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

4247 Views 22 Replies 15 Participants Last post by maverick9614, Aug 25, 2008

ForGreatJustice

Discussion Starter · May 12, 2005

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!

1 - 20 of 23 Posts

ajamesp51

· #2 · May 12, 2005

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

· #3 · May 12, 2005

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

· #4 · May 12, 2005

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

· #5 · May 12, 2005

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

Discussion Starter · #6 · May 12, 2005

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

· #7 · May 12, 2005

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

· #8 · May 13, 2005

ForGreatJustice said:
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

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ForGreatJustice

Discussion Starter · #9 · May 14, 2005

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?

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WyoBob

· #10 · May 14, 2005

ForGreatJustice said:
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

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SteveW1958

· #11 · May 14, 2005

Based on the numbers you provided 45GAP will cost you $374 per year. If you buy a .40 barrell you will save $119 per year shooting factory .40 vs 45GAP.
If you load with your brass the cost for 1700 rounds is about $153 year. Keep in mind if you load on a manual press you will spend quite a bit of time loading 1700 rounds. On a progressive 400 - 500 per hour is normal. Cost is not the only reason to load. If you truly expect to load only 1700 target round per year, stick with factory ammo.
If you do look at a press I recomend the Dillon 550B. But again for 1700 target rounds a year it will not be cost effective.

backstay

· #12 · May 15, 2005

mullanman said:
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.

Bad idea, 45 Gap is a higher pressure round that 45 ACP. Also the rim is a little different. Might not extract well.

sindiesel666

· #13 · May 15, 2005

just stick with factory loads and shooting GAP. I see the point in buying like XD40 and getting 9mm conversion so you can really lower your ammo cost, but in my neck of the woods, GAP costs almost exactly as ACP, 40 being about 5 bucks cheaper per 100. So not a whole lot of savings even going to 40 conversion.
And with reloading it would take you years (at your shooting pace) to recoup your money spent on equipment.
I have a Dillon 650 that ran me about 700 bucks, but I shoot a lot of 45ACP, about 1000 a month (slow month, not counting IPSC matches). I figured it'd take me about 1.5 years to see savings start adding up.
Get the 9mm conversion, if one is indeed available, and shoot for 10$/100 rounds........

And the remark about shaving brass is to be taken cum grano salis.
Brass is shorter, but it's also thicker due to higher pressure generated. So, trimming brass is a no-no in this case, you may get away with a few, but one will KB on you eventually. And we don't want the Glock KaBoom reputation to hound XDs as well.

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Arnisandyz

· #14 · May 18, 2005

Bad idea, 45 Gap is a higher pressure round that 45 ACP. Also the rim is a little different. Might not extract well.[/quote]

ACP also uses LARGE primers vs small which could effect the burn rate.

mullanman

· #15 · May 18, 2005

backstay said:
mullanman said:

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.

Click to expand...

Bad idea, 45 Gap is a higher pressure round that 45 ACP. Also the rim is a little different. Might not extract well.

I was actually quoting a recent article from Guns and Ammo, cases were cut down and measured. As always, use caution when reloading. But i think for some people this will be a viable option until more GAP brass is available at a reasonable price.

ForGreatJustice

Discussion Starter · #16 · May 23, 2005

Ok...it looks like most people feel that reloading some 1700 rounds per year isn't cost effective on large, complex reloading setups, and not time effective of small simple setups (I was thinking a Lee Anniversary kit).

If I stick with factory ammo, which costs an arm and a leg, is there anything I can do to recoup the cost of my reloadable brass? I mean, .45GAP is such an expensive round I'd feel like I'm sitting on a bunch of wasted brass. Are there places that will reload it for you? Or is it easy to sell cleaned (but not deprimed) once-fired brass?

ajamesp51

· #17 · May 23, 2005

I have been offering to buy used 45 gap brass nothing has to be done to it.

R/T Performance

· #18 · May 23, 2005

If you go www.brianenos.com and look at dillon sqaure deal b.
I love my I reload 40 cal
For 300 dollars shipped to your door you get a first class pistol only progressive with 45 gap dies already installed.
NO BS warrenty for life and very user friendly.
Makes lots of bullet and very easy

I just looked on his site and the gap isn't listed but it is in the blue press so it is avalible

ch00sen1

· #19 · Aug 23, 2008

Can this be done by just changing the barrels?

MGD 45

· #20 · Aug 24, 2008

Where are you finding .45 lead bullets for only $45 per 1000? Everywhere I look the cost of lead bullets especially in the .45 caliber has gone up to around $80....

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