Cheapest 45acp plinking load wanted

[gh1950]

Some do not need to be sized, can be used as cast. Lube can be coated, or just tumble lubed in a plastic bag, and left to dry.

Traditionally, cast bullets were forced through a die, and wax type lube forced into the grooves, but there are other options today.

I have a sizer and size a lot of bullets.

I also have some tumble lube molds that I use because it's just so quick and easy. Plinking loads like WC are no problem.

 

[palmettomoon]

castboolits.com is your friend. Casting can be really simple or very protracted and involved. Be safe, consistent and have fun. Some of the tumble lube bullets from Lee can be shot as cast. Just tumble lube in Lee liquid Alox, let dry and load them up. I have a couple tumble lube molds and they do well.

I have seen quite a few blown up guns and all were due to loading error or firearm maintenance. How many times have folks here wanted to jump right off into a Dillon 550/650 and they never even pulled a press handle? Or have had folks recommend they get a reloading manual and read it and they objected, stating they can get load data "online"? I've seen it a bunch. You see the recommendations for a single stage to get started and people disagree and want to get into progressive presses right away. Bridge some powder in a powder drop on a progressive, because you wanna be quick and then you blow up a gun. One rounds gets a very small portion of powder and the next gets a nice heaping dose. You knock out 600 rounds in one hour and go shooting and a Kaboom occurs. What gets blamed? Cast bullets? Gun? Powder?

I first pulled the handle on a press in 1998. It was a Dillon 550B. I was enthralled with the whole process. I started with my own equipment in 2003. It was the RCBS Supreme Rock Chucker kit. I have knocked out tens of thousands of rounds on it. All single stage. In the mean time I got a Lee Classic Cast for pistol and re-adjusted all my dies for handgun for the Lee. Load rifle on RCBS and pistol on Lee. I check every round, one by one. That may seem slow and boring by certain standards, but I like the process and therapy of it. Very calming and rewarding hobby if done carefully and correctly. Enjoy yourselves.

I started with the same Rock Chucker Supreme Kit in 1992. I only bought a progressive (a very old used 1050) in 2014, about time, right? OP has gotten some good advice in this thread.

 

[Bennyboy]

I've been told the Rock Chucker setup is about the best out there for a beginner. Probably what I'll move to if I like reloading. Curious as to how fast you can safely load on one?

 

[EMC45]

Rock Chucker is awesome! Their no questions asked warranty is second to none. Dillon has a good warranty as well. I have called RCBS in Oroville multiple times and they just ship it out to me. No questions no charge.

How fast? I usually batch load my ammo. I will deprime/size a few hundred cases and then move on to belling and repriming, then powder dropping and bullet seating/crimping. It goes pretty quick when you get a rhythm going. I am not into speed though. I am into producing ammo that can't be rivaled by factory ammo. I like and enjoy the process and it is relaxing. I am able to get "in the zone" and lose myself.

 

[palmettomoon]

I've been told the Rock Chucker setup is about the best out there for a beginner. Probably what I'll move to if I like reloading. Curious as to how fast you can safely load on one?

How fast do you need to load? I mean it's relative to how much you value your time. If you have a need for a specific type of loading, what matter the time? I (like EMC45 and many others) batch process brass (decap, size then prime/flare) to prepare for dumping powder then seating/crimping the bullet.

I value my leisure time at about $100 per hour. If 30/40 Krag ammunition is $2.00 per round, then I need to be able to load 50 per hour for it to be economical. I can load 150 - 200 rifle rds in an hour on a single stage press if I have my brass prepped.

 

[Bennyboy]

Rock Chucker is awesome! Their no questions asked warranty is second to none. Dillon has a good warranty as well. I have called RCBS in Oroville multiple times and they just ship it out to me. No questions no charge.

How fast? I usually batch load my ammo. I will deprime/size a few hundred cases and then move on to belling and repriming, then powder dropping and bullet seating/crimping. It goes pretty quick when you get a rhythm going. I am not into speed though. I am into producing ammo that can't be rivaled by factory ammo. I like and enjoy the process and it is relaxing. I am able to get "in the zone" and lose myself.

I can understand that. I'm a very detail oriented person, may have a touch of OCD. I'll probably be the same way if I ever start loading multiple calibers and loads, I like taking notes and organization and such (and not having the time to do it how I'd like has kept me from trying).

I'm just trying to keep it simple for myself in the beginning: create one load that meets or exceeds factory standards for reliability and safety while be cheaper so I can shoot more often while learning the basics.

 

[palmettomoon]

OCD is THE personality disorder for reloading. There is no substitute, LOL!

 

[gh1950]

How fast do you need to load? I mean it's relative to how much you value your time. If you have a need for a specific type of loading, what matter the time? I (like EMC45 and many others) batch process brass (decap, size then prime/flare) to prepare for dumping powder then seating/crimping the bullet.

I value my leisure time at about $100 per hour. If 30/40 Krag ammunition is $2.00 per round, then I need to be able to load 50 per hour for it to be economical. I can load 150 - 200 rifle rds in an hour on a single stage press if I have my brass prepped.

I have a Dillon 550, which I probably have had for 30 years.

When it's set up, you can load a bunch of bullets in a hurry, or more correctly, I should say you can load a bunch of one loading in a hurry.

One thing I realized early on, is that when people start talking about how fast they can do reloads on a progressive, they are talking about a fully loaded (powder, primers, bullets in a box, cases cleaned and ready to load. You never hear about the prep time. You need to compare apples to apples, start out with a canister of powder, a box of bullets, and a box of brass and figure out your rate of production.

Case in point, I have the Dillon, I love it and what it does it does really well, but I've NEVER heard a Dillon owner talk about how long it takes to load the primers. If you are going to load 500 shells, you have to tube up 500 primers, which means dealing with 5 boxes of primers and a fair amount of time.

That's why I have three single stages. Sometimes I just need a box or two of bullets, and I can sit down and load them up as fast as I can on the Dillon. If I want to change the powder charge, or change powders it's no big deal.

 

[EMC45]

As a side note the bullets I had real problems with were the swaged type by Speer, Hornady and Remington. They are nearly pure lead (if not pure). They leaded almost every time I shot them. The Remington bullets had a strange crumbly graphite like coating on them and the Hornady had a white waxy coating on them. The Speer bullets were just dark grey in color and were shiny. They all leaded all the same. They were the reason I got into casting. Another bullet is Oregon Trail "The Real Silver Bullet". They claim in print ads and on the box that their bullets can be pushed as hard as jacketed. Not true. They are harder than swaged, but will lead and then it is really hard to get the lead out. They have silver in the alloy. They look good and load up fine, but if you push to jacketed velocity, you will lead your gun up.

 

[Bennyboy]

So leading gets worse as velocities increase, good to know. The fastest I'd be looking to push a 230 grainer would be 850fps, and judging by loading manuals, that's on the high end. 750-800 is more likely and even slower is possible. Think they'll be good at <850fps?