Noncustom load recommendations for Springfield RO .45 ACP?

Hey everyone, based on some great feedback here I've decided on the Springfield RO .45 ACP as I branch out into Bullseye beyond my Buck Mark. I'm still new at this and clearly nowhere near doing my own loads, so what ammo would you recommend as I get started with this pistol? Looking for that sweet spot of "pretty accurate without breaking the bank." To get things started, where does the Winchester 45 ACP 230 FMJ rank?

Many thanks in advance! Can't thank you all enough for the helpful and friendly advice I've received to date! It's really helped to make this substantial learning curve less intimidating.

The cheapest .45 that I know of will still be $20 for 50 rounds. You can do a lot with dry fire, but you  are going to need to send rounds down range. Start trying to scrounge range brass right now, when you get a chance get yourself a single stage press and a set of dies. Add powder and a primer and you have ammunition. 

Lee presses are completely serviceable, their dies work too. The combination can be had for <$100 or 5 boxes of the cheapest ammo available. You will also need a scale ($25-$150 depending on model etc), and probably a set of calipers ($25) and/or a case gauge ($25). Bullseye powder is $25/lb or less when I have seen it locally. Primers are $35/1000 around here. 185gr zero's from Roze distributing run $90/1000. 

$100 press and dies
$50 scale
$25 calipers and/or Case gauge (you can also just use your barrel as the case gauge. 
$35/1000 primers
$25 1lb of bullseye (which is enough to do around from 1500 to 2000 rounds)


that makes the total minus brass for the first 1000 rounds $235. Brass can be had for free sometimes as range pickups, Starline brass is $94/500 new and cleaned range brass from several companies is $89 and less/1000. 

At $20/50 rounds the first 1000 rounds will cost you $400 plus shipping. Locally .45 acp 230 fmj runs $23 + tax for 50 rounds.

Hmmm. You can reload your first box of bullets for around 300.00. You can reload your second box (and every box after) for around 7.50. Ten boxes would cost you around 367.50. Match grade .45 ammo is not in-expensive. If you find good stuff for 37.00 a box you would have 370.00 in 10 boxes. Basically you re-coup all of you initial cost after 10 boxes. If you stay/love/enjoy you will shoot way more then 10 boxes. The longer you wait the more money you waste. That is just my opinion and others may kick around the numbers but that's my .02.

Len

 
Darn Jim beat me too it.

factory ammo is not a good choice for bullseye, cheap stuff is still too hot and not very accurate, match grade is off the hook in price, reloading or maybe try NSK sales he sells bullseye reloads.

I forgot, you need a case brush and a dishpan to clean brass. It doesn't get them shiny, but they are clean.

For (relatively) inexpensive match ammo the only places I know are our own Neil, aka ammoguru (nskammo.com) and Zero (rozedist.com). Their ammo may or may not work for you at 50 yards, but at shorter distances it will probably be fine.

For really good match ammo Atlanta Arms would be the first place I'd look. Federal Gold Medal used to be good, then had some problems a few years ago. I've not tried any since then. A few others have entered the field in the last few years, but I've not tried any of them.

This looks like a good deal to me for reloaded ammo from Roze. $157 + SHIPPING for 500 rounds. 

http://www.rozedist.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=RZD&Product_Code=R701-B&Category_Code=ZBA-45ACP

jmdavis wrote:This looks like a good deal to me for reloaded ammo from Roze. $157 + SHIPPING for 500 rounds. 

http://www.rozedist.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=RZD&Product_Code=R701-B&Category_Code=ZBA-45ACP

the zero reloads are very accurate for sure.

Super helpful. Thank you very much!

This is good stuff: http://www.rozedist.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=RZD&Product_Code=R723-A&Category_Code=ZBA-45ACP

The Zero team set a national record at Camp Perry this year, and that was what they shot.  Price isn't bad either, $22/ box if you buy a case.  If you save your brass and send it back you get a discount on reloads.

What are the details of the new record set?

They shot 1178 on centerfire day, which was a new civilian record.

That's why they were so happy to be sinking in the mud as they scored our targets!

Good shootin' ZERO GOLD.

Got the RO yesterday, my first .45! Couldn't wait to take it to the range and bought my ammo there (American Eagle 230g FMJ). Super fun, but wow, the recoil. Not exactly like shooting my BuckMark .22)... Please tell me the recoil gets more manageable with SWC ammo!

There is a neat recoil calculator that will give you the numbers but the quick answer is "yes". The felt recoil of the reduced load is about 60% of those factory hardball bullets.

http://www.handloads.com/calc/recoil.asp

Len

I would not want to shoot 230gn FMJ-RN in anything but service matches.
You can do all the reloading you need with a $25 Lee Reloading Press, a set of Lee dies, a powder trickler, and a Lee beam balance. What you load will still be better than any box of "cheap" ammo.
You don't need a trimmer. You don't need a caliper to start (you can use the barrel). You don't need a powder measure, and you don't need a $200 press.
Other than that, test all .45 ammo you can find and see what your gun likes--all guns are not created equal and they don't all agree on what the best load is.
Judging reloading based on cost is fruitless--you either enjoy reloading or it is a chore. If a chore, you would have to spend a LOT of money to make it "easy enough."