Bang For Your Buck: Cut Your .45 ACP Ammo Cost in HALF!

The 45 ACP is about as American as apple pie and just as fun! Our good ol’ 45 ACP (Automatic Colt Pistol) was adopted by the military back in 1911 and has been used extensively in war and peace since. Law enforcement officers also took to it quickly as did many private citizens. It’s been used as a self-defense cartridge and extensively as a match cartridge. The 45 has tremendous accuracy potential.

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The 45 ACP is fun and satisfying to shoot but with factory ammunition it gets expensive in a hurry! A handloader can greatly reduce the cost of practice ammunition by loading 45 ACP ammunition with Berry’s plated bullets. In this video we continue our “Bang for the Buck” series and take a look at Berry’s 45 ACP 185 grain Hollow Base Round Nose and 230 grain Round Nose Bullets. We’ll cover two different bullets loaded to different levels and fired from a 1911 pistol.

Cartridge Background

We’ve had fun doing several stories regarding the 45 ACP cartridge.

A standard 45 ACP pistol can use light target loads, standard level ammunition or some are rated for harder kicking +P (higher pressure) ammunition.

45 ACP pistols are available in a wide range of sizes and weights from several different makers including Colt, Kimber, Springfield Armory, Glock, HK and more. They’re available with barrels as short as 3” and as long as 6” – most come in at around 35-40 ounces but much lighter alloy framed pistols are available. Lighter weight is obviously easier to carry, but the recoil with full power loads can be a bit stiff.

Components

We chose two different 45 caliber Berry’s plated bullets for this story; the 185 grain Hollow Base Round Nose and the 230 grain Round Nose. These round nose bullets work very well in semi-auto pistols. I’ve worked with the 185 grain hollow base round nose bullet for many years. Ultimate Reloader did a story on that very bullet earlier as well:

TESTED with 45 ACP: Berry’s 185 grain HBRN Bullets – Ultimate Reloader

I decided to use Hodgdon’s Titegroup powder for the lighter loads and Longshot for the heavy loads.

Load Data and Chronograph Results

All chrono data is from the 5” Springfield Ronin 1911 with the Holosun 509 green dot sight:

Aside from the expense of shooting full power factory ammo, some find the recoil from a standard 45 ACP load to be a bit much. The 185 grain bullet weight is a great choice for a lighter-recoiling target load, for practice or matches.

5.2 grains of Titegroup averaged a mild 855 fps and was a joy to shoot!

9.0 grains of Longshot was noticeably stronger 1028 fps.

The 230 grain bullet weight has been the standard for the 45 ACP and can be used in light loads or more powerful loads. Our two powder charges produced quite different results.

4.8 grains of Hodgdon Titegroup averaged 785 fps with a good SD of 13.5 fps. At a bit under 800 fps the load worked and felt like much 230 grain commercial ammunition.

6.8 grains of Longshot moved the 230 grain bullet to just under 900 fps, almost into 45 ACP +P territory. Recoil felt stronger but the 1911 was still easy to control even in rapid fire.

Titegroup has become one of my favorites for big bore handguns, semi-auto or revolver. Typically it produces great results on target as well as excellent velocity figures.

Longshot is one of those powders that can be relied upon to generate higher than normal velocity if looking for a more powerful 45 ACP load, without sacrificing accuracy.

Accuracy was commendable with either bullet at 7 and at 25 yards.

Economics

Both of these Berry’s plated bullets helped reduce the cost of our handloads significantly, compared to factory ammunition. The 185 grain hollow base round nose is priced at about $.19 each while the 230 grain round nose is just a bit more expensive at about $.20 per bullet. By coupling the inexpensive Berry’s bullets with re-using spent brass cases the cost of our reloaded ammunition is considerably less than comparable factory ammo.

Conclusion

The 45 ACP is one of those pistols that can take a fair bit of practice time and ammo to gain and maintain proficiency. Readily available commercial ammo has gone up considerably in price, particularly in comparison to the more popular 9mm ammunition.

I’ve got a long history with the 45 ACP and still consider it one of my favorite cartridges to load, practice with and even to carry for self-defense purposes. Being able to reduce the cost of my practice ammo by reloading with Berry’s plated bullets allows me to send a lot more bullets downrange than I could afford if limited to commercial ammunition only.

Handloads with Berry’s plated bullets are a great way to reduce the cost of shooting these terrific 45 ACP pistols.