Home › Browse Calibers › .45 Win. Mag.
Common uses: Hunting, Self-Defense
| Type | pistol (centerfire) |
| Typical load | 230gr Underwood eXtreme Terminal Performance (XTP) |
| Muzzle velocity | 1600 fps |
| Muzzle energy | 1308 ft-lb |
| Published G1 ballistic coefficient | 0.188 |
| Case length | 30.1 mm |
| Overall length | 32.5 mm |
| Range (yd) | Velocity (fps) | Energy (ft-lb) | Drop (in) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 1600 | 1307 | -1.5 |
| 50 | 1433 | 1049 | 0.5 |
| 100 | 1288 | 848 | -1.7 |
| 150 | 1170 | 699 | -9.1 |
A retained-energy reference only — not a shoot/don't-shoot distance. Real effective range depends on your accuracy, shot placement, bullet construction, and conditions. The ~1,000 ft-lb (deer-sized) and ~1,500 ft-lb (elk-sized) figures are commonly cited rules of thumb, not standards.
Your barrel, ammunition lot, and conditions will differ — always verify against the manufacturer's data and your own firearm.
The .45 Winchester Magnum is a big-bore magnum pistol cartridge built for handgun hunting and metallic silhouette shooting, delivering substantially more velocity and energy than the .45 ACP it derives from. Firing heavy .451-inch bullets at magnum speeds, it hits hard at moderate handgun ranges and has the power to take deer-sized game and other medium game. Its practical drawbacks have always been the scarcity of firearms chambered for it and stout recoil, which kept it a niche choice rather than a mainstream option. Today it survives mostly among specialty and single-shot handgun enthusiasts and handloaders, with limited factory ammunition available. While self-defense is sometimes listed among its uses, its size, recoil, and the platforms it lives in make it far more a hunting and sport cartridge than a carry round.
Introduced by Winchester in 1979, the .45 Winchester Magnum is essentially a lengthened and strengthened .45 ACP case, with a thicker web to contain much higher operating pressures. It was developed to power a new generation of large semi-automatic handguns, most notably the gas-operated Wildey and the LAR Grizzly Win Mag, and later saw use in the Thompson/Center Contender and Freedom Arms revolvers. The round never achieved wide commercial success, largely because the guns chambered for it were produced in limited and intermittent numbers.
Run this cartridge in the ballistic calculator · Compare it against another cartridge · How this data is produced