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[seanross]

I am new to guns and am just starting my weapon familiarization phase of training.  I am confused by the various terms for .45 ammunition.

I have found .45 ACP, .45 Auto, .45 GAP, .45-38, .45 rimfire talked about in various sources.

I think I understand the following:

.45 ACP and .45 Auto will fire in the same pistols.
.45 GAP is for certain Glock pistols and should not be fired in other .45 pistols.
.45 rimfire is a hunting round

Anyone care to confirm, deny or correct?

[machI]

.45 Automatic Colt Pistol and .45 Auto are one in the same; .45 Gap is Gaston Glock's bid for immortality by having his own cartidge; .45 Colt/Long Colt is a revolver round most common in single action revolvers; .45 rimfire is an antique concept; you will probably never see a gun or round.

[gumbey]

another thing to add. there are 2 kinds of pistol loads. they are hollowpoints (hole in the tip/more expansion/more expensive/more suited for self-defense/more recoil) and hardball ammo (flat tip/more penetration/cheaper/more suited for target practice). examples of hollowpoints are federal hydrashock, triton quickshock, remington golden saber, black talon, etc. examples of hardball ammo or full metal jacket are blazer, pmc, winchester, speer, etc. hope this helps.

[chalkieusa]

True, but the self defense loads also due more damage upon impact with soft tissue. That's the way that they were designed to act. Hollowpoints and hydrashock rounds develop a vacuum so that the wound upon exit is usally a bit bigger than the enterance point/wound if there is an exit.

The best experience that you can get with the various rounds is to shoot, shoot, and shoot! In fact, the range that you would shoot at should know you by the amount of time that you spend there.

If you want more experience, I recommend that you might want to look into the hobby of reloading. Reloading teaches you alot about bullet weights and sizes, power charges and various types of power and lets you experiment with them.

I would also recommend that you find someone who is into reloading to help you along in the beginning. Things can be a bit confusing at first, and mistakes can kill or injure you.

But, you learn alot!