Ammo question?

J

JimL

New member
I couldn't find a place specific to ammo, so I hope this is close.

Every now and then I see mention on the internet about using cheap flat nose .45 ammo for practice. But I have never found anybody actually selling such a thing. Is this some kind of urban legend sort of thing?
 
What is your definition of cheap ammo? Do you use factory new or reloads? Have you gone to places like www.Cheaperthandirt.net or Gunbroker.com?

I shoot a lot of .45ACP ball ammo and I never shoot reloads. I can buy 50 round boxes in the $20 -$22 price range and every once in awhile, I can buy 500 rounds in 250 round bags for what amounts to about $16 -$18 if it were to come in a 50 round box.

The only place I have been able to beat these prices is at a gun show. Find an ammo dealer and an hour before the show closes on the last day, make your best deal but plan on buying volume and they will cut you great deals....I'm not saying a few boxes but a serious amount of ammo. They don't want to drag that stuff back out to the truck. Cash is a lot lighter for them to carry.
 
What is your definition of cheap ammo?
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+1 to that. While there may not be "cheap" ammo out there, there is cheaper ammo out there. The last I saw, no one was giving away the stuff, but if you look, you can certainly get some deals. Cheaper Than Dirt, Midway USA and even Cabelas offer bulk ammo for sale.
 
Hhmmm...well, I don't know about associating the flat-nosed part with being cheap...that's a style of bullet that has some advantages over a conical style bullet, at least so some would maintain. I can periodically find .45acp ammunition at Walmart for about $15 per box.--Patrice
 
Hhmmm...well, I don't know about associating the flat-nosed part with being cheap...that's a style of bullet that has some advantages over a conical style bullet, at least so some would maintain. I can periodically find .45acp ammunition at Walmart for about $15 per box.--Patrice
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To be clear, I personally don't make any association about price. I'm merely referring to repeated statements referring to these rounds as "practice ammo" and their included statements about cost.

Frankly I suspect the flat nose ammo does have an advantage compared to ball ammo since it seems to cut a larger path. Given that flat nosed ammo is the choice of big game hunters I find arguments against it unconvincing.

I found a puzzling statement about flat nose .45 on one gun forum. The guy said something like, "I don't use that stuff; I'm afraid of it." Since the message was years old I couldn't ask him why.

And since round nose ammo does tend to glance off angled hard surfaces readily I suspect that even the Mozambique shot favored by some would be more successful with flat nose ammo.

Having said all that, I have found flat nose .45 ACP ammo hard to find. Most of it seems to appear on .40 cal or even 9mm.
 
What is your definition of cheap ammo? Do you use factory new or reloads? Have you gone to places like www.Cheaperthandirt.net or Gunbroker.com?

I shoot a lot of .45ACP ball ammo and I never shoot reloads. I can buy 50 round boxes in the $20 -$22 price range and every once in awhile, I can buy 500 rounds in 250 round bags for what amounts to about $16 -$18 if it were to come in a 50 round box.

The only place I have been able to beat these prices is at a gun show. Find an ammo dealer and an hour before the show closes on the last day, make your best deal but plan on buying volume and they will cut you great deals....I'm not saying a few boxes but a serious amount of ammo. They don't want to drag that stuff back out to the truck. Cash is a lot lighter for them to carry.
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I make no definiiton of "cheap."

I've never reloaded and never yet used reloads.

I'd like to find low cost "good" ammo, but my reason for posting had more to do with the reference to flat nose ammo as practice ammo. I think the first .45 ACP I ever bought was Lawman flat nose and it was called practice ammo. I don't "get" why they call it that. If it shoots straight and at a "normal" velocity it would seem to me to be merely ammo, not practice ammo.
 
I would guess that they're referring to either handloads or remanufactured ammo loaded with LSWC bullets. The flat-nosed SWC bullet is quite popular among those who use cast bullets and cast bullets are typically cheaper than jacketed ones. Most commercial .45 ACP ammo, however uses jacketed bullets of either JHP or round-nosed FMJ design. The reason that they use a round-nosed bullet instead of a flat-nosed one is that many older guns will not reliably feed anything but a round-nosed bullet.
 
+1 to that. While there may not be "cheap" ammo out there, there is cheaper ammo out there. The last I saw, no one was giving away the stuff, but if you look, you can certainly get some deals. Cheaper Than Dirt, Midway USA and even Cabelas offer bulk ammo for sale.
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I'm nor sure what I'd do if finding cheap ammo were my primary goal at the moment. In my area it is coming down but slowly. Shipping costs eat into online bargains. At a local gun show I recently bought some flat nose ammo and haven't shot it yet. I'm not desperate for ammo.
 
JimL, . . . I think the reference you are looking for is "wad cutter" or "semi wad cutter" ammo.

It is popular with paper target shooters for two reasons, one is you can capture the lead, remelt it, recast it, and shoot it again.

That used to be real popular, I think the popularity has waned in the last couple of decades.

The second reason is it makes a real nice round hole in the target, . . . instead of a jagged hole, . . . and makes scoring the targets a lot easier, especially for Camp Perry type shoots.

Yeppers, . . . they did used to be cheap. I have bought boxes of 250 for something in the neighborhood of 8 bucks years back.

That may be the "source" of cheap ammo sea stories.

May God bless,
Dwight
 
as dwight55 mentioned it's probably wad cutters and part of the "cheap" is exactly has he said also as it is almost always lead without a jacket and sold in bulk.

See a LOT less of it in any calibers today but that might have more to do with shortages where mfgs are making more popular rounds with their supplies.
 
I can periodically find .45acp ammunition at Walmart for about $15 per box.
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If my Walmart had any .45 ACPs they would be $29. Sportsman's Warehouse is about the same - gun shops worse. Right now I see new .45s on the internet as high as $42 and as low as $24. Cheaper Than Dirt shows prices around $20, $25 and $30.

I must be the only one who ever saw flat nose ammo referred to as practice ammo.
 
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Wal Mart has better prices than Luckygunner.com but in some places it's hit or miss if they will actually have the caliber you want.
 
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