Reloads

Welcome to the forum and congrats on the new XD.

If you are thingking of reloading, a few things to consider if you plan to do it yourself.

The initial cost of the loading press and dies. I have been using the same single stage press for 35 years. I don't use it much for loading pistol ammo if I can buy new auto pistol ammo. So the initial price of the press and dies is one thing. But you also have to have powder scales, powder measures, case lubes, case polishers, etc. And if yhou wanna get into and multi stage press, that costs way more than a single stage. And don't forget the powder, loadting manuals for data, bullets, primers, etc. Ya have to buy in either small amounts or in bulk.

But as you said, most ammo and in the larger cals. is pricey. Most o fthe time I only load for the .38 spl, .357, .41 mag, and .44 mag. Yeah, revolvers. Why? Cause I lose all the auto pistol brass. Only auto pistol I loaded for was the .45 at one time. That was when I shot at ranges with concrete floors and could pick up brass. I live on a rancho now and have glaucoma, so finding auto pistol brass is really hard. If ya don't have used brass, ya have to buy new brass or new ammo anyway to get reloadable brass.

Yeah, there are commercial reloads and I have used them. Some good, some crap. And as mentioned before, a buddy loading it is not always good or safe.

Ya may want to check the prices of loading presses and dies. Components also. Ya really won't save much. You will just shoot more for the money once you have made the investment on the press, cies and components. I even have equipment to cast my own pistol bullets for the revolvers. Never used any cast bullets for reloads in my .45 except for commercial cast bullets.

Ammo I have loaded worked well as long as I followed the load data in manuals. Didn't shoot much hot stuff except in the magnums. No problems with any .45 autos that I loaded in any of my guns.Most of the time I stuck to FMJ/hardball roundnose stuff to reaload. Just for punching paper. Now I mostly handload for revolvers and bolt action rifles cause I don't lose the brass.