| A Pocket Pistol With Punch: Taurus' .45 ACP PT145 | |
aurus
International Firearms is making a strong entry into the growing field of ultracompact
.45 ACP personal-defense and duty-backup pistols with its new PT145 Millennium.
Announced at the 2000 SHOT Show in Las Vegas last January, with initial U.S.
deliveries arriving mid-summer, the Model PT145 .45 ACP is only slightly larger
in size than the existing Taurus Millennium pistol models in .380, 9mm, .40
S&W, and .357 SIG chamberings and offers a complete array of operational
features plus 10+1 firepower in an extremely compact yet easy to handle package.
It is offered in three versions—the blued chrome-moly steel slide PT145B
(reviewed here), the matte stainless-slide PT145SS, and the radical titanium-slide
PT145T—all with injection-molded polymer frames.
|
SPECS
Taurus PT145 Millennium .45 ACP Semiautomatic Pistol |
|
Distributor
..Taurus International Mfg. Inc.
16175 NW. 49th Ave. Miami, FL 33255 Model ...................................................PT145 Operation ......Recoil-operated autoloader Caliber ................................................45 ACP Barrel length .............................3.27 inches Overall length ...........................6.00 inches Weight, empty ........................22.6 ounces Safety .........................Manual striker block; self-engaging firing pin block; Taurus Safety Lock Sights...........................................Low-profile three-white-dot system Sight radius ...............................5.00 inches Rifling ............................6 grooves; RH twist Stocks .................Integral molded polymer Magazine capacity .....................10 rounds Finish ................................Satin black/blued chrome-moly slide; matte black polymer frame Price .......................................................$414 |
The overall Millennium series design is impressive and offers a longer list of features and more full-size operating characteristics than any other pocket-size auto on today’s market regardless of caliber. I view it as the current state-of-the-art in compact pistol design. The pistol was initially engineered to provide a platform for the world-popular 9mm cartridge with design parameters that allowed Taurus engineers to easily adapt its basic geometry to the firing requirements of the smaller .380 Auto as well as the slightly larger diameter but same length .40 S&W and .357 SIG without dimensional changes. The decision to add the .45 ACP to the Millennium family did require some reengineering, given Taurus President Carlos Murgel’s no-compromise requirement that all pistols carrying the Millennium label have 10-round magazine capacities. The result was an alteration in the molded frame dimensions to accommodate a completely new steel-sleeve 10-round .45 ACP magazine and a slightly thicker slide.
From
the outside, the most readily seen difference between the PT145 and the other
Millennium chamberings is the interface between the magazine and the molded
grip frame whereby the molded magazine baseplate provides a conforming surface
with rest of the grip when loaded. This, coupled with the PT145’s deep-in-the-hand,
striker-fired trigger mechanism, allows full grasp by all fingers of the firing
hand in spite of an overall gun height of only 4.75 inches.
The
baseplate is not designed for removal from the magazine tube and contains the
compressed magazine spring and follower when the magazine is fully loaded with
10 rounds. Admittedly, the 10th round takes a bit of extra pressure to load
in, but there is still enough slack to allow a full 10-round magazine to be
inserted and locked without bottoming out when compressed against the underside
of the slide.
Like nearly all full-size .45 ACP pistols, the PT145 Millennium uses a rugged
recoil-operated semiauto action (as do all Millennium pistols, even the .380)
instead of the simple blowback mechan-isms found on many other pocket-size auto
pistols. The linkless barrel operates via a Browning-derived camlock ramp. There
is a full-length guide rod but no separate barrel/slide bushing. The muzzle
end of the barrel is slightly enlarged with a smaller diameter area immediately
behind to allow the breech to drop slightly during the unlock cycle without
binding. Barrel-to-slide fit is very solid when in battery, as evidenced by
the PT145’s remarkable accuracy and nonstringing group-distribution pattern,
which is consistent with all
other-caliber Millennium pistols I’ve reviewed.
Overall,
the PT145 Millennium is a true subcompact, or ultracompact, whatever current
term you choose to adopt. Its six-inch overall length will fit within the length
of an average-size hand and makes it one of the smallest handguns ever available
in .45 ACP chambering. Empty weight of the steel-slide PT145B and PT145SS versions
is only 22.6 ounces while the titanium-slide PT145T weighs a startling 17.3
ounces. Barrel length is 3.27 inches, which offers a functional five-inch sight
radius.
The
standard-issue PT145 sights are also notably more well thought out than the
typical pocket pistol. The top of the slide has a slightly recessed, wide, flat
sighting plane, which holds a staked-in, semi-Patridge, white-dot front blade
and a screwed-on, wedge-profile, square-notch, two-white-dot rear sight (similar
in basic shape to the popular concealment/duty sight designs of Wayne Novak
and Richard Heinie). The sight designers were also smart enough to make the
white dot in the front blade a slightly larger diameter than the two dots by
the rear notch, so when you actually use them all three dots look exactly the
same size to your eye. These are real sights, not just pointing guides.
The
striker-fired PT145 Millennium action operates in double-action-only (DAO) mode
(same as all other Millennium chamberings) and fires only by a consistent and
repeatable long pull on the trigger, instead of the first-long, afterward-short
trigger pull that is typical of conventional DA autoloader designs. The trigger
pull on the review PT145 pistol was smooth and light, taking up at initially
zero weight and stacking smoothly through .499 inches of travel to a 8.364-pound
letoff, according to my Dvorak Instruments computerized TriggerScan instrument.
Also
noteworthy is that the Millennium action design is completely trigger-activated
and requires no preloading of the firing mechanism. In other words, the Millennium
pistol does not require any rearward movement of the slide to preset the striker
springs or sear (unlike many other striker-fired DAO designs like those from
Glock, S&W, Kahr, and others). Thus, all Millennium versions have repeat-strike
capability, allowing a second trigger pull against any misfire without having
to manually cycle the slide to reset the trigger action. I view this as a critically
important feature for any civilian-use personal-defense autoloader design, as
it takes extensive training to instill a professional’s tap-rack-bang response
to a misfired cartridge, and at least 80 percent of all factory ammo misfires
do ignite on a second strike.
Additional
PT145 features seldom found on ultracompact DAO pistol designs include a manual
sear-block safety, located where safeties are customarily found—on the
left rear of the frame—and operate conventionally: up for “Safe,”
down for “Fire.” Manual safeties on hammerless DAO pocket pistols
are rare, but in the absence of a “safety trigger” mechanism such
as found on Glocks and S&W Sigmas, it’s not a bad hedge against accidental
discharge from a dropped gun. Of course, the gun also has a self-engaging firing
pin block that requires the trigger to be moved all the way to the rear for
release. The PT145 DAO also has a manual safety, and Taurus has also put a slide-mounted
version of its key-operated Safety Lock to the PT145 (and the entire Millennium
series), with a quarter-turn rotation that completely freezes the firing pin
and deactivates the gun until unlocked. Any integrated locking system is markedly
superior to any type of removable “trigger lock” and fully answers
all concerns presently at issue in the legislative and product-regulation world
regarding safe firearms storage. With three separate and completely independent
layers of safety, the Millenniums are unique among ultracompact personal-defense
pistols with the instant-safe-ready mechanism of DAO trigger, a manual safety
lever, and an integrated key lock.
|
Taurus
.45 ACP PT145 Performance Results
|
|||
| Factory Load |
Muzzle
Velocity
(fps) |
Standard
Deviation
(fps) |
50-Foot
Accuracy (Inches) |
|
Federal
165-gr. Personal Defense
|
999
|
12
|
1.88
|
|
Hornady
185-gr. HP/XTP
|
815
|
9
|
2.25
|
|
Remington
185-gr. +P Golden Saber
|
1021
|
13
|
2.13
|
|
CCI
Blazer 200-gr. TMJ Combat Match
|
880
|
11
|
2.63
|
|
PMC
230-gr. Starfire
|
771
|
8
|
2.50
|
|
Winchester
230-gr. SXT
|
825
|
22
|
2.00
|
|
Overall
average accuracy
|
2.23
|
||
|
NOTES: Accuracy is the average of five 10-shot groups fired from a sandbag benchrest at 50 feet. Velocity is the average of 10 rounds measured 10 feet from the gun’s muzzle. |
|||
The
PT145 also has a conventionally located, easily thumb-reachable slide release
lever on the left side of the frame, and it holds the slide to the rear after
the last round in a magazine is fired. The magazine release button is positioned
directly behind the trigger guard on the left side, Model 1911-style, and a
push on the button drops the magazine free of the frame. The PT145 magazines
are steel, which eliminates full-load “bulge” and cuts down on grip
size. The molded polymer, hump-backed grip frame is textured and grooved for
secure grasp and tucks very comfortably into the cup of the palm. The trigger
guard is mildly hooked and textured for two-hand shooting.
To
disassembe the PT145 you merely remove the magazine, clear and visually inspect
the chamber, lock back the slide, rotate and pluck free the simple takedown
lever on the left side of the frame, then withdraw the slide/barrel and dual
spring/ recoil-guide assembly forward off the frame.
With
all my talk about the PT145’s feature-laden design, I should also mention
that there’s one feature I’m very glad it does not have—a magazine
disconnect (a device which renders the gun unable to fire with magazine removed).
Magazine disconnect safeties are becoming more common on more makes and models
of auto pistols of all sizes and chamberings these days as manufacturers continue
to try to evade avaricious liability lawyers by manufacturing guns that are
more and more difficult to actually get to fire. Well, sorry. If I ever lose
or damage a magazine in a crisis situation, I still want to be able to fire
my gun as long as I can get a round into the chamber—even by manually single-loading
if I have to. The PT145 will let me.
For
my performance evaluation of the steel-slide review sample PT145B, I selected
six different brands and bullet configurations of commercial .45 ACP ammunition
and fired all for accuracy at 50 feet (50 feet is the street-width target distance
I view as most appropriate for the shorter sight radius of ultracompact carry
pistols). Full results are listed in the chart, but I must tell you that the
PT145 is a shooter! The all-fingers grip design makes it as comfortable and
controllable in the hand as any full-size .45, and it ate everything I fed it
without a single hiccup. Accurate, reliable, lightweight, comfortable to shoot,
fully featured, and economical in price. Any member of the .45 ACP cartridges
legion of believers who is looking for a topnotch personal-defense pistol for
concealed carry is going to find the new Taurus PT145 very hard to pass up.
This article was originally published in Shooting Times magazine in December, 2000.
