Oh my word, the price of .45 Colt stuff now is amazing

[gmerkt]

I thought I was all done with .45 Colt. Until lately I decided I wanted to have another one of those New England Firearms Survivors with a .410 / .45 Colt barrel. Which basically does what a TC Contender .410 /.45 Colt does, only has a butt stock and longer barrel. I had an NEF Survivor but a few years ago sold it. So lately, I wanted another only this one cost me twice as much as what I'd sold my previous one for.

Okay, I've got tons of .410 shells, as I've got a couple of other .410's. But the .45 Colt ammo, that all went away when I sold my Smith & Wesson Model 25-2. So today, I was looking around online at ammo and components. Oh my goodness. Not only is it hard to find, but expensive when found. Oh, and I don't have any more large pistol primers, I sold or gave those away when I sold my last .45 ACP last year. I didn't think I'd be needing them. All I have is some 185 gr. fancy XTP .45 bullets that someone gave me, and while they could be used in the Survivor, aren't really appropriate for .45 Colt. Oh, and powder, I have some Unique.

So after looking at the price of cartridge brass, primers (which aren't available around here), and maybe some 250 gr. RNL bullets, not to mention a die set, I'm thinking for now maybe I'd be better off buying a couple of boxes of factory ammo. For over a dollar per cartridge.

Read More

 

[Knobgoblin]

Don't worry, everything else will catch up eventually. Just look at 30-30. Used to be $12-15 for a box of 20rds on sale. Now it's maybe $25 a box on sale, and 30+ regularly.

 

[sikhed]

Don't worry, everything else will catch up eventually. Just look at 30-30. Used to be $12-15 for a box of 20rds on sale. Now it's maybe $25 a box on sale, and 30+ regularly.

I must be older than you.
I can remember Remington green box 30/30 being on sale right before hunting season for $7.99, ( regularly $9.99)
BTW: A tip for OP. There's a classified in the reloading section right now where someone has 200 rounds of 45 Colt brass for sale. Price seems good.

 

[Knobgoblin]

Yes , I do remember the $10 days . And the paper coupon Remington mail in rebate. Lol , had a few green and yellow boxes missing the flap you had to mail in for your $5 check

 

[aasbra]

Yes, 45 Colt ammo is expensive. This is one of the rounds that really is most cost effective reloading if you have the means to do so. If you keep an eye on the classifieds here, you can pick up 45 Colt ammo on occasion for reasonable prices. It definitely stings to buy 45 Colt at retail prices these days. I may have bought one box before I started handloading for this caliber.

 

[TDH]

Yep, one of the calibers I reload. Add 357/38 to the list of need to reload too.

 

[TTSX]

The only cartridge I've found I can't reload cheaper than factory is .50bmg 661 grain ball. Everything else is cheaper by a mile even with shortage pricing.

 

[micdude]

Yep 45 colt is damn expensive that's is why I reload it. The cheapest way probably is to cast your own bullets and find some once fired brass.
I right there with you

 

[CO136]

@gmerkt , there is a member of NWFA that has a business of reloading. His name is Mike and he loads 45 Colt. Here's his web page should you be interested:

The Proficient Marksman Ammunition Company

This is the home page's excerpt

theproficientmarksman.wordpress.com

 

[Stomper]

There's only one solution to this conundrum…. dump the .45LC and switch to .454 Casul….

Problem solved.

 

[TTSX]

@gmerkt , there is a member of NWFA that has a business of reloading. His name is Mike and he loads 45 Colt. Here's his web page should you be interested:

The Proficient Marksman Ammunition Company

This is the home page's excerpt

theproficientmarksman.wordpress.com

He sells good stuff. I've bought 9mm, .380 and .44 magnum from him with no issues whatsoever

 

[micdude]

There's only one solution to this conundrum…. dump the .45LC and switch to .454 Casul….

Problem solved.

The problem solver is the 460s&w

 

[CLT65]

I thought I was all done with .45 Colt. Until lately I decided I wanted to have another one of those New England Firearms Survivors with a .410 / .45 Colt barrel. Which basically does what a TC Contender .410 /.45 Colt does, only has a butt stock and longer barrel. I had an NEF Survivor but a few years ago sold it. So lately, I wanted another only this one cost me twice as much as what I'd sold my previous one for.

Okay, I've got tons of .410 shells, as I've got a couple of other .410's. But the .45 Colt ammo, that all went away when I sold my Smith & Wesson Model 25-2. So today, I was looking around online at ammo and components. Oh my goodness. Not only is it hard to find, but expensive when found. Oh, and I don't have any more large pistol primers, I sold or gave those away when I sold my last .45 ACP last year. I didn't think I'd be needing them. All I have is some 185 gr. fancy XTP .45 bullets that someone gave me, and while they could be used in the Survivor, aren't really appropriate for .45 Colt. Oh, and powder, I have some Unique.

So after looking at the price of cartridge brass, primers (which aren't available around here), and maybe some 250 gr. RNL bullets, not to mention a die set, I'm thinking for now maybe I'd be better off buying a couple of boxes of factory ammo. For over a dollar per cartridge.

Mike's a good guy and can set you up with good ammo, if shipping or driving is worth it for the quantity you want.

I have a lot of 45 Colt stuff, as I tend to hoard it whenever I find it cheap. It's one of my favorites. If you were closer I'd give you some brass and bullets. I use Unique powder over cast, powder coated 454190 bullets.

 

[kopcicle]

Price really has gone up but the choices are still there.

 

[CLT65]

One nice thing about loading .45 Colt is that the brass tends to last forever, at least when loaded moderately. I picked up some more brass a while back at a gun show, just a box of 50 in a plastic hing-top box. It looked like it had been around for a while, but still usable, definitely not once fired but cheap enough to not care.

When I got around to loading it, I noticed the label- data for a moderate charge of Unique and a 200gr bullet, and hash marks for the number of times the cases had been loaded- nine!

Most people turn their noses up at brass that's more than once-fired. I figured so long as they weren't cracked and the primer pockets would hold a primer, they were good to go, probably get another nine loadings out of them.

 

[crstrode]

The chances that today's prices will seem high in comparison to 2024 prices is right about zero.

 

[clanhanson]

One nice thing about loading .45 Colt is that the brass tends to last forever, at least when loaded moderately. I picked up some more brass a while back at a gun show, just a box of 50 in a plastic hing-top box. It looked like it had been around for a while, but still usable, definitely not once fired but cheap enough to not care.

When I got around to loading it, I noticed the label- data for a moderate charge of Unique and a 200gr bullet, and hash marks for the number of times the cases had been loaded- nine!

Most people turn their noses up at brass that's more than once-fired. I figured so long as they weren't cracked and the primer pockets would hold a primer, they were good to go, probably get another nine loadings out of them.

Straight wall cases don't stretch much, especially "cowboy" loads. I've reloaded most of my .45-70 brass a dozen times and haven't needed to trim. Primer pockets are still good too!

 

[gmerkt]

I have a lot of 45 Colt stuff, as I tend to hoard it whenever I find it cheap. It's one of my favorites. If you were closer I'd give you some brass and bullets. I use Unique powder over cast, powder coated 454190 bullets.

Thanks for the offer anyway. Although I haven't driven down that way in a long time, I am thinking about the cartridge collector's show in Castle Rock, WA this coming weekend. If I go, I will look for .45 Colt stuff. I don't have the NEF Survivor in hand yet, it's still enroute. I should probably wait before I buy anything for it.

 

[gmerkt]

A little while ago, I got a message from Midway that something on my "notify" list had come into stock. I went there, and found some Remington #2-1/2 large pistol primers. All well and good. So to fully amortize the cost of Hazmat shipping, I decided to go to the smokeless powder section to see what they've got in stock. I picked out about four different powders, went back to my cart, and the Remington LPP has disappeared. They sold out completely in the few minutes I was looking at powders.

 

[po18guy]

I thought I was all done with .45 Colt. Until lately I decided I wanted to have another one of those New England Firearms Survivors with a .410 / .45 Colt barrel. Which basically does what a TC Contender .410 /.45 Colt does, only has a butt stock and longer barrel. I had an NEF Survivor but a few years ago sold it. So lately, I wanted another only this one cost me twice as much as what I'd sold my previous one for.

Okay, I've got tons of .410 shells, as I've got a couple of other .410's. But the .45 Colt ammo, that all went away when I sold my Smith & Wesson Model 25-2. So today, I was looking around online at ammo and components. Oh my goodness. Not only is it hard to find, but expensive when found. Oh, and I don't have any more large pistol primers, I sold or gave those away when I sold my last .45 ACP last year. I didn't think I'd be needing them. All I have is some 185 gr. fancy XTP .45 bullets that someone gave me, and while they could be used in the Survivor, aren't really appropriate for .45 Colt. Oh, and powder, I have some Unique.

So after looking at the price of cartridge brass, primers (which aren't available around here), and maybe some 250 gr. RNL bullets, not to mention a die set, I'm thinking for now maybe I'd be better off buying a couple of boxes of factory ammo. For over a dollar per cartridge.

You SOLD something?