What if I told you that your .45 pistol could fling a 160-grain bullet at 1,350 feet per second? Or maybe a 255-grain hard cast semi-wadcutter projectile at 1,030 feet per second?
Well, assuming you have a modern .45 ACP pistol with adequate strength, you can. Everything else is the same: barrel, magazines, and projectiles.
New life for the .45? These 16-grain Barnes TAC-XP all copper bullets zip along at over 1,300 feet per second.
Almost 20 years ago a company called Triton launched a cartridge named the 450 SMC. It shares exterior dimensions and bullets with the .45 ACP but packs more wallop. Here’s how it works. The case, while the same on the outside is NOT standard .45 ACP brass. Instead, 450 SMC brass uses a small rifle magnum primer.
That seemingly insignificant change allows for two different things. First, the beefed-up heat and flash cause more aggressive ignition of the propellant charge. Second, fewer cubic millimeters of primer material translates to more cubic millimeters of cartridge brass in the base area. That extra metal in the case allows the cartridge to operate safely at five to six thousand more pounds per square inch of pressure without bulging or rupturing. The result of those changes is that a .45 ACP pistol rated for +P ammo can also fire the 450 SMC cartridge. That even applies to Glocks with their less than fully supported chamber.
Read the rest: Can You Turbocharge Your .45? – The Mag Life
Or just do a .460 rowland conversion kit and throw 230 gr at 1350 fps or 185 gr at 1575 fps. like a man lol