Just bought a 1911 and was thinking about reloading for it. Just figured out that it will cost a dollar more to reload before taxes than to just buy norinco. 328$ for 1000 rounds. That was with hornady fmj bullets. Anyone know where you can get cast bullets? Will that work well in a 1911? 45acp is a pretty slow round so leading shouldn't be a problem.
Norinco 45acp cheaper than reloading?
- Thread starter Collint2005
- Start date
my reloading costs for 45acp are at around $160 per thousand, and that's my final on-the-bench cost, but using cast bullets. so, buying Norc 45acp is double the cost, though it's a decent way to get kickstarted and build up some brass inventory.
reloading is the best way to go,,it is of my opion that cast tumble lube 230 grn/rn are great for the purpose.. the paper really doesnt care if it get hit by a 1140 ft/sec lead projectile or one thats plated. my machinery has no diet issues.
my cost $87.00/1000, these components are purchased in bulk as is bullet casting (20-1 lead 8-10.5 brinell is sufficient to prevent leading)and range brass .this will not reflect to everyone's cost
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- Location
- Calgary, Alberta
BDX is another source for cheap bullets. Norinco ammo is pretty filthy, so that's another point for the reloading argument.
ok, i gotta ask - how are you guys getting your final cost to be down to $80-$90 per thousand???? or are you both casting your own bullets using free wheel weights? just the primers alone cost $35-$40 per thousand, and surely you're spending at least $12 in powder. or are you not including silly things like taxes, shipping, and/or your fuel cost to drive 1hr to pick stuff up????
With some shopping around you should be able to reload .45 ACP less than $150/1000 (primers, bullet, powder). Brass is reusable forever with .45 ACP and you'll be paying delivery costs no matter what so those are a wash. So you save $200 over the Norinco stuff, $300 over other brands. The only other cost is for the reloading equipment, say a budget of $800 for a decent low end progressive system (Dillon 550 plus necessary accessories). You'll recoup the cost of the reloading equipment after 3,000 to 4,000 rounds.
My advice to most people is to buy the first couple thousand factory and build up your supply of brass. By then you should have figured out if your going to shoot enough volume to make reloading worthwhile or if you want to start fiddling with the load and have to reload.
By the way and advantage of .45 ACP is that if you decide you don't want to reload you can sell the brass for upwards to $100/1000 on CGN and get some of your money back that way. People forget about that and just dumpster their brass. Good for me cause I get most of my brass from dumpster diving at the range. Lots of us do so it adds another dimension to the sport. Full contact, competitive brass dumpster diving.
Lead or plated bullets are just fine in a .45 ACP. Lead has been used for centuries, Ok only one century, and is still the preferred target bullet. I shoot a lot of lead but I'm starting to prefer the plated bullets, Berry's or CanPro, because they are cleaner to handle and shoot. Jacketed round nose is great and jacketed hollow points are great for accuracy but tend to be expensive.
My advice to most people is to buy the first couple thousand factory and build up your supply of brass. By then you should have figured out if your going to shoot enough volume to make reloading worthwhile or if you want to start fiddling with the load and have to reload.
By the way and advantage of .45 ACP is that if you decide you don't want to reload you can sell the brass for upwards to $100/1000 on CGN and get some of your money back that way. People forget about that and just dumpster their brass. Good for me cause I get most of my brass from dumpster diving at the range. Lots of us do so it adds another dimension to the sport. Full contact, competitive brass dumpster diving.
Lead or plated bullets are just fine in a .45 ACP. Lead has been used for centuries, Ok only one century, and is still the preferred target bullet. I shoot a lot of lead but I'm starting to prefer the plated bullets, Berry's or CanPro, because they are cleaner to handle and shoot. Jacketed round nose is great and jacketed hollow points are great for accuracy but tend to be expensive.
since someone asked me about how my costs are calculated, i might as well share the math:
last time i bought stuff (and i bought a lot of it), the primers cost me $35-per-1k, the powder cost me $28-per-pound (and yeah on average i use 7gn-per-round), and cast bullets cost me $80 to $90 per thousand. so yeah, those are all the consumables. i haven't factored in replacing brass, but i would budget $35-per-1k for that, and they might last me 10 reload sessions, maybe more. so that's an extra $3 to $4 each time i churn out 1k. i currently have 1k - 2k of brass for each caliber, so i'm unlikely to need to replace any for the rest of this year.
so where are we at? $35 + $28 + $90 + $4 = $157 per 1k. i can't see it dipping below $100, unless i start casting my own, but then i'd have to factor in getting the raw lead and whatever lube there is. still, $157 is a significant improvement over $330 (.45acp) or even $230 (9mm which i don't shoot anyways)
in any case, this DOES unfortunately ignore a few upfront costs, but those can be amortized down to very small amounts: reloading press, dies, powder scale, measuring calipers, a decent work bench, a tumbler, and.... i think that's pretty well it. odds-n-ends like a brush or tweezers can be bought from the local Dollarama. for pistol rounds, i've been happy with a Lee Pro 1000 setup, and the tumbler doesn't get used every reloading time, just when things get noticeably dirty. and the media is not expensive either - well, if you amortize all this junk, that is.
Chuckbuster
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Well, in my neck of the woods, projectiles run $100/1000 before taxes. Plated or cast makes no difference. Powder is $35/pound before taxes and primers are $45/1000 before taxes. In .45 I typically load Bullseye, 231 or red Dot. My mean powder charge works out to roughly 5 grains. Assuming I get the full 1400 rounds per pound of powder...I'm looking at $169/1000 before taxes. Add another $22 for taxes and I'm up to $191/1000 rounds.
Ah yes, the fuzzy math of reloading
. To the OP, buy the Norinco and sell off your 1F brass. You'll be ahead of the game. Many indoor ranges are getting away from allowing lead bullets, if that matters to you and pouring your own adds significantly to plant costs, a fact few seem inclined to mention. There are much better reasons to reload than just penny pinching but if that's the only reason you have for getting into it, and you're reloading cheap and abundant calibers like 9mm, 45ACP or .223, you're better off to source cheap ammo and sell off the brass.I reload and enjoy doing it but BS'ing new guys about the cost benefit for common calibers is wrong.
Ah yes, the fuzzy math of reloading
I reload and enjoy doing it but BS'ing new guys about the cost benefit for common calibers is wrong.
And here is something everyone seems to forget about, most of your reloading equipment can be sold for at least 70% of what you paid, so there is no point in counting it.
And after a couple thousand it's paid for.
I've been lucky with free lead or near free lead hence my low costs. As well I pay $34 tax in for my primers and $24 for tight group or $25 for hp-38 and use 4.5gr
So $16 for powder
$34 for primers
$1 for home made bullet lube
$5 in lead (averaged out from all my lead to what I paid)
Free brass.
So even better then I thought. If it makes you feel better let's say I paid $1200 for my first 1k and now I pay $60.
Ah yes, the fuzzy math of reloading
I reload and enjoy doing it but BS'ing new guys about the cost benefit for common calibers is wrong.
Who's BS'ing. Thought its been laid out pretty clearly in a couple different posts. I paid off my reloading equipment within a year with the amount I shoot and if I get out of it I can sell the equipment off for almost as much as I bought it for and sell off the brass to boot. All I'm paying for now is raw materials and I can do that easily for 0.16/round using a plated bullet.
45 ACP is expensive as heck and since when has 45 ACP been abundant? Even the Norinco stuff is 0.34/round, Blazer brass is 0.45/round, WOlf reloads are 0.38/round. Even after selling the brass you are still into Norinco for 0.24/round. The OP specifically asked about 45 ACP, don't confuse the issue with bringing 9MM and 223 into the game. Mayhap you should look at your fuzzy logic before dissing our fuzzy math.
I've already got the reloading equipment, I was more just wondering about projectiles. The cast bullets are quite a bit cheaper I think I might go that route once I run out of the norinco. Just doing some plinking mostly. Went out the other night and shot about 85 rounds in a half hour. That 1000 rounds won't last as long as I thought it would. The norinco is dirty. Seems like there's soot on everything. Wipes off easy enough though.
Ahh, you have the equipment already, that changes the water on the beans. You are only talking about investing in a die set so have at it by all means. Since the press and associated equipment are already in hand (its cost set aside), you may as well avail yourself of the miniscule additional benefit of cranking out some 45 ACP on it. I say miniscule referring to cost, the real benefit will be the ability to use a clean burning powder and perhaps a SWC bullet to make those nice big holes the 45 is noted for.
Where is he BSing a new guy on the cost benefit?Ah yes, the fuzzy math of reloading
I reload and enjoy doing it but BS'ing new guys about the cost benefit for common calibers is wrong.
I challenge you to find quality .45ACP for $9.09 a box.
I challenge you to find quality .45ACP for $18.00 a box.
Here is my way of looking at it.
Today I bought 1,000 Zero Brand .451 230gr JHP for $137.00
1,000 CCI Large Pistol Primers for $33.00
I had bought an 8lb jug of Titegroup for $148.00 and my load is 4.5gr so $11.89 in powder for a grand total of $181.89
I don't include the price of brass because I pick up once fired brass for nothing.
I never bought a factory round or any brass for pistol calibers I shoot.
The Norinco .45 costs $329.00/1,000 for a difference of $147.11
If he wasn't already equipped with that $147.11 he could have purchased a Lee Breechlock Challenger Kit.
He could have bought a set of Lee pistol dies for another $50.00 and have a reloading setup that is virtually paid off.
His ammunition once dialed in will shoot much better than that Norinco stuff and he will have learned something in the process.
He can always go with plated bullets which are cheaper and work well in .45ACP saving even more money.
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HKM> Have you been in a coma since 45ACPs were available in surplus. When did you buy your last box of 45ACP, and for how much?
To the OP> Jokes aside all .4x calibers are worth reloading for anyone that shoots lots and in particular already reloads other caliber (just an incremental cost of dies and shell holder/plate). There are NO cheap .4x or larger rounds, they are all expensive.
Since rest of the friendly CGNers already did the reload math let me add that lead is getting hard to come by so don't rely on free lead, those days along with cheap 45ACPs are history that won't be repeated.
In Vancouver area recycled lead can be had for $1.10 a pound so 36 bucks to cast 1000 rnds. Alox/Xlox cost next to nothing, just several diluted drops per hundreds. $20 jug of xlox will literally last a lifetime.
Folks should NOT include taxes in calculations with GST, PST, HST province based, just muddles the math.
To the OP> Jokes aside all .4x calibers are worth reloading for anyone that shoots lots and in particular already reloads other caliber (just an incremental cost of dies and shell holder/plate). There are NO cheap .4x or larger rounds, they are all expensive.
Since rest of the friendly CGNers already did the reload math let me add that lead is getting hard to come by so don't rely on free lead, those days along with cheap 45ACPs are history that won't be repeated.
In Vancouver area recycled lead can be had for $1.10 a pound so 36 bucks to cast 1000 rnds. Alox/Xlox cost next to nothing, just several diluted drops per hundreds. $20 jug of xlox will literally last a lifetime.
Folks should NOT include taxes in calculations with GST, PST, HST province based, just muddles the math.
