I live in an apartment and am next to others on 4 sides. It's an older building with pretty substantial plaster walls. I have two 1911s (full and Comdr) and two Sig 9mm (P239 and P228). I am using the Sig 239 loaded with the Federal Expanding Full Metal jacket (EFMJ) 105 gr. as my primary apartment gun and have my Colt Comdr loaded with Win. Silvertip 185 gr. as backup.

My primary concern is with over-penetration. I like my neighbors;-) What do other use in similar apartment situations?

Thanks,
Panos

Panos,

I think your choice of the Winchester Silvertip 185 grainer is an excellent one. That's the same load I use in my GI 1911A1 nightstand pistol. I live in a mobile home in a court with neighbors all around.

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May You Be In Heaven A Half Hour Before The Devil Knows You're Dead

I'd go with 147 JHP on the 9 and 225/230 Gold Dot on the ACP. With handguns more mass is better and since you reload you can load for velocities that are within safe chamber pressures.

Bob

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NRA Life Member since '67

"Never interrupt your enemy when he's making a mistake."
Napoleon

I too live in an apartment, and I also use the 1911 as the defence gun. I top my mags with three rounds of "Blue" 145gr Glasser safety slugs. They 're expensive, but I'd don't want a stray or pass-through to kill anyone.

I just top the mags off cause I figure if the first three rounds don't to the job I may need somthing a bit heavier...like 10 HydraShocks.

By then I'm sure the neighbors have already hit the dirt.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I have a few more options now.
Panos

Thor, I liked that response. When I lived in an apartment, I kept a shotgun loaded with number 7 1/2 shot. The walls were so thin I figured anything with more energy than the plates the neighbors wife would throw might go right through the wall. Now I'm in a house and that worry is gone, as is the sounds of breaking plates at all hours. (not to mention the yelling and all)

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Lynnie, "Nobody realizes that some people expend tremendous energy merely to be normal. "
- Albert Camus

I also like Thor's suggestion. I was going to suggest looking into "frangible" ammo, but I have no first-hand experience with any of the various types available so I would not know which to recommend. As to the "substantial" plaster walls -- I doubt they would do much more than slow down a hollow point, unless you got lucky and happened to hit one of the 2x4s in the cavity. Some apartment buildings have a masonry wall between units, and that would be more effective in stopping a real bullet, but unless you know that's what your building has, don't count on it.

A couple of months ago one of the magazines ran an article on penetration by a guy who set up some dummy partitions at his private range. He called it "the box of truth." If you can figure out how your walls are built, it might be a useful experiment to construct a small section the same way and shoot at it with a few different JHP rounds to see what happens.

As for a mobile home -- I don't think the walls of one of those would even slow down a JHP round out of a .45.

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Hawkmoon
On a good day, can hit the broad side of a barn ... from the inside

Here's a pic of a 45 230gr Gold Dot that went thru a motel wall (2 pieces of sheet-rock) and clipped a wood stud;





Wouldn't want to be on the receiving end.

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If it isn't durable, it isn't reliable.

I use a Remington 1100, 20 gauge loaded with #6. I live in one of the highest crime rate areas in Indy and hear gunshots every night. I have also seen what pistol calibers can do in apartment walls. Get yourself a shotty and be safe!

I understand from your post on another forum that, unfortunatly, somebody was