Cost comparison: Reload .45 GAP or buy a .40 barrel?

[ForGreatJustice]

What's more cost-effective? Setting myself up to reload .45 GAP (and ONLY .45 GAP), or buying a .40 S&W barrel and practicing with .40s %50-%66% of the time?

I am trying to score a .45 GAP gun, but I need to come up with a way to feed her!

[ajamesp51]

I can reload and if I save my brass can do a thousand for under a hundred.

1 pound of win 231 will load about 1300-1400rnds at 15.65
1 thousand small primers 16.00
1 thousand 230 lead round nose (a tad bit more expensive) at 45.00

Unprimed brass about 10 bucks a hundred but I have like 10 reloads through some of my brass and it is still holding up. Midway has a thousand starline brass for 92 bucks and as I said I have about 10 reloads through my first sets of brass. So even at a 100 dollars reloaded 10 times thats 10 bucks per thousand.

so for me that adds up to about 86 or so a thousand. And thats saying a whole pound of powder for a thousand you get alot better.
Plus to save more I can buy cheaper bullets at 200grs for 35.00.

[mullanman]

You can also modify 45ACP brass by shaving it down to 45 GAP length, Stick to Win or Rem cases. PMC cases start to get too thick near the base. of course you use large pistol primers.

GAP brass of course uses small pistol primers.

[Arnisandyz]

You'll have the initial cost of the reloading equipment but you can get a decent single stage kit (if you have the patience and time) with press, dies, powder measure, etc. to get you started for around $100-$200 Even less if its used. From there you can step up to a progressive press.

[ichy_trigger]

By the time you buy a press and everything needed, you would be probably better off to just buy a .40 barrel. It will take you quite some time to recoup the initial setup costs if your only loading for one caliber.

Thats based on if you purchase a progressive reloader.

[ForGreatJustice]

Forgive my ignorance....what's a progressive reloader as opposed to a simple press?

I'd probably buy a lee hand press for about $30, along with the dies. Either that or the whole lee Anniversary kit for about $100. The .40 barrel appears to cost $200. $.40 can be had for 15c a round, whereas .45 GAP is some $22c a round, in white box, it seems.

I'm not sure how to weigh one against the other.

[ducati]

ForGreatJustice The hand press would probally be ok for use at the range. Like testing different bullet weights and powder loads. I would not use it for anything else, way to much time to load even a hundred rounds. On the cheap side I would get a lee turret press. Of course I love my Dillon 550b, with lee dies.

[WyoBob]

Originally Posted by ForGreatJustice

Forgive my ignorance....what's a progressive reloader as opposed to a simple press?

I'd probably buy a lee hand press for about $30, along with the dies. Either that or the whole lee Anniversary kit for about $100. The .40 barrel appears to cost $200. $.40 can be had for 15c a round, whereas .45 GAP is some $22c a round, in white box, it seems.

I'm not sure how to weigh one against the other.

If your into shooting for the long term (especially if you're shooting a handgun), I'd buy a progressive such as the one I just bought: https://www.hornady.com/shop/ Cabela's have this machine for $300.00. Dillon makes good equipment as well. I know most handloaders advise that a person new to reloading start with a single stage. I disagree. I started 30 years ago on a RCBS Rock Chucker which I still have. Loading for my 40XD soon became very tedious on the single stage. You can start loading with a progressive by just loading in one brass at a time and cycling it through the stations by itself until a loaded round is ejected then put in another empty brass. Once you have experience, you can use the progressive as it was intended.

Here's a site for calculating costs of handloaded ammo:
http://www.handloads.com/calc/loadingCosts.asp

WyoBob

[ForGreatJustice]

That still doesn't answer my question....please treat my like a retarded child. Because that is what I am in terms of reloading.

What is a progressive press? How is that different from a conventional press?


Ok, here's the thing. I don't plan on reloading forever. IF .45GAP ever drops to the price of .45ACP, if commercial reloaders start picking it up, or if (can you imagine??!) Wolf starts making some, I'll probably give up my press. But for the moment, I expend about 100 rounds per month for practice, with an additional 500 a year for training (I don't like to bring reloads to training classes though. You get made fun of when one doesn't work). I also plan to find one practice load and stick with it.

Given this amount and rate of reloading, and given the feasiblity of .45 GAP dropping to some 16 to 18 cents per round, what kind of setup should I get?

[WyoBob]

Originally Posted by ForGreatJustice

What is a progressive press? How is that different from a conventional press?

Did you load the web page showing the Hornady? See the dies arranged in a circle on the top of the machine? All of the dies you need are installed in the top of the reloading tool.

On the Hornady, you place the empty case in the shell holder and pull the lever. Each time you pull the lever, the casing advances. So, first operation is re-sizing and decapping (pull lever), next stage prime & bell case (pull lever), 3rd stage, automatic powder despenser (pull lever), 4th stage-bullet seating (pull lever), 5th stage taper crimping (pull lever-loaded cartridge is ejected into basket). Each time you pull the lever, you place an empty case in the shell holder and place a bullet on the charged (with powder) case before it is fed into the seating die. The shell holder moves the casings around the stations until you have a loaded round.

WyoBob