Order Buffalo Bore Ammunition 45 Colt Online

It is safe to say that the advent of smokeless gunpowder has been especially effective at boosting the performance of yesteryear’s cartridges. And the continued evolution of smokeless powder appears to have sparked ballistic improvements in a variety of handgun cartridges, especially big-bore types such as the .45 Colt.

These advanced powders generate higher velocity than ever before thought possible, which translates to greater levels of impact energy over its blackpowder counterparts. But with these higher velocities comes increased operational pressures.

And if the level of pressure produced by the cartridge exceeds that of the firearm’s allowable threshold, then there’s a serious risk of catastrophic failure—the gun may blow apart.

Where to get Buffalo Bore Ammunition 45 Colt

One method of avoiding ammunition-related failures has been to create new cartridges based on older ones. Quite simply, the “parent” case is often enlarged a bit to form the new cartridge so that the updated and more powerful round won’t fit into older guns.

Now the longer cartridges, sometimes referred to as a magnum round, can have its pressure levels ramped up for guns constructed specifically for them. As an added benefit, the shorter parent cartridges can be chambered and fired in the magnum chamber.

Standard-velocity .45 Colt loads, like this one, operate at lower pressure levels, which are safe to use in vintage and small-frame revolvers.

Here are a few familiar parent- and child-cartridge pairings along with each round’s maximum pressure-level shown in pounds per square inch (PSI):

As you can see from the chart above, the magnum child cartridges operate at significantly higher-pressure levels. More than double the pressure is typical, but the .454 Casull can be loaded to more than four times the maximum pressure of its parent round, the venerable .45 Colt.

But ammunition manufacturers and especially folks who reload their own cartridges are rarely satisfied with staying inside the recommended pressure levels of the older parent cartridges. The differences in performance levels of parent and child leave a lot of room for tinkering with the former.

Thanks to gunpowder evolution, bullet velocity can be increased without pushing chamber-pressure levels to the next cartridge size. It’s this area of cartridge-pressure tinkering that eventually led to what is referred to as +P ammunition.

Hard-cast lead bullets with flat points crush vital game animal tissues while maintaining their shape to provide deep penetration.

The +P rating is an official designation issued by the Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers’ Institute (SAAMI) that indicates a given cartridge will operate within a higher-than-standard pressure range. This above-average +P notation is commonly associated with the older defensive-handgun cartridges, such as .38 Spl., 9 mm Luger, and .45 ACP, signifying a boost in ballistic performance.

It is important to note that the added pressure may be much too much for older guns to handle. And those that can take excessive pressure will see increased wear as a result. But even though the +P demarcation is official, the range of operational pressures under this heading are not spelled clearly for all loads in this category. Individuals and ammunition companies have a broad range of discretion as to whether their +P loads increase operating pressures a little or a lot for some rounds.

This heavy-bullet +P cartridge loaded to a more moderate 1,200 f.p.s. proved to be one of the more comfortable rounds to shoot.

This brings us to the topic of this conversation, namely, the sometimes-misunderstood. 45 Colt +P cartridge. Because the +P rating is so commonly associated with defensive pistol chamberings, the general expectation is that the pressure increase will be relatively modest. A .38 Spl. +P load may generate a maximum pressure of 20,000 PSI instead of the standard rating of 17,500 PSI. It’s not uncommon for .38 Spl. revolvers rated for these higher pressure loads to have +P marked on the barrel to help customers avoid any confusion.

It is the .45 Colt +P cartridges that are a different story. Because of their relatively large bullets and capacious cartridge cases, folks who have worked to improve .45 Colt performance drove straight past a bit more speed for self-defense and went right to magnum-revolver levels of power. The goal was to produce a +P cartridge capable of providing performance on par with, or better than, typical .44 Mag. loads. This makes a .45 Colt-chambered revolver a more capable option for hunting or defense against dangerous game.