Curious..anybody seen data on .45 ACP velocity vs. barrel length?

[Pilgrim]

I've been toying with buying a "long slide" .45 ACP 1911 "clone" to complement my Kimber Pro (4" barrel). Before I throw $ at it I'd like to be sure it's worthwhile. You can still find 6" barrel pistols fairly readily. I believe AMT made a 7" version as well, but I've not seen one of these for sale. Anyway...Looking for data on .45 ACP vs. barrel length (Officers vs. Commander vs. Govt. vs. Long slide) if any is available. Pilgrim

[Cmm_3940]

I would not be concerned about the slight variation in velocity from the extra inch of barrel. I can adjust velocity pretty much as I please based on what I load. The longer sighting plane would be of far more interest to me...

[Forrest r]

Don't know if this will help or not.

http://www.ballisticsbytheinch.com/22mag.html

forrest r

[BruceB]

We didn't have a long-slide .45, but a friend and I chronographed five different factory loadings and three cast-bullet handloads, on the same day, through five different .45ACP pistols.

The guns ranged from a Kimber CDP with three-inch barrel to a couple of different five-inch guns.... and a couple between those extremes.

Results were much as we'd expected. When all the velocity figures were analyzed, it was clear that on average, the short Kimber was only losing about 70 fps MAXIMUM from the speeds delivered by the longest (5") guns.

Your query about velocities therefore becomes a question of how much the long-slide will gain over the five-inch guns, and I strongly suspect the answer will be.... not much.

I'd make a small wager that the gain won't reach 100 fps, and maybe nowhere near that figure, but I'm sure willing to be proven wrong.

The .45, with its high expansion ratio, is very efficient with its fast-burning powders even in short barrels. I'd be very interested to see just how much speed will be gained in a six-inch (or longer) autopistol barrel.

Figures from .45ACP revolvers are easily available, but they don't really apply to this question.

Anybody? How about velocities from .45ACP carbines....what do they run from 16" barrels?

Interesting topic.

[Outpost75]

The difference between a 5" and 7" autopistol is not enough to worry about.

Firing Federal 45D 230-grain JHP I get 800 fps in my 4" S&W 625 revolver, 849 fps from 5" M1911, 878 fps from 7-1/2" Ruger Blackhawk and 932 fps from 20" Marlin carbine.

You get a bit better velocity gain with similar loads using cast bullets because of reduced bore drag.

H&G#68 200-grain SWC with 5 grains of Bullseye gives 849 fps in 4" S&W 625 revolver, 906 fps from M1911, 951 fps from 7-1/2" Ruger Blackhawk and 1105 fps from the 20" Marlin carbine.

[osteodoc08]

Roughly 20-25fps per inch lost/gained up to approx 18-24" depending on caliber.

There have been some very interesting articles written on this subject and rifle barrel length.

[44Vaquero]

My Camp Carbine in .45 acp is good for 190 to 250 fps additional over my 1911. It's a low pressure pistol caliber so the gains are not as dramatic compared to the 9's and 40's.

[Jupiter7]

I think powder choice would be paramount to velocity gain in longer barrels. AA#5 comes to mind.

[mikeym1a]

Years ago, the 20fps-25fps was used as a rule of thumb for velocity increases. that means even the 'long' slide 1911 would only gain about 65fps. What I liked about them was the longer sighting plane. I eventually got my 1911, but no long slide. I don't do too bad at the 75yd silhouette. mikey

[Larry Gibson]

I think powder choice would be paramount to velocity gain in longer barrels. AA#5 comes to mind.

Yes, the powder choice makes a very big difference as the barrel gets longer.

I've a bit of 45 ACP data from 4 5/8, 5, 5 1/2, 6, 10 and 16" barrels. With the 10" Contender and 16" M98 I can use slower burning powders and increase psi and velocity above anything I would want to use in a semi- auto 45 ACP. However, the OP is talking Semi-auto's so I'll stick to that.

With U.S. Ball the velocity gains are small running from 795 to 940 fps +/- in the 4 5/8 to 16" barrels.

With my standard practice load (200 gr cast over 5 gr BE) the velocities run 860 to 1037 fps +/- from the same barrels.

With a Speer 200 gr JHP over 7.5 gr Unique (well within SAAMI MAP for the 45 ACP) the velocities run 980 to 1200 fps +/- from the same barrels.

With the 200 gr Speer JHP over the 7.5 gr load we see the highest increases as the barrel length increases.

As far as handgun velocities I prefer a 5" M1911 but am more accurate with the longer sight radii of the 6" M1911 and the 10" Contender barrels. For serious social work I pretty much carry the Commander or M911. For lots of fun and a surprising amount of ammo expenditure it's hard to beat the 10" Contender barrel. All around fun and accuracy goes to the M98 conversion though......

Larry Gibson

104864

[dudel]

Handloader magazine did a story on that. They took a T/C barrel (starting at 10" IIRC), and tested the results after loping of one inch of barrel at a time.

[Recluse]

I've been toying with buying a "long slide" .45 ACP 1911 "clone" to complement my Kimber Pro (4" barrel). Before I throw $ at it I'd like to be sure it's worthwhile. You can still find 6" barrel pistols fairly readily. I believe AMT made a 7" version as well, but I've not seen one of these for sale. Anyway...Looking for data on .45 ACP vs. barrel length (Officers vs. Commander vs. Govt. vs. Long slide) if any is available. Pilgrim

http://castboolits.gunloads.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=104869&d=1400088309

Biggest spread between barrel length I have in 45ACP firearms is three-inches.

However, as Larry pointed out, I've found that powder can affect my velocity even moreso than barrel length--but when I would load with slower burning powders, I saw velocity increase noticeably out of the seven-inch (Longslide) barrel.

I had written down the chrono results somewhere--it was well before home computers were affordable. I'll do some looking and see what I can find.

:coffee:

[Outpost75]

This data courtesy of Ed Harris:


.45 ACP Ctg___MkIVWebley4"___S&W625_4"_____M1911_5"____Marlin22"_____Beretta26"

FC61Ball------------769--------------788----------------823------------not-fired------831

RA68Ball------------not-fired--------not-fired-----------845-------------895-----------940

WCC69 Ball---------not-fired--------799----------------832-------------not-fired-----844

Rem230GSHP-------764-------------801----------------855------------not-fired-----888

WCC84MatchBall----779-------------793----------------843----------- 872----------944

Speer230GDHP-----757--------------803----------------862-----------not-fired------1022

Wolf230FMJ---------697--------------717----------------752-----------not-fired------793

Speer230GD5.2BE--700--------------770----------------854----------1038--------not-fired

Cast230LFN,4.0BE--654--------------708----------------757-----------885--------not-fired

Cast230LFN,5.0BE--774--------------805----------------839-----------996--------1052

230LFN,4.4_452AA--770-------------854----------------not-fired------884-------not-fired

Cast255LFN,4.0BE--630--------------652----------------687-----------863--------917

255LFN,4.4_452AA--680-------------744----------------not-fired------884-------not-fired

[bosterr]

Here's my first hand experience with a Kimber 3" and a Kimber 5" using 4.9 gr. Red Dot. The 5" did 922 fps average for 10 shots and the 3" did 820 fps average for 10 shots. Extreme spread was identical for both, 43 fps.

[Pilgrim]

[QUOTE=bosterr;2778888]Here's my first hand experience with a Kimber 3" and a Kimber 5" using 4.9 gr. Red Dot. The 5" did 922 fps average for 10 shots and the 3" did 820 fps average for 10 shots. Extreme spread was identical for both, 43 fps.[/QUOT

xxxxxxxxxxxx

The above is roughly what I would expect. In my Kimber (4") and red dot I get ~ 900 fps. If I go to blue dot, I suspect something near 1000fps with a maximum load & heavy recoil spring. With blue dot and a 7" barrel I suspect something approaching 1100 fps would be achievable. With a heavier boolit (250 +/-) I believe the 7" would approach 950, maybe 1000 fps with a max load with the right "slow" powder. The difference between my 4" and a 7" would be on the order of 100 fps. Worth it? I'll have to think on it some more. If a long slide appears before me at a price I can afford....maybe. Thanks folks.....Pilgrim

[BD]

I tested Hydrashocks 12 years ago and posted the data to CastPics, for whatever reason its under "surplus data", .45acp BD 3", 4" and 5" new Kimbers, same day, same bore diameter, same lot of ammo, basically 50 fps per inch of barrel difference.