How much pistol brass do you need?

nseverett said:
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
Click to expand...

Why only 10 loadings from brass? Especially if you are loading them light? I get more than 10 firings from mild/hot bottle neck rifle cases, pistol brass is almost indestructible. I have a lot of 45 Brass that has been loaded so many times the head stamps are gone, lol...I talking dozens of times.

Pistol brass will last virtually forever, or until you lose it.
 
mosinmaster said:
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?
Click to expand...
RP, Win, FC, Blazer among others would be my preference.
If the ammo is advertised as non toxic such as Win Clean etc. it will have small primers.
 
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...

As mentioned, look at the plated bullets. They split the cost difference between cast and jacketed and are cleaner than cast, which is a nice bonus.


mosinmaster said:
What's a good bullet grain to reload for target/plinking? Is 230 gr the best? What is the best powder for this caliber?
Click to expand...

I load 200gr cast SWC for most of my .45ACP shooting, but they can be finicky to get feeding properly. For your first attempts I would suggest some 230gr RN plated bullets. I use WW231 for powder, but Titegroup and Unique are also good, among others.


thump_rrr said:
If the ammo is advertised as non toxic such as Win Clean etc. it will have small primers.
Click to expand...

That's a good point for the new guys. 45ACP brass is produced in both small and large primer sizes. The large primers are way more common, but you have to be vigilant when picking up range brass to be sure you don't get the occasional small primer one in with the rest. I have never had any luck seating large primer into that small primer size pocket...

For whoever said .45ACP is the best reason to reload, I disagree. 44 Mag is the best reason to reload.;) I paid out ~$1000 worth of reloading gear in one season shooting only .44 Mag and 30-06.


Mark
 
Canadian_Zuk said:
Why only 10 loadings from brass? Especially if you are loading them light? I get more than 10 firings from mild/hot bottle neck rifle cases, pistol brass is almost indestructible. I have a lot of 45 Brass that has been loaded so many times the head stamps are gone, lol...I talking dozens of times.

Pistol brass will last virtually forever, or until you lose it.
Click to expand...

"PLAN ON USING BRASS 10 TIMES"

Plan on it for calculations......
 
mmattockx said:
For whoever said .45ACP is the best reason to reload, I disagree. 44 Mag is the best reason to reload.;) I paid out ~$1000 worth of reloading gear in one season shooting only .44 Mag and 30-06.


Mark
Click to expand...

LOL, It was me who said that and I will have to agree with you whole heartedly.

Years ago I bought a SS Marlin 1894 in 44 Magnum, I loved that gun and I loved shooting it more. Paying $1.65/round for factory ammo became old really fast. I soon went out and bought my first press. :) 240 gr cast DRGs with 9 grains of Unique became my favorite plinking load and 23 grains of H110 under a 240gr XTP was my full house load.

-CZ
 
High caliber, powerful or rare. Three very good reasons to get into reloading.

My S&W 460 Mag reloads paid for the Redding dies in the first two outings alone :eek:. I don't own one, but I've seen the retail cost for 500 ammo. I can imagine the reload saving on those are way up there!

(E) :cool:
 
Oh, and as for the original question posed by the OP, I have 2 coffee cans filled with primed 45ACP brass, and one of those 40lb cat litter tubs filled with brass, waiting to be used.

(E) :cool:
 
With .45 ACP, it's more about how much you want. As mentioned, case life is entirely dependant on the load used. Hot loads shorten case life. With light target loads your brass will virtually last forever.
 
(((Echo))) said:
High caliber, powerful or rare. Three very good reasons to get into reloading.

My S&W 460 Mag reloads paid for the Redding dies in the first two outings alone :eek:. I don't own one, but I've seen the retail cost for 500 ammo. I can imagine the reload saving on those are way up there!

(E) :cool:
Click to expand...

when you can find 500mag, it's usually $70+ for 20 rounds. with casting my costs for reloading is about .25 -.30 cents a round or $5-6 a box lol.
 
I only load 9mm, so costs will not be comparable. I haven't had luck with lead bullets. Bought a bag from the local gun shop. They wouldn't group anything close to copper jacketed. Maybe just a soft batch. Now I use plated and they shoot as well as jacketed. I prefer Remington or Winchester brass to Federal. Every once in a while a federal case that has been through the same sizing die is loose on the bullet. Also, find they tend to bulge out of round and develop cracks near the base.
 
My opinion on original question is this - have as much brass on hand as you can reasonably afford. I reload 9mm on my progressive and I have around 3,000 cases. As I shoot and collect my fired brass, I deposit it in a "dirty brass" bucket. I reload the next batch from a "clean brass" bucket. This way I reload each brass piece only after shooting a few thousand ahead of it. It makes my brass last a long time. If I was only relying on a small batch of brass I would have to replenish it more frequently.
As for costs, I bought a few thousand Berry's Bullets when Jo-Brook had them on for $90 a thousand delivered. I paid off my original investment in press and equipment in about a years worth of savings. As was pointed out to me by a salesman at a Thunder Bay gun shop - reloading does not make shooting cheaper. it just lets you shoot way more rounds for the same money.
 
Load at least 500rnds at a time. Not worth it for less with setup time.

45ACP is one of best for reloading, way cheaper than factory. Brass with med load last forever, chuck out split ones or primers aren't snug.

357, 44 and esp. 50 progressively saves more for reloading.
 
For revolvers at least 400 for my 9mms I keep at least 10k around as I lose about 500 a month at matchs.. On the plus side I never seem to wear brass out , I usually lose it before that
 
I don't count pieces of pistol brass..... I count buckets!

A couple of thousand for each calibre, easy.....

Personally, my least shot and loaded pistol calibre is 357 sig. And I have 3000ish empty pieces and 2000ish rounds loaded......

9mm, I have 2 and a half 5 gallon buckets. 45, 1 and a half 5 gallon buckets. 40 must be one of those rare cals that can replicate brass like amoeba, I think I add another bucket every year...... 38 doesn't get used as much as it used to and 357 mag is in the same boat....

Cheers!
 
Enough brass to satisfy this;
Dirty brass + Cleaned brass + loaded brass
Really enough that there is no group above that will cause a part batch to any step in your reloading/shooting process.
Then you need at least enough powder, primers and projectiles to do that 3 times over.

Everyone is different and it really depend on your reloading setup and the amount you shoot but really you can never have too much. Ok there are some extremists on here....:D
 
I'd like to have at least 500 rds 45ACP ready to shoot 500 ready to clean and 500 cases in reserve so 1500 rds with a moderate replacement strategy..

Getting there!!
 
The answer is lots. I got five cases of 45 from the Canada Ammo deal this summer, and have shot about 1500 rounds so far. I've reloaded probably close to 1000 as well. I do it all on a single stage press, so I like to have a Napa parts box full of clean brass, one full of sized and primed brass ready for loading, and a few hundred loaded and ready to go. I think the Napa boxes hold somewhere around 800-1000 empty 45 brass. I pick up lots at the range too. I will probably keep a crate or two of the factory Norinco stuff stashed away for a rainy day on top of the reloads. I have somewhere around 1000 357 brass as well.
Kristian
 
Guarantee if you are a range member someone has brass excess to give or sell cheap to you. My range hosts some ipsc tourneys and have alot of ipsc shooters. So they usually all have 1000's of brass in multiple calibres. More than they need usually.

When I was thinking on first reloading I went to firearm auction and lucked out buying 1000's of 45,9mm,40,308. For $20 per 1000. Had to wait out the hundreds of people at the auction until 8 hours into auction most people went home when they finally got to the reloading goods on a side auction with another auctioneer. Myself and 10 other guys cleaned up. Filled my trunk and back seat. Wish every auction I've been to since went as well. Deals can be had. Same on the EE if you keep an eye out.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom