Compact .45auto for CCW

[newyork]

Nice looking set up and write up.

[DHart]

Nice rundown and pics. I really want to like a G30, but the grip just does not fit my hands comfortably (grip is too large). I recently bought a PPQ 45 and love it, bu it's just too large to CC for me. I was looking at the new .45 Shield, but and also going to take another look at the 45C based on your experience and excellent post. Thanks!

Buzz... the G30 is a great gun and I like mine very much, but the grip on the M&P45C is SO very much nicer that I'll pick the 45C over the G30 every time.

By replacing the sear and striker block, the trigger is so nice and light on my 45C that I almost want to beef it back up a little. It's great for target shooting at 4.5#, but I wouldn't mind it being a little heavier for carry duty, perhaps 5# to 5.5#.

In future, I would consider only replacing the sear or the striker block, not necessarily both at the same time. Then shooting for a few hundred rounds before deciding that both parts need replacing. The trigger was too heavy right out of the box. But a really light trigger is almost as bad, with a carry gun.

In the adrenalized flurry of a defensive situation, the difference between 4.5# and 5.5# is nothing. Wouldn't even be noticed. But 8+ lbs is too much. The most common complaint with the M&P45s is that the trigger is heavy, but that is so easily remedied that it's really a non-issue. It is inexpensive and simple to get a great trigger on these guns.

Personally, I think the 45C is nearly as easy to conceal and carry as the Shield 45, and is a better choice due to longer barrel (improved ballistics), longer sighting radius (easier to shoot accurately at distances), better controllability due to a little more size & weight (45auto is a stout caliber, especially noticeable as the guns get smaller and smaller), has more capacity (9 to 11 rounds), and disperses the recoil out around the palm better and more widely than the thin back strap of the Shield does. In a gun as small as the Shield is getting, I think 9mm is a better choice all around, for a variety of reasons.

[DHart]

Nice looking set up and write up.

Thanks, newyork. Glad you stopped by.

[newyork]

My current carry is similar to your thoughts.

[DHart]

My current carry is similar to your thoughts.

Yes, very much in the same vein. Nice choice.

[Hern13]

I've had a lot of lucky with my HK 45C in an OTG HEX holster. I carry it AIWB on days I don't carry my G19 and they're roughly the same size.

[Nra-Life-Member]

The HK USPc 45 is my choice. If I decided on full size, its the Sig P220.

[newyork]

Mine is in a JM Custom "George " aiwb holster

[Averageman]

I can't say that I am most accurate with my 45C over all of my other pistols, but plenty accurate for sure. And, yes, the 45C carries almost effortlessly. I love it.

I dug mine out of the safe again after about a year of sitting in there without any attention. It's a damn fine pistol and intend to carry it over my G-26 now.

[DHart]

I dug mine out of the safe again after about a year of sitting in there without any attention. It's a damn fine pistol and intend to carry it over my G-26 now.

I too let my M&P45C languish in the safe for a while during a period. Then at some point I got back to it, put on a set of Talon rubber grips, did some more shooting with it and all of a sudden I totally realized what an exceptional pistol this is. It is by far my favorite carry .45auto, just like this with the flat magazine base pad:



I would buy another one in a heartbeat if anything happened to this one. It is plenty compact without shrinking down into the realm of what would be, for me, undesirably small for a .45auto pistol. Excellent controllability for rapid fire, 4" barrel for terminal ballistics, and decent capacity for a small .45auto. And when using the full-size mag, 10+1=11 rounds on tap. Not bad at all for a compact .45.

When I handle my G30 now, I just wish to get back to the M&P45C. Not that the G30 isn't a great pistol, but the grip on the M&P45C (made even more wonderful by the rubber Talons) is so far superior to the Glock grip that I'm not a fan of the G30 anymore.