[Jeff Higgins]

I just finished reading Layne Simpson's article on this cartridge in this month's Handloader. While I pride myself in knocking around in the nether reaches and dark corners of the shooting world, I quite honestly had never heard of this round. And, well, reading about it kind of concerns me.

It is exactly what its name implies - a high performance .45 caliber pistol cartridge in the same vein as the old .38 Super. Like the .38 Super, it operates at much higher pressures than its parent chambering, the venerable .45 ACP. Except, unlike the .38 Super vs its parent, the .380 ACP, it is the exact same length as the .45 ACP. Which means it will chamber in any pistol that will chamber .45 ACP.

This is not good. This is really not good. Pistols meant for this .45 Super must feature the "fully supported chamber" design wherein the entire feed ramp is integral to the barrel. "Standard" 1911's have a split feed ramp, with the bottom half being the top front of the mag well (part of the frame), and the other half being in the bottom of the rear of the barrel.

This "split ramp" design leaves a good deal of the web area on the cartridge case unsupported. High pressure rounds will blow this part of the case out, usually blowing the magazine out through the bottom, splitting the frame and grip, severely injuring the shooter's hand. This happened far too often when guys were loading the bejeezus out of their .38 Supers and 9 x 21 mm's in an effort to "make major" in IPSC competition. A lot of guys got hurt before they went to fully supported chambers. The goodness that came out of this, fully supported chambers for the .38 Super and 9 x 21, worked in a large part because these two rounds are too long to fit 9mm Luger (9 x 19 mm) chambers. This .45 Super, however, does not utilize this principle, so anyone with a standard .45 ACP can inadvertently chamber and try to fire one.

This same principle has been in use in the revolver world, with the .38 and .44 Specials and their respective magnums, the .357 Mag and .44 Mag. It's a proven concept - add some case length to the higher pressure round to preclude its use in unsuitable guns. Why anyone, in this day and age, would elect not to do anything like this in the case of this .45 Super baffles me. And I want nothing to do with it...