Category: Ammo

Anecdotally, I’ve found that when a shooter chooses to master the .45-caliber semi-auto, it symbolizes them moving from a novice shooter to the next level. While the additional recoil over a 9mm is undeniable, it isn’t painful and quickly ceases to be intimidating. When those fat slugs punch big holes in targets or throw around steel with a greater degree of authority, it’s hard not to see the charm.

This all begs the question: if the .45 ACP is compelling precisely because it’s more than the 9mm, what’s the next step up? Is there something that’s even more of a .45 than the .45? A .45 magnum, perhaps? Well, indeed there is. (Or, for most purposes, was.)

Today, we look at the .45 Winchester Magnum; often, it’s affectionately referred to as the .45 Win Mag, which is how I’ll refer to it from here on out. By the time we’re through, you’ll understand the why of the .45 Win. Mag. — and just as importantly, the why not.

In the Beginning

The origin of the .45 Win. Mag. goes back to a curious piece of history known as the NAACO Brigadier. The brainchild of the North American Arms Corporation of Ontario, Canada, the Brigadier was essentially a P-35 “Hi-Power” look-alike enlarged to accommodate a much larger .45-caliber cartridge.

In 1948, NAACO had their heart set on pitching the Brigadier to the Canadian military as the country’s next sidearm. As NATO-member countries saw the benefit of standardizing cartridges, however, the Brigadier’s fate was sealed, and NAACO shuttered in 1951.

The specs on the gun and the cartridge, however, were wild. The .45 NAACO didn’t simply offer a modest performance boost above the typical .45 ACP hardball load of 230 grains at about 850 feet per second (fps) — it utterly eclipsed it. NAACO claimed its round could push the same 230-gr. projectile to claimed velocities of 1,600 fps. That’s just shy of four times more kinetic energy than the GI load.

If that wasn’t enough, NAACO also shopped around their idea for the “Borealis” model, which thanks to an attachable folding stock and extended barrel, would turn the Brigadier into a full-auto submachine gun. Considering there’s one whole photo of the Brigadier on the internet, and only one prototype known to have been produced, the Borealis meets the very definition of firearms “vaporware.”

Past that, and even without the push for NATO standardization, it’s hard to imagine the Brigadier would have been too compelling to the Canadian military. The weight of the prototype was reportedly in excess of four pounds, a problem in a market where every ounce matters.

Here, I’m reminded of another also-ran military magnum: the Gabbett-Fairfax Mars. That particular model launched a .45 bullet at a reported 1,200 fps from a three-pound platform, and did eventually make its way to military testing in the United Kingdom. Those trials produced one of the more quotable lines in firearms history, thanks to the words of one naval officer: “No one who fired once with the pistol wished to shoot it again.”

The .45 Win. Mag. is Born

From the late 1960s to early 1970s, a few different movements were afoot in the world of handgunnery. The first was the magnum craze that followed in the wake of the movie “Dirty Harry” being released. Suddenly, just about every semi-serious shooter and their mother wanted to figure out where the ceiling was to magnum performance. At the same time, the sport of handgun silhouette shooting was coming into its prime. When one is trying to knock down steel plates at 100 yards and beyond, more power is a handy thing to have.

Along the same lines, a number of engineers found themselves asking a similar question: wouldn’t it be neat if that kind of power was available in a semi-auto? Undoubtedly, the most influential of those thinkers with respect to the .45 Win. Mag.’s development was Wildey Moore. Not only did Moore have his own vision for a big-bore, gas-operated semi-auto by the early 70s, he had both the practical know-how and the connections to make it a reality. In fact, Moore worked as a weapons mechanic for the Air National Guard, a design consultant for the Carl Gustav firm, and was a sales representative for Winchester for more than a decade.

Moore brought his prototype to Winchester and let them know that if they supplied the ammo, he’d be able to bring the gun to market by the end of the decade. An agreement was struck, and the first batches of .45 Winchester Magnum began to hit the market in 1979 — a full year before the Wildey Magnums were ever offered for sale.

The .45 Winchester Magnum was nearly identical to the .45 NAACO in dimensions and specifications, pushing a 230-gr. bullet to about 1,600 fps. I can confirm this by the eyeball test of what few pictures exist of the .45 NAACO; the last single round moved at auction for more than $800, mind you, so getting my hands on one wasn’t a realistic possibility.

I also invite readers to note that the .45 Win. Mag. isn’t exactly a stretched .45 ACP case. It’s close, but as pictures will reveal, it has a markedly different extractor groove. It also boasts a thicker rim and thicker case walls that allow a SAAMI maximum pressure of 41,500 psi.

As for the Wildey Magnum, troubled production limited its popularity, even once ammo was available. Along the way, a number of other handguns — albeit not a glut of them — were chambered in .45 Win. Mag. In its earliest years, interested ballisticians could order a single-shot barrel for the Contender platform, but eventually AMT offered the Automag IV in the caliber, along with LAR’s Grizzly Magnum.

In the Hand

I’ve seen a grand total of one Wildey Magnum “in the wild,” and the firearm was certainly a beast. I’ve never once seen an Automag IV in my lifetime. However, when I had the opportunity to acquire a really nice used example of the LAR Grizzly, I didn’t pass it up.

The Grizzly can charitably be described as a 1911 from hell. Surprisingly, a number of its parts interchange, from the fire control components to its safeties and grip screws.

The biggies, however, like the frame, slide, barrel and trigger, all have to be made bigger and/or longer to accommodate the length of the .45 Win. Mag. In the magnum caliber, the Grizzly utilizes a 27-lb. recoil spring (as opposed to the 16-lb. spring present in most factory 1911s). At 48 oz. unloaded, the Grizzly is also about 20% heavier than most 1911s.

Let me state something here for the record: the LAR Grizzly is a big gun. As a small-handed guy, I nevertheless find it easy to work with, which gives me another point of data in my overall conclusion that 90% of guns will work well enough for about 90% of the various hands that are out there.

Because there’s so much real estate on the side of the grip frame, it gives the weak hand a generous patch to press into and anchor under recoil.

Fit and finish of my Grizzly is very good. These were essentially semi-custom guns made to a high quality standard. Of the goofy magnum semi-autos of the 1980s and 1990s, they’re known to be fairly reliable.

At the Range

As one would expect, touching off the .45 Winchester Magnum is quite the experience. I fired the gun with Winchester’s factory “Super X” cartridges, the most common factory loads one will likely encounter — and even then, it takes quite a bit of scrounging and special ordering to find a box.

Felt recoil out of the platform is about that of a .44 Magnum. I never felt the gun was going to jump out of my hands, and my palms weren’t left stinging from the experience. That said, this is definitely one of those guns where people around you will stop what they’re doing to see what’s producing the pyrotechnics before them.

The Grizzly throws a blinding flash of light that turns into a gust of flame, and the boom is massive. Most loads produced prior to the 2000s were not models of ballistic efficiency: it’s clear a great deal of the powder is being turned into flash and noise.

Mind you that the gun itself appears absolutely ready to digest as many rounds of .45 Win. Mag. as I care to feed it.

To place rounds accurately, however, is a battle with one’s own startle reflex and demands a level of concentration and recoil tolerance well beyond the capabilities of all but the most seasoned handgunners. This isn’t an impossible task for me, but it’s certainly one I need to be in the right mood for!

Why Not More?

Put all of the pieces together, and it’s not hard to see why the .45 Win. Mag. — and by extension, any gun chambered for it — are such rarities. The cartridge is so high-performance that most people won’t enjoy shooting it a lot. It requires a semi-auto engineered to handle that level of power, which translates to large and expensive guns aimed primarily at collectors and big-bore enthusiasts.

Given the relatively small size of the mega magnum market and the previous fates of those who entered it, companies (wisely) remain leery of entering the space, which makes it unlikely we’ll see guns or ammo produced at scales that produce value to the consumer. Unless one takes up the discipline of handloading, one can expect to pay about three dollars to touch off a single round of .45 Win. Mag.

Compared to the .45 ACP, the .45 Winchester Magnum is absolutely, unequivocally too much. And yet, for many proponents of magnum handgunning, that’s precisely the point!

Picture this: you drive out to the range with a rifle you know is zeroed. You spent good money on a scope, so you have a crystal-clear, parallax-free view of your target. You get your rifle set up on a good rest, chamber a round, and pull the trigger to the rear. You are rewarded with a perfect center-punch. Two more rounds follow closely behind it, carving out a ragged hole.

Let me ask you this: is there anything missing from the story?

Indeed there is! The savvy marksman knows that even with a surplus of talent and an excellent firearm to work with, printing a tight group also depends on using good ammo. Collectively, it’s the guns, glass, and gear that tends to consume a great deal of our attention — at least according to most of our YouTube algorithms — but quality ammunition is a non-negotiable element of what allows us to place bullets where we want them to go.

A good variety of shooters, however, find themselves flummoxed when it comes to explaining why that is. Today, let’s look at the interesting particulars of how the consistency of your ammunition translates to downrange performance.

When Push Comes to Shove

Likely you’ve heard shooters remark that one cartridge shoots “flatter” than another. What they’re really talking about is that as velocity increases, the bullet is in flight for a shorter amount of time. In turn, the force of gravity has less of a chance to pull the bullet downwards. As a result, if two rounds are fired from a level barrel, the faster round will strike higher on the target; the slower one will impact farther downward.

For that reason, one of the chief components of controlling accuracy is ensuring that velocity is consistent from shot to shot. Most obviously, this implicates the amount of powder used in the cartridge. A hobbyist might be fine with a variation of a few tenths of a grain up or down; the guy trying to win a long-range match likely cares a great deal about ensuring every bullet leaves the barrel at the same speed!

But, as Hornady’s Seth Swerczek told me, it’s not simply the quantity of powder that’s important, but also the quality. According to Seth, the chemistry behind the powders available to an ammunition manufacturer have gotten better and better, allowing for uniform and consistent ignition across a variety of environmental conditions. At a company like Hornady, ballistic engineers have also tested a bewildering number of combinations of primers and powders to determine what combinations of components will work best together to maximize ignition uniformity.

Getting a Grip

Following from our previous discussion, neck tension also plays a critical role in the chemical reaction that takes place when smokeless powder is ignited. Because it determines precisely when the bullet begins moving, it influences the volume in which the reaction takes place, and as a result, the pressure exerted on the projectile over time.

While it’s an oversimplification, think of a cartridge’s neck tension as not unlike a good handshake: it shouldn’t be crushing, nor should it be weak and loosey-goosey.

Supposing that the neck is really crushed into the cartridge, pressures can become more “spikey,” and the bullet itself might suffer from deformation that can affect its flight characteristics. However, a weak crimp can result in the bullet moving prematurely, dropping pressures and leading to a loss of velocity. And, supposing that the bullet is non-concentrically supported by the neck, there’s a real chance it could enter the rifling misaligned.

Bullet Points

“Hornady is a bullet company first,” Seth told me proudly. When the firm was founded back in 1949, it was the quality and consistency of its projectiles that put it on the map. Hornady has done little to rest on its laurels in the 77 years since. “A bullet needs to be made true,” Seth explained, “And that process is the heart of accuracy.”

In truth, I’d had an interesting “ah ha” moment as a reloader several years before I had the pleasure of speaking to Seth. Once I started weighing and measuring a box of bullets — even from a manufacturer I trusted — I found that all of the dimensions and weights were very close, albeit not exact. (Yes: even among a box of projectiles that were all marked “150gr”.)

Though SAAMI specifications dictate projectile dimensions, in reality a .308-caliber bullet might actually measure out at .3083”, or .3074”. In my own realm of experience, I’d found variations of as much of a thousandth of an inch in diameter to be pretty routine among the bullets I’d purchased.

By comparison, Seth told me that Hornady’s limits cup runout to two tenths of a thousandth of an inch or less. The way they’re able to achieve this objective, he explained, was by making sure that each bullet is drawn out and shaped in its entirety on one press.

Why is all of this important? Consider that a larger, longer bullet will more deeply engage with a larger part of a barrel’s rifling. In turn, we can theoretically expect an increased level of friction, which could lower expected velocity.

Speaking of uniformity, it’s also highly important to ensure the symmetry of the projectile’s base. Ideally, the expanding gases should push on the bullet evenly and consistently on its way out of the barrel. That’s one reason why shooters are often very concerned with the uniformity of a barrel’s crown. However, if the base of the fired bullet has high or low spots, there’s a risk that gas will begin to prematurely escape from the barrel relative to one side, producing an off-center push just as soon as the projectile exits the muzzle.

Moving Targets

When I was a younger shooter, I figured that trying to predict accuracy at farther distances was a mostly multiplicative affair. For example, a gun that shot 2” at 100 yards could be expected to print a 4” group at 200, and 6” at 300. Right? The theory made mathematical sense, anyway.

Wrong. Seth gave me a great analogy that put this fallacy into perspective. “Imagine you have an imbalanced tire on your car. Initially, the car might seem fine out of the driveway. But, it’s going to behave a lot differently once you’ve been traveling for a few miles on the highway.”

When you’re talking about a projectile launched across a distance of more than a quarter mile, over a few seconds of flight time, and while spinning at more than 200,000 RPM, there’s ample opportunity for things to go differently than expected. Imperfect rounds that cluster well enough at 100 yards could start “keyholing” by 300.

It’s for that reason, Seth said, that Hornady tests its match ammo at 200 yards rather than the more typical 100-yard distance. When the flight time is increased, there’s more ability to expose and address the micro-level imperfections that might critically affect long-range accuracy.

More Devils, More Details

Is there a single “most important thing” to be addressed to ensure an accurate round, or a “most likely” mechanical imperfection that would spoil an otherwise excellent group? Hardly! Producers of high-quality ammunition need to pay careful attention to each of the aforementioned variables. In other words, it’s not just enough to produce perfectly concentric bullets or uniform cartridges with identical bullet seating depths and neck tension — it all needs to be done.

Beyond that, Seth reminded me of one more truth of precision shooting. “Every barrel gets a vote,” he laughed. A perfectly constructed box of rounds faces an uphill battle when it’s shot out of a pitted-out bore, or when a shooter with a serious case of “buck fever” settles behind the trigger.

And if you hold my feet to the fire, I’ll let it spill that not every trigger pull goes the way I want it to. Like any mortal shooter, I’m prone to moments where I know I mashed the trigger, leaned on the rifle or lifted my head in a weird way during ignition. I’m an imperfect guy living in an imperfect world. I consider it pretty amazing that even a dude like me can print an excellent group every once in a while.

That said, I always make a point of buying ammo from manufacturers like Hornady — that is to say, established firms whose expertise has been established over decades. It lets me know that a miss is my fault rather than the result of a weird tolerance stack or otherwise fluky round. From there, I can diagnose and correct what’s amiss with my equipment or inherent to my technique. That reassurance costs a little more, but to me it’s a worthwhile expense.

Naturally, all of the variables we’ve talked about above aren’t meant to be an exhaustive list of all of the things that can make a bullet go where it isn’t supposed to. Suffice it to say that the details matter, and these are some of the finer points I think about decades into my time as a shooter that I never thought to consider before.

Little known fact : the Soviets where too busy opening ammo cans when the Germans invaded . They finally got them open right before the Germans reached Moscow.