to control, and relatively inexpensive, the 9mm is also the standard police pistol caliber.īut one of the chief complaints regarding the 9mm is that it lacks sufficient stopping power. The most popular centerfire semi-automatic pistol cartridge in the world is the aforementioned 9×19mm Luger.
