(July 12, 2005)I took my new PT145 to a quiet area in the country and shot it a little bit this afternoon. I can't afford lots of ammo, so I shot 40 rounds of S and B 230 grain FMJ, and ten rounds of Winchester SXT JHP, also 230 grains. (Both have been clocked at about 800 fps from a short barrel.)
There were no failures of any sort.
The black metal magazines are easy to load to their full 10 round capacity. I use a little plastic MagLoader on my thumb. When a full magazine is firmly inserted in the PT145 with the slide open from the last shot of the previous magazine, the slide springs forward, stripping off the top round, and chambering it, quick and easy. No problems.
I shot at 5, 7 and 10 yards. Even at 10 yards I was able to shoot a two inch group of five, taking my time. The sights are easy to see, and the PT145 shoots accurately to the point of aim. I shot ten rounds as fast as I could pull the trigger at five yards, and hit my 10 inch square target with every round. Recoil was no big deal. The grip on the PT145 is very user friendly.
Altogether I shot 40 rounds of S and B hardball, and 10 rounds of Winchester self-defense ammo. I know that is not a lot of shooting, but there were absolutely no problems, and I feel good about this firearm. The gun ejected the brass casings about fifteen feet to the right. I examined a dozen or so, and none was bent or deformed. The firing pin indentation was exactly in the middle of each primer, clear and sharp. There was a slight scratch on the side of each case, I suppose from the ejector.
When I got home from the range I field stripped the gun and cleaned it with Hoppes #9. It cleaned up good, and the feed ramp still shines like a mirror. Dis-assembly and assembly is straight-forward and easy to do without any tools whatsoever.
UPDATE: (July 21, 2005) Got a chance to go shooting again today at a private range a few miles away with a friend of mine. Shot Winchester SXT (230 grain), Federal Hydrashok (165 grain), and Winchester ValuPak FMJ (230 grain). No failures to feed, fire extract, etc. Every round shot well. Also, the gun shoots straight. I was easily shooting four inch groups of ten at 7 yards, which is good for me. I tried it at 25 yards (which is an awful distance!), and had 20% hits on my 8 inch target. I was surprised I hit the paper at all! Anyway, my conclusion is that the Taurus Mil Pro PT145 is a pretty nice gun!
September 10, 2005 UPDATE: I have been curious about the velocities of bullets fired from a short-barrel .45, such as the PT145, and found the following information in a review of a Kimber pistol with a three inch barrel. The barrel of the PT145 is just a tad longer than three inches, so these figures should be accurate for the PT145, too:
GUNBLAST.COM got the following ballistic results in the PT145 Mil Pro:
"A variety of ammunition was used in testing the PT-145. The abbreviated barrel still provided good velocity readings from the ammunition tested, and all ammo functioned perfectly in the little pistol. The feed ramp to the chamber is polished like a mirror, provided smooth feeding from the magazine. The ammunition tested was fired over the sky screens of a PACT chronograph set up at ten feet from the muzzle, with the results as follows:
Ammunition.........................Velocity (FPS)
Cor-Bon 165 grain +P Hollowpoint...... 1121
Cor-Bon 200 grain +P Hollowpoint...... 966
Cor-Bon 230 grain +P Hollowpoint...... 867
Cor-Bon 165 grain +P PowRBall....... 1051
Speer 185 grain Gold Dot Hollowpoint (.45 GAP).... 891
WCC US Military 230 grain Ball...... 701
"Note that the Speer ammo tested is the short .45 GAP cartridge, which this pistol is not meant to use. I tested it out of curiosity, and it functioned perfectly through the Taurus. The high performance Cor-Bon ammo grouped five shots within two and one-half inches with every variety tried, at a range of twenty-five yards. This is very good combat accuracy from a compact pistol. I also ran some hand loaded 200 grain lead semi-wadcutter ammo through the Taurus, and it would group five rounds into one and one-quarter inches from a rested position at twenty-five yards. This is excellent accuracy from this little pistol, much better than many full sized target pistols. The accuracy was no doubt helped greatly by the smooth trigger pull."
Informative Discussion of Various .45 ammo from a "short barrel"
My Most recent range report: November 2, 2006.........
I went to Prentice Cooper Range near Chattanooga, and shot about 170-180 rounds to test the reliability of my PT145 Mil Pro. I began by shooting 11 rounds of Corbon, 185 grain, +P, hollow points, without incident. I then shot 50 Winchester White Box (ValuPak), the cheap brand from Walmart. Towards the end of the 50 rounds, there were 2 rounds that nose-dived, and wouldn't chamber. This was easily fixed by racking the gun for those 2 rounds. I then continued and shot 100 rounds of WWB ValuPak without incident, except towards the end of those 100 rounds there was one nose dive, again easily fixed by racking the slide. I then shot another 10 rounds of Corbon 185 grain +P hollow points, without problems. CONCLUSION: The PT145 Mil Pro is reliable. I believe that the three nose-dives are attributable to cheap low-powered ammo. The WWB generally cycles OK, however, once in a while there is a particularly weak round that just doesn't have the "oomph" to fully cycle the slide. The WWB is fine for target practice, with an easy recoil, but is not quite reliable enough to carry for self-defense. I believe the Corbon +P cartridges will be fine.