The store was about to close & i had been talking to the salesman in the sporting goods dept for a few minutes. We actually shot in lanes next to each other yesterday at the outdoor range, he had pulled a box of hornady critical duty 220grain 45 auto +p & set it on the counter. Well i looked at the caliber & grain but didnt read the full description, until i got home, +p. No returns at this store, exchanges....i dont know i will call tomorrow. Has anyone ever shot +p out of their fullsize m&p 45? Manual says no,but i am curious to know if anyone has done so by mistake, & what the end result of shooting the +p gave? +P = EXTRA PRESSURE right? These rounds are 10 grain less than my target ammo which is all 230grain, but all my other defense rounds are 185grain. Will it blow my pistol to pieces? I guess i can always give them to my father in law to use in his kimber tle, but i wont anything in return beside a "thanks"

check s&w website I believe +p ammo is good to go in m&p models

It's absolutely safe to shoot, but being SD/duty ammo it was probably pretty expensive just to punch paper with.

You can keep it for home defense but it's always good to function test SD ammo due to the different bullet profiles affecting feeding on guns. There's some mixed feeling on critical duty/defense (in regards to wound performance) so give it a try, the only thing damaged will be your pocket book.

Ok thats cool, the 2 warnings in red seem like they are geared towards some wild handload, but covers a broad spectrum of liability. I see it says in the +p section it states the USE of it may call for more frequent maintence. I will shoot maybe 3 rounds & save the rest for later.

Shoot a mag through it, that way you will have some small idea that they will function from a full-> to empty mag. See where they hit, feel the recoil, how they group, you may like this load and want to use it for carry/HD. More frequent service, true if you are putting 100 rds through once a week! The gun will not know the difference with 10-20 rds. Be Safe,

__________________
I BACK OUR BLUE

Shoot it up and see how it goes. May find a new carry round. May run like **** through your gun.

Live and learn...


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I definitely want to shoot some, now that i know i can, to know where the hit & how they feel. Too bad 1 full mag is half the box. Thanks for info!

brettskywalker:

+1 to the "go ahead" crowd ....

IMHO, "+P" is really more bragging rights than anything else in .45ACP, but it definitely will wear the gun a bit.

As SD loads, it may be helpful in the winter (punching through clothing), but I don't see it worth anything else. Hit somebody with any old .45 and he's going to have a really bad day. The reason we use hollow points is to avoid un-needed penetration, as well as transferring maximum impact to the target. Clogging the hollow area with clothing doesn't help that much, but IMHO it's not all that terrible.

If you intended to buy SD ammunition, the price difference (especially these days) probably wasn't enough to get upset about, and there's really no reason not to use the stuff, but you do still have to test it.

Regards,

__________________
Stu.

You probably paid a pretty penny for that 20 round box of ammo. It is much more economical to buy in the 50 round box, although they are hard to find in a local gun store. Here is some excellent, standard pressure, SD/HD ammo that won't break the bank.

50 rd box - 45 Auto Federal HST 230 grain HP hollow point LE ammo P45HST2 | SGAmmo.com

i shoot 230 gr corbon rounds thru mine and never had a problem. i wouldnt go shooting it for fun but as a hd gun it is always loaded with these

__________________
Names Yezin M&P45 M&P Shield9

I had fired a couple or more boxes of Federal HST 230 gr. out of my full size with no known ill effects. I noticed they seemed a bit more powerful, but I've also shot 230 gr Hydra Shoks rated at standard pressure that also felt as snappy. I doubt that a box or two will hurt the gun. S&W has been warning for years not to shoot +p and +p+ yet law enforcement ignored those warnings and probably the only problems suffered were increased wear. I don't thing they'll blow up a quality pistol unless there are other underlying problems.

a heavy diet of it may speed wear, but i have and shoot this same stuff in my 1911's. i do shoot it less than i would like due to cost, but it runs great. polymer pistols are a little prone to failure, but it is way rare... unless its a .40 cal g-lock...

I doubt that the incremental difference in wear would be noticeable in 10K rounds, and I sure would not worry about it. However, I would not rely on any ammo for serious purposes without at least 500 consecutive malfunction free rounds without cleaning.

__________________
NHI, 10-8.

This is one box, right? 20 or 25 rounds, maybe 50?

The idea that you will do any damage to your firearm with this ammo is laughable.

It is good that you are concerned, but you have nothing to be concerned about with this ammo.

Whats wrong with cleaning the gun between range outings if I am going to test it with 500 rnds? Its unlikely that I would need 500 rnds in a SD situation. This is a serious question. Im not trying to be a smart-*****. I dont see why its important to not clean the gun during this trial.

with .45, +p is pretty necessary to get the 12" or greater penetration with an expanding bullet for defense. Standard pressure loads often fail to penetrate well if they expand as they should. To get the most out of .45, +p is the way to go, along with a heavier bullet in the 200+ range to give it some more cross sectional density.

I've shot a bunch of critical duty out of my m&p and it's done well with it. Recoil isn't that harsh and they put up pretty small groups. A long-term diet of +p will wear your gun faster, but in reality you're going to pay the cost of your gun many times over in ammunition costs by the time you've worn out the gun enough to rebuild or replace it. Just continue to plug through cheap fmj or get in to reloading for target, and use the +p hp's for defense. Be sure to put a lot of the hp's you plan on using for defense through your gun to ensure reliable cycling, how they feel, and where they hit.

I don't see a point in it either. I really don't clean mine at all that much anymore other than wiping everything off and a basic 5 min qtip clean. I've only done a total clean maybe twice since ive had the gun. I've also shot about at least 200-300 rounds of +p ammo through my 45fs and have had no problems. It's just expensive. Edited to add that the only thing I make sure is 100% clean after a range trip is the barrel and bore.

It's a reliability test, ensuring that the firearm and ammo are suitable for each other. A firearm of good quality (of course I am not speaking of the black powder guns etc - different maintenance paradigm) should not need to be cleaned in that period and ought to go at least twice as far with good lube applied properly. It might need lube, but not cleaning. An AR could easily go a lifetime (40K+, whenever the barrel is shot out) with only lube; I've seen the test results. If S&W says clean/lube before shooting, do that. Some manufacturers do, some don't. Wilson Combat is insistent that their pistols should be fired at least 300, preferably 500 rounds before any form of stripping/cleaning.

The testing paradigm to which I refer is advocated by Dr. Roberts, who forgets daily more than most know about duty ballistics, and I believe also by 10-8 performance (Yam and Lau). See Reliability, Round Counts, and Longevity in 1911s.

__________________
NHI, 10-8.

This article is in regards to 1911's It would not necessarly apply to an M&P. he states " Five hundred rounds is a reasonable interval at which to perform basic cleaning, lube, and maintenance on your 1911." he also says, I personally consider 1,000 rounds the standard interval that I examine for reliability and function." so thats twice as what you say. Its interesting information but its about a 1911 not how to function test a M&P. Very good reading though.

This article is in regards to 1911's It would not necessarily apply to an M&P. he states " Five hundred rounds is a reasonable interval at which to perform basic cleaning, lube, and maintenance on your 1911." he also says, I personally consider 1,000 rounds the standard interval that I examine for reliability and function." so thats twice as what you say. Its like applying test procedures of a Sig P200 to an M&P 45 FS. They just dont always apply. No reason you can not follow these recommendations but im not sure it applies to every gun or everyone. Its interesting information but its about a 1911 not how to function test a M&P. Very good reading though.

I don't have a good link to Doc Robert's stuff. FWIW, although the article is about the 1911, it is pretty generalizable. There were some good discussions on the old 10-8 forums (run by Yam and Lau, but now closed, and sadly the strings are not out there to read) about such testing, and Doc was one of the contributors. Modern Service Weapons, also from the 10-8 consulting crew, likely has some similar information and has Hilton's testing of M&P models somewhere in it. Might find some similar info on the Pistol-forums, too; Gary (Roberts) has his ballistic info there.

The audience for those places are a slightly different demographic than most forums, and from here. Many of them resemble Orwell's "rough men"; cops who have spent a lot of time fighting in rough areas, and training for the fight, and research and write accordingly. I am aware of several who are multiple gunfight winners. I am not one of those tough guys, but they provide so many data points that it is hard to justify ignoring their advice. When someone sees 500-700K rounds out of ARs every year for 20+ years while teaching for cops/mil/civilians, they get to see what does and does not work under the relevant conditions. Since most of what I needed to know about weapons was either about my LE time, or doing legal stuff related to LE functions, it was of great value for me to study these writers and the lessons they have to pass along.

__________________
NHI, 10-8.

I agree. It was a good read and informative.