The PT145's manual safety, slide release and magazine release are all easily accessible and unobtrusive.

To a whole lot of folks, the Taurus Millennium Pro PT 145 could easily serve as an answer to the eternal question, "What's the perfect defensive handgun?" It's compact (overall length: six inches), lightweight (an unloaded 23 1/2 ounces), powerful (.45 ACP), simple to operate (double-action-only) and can go a ways without refueling (magazine capacity: 10+1).

This medium-framed polymer/steel Taurus has excellent sights that are screwed in instead of simply dovetailed in deference to the gun's substantial power-to-weight ratio. (For about $70 more, you can get night sights.) The checkered polymer grip is quite comfortable, ergonomically speaking; it's "slimlined" enough so that the double-stack configuration doesn't create any problems for the small-handed. It's got a manual safety, a firing pin block, trigger block plus the company's integral key-locking system. The manual safety is easy to access with the thumb and relatively unobtrusive. In fact, the entire gun is virtually snag-less.

I was anxious to shoot it, particularly since we'd gotten in some of Taurus' new high performance .45 ACP ammo featuring a 185-grain pure (virtually)copper Hex bullet. I also rounded up some Black Hills "Blue Box" 200-grain SWC, Winchester Supreme 230-grain SXT, PMC 230-grain FMJ and Norma 200-grain molycoated JHP.

At first I ran several magazines full of hardball through the gun, shooting at assorted gongs and such to get the feel of things. I was surprised at how manageable the PT 145 is--certainly a lot less rugged to shoot than a medium-frame wheelgun stoked with .357s. I'd hesitate to use the term "soft-shooting" with any 23 1/2-ounce .45, but the PT 145 seemed pretty close to that ideal. Fatigue certainly set in after 50 or 60 rounds or so, but this isn't the kind of .45 designed for lengthy shooting sessions.

When I began shooting the usual 25-yard groups, however, my sample gun's long, seven-pound-plus DAO trigger proved, for me, tough to manage. And my point of impact was considerably low with most everything I ran through the gun, with the exception of the 200-grain Black Hills SWC stuff, which came pretty close to hitting the top of the front sight. From a standpoint of group size, it was also the best performer at that range, delivering groups in the 3 1/2- to four-inch range.

At the first line break, I dragged my target frame back to a more sensible (in terms of the gun's purpose) 12 yards. At that distance, the new Taurus ammo proved capable of acceptable--not remarkable--accuracy, although not up to what the heavier Winchester 230-grain SXT delivered. The PMC 230-grain hardball and the hot Norma 200-grain JHPs were disappointing, running around five inches or so.

Functioning was perfect with everything I ran through the gun. With a conventional single-action trigger setup and a longer sight radius, of course, I could have probably done better. But with those things, the PT 145 wouldn't be what it is, which is an extremely compact, no-nonsense tool.

In terms of power, simplicity and size, the Taurus PT 145 has to be ranked near the top of the list of concealed-carry big-bore autos.