Whats the deal with the .45 G.A.P.

[parishioner]

I remember reading an article years ago about this cartridge and how it refined the .45 and I think Glock was making the pistols for it and still is making them for the round. I haven't heard of anyone using it though. I imagine the ammo would be expensive and difficult to find especially since it isnt popular.

What is the story behind the G.A.P. and why did it never catch on? Im going to assume it didnt offer any significant improvement over the .45 for people to switch.

[matthewdanger]

Last I heard there were a few large departments who were issuing them (or maybe just allowing them as an option). I never really understood the need for the .45 GAP in the first place.

[RogerinTPA]

It was Glock who developed the round (Glock Automatic Pistol) to fit in a gun that was similar in size to their 9/40 platforms, to appeal to those who might want a more concealable pistol, without sacrificing firepower of the ACP. A marketing gimmick for an unnecessary round to fill a perceived gap/nitch, that wasn't there.

[tpd223]

Think about when this popped up; during the ban.

Having ten rounds of .45 in the same size gun as a 9mm made sense, especially since you couldn't buy any new 17 round mags for your 9mm.

NY and Penn State Police have both adopted the GAP, due to flawed logic IMHO, but whatever.

[apache64]

Flawed logic? What a nice way to say another dumb decision. As a proud member of one of the large agencies with the GAP, Glock 21 SF, 13 + 1 rounds of .45 ACP was available, with holsters on the market. Let us pick a Glock with lower capacity, poor holster selection and difficult to find ammo. By the way, the magic charts put it closer to a .40 S&W. OK, why not the Glock 22 which has 15 + 1 capacity, ammo everywhere, including P&S, and holsters galore. By the way, if anybody on our dept. owned a Glock previously, most likely it was a Glock 27. Mag compatibility for backups.

Whatever. Sorry for the slight rant. G37 is a nice gun to shoot and it is a Glock, but it doesn't make sense.

Hopefully, Glock will make the interchangeable grips so that everyone can finally be at peace and make their gun fit their hands.

[CoryCop25]

The .45 GAP had flopped due to poor ammunition issues. Winchester has addressed those issues and now the GAP is a formidable cartridge. The Pennsylvania State Police adopted the GAP about 2 years ago. Not too up to date on any of their officer involved shootings with it but I know the one shootings in my area was very effective to say the least. Unfortunately we did loose a Trooper in this incident, he did manage to hit the bad guy three times after receiving a fatal hit to the neck. His partner added five more rounds to the assailant after taking one to the arm and the other officers on scene rescued the 9 year old hostage. Although the brass of the PSP are known for making bad decisions ( poor vehicle emergency lighting, not enough troopers on the interstates) the .45GAP was chosen because it put a large caliber round comfortably in the hands of all their Troopers male or female, big or small hands. I believe they are carrying the Speer Gold Dot 200 grain round which has the exact same ballistics as the old 200 grain .45 ACP flying ashtray that was the leading .45 ACP law enforcement round.

[HK45]

Yup. You just saved me a post. The only thing I would add is that GAP owners tend to be very defensive about their choice!

It was Glock who developed the round (Glock Automatic Pistol) to fit in a gun that was similar in size to their 9/40 platforms, to appeal to those who might want a more concealable pistol, without sacrificing firepower of the ACP. A marketing gimmick for an unnecessary round to fill a perceived gap/nitch, that wasn't there.