How much pistol brass do you need?

mosinmaster

mosinmaster

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Looking at buying some Norc .45 and then reloading it. Should I just get 500 rounds and reload it, or is 1000 rounds necessary? How long can 500 rounds of .45 acp norinco brass last? As in how many firings per brass casing?
 
Pistol brass lasts a long time. Low pressures don't work the brass much. Not a huge savings reloading for 45 but it is a little cheaper.
 
Yeah, it's more like since the Norinco is drying up I'd like to get some to shoot which will last me a long time, and then just start reloading in a couple years when it's all shot up, and by that time, components will be more expensive and ammo prices will probably go up due to inflation etc.

Also how does the brass compare to say American Eagle or the higher end stuff?

How much does it cost to reload an equivalent load of .45 ACP today? It's about .45 cents for each shot of Norinco.
 
i don't feel comfortable with less than 3000 of each caliber 5-8000 is better but that's me.

as for costs i can reload 45acp with lead at around $14.20 / 100 or $7.10 per box - that's the cheapest .45 i can find lol
 
Between loaded and empty cases I would guess I have about 2k. I always bring back a tiny bit more then what I bring unless I get lucky and shoot next to a trigger happy non reloader shooting 45.

For cast bullets I'm at $6 for a box of 50 give or take, plated brings it up to $10 I think.
 
It depends on how much time you want to spend looking for it :) I have about 2200 45 brass at the moment. Next time I go to the range, I'll shoot 200 rounds, and pick up on average about 180 brass. If i spent an extra hour scourign the landscape for those 20 pieces, i would never need more than 200 brass. As there are much better things I can think of doing with an hour of my time (like reloading some of the brass that I DID recover), it's a good trade off for me. Similarly, I have about 700 38SPL brass, and never lose ANY. Though after 15 or 20 firings they can crack, get loose primer pockets, etc, and I'll toss a few.

There's no real cut and dry answer, but IMO there is no such thing as too much. There IS such a thing as not enough.

You guys got me to thinking, and I worked this out:

Powder: Alliant Red Dot $25/lb (skeet club buys bulk)
Primers: CCI Lg Pistol $50/1000 (primers are expensive here)
Bullets: Cast 230gr tumble lube $30/4500 (20 bucks for a bucket of wheel weights equals out to about 150lbs of ingots and 10 bucks for lube)
Brass: Norc Brass $70/1000 (average 10 firings)

Powder Charge 4.2gr

Price per 1000: $77 even. Plus countless hours of melting/fluxing/casting/lubing/polishing/trimming/charging/seating/crimping ETC :)
 
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Yeah I know what you mean, I'm always watching where my brass flies off to, but it's not convenient to go pick it up when it rolls under the bench of the guy next to you trying to sight in this 338 Lapua mag and the concussion of his muzzle brake stops you from venturing closer.

Revolvers are nice that way :)
 
Collint2005 said:
Pistol brass lasts a long time. Low pressures don't work the brass much.
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+1. I have .45ACP brass that has the headstamp peened smooth and they are still good to go. Just about the only brass attrition is due to losing some in the grass at the edge of the range.


Collint2005 said:
Not a huge savings reloading for 45 but it is a little cheaper.
Click to expand...

You must reload differently than I do, I save a bunch on reloaded ammo.


OP, I try to have at least 3000 pieces of brass in the calibers I shoot regularly.


Mark
 
I don't have casting equipment. It probably would be a lot cheaper that way. I always buy jacketed bullets too. Can you get cast bullets at cabelas or wholesale? Never see any on their websites. How long does it take to make 1000 cast bullets once you have the ingots? Just curious.
 
Collint2005 said:
I don't have casting equipment. It probably would be a lot cheaper that way. I always buy jacketed bullets too. Can you get cast bullets at cabelas or wholesale? Never see any on their websites. How long does it take to make 1000 cast bullets once you have the ingots? Just curious.
Click to expand...

There is your problem, buy plated and you will get your prices down.

As for casting if your using a 6 cavity mold maybe 2 hours.
 
Collint2005 said:
Pistol brass lasts a long time. Low pressures don't work the brass much. Not a huge savings reloading for 45 but it is a little cheaper.
Click to expand...

LOL, your kidding right?? 45 ACP is about the best reason to get into reloading. 45ACP provides the biggest return on investment for your reloading equipment. I'm paying $3.25/box of 50 reloads using cast lead projectiles, that $65/1000 rounds ready to shoot. If I BUY commercial bullets and load them it cost me $8/box of 50, that's still 3x cheaper than the cheapest shelf ammo and 1/2 the price of Norinco crap.

mwjones said:
It depends on how much time you want to spend looking for it :) I have about 2200 45 brass at the moment. Next time I go to the range, I'll shoot 200 rounds, and pick up on average about 180 brass. If i spent an extra hour scourign the landscape for those 20 pieces, i would never need more than 200 brass. As there are much better things I can think of doing with an hour of my time (like reloading some of the brass that I DID recover), it's a good trade off for me. Similarly, I have about 700 38SPL brass, and never lose ANY. Though after 15 or 20 firings they can crack, get loose primer pockets, etc, and I'll toss a few.

There's no real cut and dry answer, but IMO there is no such thing as too much. There IS such a thing as not enough.

You guys got me to thinking, and I worked this out:

Powder: Alliant Red Dot $25/lb (skeet club buys bulk)
Primers: CCI Lg Pistol $50/1000 (primers are expensive here)
Bullets: Cast 230gr tumble lube $30/4500 (20 bucks for a bucket of wheel weights equals out to about 150lbs of ingots and 10 bucks for lube)
Brass: Norc Brass $70/1000 (average 10 firings)

Powder Charge 4.2gr

Price per 1000: $77 even. Plus countless hours of melting/fluxing/casting/lubing/polishing/trimming/charging/seating/crimping ETC :)
Click to expand...

I'm not far off from you. I'm using 4.7 grains of Titegroup, WLP primers and cast WW bullets and I come in at $65/1000. Plus countless hours of melting/fluxing/casting/lubing/polishing/trimming/charging/seating/crimping ETC :)
 
Collint2005 said:
I don't have casting equipment. It probably would be a lot cheaper that way. I always buy jacketed bullets too. Can you get cast bullets at cabelas or wholesale? Never see any on their websites. How long does it take to make 1000 cast bullets once you have the ingots? Just curious.
Click to expand...


I only cast a few times a year but I spend a few hours each time doing it. I set up in the driveway on a nice sunny day with a cooler of beer and have at er. I use 6 cavity molds and usually drop around 3 pours/minute to maintain a productive mold temperature. That's 18 bullets/minute or over 3000/hour. It doesn't take long to make a mountain of them.

Edit: its just over 1,000/hour not 3,000/per hour ( I suck at math)
 
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$135.00/1,000 Zero brand FMJRN
$30.00/1,000 S&B LPP
$22.00/Lb Titegroup 4.5gr

$0.18/round for quality reloads.

$187.00/1,000 compared to somewhere around $450.00/1,000 for commercial I guess not a lot of savings means different things to different people.

I have about 8,000 pieces of .45 brass.
3,000 loaded and another 5,000 ready to go.
I find it all over the place at our range.
I've only been at this 3 years now.
You can never have too much but I don't go hunting down every last piece either.
Some days when the line is crowded and I don't feel like calling a cease fire since our indoor range has electric target retrievers I have the luxury of just leaving it behind.
With 500-1,000 pieces I would feel differently.

The other thing to consider is that if you have full progressive setup it takes more time to set up the case feeder, bullet feeder and press than it does to run 500 rounds which is why I make several thousand when I get rolling.
 
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My costs on .45 Colt are as follows.
Store bought commercial cartridges - Winchester "Target" Cowboy rounds = 67.79 for 50 rounds = $1,355.80 for 1000 rounds

Reloading:
1lb TiteGroup Powder = $32.00
500 Campro 200 grn Bullets = $76.00
1000 CCI 300 LPP = $29.99
Brass Depends on availability but buying new Starline .45 Colt = $350.00 per 1000 cases I Load light loads so I plan on using brass 10 times that = $35.00 per 1000 rounds

Therefore 1000 handloads of .45 Colt cost me $248.99 and that is using 7 grn of powder per load which I don't plan to do. (Usually around 6 grains)

Saving of $1,106.81 per 1000 rounds. That pays for my press twice over in the first 1000 rounds.

Also to answer the OP's question......I keep 500 Casings on hand either loaded or not.

Happy shooting

Nick
 
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Ok wow I might as well just start reloading from the start. Do it on a single stage rock chucker.

How do you guys find the Norinco brass holding up? Is it better to get some domestic brass instead?

What's a good bullet grain to reload for target/plinking? Is 230 gr the best? What is the best powder for this caliber?
 
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I haven't started reloading my norc 45 brass because I haven't finished shooting it all yet but I find that about one case out of fifty splits on the first shot.
 
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