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Originally Posted by Frankenmauser
By the time I'm done with 200 cases, I'll have about 120-140 pieces of "good" brass that will keep right up with Lapua and Norma, about 40-60 pieces of "extreme weights" (good enough to shoot, but not for load development or loads with high standards), and the remainder go in the recycle bin or "What the...?" bin.
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Well...
I can buy 200 Lapua .308Win cases from Powder Valley for $137.82. 200 Remington cases cost $20.01 per 50, so if I want 200 usable, based on your numbers (140 usable per 200), I have to buy (at least) 267 cases. Assuming I could actually do that, the cost is 40 cents each. 267x.40 is $106.66. If the 120 usable is true, I'd have to buy 333 cases and the price difference is $133.33, only $4.49 cheaper.
So, they're cheaper, yeah, but it's only $31.16 on 200 cases. I'm not knocking it, $31 is worth saving, if the "costs" associated with saving it aren't too radical. The $4, no way. I'd MUCH sooner pay for Lapua.
I would have three considerations. First, is doing the work something I enjoy. If it is, I don't count the time as a cost. It's a hobby. If it isn't (and in my case it isn't), the second is that I want to know how much NOT doing it is going to cost me on an a reasonable scale, like $$ per hour. For me, if all that work you describe takes me over an hour, I'm not interested. Third, those 200 cases will probably be fired at least 2,000 times. That means I'm paying an extra 1.5 cents per shot. I could make up that difference by using a different powder if I wanted. If I fired them 4,000 times (which would take me most of the rest of my life), I pay less than 3/4 of a penny each shot.
It's all a matter of preference.