Two Years of handgun reloading

spacecoast · December 10, 2011, 11:34 AM

I recently passed my two-year reloading anniversary. In that time I've completed 14,000 rounds in seven different cartridges, and have shot about 11,700 of them. There has been only one problem that I remember - a high primer on a .38 special round that bound up a revolver for a few minutes at the range. No squibs and no double charges on everything from the lightest .38 special target rounds to full-bore .357 mag and .44 mag flamethrowers. I go slow and make sure I move charged brass from the empty pile to the "full" rows ready for bullets as I dip them.

I usually work 50 or 100 rounds at a time in the final reloading stages (starting with primed brass), or whatever is needed to refill a partial box. It took me 253 "batches" to do those 14,000 rounds, so my average batch size was about 55 rounds.

I have used a total of 8.7 pounds of powder (4.35 grains on average) and 293 pounds of bullets. Using average prices of $16 per box for .38 special and .45 ACP, $11 for 9mm, $20 for .44 special and .44 magnum, and $21.50 for .357 magnum and .380 ACP, I figure my total savings to date at about $2,860, or just over 20 cents per round.

Pictured below is my typical "desktop" reloading setup - a Lee hand press, Lee dies and dippers and an inexpensive caliper along with powder and bullets. I use the Lee ram prime that came with my hand press kit and have been extremely happy with the Lee products in general. I repackage my reloads in empty ammo boxes I find at the range and use sticky notes to label them with bullet and powder information. I keep my range brass and tumble it in the garage.

The graphs below show the distribution of calibers by round count and also the cumulative number of rounds loaded over the two-year period. I slowed down a bit in the second year as I took up Bullseye shooting and started using more .22 ammo, my reload count going from 9,000 to about 5,000 rounds the second year. .44 magnum and .44 special are relatively new to me as I just purchased my S&W 629 this past September.

In the future, I also plan to reload a bit of .25 ACP (still working off the initial 200 or so I purchased for my old Colt Vest Pocket pistol, which I only shoot occasionally) and if I ever get an AR I will undoubtedly end up reloading .223 Remington, but that's still undecided. At this point I'm more tempted to obtain some kind of .357 magnum-based rifle than an AR.

snuffy · December 10, 2011, 11:57 AM

You did all that using a lee hand press? Bravo! I guess it could be said that proves they work well.

I envy you with your record keeping. I also think your economy is great, using/recycling ammo boxes instead of paying for plastic ammo boxes.

I have one of the lee presses, the reason I bought it was to load at the range with a kit-in-a-box sort of idea. A battery operated scale, lee dippers, box of primers and box of bullets. Haven't gotten around to it, but this upcoming summer should see it happen. Seeing as how I'm retired, no scheduling conflicts or work to get in the way.

dickttx · December 10, 2011, 01:28 PM

You are scaring me.
I try to shoot 3 or four times per week. Probably 150 to 200 rounds total.
I had no idea how many rounds per year that would add up to!!!!

Jim243 · December 10, 2011, 10:41 PM

Congratulations on the milestone. Wait till you get into reloading rifle cases, your savings will really skyrocket.

Jim

Brian Pfleuger · December 10, 2011, 10:44 PM

Wow! I am in awe of your record keeping as much as your round count!

Any idea how many hours it took you to load them all?

farmerboy · December 10, 2011, 10:57 PM

I am also very impressed! Great job man and it sure is fun isn't it? I keep good records or so i thought. I need to pick mine up a notch i guess

1in9twist · December 11, 2011, 04:45 AM

Impressive! I should keep better track as well.

Dr. Strangelove · December 11, 2011, 05:32 AM

Congratulations, and nice graphs.

Your're an engineer of some kind, I would bet...

spacecoast · December 11, 2011, 07:19 AM

Quote:

Your're an engineer of some kind, I would bet

No, but I could play one on TV

Quote:

Any idea how many hours it took you to load them all?

Well, a back-of-the-napkin estimate would start with the fact that it takes me about an hour to load, "stuff" and crimp 50 rounds from primed brass. I would say that it takes approximately another hour to de-prime, size, expand the mouths and prime those same 50 rounds.

14,000 rounds / 25 rounds/hour = 560 hours spread over two years

That's a pretty conservative estimate, it might not be quite that much. A lot of it is TV time, often I'll do it for an hour early in the morning while I'm listening to the news.

excelerater · December 11, 2011, 07:54 AM

Im curious why keep track?
Whats the point ? Did I miss something?

GlenF · December 11, 2011, 09:51 AM

spacecoast, when I started reading your initial post I thought golly what a slacker. Then, as I read further and understood what you were working with, I became very impressed. You are the kind of person I like to hang with. You got energy.

spacecoast · December 11, 2011, 12:30 PM

Thanks GlenF -

No heroics involved, just patience and persistence. If I had a dedicated workshop, or space in my garage (and a garage that wasn't overbearingly hot all summer) I would definitely have a "regular" press, but this works for me and keeps me supplied with all the centerfire ammo I need.

One more graph that I think is a little more representative of my shooting habits... I subtracted my current inventory and divided the number of rounds shot by the number of guns I currently have in each caliber. The resulting graph shows a fairly even distribution of shooting activity. I attribute the larger share of 9mm to the fact that the kids I take shooting once in a while like to shoot my 9mm pistol and carbine, preferring it over my revolvers (not to mention the 7 mags I have for my P95 and 4 for my Hi-Point carbine). It also looks as if I have given my 629 quite a bit of exercise given the short time I've owned it.

The .44 special piece of the pie includes .44 magnum as well. I included my one lonely .357 (S&W 686-4) in the .38 special count as well as I often use it for Bullseye.

overkill0084 · December 11, 2011, 12:59 PM

Graphs, wow. I don't know whether to impressed or worried

Seriously, good on you. I wish I had that kind of patience.
I've been at it for a similar period. My tracking is much more simplistic.
When it looks like I'm on the last container of something, I hunt down more.
FWIW, I do use Excel to track my different loads.

I find it impressive that you did all that on a hand press. I started with a Lee Challenger and later purchased a Lee Classic Turret.

Sport45 · December 11, 2011, 08:35 PM

The real question is why do you keep slacking off in the summer?

Flatlines on your production graph may discourage your investors.

chris in va · December 11, 2011, 09:05 PM

Hey...that looks exactly like my setup! It's been about two years for me as well, God knows how many made by my Hand Press. Wonderful little gadget, does everything from 9mm to 30-06.

My TV table isn't nearly as organized as yours though.

shootniron · December 11, 2011, 09:33 PM

Good on you.

You make me look like the slacker that I am as I have 2 progressives, 1 turret and 1 single stage and I have not matched your output.

dickttx · December 12, 2011, 11:10 AM

Quote: That's a pretty conservative estimate, it might not be quite that much. A lot of it is TV time, often I'll do it for an hour early in the morning while I'm listening to the news.

Probably not a good idea for me. I would have put a round thru my TV LONG ago!

December 10, 2011, 11:34 AM	#1
spacecoast Senior Member Join Date: October 14, 2009 Location: Sunshine and Keystone States Posts: 4,461	Two Years of handgun reloading I recently passed my two-year reloading anniversary. In that time I've completed 14,000 rounds in seven different cartridges, and have shot about 11,700 of them. There has been only one problem that I remember - a high primer on a .38 special round that bound up a revolver for a few minutes at the range. No squibs and no double charges on everything from the lightest .38 special target rounds to full-bore .357 mag and .44 mag flamethrowers. I go slow and make sure I move charged brass from the empty pile to the "full" rows ready for bullets as I dip them. I usually work 50 or 100 rounds at a time in the final reloading stages (starting with primed brass), or whatever is needed to refill a partial box. It took me 253 "batches" to do those 14,000 rounds, so my average batch size was about 55 rounds. I have used a total of 8.7 pounds of powder (4.35 grains on average) and 293 pounds of bullets. Using average prices of $16 per box for .38 special and .45 ACP, $11 for 9mm, $20 for .44 special and .44 magnum, and $21.50 for .357 magnum and .380 ACP, I figure my total savings to date at about $2,860, or just over 20 cents per round. Pictured below is my typical "desktop" reloading setup - a Lee hand press, Lee dies and dippers and an inexpensive caliper along with powder and bullets. I use the Lee ram prime that came with my hand press kit and have been extremely happy with the Lee products in general. I repackage my reloads in empty ammo boxes I find at the range and use sticky notes to label them with bullet and powder information. I keep my range brass and tumble it in the garage. The graphs below show the distribution of calibers by round count and also the cumulative number of rounds loaded over the two-year period. I slowed down a bit in the second year as I took up Bullseye shooting and started using more .22 ammo, my reload count going from 9,000 to about 5,000 rounds the second year. .44 magnum and .44 special are relatively new to me as I just purchased my S&W 629 this past September. In the future, I also plan to reload a bit of .25 ACP (still working off the initial 200 or so I purchased for my old Colt Vest Pocket pistol, which I only shoot occasionally) and if I ever get an AR I will undoubtedly end up reloading .223 Remington, but that's still undecided. At this point I'm more tempted to obtain some kind of .357 magnum-based rifle than an AR. Last edited by spacecoast; December 12, 2011 at 11:02 AM. Reason: added some stats

December 10, 2011, 11:57 AM	#2
snuffy Senior Member Join Date: May 20, 2001 Location: Oshkosh wi. Posts: 3,055	You did all that using a lee hand press? Bravo! I guess it could be said that proves they work well. I envy you with your record keeping. I also think your economy is great, using/recycling ammo boxes instead of paying for plastic ammo boxes. I have one of the lee presses, the reason I bought it was to load at the range with a kit-in-a-box sort of idea. A battery operated scale, lee dippers, box of primers and box of bullets. Haven't gotten around to it, but this upcoming summer should see it happen. Seeing as how I'm retired, no scheduling conflicts or work to get in the way. __________________ The more people I meet, the more I love my dog They're going to get their butts kicked over there this election. How come people can't spell and use words correctly?

December 10, 2011, 01:28 PM	#3
dickttx Senior Member Join Date: May 29, 2011 Location: Fort Worth Posts: 500	You are scaring me. I try to shoot 3 or four times per week. Probably 150 to 200 rounds total. I had no idea how many rounds per year that would add up to!!!! __________________ Education teaches you the rules, experience teaches you the exceptions (Plagiarized from Claude Clay)

December 10, 2011, 10:41 PM	#4
Jim243 Senior Member Join Date: January 5, 2009 Location: Just off Route 66 Posts: 5,067	Congratulations on the milestone. Wait till you get into reloading rifle cases, your savings will really skyrocket. Jim __________________ Si vis pacem, para bellum

December 10, 2011, 10:44 PM	#5
Brian Pfleuger Moderator Emeritus Join Date: June 25, 2008 Location: Austin, CO Posts: 19,578	Wow! I am in awe of your record keeping as much as your round count! Any idea how many hours it took you to load them all? __________________ Nobody plans to screw up their lives... ...they just don't plan not to. -Andy Stanley

December 10, 2011, 10:57 PM	#6
farmerboy Junior member Join Date: May 16, 2009 Location: Central Texas Posts: 1,343	I am also very impressed! Great job man and it sure is fun isn't it? I keep good records or so i thought. I need to pick mine up a notch i guess

December 11, 2011, 04:45 AM	#7
1in9twist Member Join Date: August 13, 2011 Posts: 38	Impressive! I should keep better track as well. __________________ 1in9twist Reloading should be enjoyable. www.inlinefabrication.com

December 11, 2011, 05:32 AM	#8
Dr. Strangelove Senior Member Join Date: August 1, 2008 Location: Athens, GA Posts: 1,436	Congratulations, and nice graphs. Your're an engineer of some kind, I would bet... __________________ Just remember, when you pull the trigger, the bullets come out going very, very fast. So make sure to keep the weapon pointing away from you.

December 11, 2011, 07:54 AM	#10
excelerater Junior member Join Date: June 27, 2011 Location: Memphis TN Posts: 694	Im curious why keep track? Whats the point ? Did I miss something?

December 11, 2011, 09:51 AM	#11
GlenF Member Join Date: April 4, 2011 Location: Monett, Missouri Posts: 98	you are my hero spacecoast, when I started reading your initial post I thought golly what a slacker. Then, as I read further and understood what you were working with, I became very impressed. You are the kind of person I like to hang with. You got energy.

December 11, 2011, 12:30 PM	#12
spacecoast Senior Member Join Date: October 14, 2009 Location: Sunshine and Keystone States Posts: 4,461	Thanks GlenF - No heroics involved, just patience and persistence. If I had a dedicated workshop, or space in my garage (and a garage that wasn't overbearingly hot all summer) I would definitely have a "regular" press, but this works for me and keeps me supplied with all the centerfire ammo I need. One more graph that I think is a little more representative of my shooting habits... I subtracted my current inventory and divided the number of rounds shot by the number of guns I currently have in each caliber. The resulting graph shows a fairly even distribution of shooting activity. I attribute the larger share of 9mm to the fact that the kids I take shooting once in a while like to shoot my 9mm pistol and carbine, preferring it over my revolvers (not to mention the 7 mags I have for my P95 and 4 for my Hi-Point carbine). It also looks as if I have given my 629 quite a bit of exercise given the short time I've owned it. The .44 special piece of the pie includes .44 magnum as well. I included my one lonely .357 (S&W 686-4) in the .38 special count as well as I often use it for Bullseye. Last edited by spacecoast; December 11, 2011 at 12:35 PM.

December 11, 2011, 12:59 PM	#13
overkill0084 Senior Member Join Date: August 7, 2010 Location: Northern, UT Posts: 1,162	Graphs, wow. I don't know whether to impressed or worried Seriously, good on you. I wish I had that kind of patience. I've been at it for a similar period. My tracking is much more simplistic. When it looks like I'm on the last container of something, I hunt down more. FWIW, I do use Excel to track my different loads. I find it impressive that you did all that on a hand press. I started with a Lee Challenger and later purchased a Lee Classic Turret. __________________ Cheers, Greg “At the core of liberalism is the spoiled child – miserable, as all spoiled children are, unsatisfied, demanding, ill-disciplined, despotic and useless. Liberalism is a philosophy of sniveling brats.” — P.J. O’Rourke

December 11, 2011, 08:35 PM	#14
Sport45 Senior Member Join Date: May 25, 1999 Location: Too close to Houston Posts: 4,196	The real question is why do you keep slacking off in the summer? Flatlines on your production graph may discourage your investors. __________________ Proud member of the NRA and Texas State Rifle Association. Registered and active voter.

December 11, 2011, 09:05 PM	#15
chris in va Senior Member Join Date: December 26, 2004 Location: Louisville KY Posts: 13,806	Hey...that looks exactly like my setup! It's been about two years for me as well, God knows how many made by my Hand Press. Wonderful little gadget, does everything from 9mm to 30-06. My TV table isn't nearly as organized as yours though. Last edited by chris in va; December 11, 2011 at 09:13 PM.

December 11, 2011, 09:33 PM	#16
shootniron Senior Member Join Date: April 16, 2011 Location: Georgia Posts: 1,599	Good on you. You make me look like the slacker that I am as I have 2 progressives, 1 turret and 1 single stage and I have not matched your output.

December 12, 2011, 11:10 AM	#17
dickttx Senior Member Join Date: May 29, 2011 Location: Fort Worth Posts: 500	Quote: That's a pretty conservative estimate, it might not be quite that much. A lot of it is TV time, often I'll do it for an hour early in the morning while I'm listening to the news. Probably not a good idea for me. I would have put a round thru my TV LONG ago! __________________ Education teaches you the rules, experience teaches you the exceptions (Plagiarized from Claude Clay)