Interesting comment in Lyman reloading manual

[ghbucky01]

My Lyman reloading manual has an interesting comment about the 45ACP cartridge:

The 45 ACP has long been one of the most accurate and popular pistol cartridges around and shows no sign of slowing down despite its age. It is not however a cartridge that one can shoot once or twice a year and remain proficient with.

Is there a cartridge out there that you can be proficient with when you only shoot a couple times a year? I want to know what it is!

[40-82]

If the writer thought about the implications of what he said, he would have edited his remark. We all make mistakes like that sooner or later.

[Mike Irwin]

Think about it.

You know what he's saying, but it's not said particularly well.

[marine6680]

If I am reading the intent properly...

Just because the round has good accuracy potential, does not mean you will shoot it well with little practice.

[Mike Irwin]

Exactly. The more powerful a round is, the less well people are going to shoot it after protracted absences.

[Magnum Wheel Man]

can also be the likely gun fired... I'll admit I can't shoot a Colt 45 worth a darn...

put the cartridge in a revolver & I'm good to go, even my old Ruger P-90 shoots better groups out of my hand, than my custom series 70 Colt...

I know its practice with that platform... but the Ruger didn't take the same learning curve

[marine6680]

Weird...

For me, even though I don't shoot 1911s often... I am very accurate with them.

My friend bought a s&w 1911 about 6-7 years ago. He fired the first mag through and didn't group well at all. I fired the next mag and made a nice ragged hole. Every shot I made it was like I couldn't miss. I think the soda can at 25yds that I hit without much effort and he missed several times irked him... He was showing off the pistol to a few other friends.

He got better with it, but it aggravated him to be shown up with his own gun for a few weeks. But he didn't take it too bad, as long as we knew each other.

[gyvel]

And he used a preposition to end a sentence with.

Oops.

[coldbeer]

I agree 100 percent with what was written in the Lyman manual. I know it's an accurate cartridge because I've seen people do amazing things with it. Unfortunately I can't shoot a 1911 for the life of me.

[jrothWA]

ALL cartridges.

Jeff Cooper endorsed the.45ACP, but when needed he also packed a snub nose when a .45 was too inconvenient.

It doesn't matter what you use, as long as they are PLACED correctly.

[JohnKSa]

That is a truism for ...

ALL cartridges.

I can maintain proficiency with a .22LR revolver through dryfiring alone because recoil recovery is a non-issue. The same is not true of a cartridge that generates any significant level of recoil.

I would go so far as to say that the statement is true (to varying degrees) for cartridges that generate any significant level of recoil. However, it is certainly true that the more recoil a cartridge generates in commonly used platforms, the more range work will be required to master it and maintain proficiency.

[serf 'rett]

Is there a cartridge out there that you can be proficient with when you only shoot a couple times a year? I want to know what it is!

My first thought was a .22. Don't shoot my .22 pistol but a few times a year, but don't appear to have a problem when I do. Perhaps some of the skill set formed by shooting larger calibers (9mm, 40S&W, 45 Auto) on a semi regular basis makes the dinky .22 easy to shoot. Stepping down to smaller calibers isn't the same as going bigger.