I've NEVER reloaded before, but I recently got a Mod 25-5 .45 long colt. How much $ would be involved to start reloading for this cal. exclusively?
I might shoot 100 to 200 rounds per month. Maybe it's not worth it? But then again, I'd like to perfect my own hunting load, somewhat hot, but not the +p I see commercially available. Thanks.

First, buy and read the “ABC’s of Reloading” and then re-read it.

Second, I would buy the Lee and Lyman loading manuals and read them both.

Third, I would buy the Lee Classic Turret, Safety Prime, RCBS 505 Scale, the Lyman #55 powder measure, and Lee Carbide .45 Colt dies.

Oh and learn to cast your own bullets!!!

Depends on what you buy equipment wise, there's a very wide price range. Like suggested above the lee classic turret press is a good starting point and you may find it is the only press you'll ever need. It can easily turn out 100-150 rds./hr. To get set up for one caliber your probably going to spend about $300 on equipment, but you can add other calibers to it for about $50 each with dies and extra turrets. If you buy lead bullets you should be able to load a 100 for about $17. Well worth the cost if you shoot much and you'll probably shoot more once you find how easy it is to do yourself.

Sometimes you can find used equipment very cheap. If you can find another reloader near you they might be of assistance. If you were closer to me, I would invite you over as my Dillon is now set up for 45 Colt.

Sample: 4 months to break even

Lee press
Kit $120
Powder $20
Primers $35
Bullets $40
Dies $40
Total $255

month each per box
150 $1.70 $85.00
150 $0.85 $42.50
150 $0.57 $28.33
150 $0.43 $21.25
150 $0.34 $17.00

I disagree. I think that a man can get set up just fine for half that. I sent my brother a list of prices from Midway (was looking at a non-turret one-stage Lee press, tho, with those new quick-change bushings) for a two-caliber set-up a couple of months ago, and it came to about $135. That included at least one 4-die set - not sure if it included sets for both calibers - and a 100-round box of bullets and primers.

But I certainly could be wrong - I have no idea how many sale prices that included. My point is that it's pretty affordable.

You need to price and check availability on 45 Colt brass. I have 1000 pieces coming from Starline that I ordered a couple of weeks ago. I happened to time that just right. Think about this. Walmart sells a 225 gr Federal JSP load for $30 a box of 50 and is as hot as one would want to shoot in a S&W. At 100 rounds a month,it would take a while to break even. If I was starting with the 45 Colt, I'd get the Lee 4 die set for sure, a good scale, and maybe the Lee 4 hole turret press, and the Lee Pro powder measure. I currently use a Dillon 550 set up with Lee dies & Lee measure.Bob!

Just look at the price of 45 Colt ammo. It's one of the most cost effective calibers to RELOAD for. At $30 to $35 a box of 50 for factory that's' pretty expensive in my book.
You do the math.
Buy a kit like this. Some dies, powder and bullets and away you go.
I would get a different scale. The Lee scale is accurate but a real pain to use,
If you plan on reloading other calibers get the classic turret press

Lee Challenger Breech Lock Single Stage Press Anniversary Kit - MidwayUSA

__________________
Still Running Against the Wind

Lee classic 4 hole turret press is $100. 4 die set $35. Shipping $15. $150 Budget consumed. You still need a decent scale, auto disk, primer feeder, misc. small parts, and some loading manuals. You could do it cheaper but you lose the sweet spot in value, a single stage press is ok for low volume rifle rds. but in my opinion the limitations aren't worth the little savings for handgun ammo.

Gee, and here I've given away two progressives and continue to use a single stage press for all my handgun needs.

Even if you spend $300 for a nice setup, you'll recoup the setup cost in less than 4 months with the following assumptions:

1) Commercial .45 Colt ammo costs 60¢ a round ($30 for a box of 50)
2) Your handloads will cost 20¢ a round
... a) 12¢ per bullet (Missouri Bullet 250gr LRNFP, $47.50 for 500 + 13 s&h)
... b) 3¢ per primer (purchased locally at $30 per thousand)
... c) 3¢ for powder (purchased locally at $20/lb, 10.5gr per round)
... d) 2¢ for brass (Starline brass, 500 cases for $96, loaded 10 times)
3) You shoot 200 rounds a month

The nice (?) thing about .45 Colt is it's one of the more expensive commercial handgun rounds, so reloading for it makes a lot of sense. Same with .44 Special. But if all you're reloading is 9mm Luger, then reloading will take longer to recoup your initial expenses.

By the way, it's not hard at all to beat the prices I've shown if you're willing to buy in bulk or combine your purchases with friends. For large buys, Powder Valley is your friend.

Oh, and please don't tell me I haven't included the cost of my time. Trust me, at 55 years old, nobody is paying me for my free time (or offering me jobs)...

And finally, once you've recouped your initial setup expenses, you save money every time you pull the trigger. I like that (a lot)...

You've all been very helpful. Thanks. Best wishes, Rob (Dueeast)

No matter what you decide to spend on your reloading setup, like said above the .45 Colt is probably one of the most expensive to buy so you will recoup your investment quickly.

It costs me $8.43/50 rounds to load the .45 Colt with used brass. That same 50 rounds will cost you between $30 and $40 at the stores depending upon which brand you buy. Shooting 200 rounds of your reloads a month will save you a minimum of $86 each month at the $30 Retail price and as much as $126 a month at the higher $40/box price. Even at the lower price you can easily pay for your reloading setup in 2 to 3 months depending on how much you spend. IMO that a winner any way you look at it...

Note, for handgun ammo I suggest a turret press like the Lee Classic 4 Hole Turret Press.

__________________
Freedom is never free!!
SWCA #3437

Howdy

Nobody mentioned it yet, but the old saw is you won't save any money at all reloading. You will shoot a whole lot more for the same amount of money.

It's just a joke, but it's true.

One other really nice thing about loading 45 Colt is it is real easy to handle the bullets and cases. They are nice and big. I learned to load on 45 Colt. Learned a bunch of other large pistol calibers after that. Didn't get around to loading 38 Special until years later. I was really surprised how much smaller the 38 cases and bullets were. Much easier for guys with big thumbs to handle big bullets.

By the way, I will get my head handed to me for this, but the proper name of the cartridge is 45 Colt. Not 45 Long Colt. 45 Long Colt is what guys behind the counter of gunshops say when you ask for a box of 45 Colt ammo. What they mean is, do you want 45 Long Colt, or those stubby ACP rounds.

I was just about to post that you won't really save any money but you will be able to shoot much more for the same money. Once you buy the initial equipment everything else gets that much cheaper.

Do it. 45 Colt is a great round.

While I do love my Lee Classic Turret, there is nothing at all wrong with batch loading on a single stage. I have thought about buying extra sets of a few dies just so I can put the Rockchucker back into service for a few loadings. I do miss the feeling the big heavy solid cast iron gives. I leave it bolted to the table so if for no other reason if gravity were to ever start to fail at least I know the table wouldn’t float away. Maybe I will start loading some .357 Sig on the green press. I don’t know how finicky that will be and loading it slow to learn might be a good thing since the siggy is supposed to be a pain to learn.

First off, look at the used market. Most of the big name presses won't go "bad". If they do, the company, regardless of brand, will stand behind them pretty well.

Secondly, I agree that the Lee Classic Cast Turret press is the way to go to start with. Buy a kit from kempfgunshop.com (not affiliated with them at all) as they usually have the cheapest going. If you want, upgrade later.

The Lee can be used in single press fashion for starters. Price isn't the thing, you are going to either recoup your investment or shoot tons more, period. We usually don't save our expendable income, we still spend it, just on other things. I save mine for guns/components/moulds and such, just me though.

There is an article you need to read too. It is in Handloader #246 and that issue can be purchased on the web @ Wolfe Publishing.

There are 3 levels of 45 Colt loads. 14,000psi (Cowboy loads, BP duplicate loads), 20,000psi(most modern revolvers including Colt clones) and 32,000psi (Ruger RedHawk, Blackhawkl, Freedom Arms....). The latter mimic 44Mag loads pretty well but need to be kept out of your M25, at least in my opinion. Others say it will take it. My M25 -7 will never see those level of loads though.

45Colt is fun to cast for too. Lots of moulds available and components are easy to come by.

The biggest thing, GET STARTED NOW! This is 2011, there is an election in 2012 and the last time that the Democrats won the Presidency, reloading supplies were awful hard to find!

Start NOW!

I started reloading the same way you are. With .45LC and only shooting 100-200 rounds per month. It is definitely worth it especially with that caliber.

I purchased these:

Lee turret press kit

Lee Carbide 3-die set

RCBS Kinetic Bullet Puller(very important)

Lee Primer Feeder(Not required, but convenient)

Hornady Digital Caliper

That's everything you need to get started besides components(brass, powder, primers, projectiles)

Total came out to $200.19

It's a good start. Later on you'll want to get a tumbler for cleaning the brass. I got the Helvetica SR787

I started reloading when it was near impossible to purchase centerfire handgun rounds a couple of years ago. Generally you can start reloading with used single stage presses very cheaply. Not a bad way to go to learn the ins and outs of the process.

At your present rate of 150 rounds a month a couple hours on a single stage per month will keep you in ammunition. Other time is also needed beyond your time on the press.

Time to buy new brass or scrounge old. Somebody on the forums is always selling brass by the 1,000's.

Time to clean, inspect and deprime the brass.

I would think you could get into reloading one caliber with used equipment for about $300 give or take. As others have said there is a reasonable amount of other equipment you will need beyond the press.

I produce .45acp with 230 gr RNL for about .12 cents per round. Thats $12 per hundred vs. store bought at $60 per hundred. About a $48 savings. Thats $72 per 150 rounds. about 4 months would be you break even point.

Good luck.

LTC

As other posters have mentioned, reloading for 45 Colt is one of the more cost effective calibers, due to the fact that factory ammo is comparatively pricey with limited bullet weight choices. Get on the auction sites and find yourself a decent single-stage press and carbide die set. You cannot go wrong with a RCBS rock chucker and RCBS dies. You can always get your money back if you decide to pursue another hobby. Once you get set up for reloading, get back to us...........plenty of recipes from posters on this thread that enjoy shooting S&W's chambered in 45 Colt!

I have fond memories of loading my first 9000 rounds of .45 ACP on an RCBS Rockchucker single stage press. But back then I was very young and didn't have much else to do.

Dave Sinko

Using cast boolits that I do myself, Wolf LPP, Unique and used brass that I have, I can load a box of 50 45Colt ammo for $2.31 (approx)

Using the number of .005¢ for each boolit. The reason that I use that number is because of how much I pay for my wheel weights. Usually, $20/5gal bucket, which translates to 110-130# per bucket and @ a modest 90% recovery rate, that makes each pound of metal cost 17¢. At 7000gr/lb and 250gr boolits, each bullet costs .006¢ each. For 1000, that is $6!

Now do you know WHY I say:"Cast your own?"