Aguila makes a 117 gr .45 called the IQ. Has anyone tried them???

I bought 200 rounds cheap and in typical w-w fashion now that I have them I'm 1st asking if its any good?

FWIW the bullet looks like Aluminium.

I've shot quite a few boxes of them through my Springfield(Px9109)full size loaded model.They feed well are accurate and have a really cool thermo-nuclear looking muzzle blast when shot at dusk.The "experts/authorities"(terminology used loosely) say that penetration would be an issue as a defense round.I say would put a bad hurt on your ass if you were shot with 1 or more. They're cool but too pricey for plinking.I shoot Aguila .45ACP 230gr ball all the time and have found it to be accurate and reliable as well as reasonably clean.

I think I paid like 6.50/20...Not for plinking all the time but not terribly expensive.  

Troy,

What do you think about the Federal HydraShock 165 gr out of a 3-31/2 barrel???

AquilaIQ is one of two rounds that will not function in my USP compact.  That damn aluminum (or whateve it's composed of) bullet just sticks like a mofo halfway in the chamber.

I can't speak for Troy but I am personally not a big fan of the Hydra-Shok bullets. The Hydra-Shok is a 10-15 year old design that is behind the performance of the latest bullets. It was revoluntionary in it's day, but has been surpassed by several loads, including the Winchester Ranger 230 gr and the Speer 230 gr Gold Dot. These loads offer much more consistent expansion and will do so even through clothing. The Hydra-Shok has a history of poor performance in terms of expansion after passing through even lighter clothing. They clog and don't expand well.

Unfortunately, I am not sure that any .45 ACP loading is going to perform very well out of barrels in the 3" to 3.5" range. The 45 cartridge is just too slow and from these short barrels just doesn't reach the needed velocity to do much. I will only use a .45 in a gun with a barrel length at or above 4" for this very reason. For pistols in the size range you are talking about, the 9mm may be a better choice. The Winchester Ranger 127 gr +P+ and 147 gr standard pressure still perform reasonably well from such weapons. The Speer 124 gr +P Gold Dot is also an excellent load. Their increase in velocity over the slow .45's help them in these ultra compacts.

Again, I can't speak for Troy and I have little knowledge about the 165 gr Hydra-Shok. But based on other Hydra-Shok bullets I would highly suspect that they are not anything to write home about.

-Charging Handle

Well I guess that I'll just shoot the 200 rounds of Aguila/Federal's I own and switch.

I wanted to run a bunch the new gun anyway to break it in and test it's reliability.

According to the Michigan State Police, The IQ ammo will penetrate some older level II & IIA soft body armor.  Which makes me think the MSP needs to buy better body armor..

The only other commonly available OTC ammo that does is the Winchester 127Gn +P+ (accourding to Second Chance) and the Geco 124Gn 9mm FMJ (according to NIJ)

Can civilians get Ranger ammo? I was under the impression that Winchester designated it LEO only, though I'm not sure why.

For some good reliable ammo info on short barreled .45s check

[url]http://www.firearmstactical.com/briefs.htm[/url]

They were kind enough to test a few popular loads in a Glock 30 (3.75 inch barrel).

They seem to be pretty hot on the Remington Golden Sabre in just about all calibers.