Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Handguns Bought some 41 Mag. ammo last night...$62

for fifty rounds of standard Remington JSP before tax at Bass Pro. Couldn't find anything else. I bought 100 pieces of new brass. Seems like it was around $30. 20...20 Barnes bullets were around $20! I gotta go see my cast bullet guy and get some lead ones.

I tell you, ammo ain't easing up much. The military or smaller rounds are still fairly affordable, but big bores are up there. You wanna shoot cheap you best stay with 9mm, 45 ACP or 40 S&W. I don't know about 38/357...maybe there are some decent prices there. Premium ammo is through the roof too.

If you want to shoot a lot, get into casting your own. You can spend a little (Lee) or a lot, but either way you get a new hobby and after equipment is paid for, you can make cheap and good bullets.

I think it was the .45 colt that got me started. I always wanted one, finally bought it ... and then looked for ammo. It was a long time before I shot it. Not only was it hard to find, but the cheapest stuff was more than 5 times a box of .38s.

It was practically NIB for almost 10 years before I discovered handloading. Another purchase of an obscure cartridge pushed me over the edge.

My equipment was paid for the first reloading session.

Thankfully the CASS/SASS crowds brought back a lot of dying cartridges. Most are still expensive to purchase.

The .41 is definately a good reason to reload.

Since 99% of your shooting will be paperpunching cast is good. Most of the shooting I do with my S&W revolvers are with Berry's plated 210 grain plated bullets. Loaded with 8.0 grains of Unique it gives 950 from a 4" gun and one hole groups at 50'.. Crimp in place with a Lee Carbide Factory Crimp Die and you are done.

With powder and primer, under 20 cents a round.

Bob

I looked for a factory crimp die for it and they didn't have one. I intend to pick one up.

Hey Ethan:

http://www.cheaperthandirt.com/product/AMM-491?ingb=Y

http://www.cheaperthandirt.com/product/AMM-490?ingb=Y

not bad at all

Lyman #410459 mould, and 11.0 of the old Unique,1350fps was easy to get to, with a 6.5" Blackhawk. It would shoot 1.5" groups at 50 yards, back when I had good eyesight.
Maybe I could have got more velocity out of another powder, but why?

one of the best things you can do is:
get some lead and melt it, and way you want, and get a dipper if nothing else to transfer it to a lee mould
buy a lee mould then are inexpensive
get a bottle of lee alox and coat them
you are set
100 rounds of starline brass and the die set to stuff them.
I mostly pour my own being to cheap mostly to buy those berry's purty bullets.
I figure my cost of plinking ammo is probably around .05 to .06 cents a round.

I have about 8,000 rds. of .38, 9mm, .40, .44 and .45 factory ammo for sale from 22 to 40 cents per round if anyone is interested in bulk quantities.

Describe the 44 and 45 ammo

I know what you mean. I've got a 6.5 Blackhawk .41 Mag to feed and casting isn't a realistic option. I'm really considering selling it and replacing it with a .44 Mag.

Expat

Check these out:

http://www.missouribullet.com/results.php?category=5&secondary=23

He's a good old boy that I've dealt with several times. In fact, my basement is full of bullets he cast. I can vouch for them being quality. I've never got any .410" diameter from him before, but I probably will shortly.

I'm set up to cast, but I don't care to much. I think I could go to the basement right now and cast stuff for 45-70, 50-90, 44 Mag., 44 Spec. or 44-40. I doubt I get a mould for the .41. I could go into detail as to why, but...

Bottom line is that if you can get somebody else to cast them as cheaply as the Missouri guy, it's pretty sweet.

I wanted to get some quick stuff the other night or I'd have shopped around more. I gotta make a trip somewhere this weekend for supplies. If I go up near Kansas City, where the Missouri Bullet dude is, I'll probably get some there. Somewhere else, I'll make do with some other lead bullets if they're available.

The good thing about a lot of the lead bullets today is they're hard cast if they're meant for a high velocity round and they don't lead like the original Police loading for this round.

Makes me very happy that I got into casting about 40 years ago! Feeding five pistols from 38 to 45 would be horrible with factory ammo.

I'd like to get setup to cast but I'm worried about the future availability of cheap lead. At some point it will be cheaper to just buy factory pre made bullets.

I once had what I thought was a life time supply, several hundred pounds. But I am now down to less than 100. About all I have used is wheel weights, so I may have to start scrounging again.