The Firing Line Forums

Go Back   The Firing Line Forums > The Skunkworks > Handloading, Reloading, and Bullet Casting

Reply
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old November 19, 2013, 11:12 AM   #26
reload
Member
 
Join Date: March 18, 2013
Posts: 43
Quote:
As always the way to reload with savings is to always pay the lowest price for components, which means to buy in bulk. When you shop for components you need to pick up 5000 primers and 8 pounds of powder and 1000 bullets minimum to really save.
Totally agree. Bulk is the only way to go to get the lowest cost, especially when dealing with hazmat mail order fees. My 9mm cost is running about $.14 with 124 plated. With my SDB I can load 100 rounds in less than 15 minutes. I haven't seen factory ammo at $.24 cents in a very long time, typically it's over $.30.
reload is offline  
Old November 19, 2013, 11:14 AM   #27
serf 'rett
Senior Member
 
Join Date: June 25, 2009
Location: Stuttgart, AR
Posts: 1,569
I take it the OP is not buying in bulk and bulk buying is where the savings start to accrue. Using current cost plus hazmat and shipping:

FMJ Basis: Precision Delta 115gr 9mm 1000 ea, Powder Valley 5K Tula primers, 8# W231 power – $0.131 per round

Plated Basis: Powder Valley 5K Tula primers, 8# W231 power, Berry’s 115 gr 9mm 1000 ea – $0.112 per round

Lead Bullet Basis: Powder Valley 5K Tula primers, 8# W231 power, MO Bullet 115 gr 9mm 500 ea – $0.099 per round
__________________
A lack of planning on your part does not necessarily constitute an emergency on my part.
serf 'rett is offline  
Old November 19, 2013, 01:47 PM   #28
GJSchulze
Senior Member
 
Join Date: May 3, 2013
Location: Western New York
Posts: 454
Quote:
I don't understand the need to make a distinction between jacketed rounds or lead rounds when one is discussing range ammunition to be honest
It depends on what you are practicing for. That and if you want to clean out more lead from your barrel. Also, Glock says not to use lead rounds in their guns.

If you are practicing for a competition I would think you want ammo that behaves the same as when you are in a match. At least for IPSC and IDPA I would. You can't push lead as fast as jacketed, so the recoil will be different and the gun will run different. In those matches you are shooting quickly, so you want the same feel.

But if you are just plinking or target shooting you'd be right, although personally I still wouldn't shoot plain lead in my gun.
GJSchulze is offline  
Old November 19, 2013, 02:36 PM   #29
tangolima
Senior Member
 
Join Date: September 28, 2013
Posts: 3,771
Quote:
Primers @ $25.00/1000 (hazmat and shipping included) or $.025 per
I really would like to know where I can buy primers at this price. Wherever I look it is at least $30/1000 before hazmat & shipping.

-TL
tangolima is offline  
Old November 19, 2013, 02:39 PM   #30
tangolima
Senior Member
 
Join Date: September 28, 2013
Posts: 3,771
Quote:
I don't understand the need to make a distinction between jacketed rounds or lead rounds when one is discussing range ammunition to be honest.

The primary purpose is to put holes in paper, practice technique, enjoy shooting or some other reason not involved with life and death situations. Whether I'm sending CU or PB down the barrel is really irrelevant.
Some people don't want to deal with lead. Some pistol can't shoot lead. Some ranges don't allow lead bullets.

-TL
tangolima is offline  
Old November 19, 2013, 03:05 PM   #31
pgdion
Senior Member
 
Join Date: April 22, 2010
Location: MPLS, MN
Posts: 1,214
I haven't worked the numbers lately but I think I'm still around .14 a round using Berry's plated bullets and powder and primers from my gun club (where members get a slight discount ... we also were served first during the shortage so I never had issues of running out ).

Used to be only sort of worth it when I could get new ammo for $18 / 100. It was almost a wash. I mostly reloaded about 50% of my 9mm because it was fun to do and it set me up so if there was another shortage (and what do you know, there was) I'd still be able to shoot. But now the best price seems to be more like $24 / 100 if you can find it. Makes it almost worth my time now.
__________________
597 VTR, because there's so many cans and so little time!
pgdion is offline  
Old November 19, 2013, 03:06 PM   #32
BigJimP
Senior Member
 
Join Date: February 23, 2005
Posts: 13,195
I don't buy brass...( I sweep up brass at my local range, clean, inspect and reuse )....so delete a penny per round there.../ but your situation might be different.

I'm using Montana Gold premium bullets 115gr FMJ and I buy in case lots / and primers in my area are right around $ 28 - $32 / 1,000 when I buy in case lots of 5,000 ( and I'm only going to use Winchester or CCI primers) ....powder I only buy in 8 lb kegs ...for 9mm you have a lot of choices, but I prefer Hodgdon powders.

and I'm still right around $ 7.10 for 50 rds .../ but retail in my area is around $ 15 - $17 for a box of 50 rds in FMJ.

Berry's plated bullets are a little cheaper than Montana Gold but not much...

I can't shoot lead bullets in my local indoor ranges either...

Last edited by BigJimP; November 19, 2013 at 07:38 PM.
BigJimP is offline  
Old November 19, 2013, 03:11 PM   #33
pgdion
Senior Member
 
Join Date: April 22, 2010
Location: MPLS, MN
Posts: 1,214
Quote:
$25.00/1000 - I really would like to know where I can buy primers at this price.
That's about what I pay from my local gun club. Members do get a small discount (about 10% I think). Even without the discount they are still cheaper than Cabelas, ect. Powder is cheaper there too, less than $20 per pound (might have paid $16 for my last pound of Unique). Membership has it's benefits. Haven't had to buy any real recently though so I'm not sure where prices are at right now.

The FleetFarm by me has started carrying some reloading supplies too. Prices aren't bad.
__________________
597 VTR, because there's so many cans and so little time!
pgdion is offline  
Old November 19, 2013, 03:13 PM   #34
schmellba99
Senior Member
 
Join Date: January 8, 2008
Posts: 803
Quote:
I really would like to know where I can buy primers at this price. Wherever I look it is at least $30/1000 before hazmat & shipping.
I bought 5k Tula primers from Powder Valley not too terribly long ago and it came out to right around $25/k when you factored in shipping and hazmat.

The hazmat was spread out amongst other items, as was shipping.
schmellba99 is offline  
Old November 19, 2013, 03:16 PM   #35
schmellba99
Senior Member
 
Join Date: January 8, 2008
Posts: 803
Quote:
That and if you want to clean out more lead from your barrel.
I can dig on some of the other reasons, but if you are having to constantly clean lead out of your barrel, you are doing something wrong.

I'm not a competition shooter - are lead projos not allowed? I would think that lead projectiles would be preferred, especially with steel targets, over jacketed.
schmellba99 is offline  
Old November 19, 2013, 03:19 PM   #36
tangolima
Senior Member
 
Join Date: September 28, 2013
Posts: 3,771
Quote:
I bought 5k Tula primers from Powder Valley not too terribly long ago and it came out to right around $25/k when you factored in shipping and hazmat.
Thanks, schmellba99.

-TL
tangolima is offline  
Old November 19, 2013, 08:24 PM   #37
Misssissippi Dave
Senior Member
 
Join Date: December 5, 2009
Posts: 1,411
I have been buying Tula primers from Powder Valley. The last ones were up to around $23 per K plus shipping and hazmat. Since I normally get 10 to 15 k at a time and 16 pounds of WST the shipping/hazmat isn't adding that much per unit. $127 per 8 pounds of powder and 1400 rounds per pound keeps the cost pretty low. When buying bullets from PD I get as many as I can to get as much discount as possible. I still have to pay the sales tax since they are made in this state. No sales tax or shipping with MG bullets. Both load pretty much the same too for the same weight. Both are also match grade. You won't find much variance in the weight from one bullet to the next.

These bulk buys keep me loading for a good amount of time and also locks in my price for a given load until they are all gone.

USPSA does allow lead/plated and jacketed bullets. They must meet a minimum power factor and not exceed the max power factor they list. This also makes it more consistent and easier on the steel targets. Some factory ammo is too hot to make it within the limits and some is also too week. The best ammo to use is what you reload and have checked to meet the power factor. I did find some power is affected by temperature as well as altitude and humidity. It is good to give yourself a little comfort zone to allow for all the differences. Only loading to the minimum power factor allowed will probably get your ammo disqualified when tested. The power factor is easy to figure. Weight of the bullet (measured weight) X speed in fps / 1000.
Misssissippi Dave is offline  
Old November 19, 2013, 08:44 PM   #38
Jim Watson
Senior Member
 
Join Date: October 25, 2001
Location: Alabama
Posts: 18,492
I handload 9mm to tailor my ammunition at reasonable cost.
Mostly I load to power factor for IDPA. You don't find mild subsonic or 1903 spec ammo at Cheapmart.
Or high velocity JHP at a price comfortable for defense gun practice.

When I win the lottery, I will keep an order in place with Atlanta Arms for Sevigny match loads and a Federal distributor for HST.

Now, about those .45s...
Jim Watson is offline  
Old November 19, 2013, 09:01 PM   #39
MarkCO
Senior Member
 
Join Date: October 21, 1998
Location: Colorado, USA
Posts: 4,298
You guys need to shop a bit more...

Bullets: http://www.bayoubullets.net/9mm.html for about 7 to 8 cents each, shipped. While my sponsor gives me brass, even if I bought it, it is about $25/1k around here, so call that 2.5 cents. My primers, in bulk are 2.6 cents each. My powder is less than 1 cent per round.

So totaled up is 13.1 cents per round, but my actual cost is 10.6 cents per round. When I load Hornady HAP I am at 18 cents per round and the XTPs at about 22 cents per round.

The cheapest ammo in stock anywhere today is the Freedom 115 blaster ammo at .24 cents per round. The cheapest match ammo is up at 40 cents plus and defense loads are up at 90 cents. By my math, I am saving a ton of money.
__________________
Good Shooting, MarkCO
www.CarbonArms.us

Last edited by MarkCO; November 19, 2013 at 09:51 PM.
MarkCO is offline  
Old November 20, 2013, 07:38 PM   #40
Misssissippi Dave
Senior Member
 
Join Date: December 5, 2009
Posts: 1,411
After doing the math using my most recent purchases including shipping and hazmat charges it still comes out to $0.135 per round with Montana Gold bullets. I could go cheaper, but I'm happy with this load. I will have to recalculate once my order from PD arrives. It might be a little less. It is still less than what I could buy from WalMart if there is any on the shelf there. I don't count the cost of brass since I still have lots of brass from factory ammo not to mention the range pickups. I get between 25 and 50 reloads per case most of the time. Even if I did purchase brass you would have to divide the cost over the number of times you could load them. That brings the cost way down even for the brass.

Loading ammo is enjoyable for me. Being able to make the ammo I prefer for less cost than factory ammo is a bonus. Even if the cost turned out to only break even or slightly higher than factory ammo I would still be loading this caliber.
Misssissippi Dave is offline  
Old November 21, 2013, 11:31 PM   #41
HawkeyeNRAlifer
Senior Member
 
Join Date: September 6, 2007
Location: Iowa
Posts: 316
I fortunately stocked up on $10.00-14.00 primers, a selection of powder at $10.00-12.00 per lb and 1000 lbs of wheel weights during the last decade. I'm not gloating, just feeling unusually lucky to pick the right time to stockpile. Even loaded up on some mil-sup stuff. I'm shocked each and every time I price retail 9mm and 45 ACP at the stores or shows.
The downside is instead of fully enjoying my inexpensive ammo, I think of the replacement cost as I blast away.
HawkeyeNRAlifer is offline  
Old November 22, 2013, 12:00 AM   #42
bluetopper
Senior Member
 
Join Date: December 16, 2005
Location: Northeast TX
Posts: 1,197
I shoot handguns almost every weekend and have for many years. Cast lead bullets are all I shoot. I have them mail ordered to my door 2k at a time in many calibers and I have zero problems with lead nor do any of my shooting buddies have problems with their guns leading with their reloads.
bluetopper is offline  
Old November 22, 2013, 07:56 AM   #43
Misssissippi Dave
Senior Member
 
Join Date: December 5, 2009
Posts: 1,411
I only have 2 problems with loading properly sized lead bullets.

The first is I would have to flair the case mouth a little more to start them and that may give me a few less times I can use the same case do to neck splitting. It isn't really a big deal by the way.

The second reason is I would have to be a little more careful not to over crimp. It does take more effort to over crimp jacketed bullets. Plated bullets should not be crimped to the point they cut through the plating to keep them intact all the way to the target. So, the main problem is with crimping to me.

I can load all three types and get good results. I just choose to use jacketed bullets since I can afford to do so and I can set up quicker with good results. Match grade bullets also tend to give me more consistent results. Using powders my powder measure likes give me pretty consistent amounts of powder each time. This also lends to better loads.

Smoky loads often comes from the type of lube used when loading lead bullets. I don't seem to see any of this with my jacketed loads since I'm not using bullet lube to load them.
Misssissippi Dave is offline  
Reply

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -5. The time now is 02:05 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.7
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
This site and contents, including all posts, Copyright © 1998-2021 S.W.A.T. Magazine
Copyright Complaints: Please direct DMCA Takedown Notices to the registered agent: thefiringline.com
Page generated in 0.09851 seconds with 10 queries