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Old July 8, 2013, 06:59 PM   #76
BigJimP
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I keep a spreadsheet inventory of reloading presses, components on hand....and guns..../ and its important that you do that, for insurance purposes if nothing else....so that if you had a major fire, a theft, etc....its important to have data that is accurate, serial numbers, descriptions, etc...

Reloading presses ( Dillon 650...and quick change kits for 7 calibers ) and MEC 9000 HN's one each for 12ga, 20ga, 28ga and .410 ...replacement cost right now is about $ 9,000 ....with dies, etc...

Components...replacement cost right now is:
a. Primers ..... $ 1,250
b. Bullets ...... $ 1,500
c. Bags of shot ... $ 900
d. Powder.... $ 1,120

So call it about a $15,000 investment right now...

Shop July 08 030.jpeg.JPG


For Insurance purposes ....a good and accurate inventory and some good photos ....are important..../ so yes, its a smart thing to have, just in case !

Most of our wives know how much stuff we have ...reloading, and guns, etc....and while they may think its stupid / most of them don't really care ! ....or maybe I'm just lucky....because I know my wife doesn't really care....

I try to update photo's about twice a year..../ or if I add something major ...
and take a few good photos of my reloading area, shop area....
just in case...../ and I update the inventory about every 3 months...unless something really big changes..

Last edited by BigJimP; July 10, 2013 at 06:42 PM.
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Old July 8, 2013, 11:01 PM   #77
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EVERYONE over-buys.

Everyone, when they buy their first set of equipment, almost inevitably buys some items that do not fit their needs. Ultimately, those are traded off, usually at a loss of varying degrees.

So, my subject line: Everyone over-buys to an extent, more or less.

If I had known EXACTLY what I needed when I started, I could have bought what I needed for about $650 (7 calibers, 200 rounds per hour press) and lacked for NOTHING. As it is, I probably spent an extra $500, and that is surely because I am cheap and frugal and started my loading minimally and added gear slowly and carefully.

If you have more time than money (as I did when I started, as an enlisted Airman in 1975) or have more money than time, whatever conforms to your situation is best for you.

To drop over a grand on your first setup seems folly to me (in my frugal, cheap-o mind), but I will not judge it wrong. If you need to hit the ground running at full speed and have the wherewithal to do that, more power to you.

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Old July 8, 2013, 11:19 PM   #78
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Exactly lost. I started with $300 invested in gear. My needs grew so my equipment grew.
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Old July 9, 2013, 07:19 AM   #79
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Finding Lead ??

Lead is hard to find! The best you can do for cheap lead is,,,Look around the local Marina for diving weights , sailboat keels,,etc. I also found a chunk of lead ( 1,940 pounds * Lot 9003 ID 5400 ) on "Government Liquidation". This is an auction.
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Old July 10, 2013, 08:51 AM   #80
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I don't want to know. I have 2 Dillon presses and load for a few different pistol calibers. I load about 25k more or less a year. I'm good for the rest of the year and maybe a bit longer now. Since the money has been spent I don't really want to know what it may have been. Last year it was probably too much to say the least. I normally stock up prior to election years.

I have 2 Dillon Presses and all the equipment that goes along with them. I also have enough components to load over 20,000 rounds of ammo across 7 different calibers. Total cost would be close to $10,000+ if I totaled everything up. But the investment may go higher because I am thinking about adding another Dillon press.
I'am in the same boat. I've been reloading seriously for 21 years; but started with a Lee set-up way before that. Serious means DILLON. Like anything you love to do, you never add up the bucks. It's the same for my other hobby, sailing. Whether I use the boat or NOT, it still costs me $1200 a month to cover the costs sitting in a slip in Southern California.

I take reloading seriously with adult kids that use Dads MAN CAVE to feed their hobby once in a while. In reality, I've spent much more on guns; a large collection over a lifetime of shooting. Gun Games can add to the weekly 'round count' and in those months the Dillon 1050 can crank out 1200 rounds per hour if you shut off the cell phone first.

Reloading is therapy for me. I lock the door; run some classical music and enjoy the time.

This thread needs photos.

My Man Cave

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Old July 11, 2013, 02:55 AM   #81
luis7
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Hi.
I know it (+- 4000$) but my wife don´t..
Greetings from España.
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Old July 12, 2013, 04:13 PM   #82
ozo
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The revolver gets my attention.....
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Old July 12, 2013, 05:32 PM   #83
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Don't want to know. I run around $300.00 month just in reloading splys. If it was not for donating plasma at $280.00 a month things could get rough around here.
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Old July 12, 2013, 09:39 PM   #84
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Selling plasma for reloading...hmmm. -lightbulb-
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Old July 12, 2013, 10:30 PM   #85
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I don't know how much I've spent on reloading equipment. Quite a bit, but less than I've spent on firearms.

But then again, I'm sure I've spent more on ammunition and components than I have for firearms and reloading equipment combined.
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Old July 13, 2013, 01:44 PM   #86
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If it was not for donating plasma at $280.00 a month things could get rough around here.
Don't you mean selling plasma? I don't get a red cent for mine, I consider that donating.

But to answer the question in the OP, I don't know, a pile of $$ for sure. I have no doubt it would scare me. I have extensive reloading capabilities, a large store of components, and a sizable ammo stash. It was not a small investment just in storage for components and ammunition.
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Old July 13, 2013, 02:27 PM   #87
kilimanjaro
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I'm kind of an Excel fiend, so my spreadsheet tracks equipment and components, gives me a unit cost of brass or bullets by caliber, and cost of loaded rounds over time. As I reload the same brass, or pickup new brass at the range, costs go d
own.

Trouble is, my total investment divided by rounds loaded is a very big number per round.
Need to load about 3 cases to make me feel better.
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Old July 13, 2013, 04:35 PM   #88
Lost Sheep
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Here's a spreadsheet for you

Kilimanjaro,

Does your spreadsheet allow for the calculation of break-even point and include your time and your time to learn to load? (I have not yet added in a calculation to add the rental value of the space required for the loading room, as I don't have dedicated square footage.) (I also have not added in the cost of the gun required to shoot my loaded ammo, as that seems as silly as putting the cart before the horse.)

What do you think of these formulas?
Copy/paste into a spreadsheet starting at A1.)

350
140
35
28
6
0
20
10
10
0
25
50
<
100
<
=A14*(A2/1000+A3/1000+A4/(7000/(A5/(1-A6)))+A7/100/A8)
=+A16/A14
=+A11/A12-A17
=1000/A9*A18
=(A1+A10*A19)/A18
=+A20/1000*A9

and this at B1


Cost of the loading tools
Bullets (per thousand)
Primers (per thousand)
Powder (per lb)
load (grains per round)
spillage/shrinkage (I guess at 0% unless specified otherwise)
Brass (per hundred)
# of times each case is used (account for loss in this estimate. If Brass cost is zero, use 1)
Time required to load 1000 rounds. Include EVERYTHING. Picking up, cleaning, sorting, inspecting, filling primer tubes, etc.
Initial time learning to load
Cost per box for purchased ammuntion
Rounds per box referred to above
<
Incremental round count (50, 10, 20, 100: your typical production batch)
<
(Calculated) Cost per increment loaded
(Calculated) Cost per round
(Calculated) Savings per round
(Calculated) savings per hour. Your "wage" if you choose to see it that way.
(Calculated) Your breakeven point, in rounds produced
(Calculated) Your breakeven point, in hours


Anyone else with comments, please feel free to weigh in, but please, PLEASE, do not address the wisdom or folly of counting time spent enjoying a hobby. Please start another thread for that discussion.

Lost Sheep

Last edited by Lost Sheep; July 13, 2013 at 04:42 PM.
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Old July 13, 2013, 04:43 PM   #89
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Quote:
Anyone else with comments, please feel free to weigh in, but please, PLEASE, do not address the wisdom or folly of counting time spent enjoying a hobby. Please start another thread for that discussion.
You're trying too hard. There is also an intangible value to being able to load ammo and/or shoot when all the stores and all the web sites have been sold-out for over a year. Whatever that value, IMHO it overwhelms a lot of your detailed cost analysis.
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Old July 13, 2013, 04:50 PM   #90
Lost Sheep
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Quote:
Originally Posted by zxcvbob
You're trying too hard. There is also an intangible value to being able to load ammo and/or shoot when all the stores and all the web sites have been sold-out for over a year. Whatever that value, IMHO it overwhelms a lot of your detailed cost analysis.
True. If ammo is unavailable at ANY price, the cell "Cost per box for purchased ammuntion" goes to infinity. The break-even point goes to zero (or, realistically to one one).

Do not discount the intangible value to the person who just enjoys fiddling with spreadsheets, either.

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Old July 13, 2013, 05:05 PM   #91
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My labor is now 13 seconds per completed round. That is going slow.
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Old July 14, 2013, 05:30 AM   #92
darkgael
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Reloading

I am sure that my investment after decades of reloading is many thousands of dollars......allowing me to save even more thousands compared to what buying factory ammo would have cost.
I have reloading benches in three locations - one in each of two houses and another in a garage (I started with a Lee Loader, a box of bullets, 100 primers, a pound of powder and a shoe box).
I have fifteen bench mounted presses and a couple of hand presses, a shot maker for Trap loads, three lead casting furnaces, more molds than I want to count, and shelves of components. Lotsa stuff.
I do not particularly enjoy the process of reloading; I find it tedious. I do enjoy the shooting that it allows me to do and I do enjoy the quality of the ammo that I am able to make.
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Old July 16, 2013, 02:00 PM   #93
kilimanjaro
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Lots of spreadsheets here, nice to feel vindicated, as the Excel Nerd of the office.

Do add a column in your spreadsheet for local sales tax rate, multiply your total x 1.08 or whatever, to get a revised total. In the event of a loss, you want the insurance company to reimburse you for that replacement cost as well.
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Old July 16, 2013, 05:50 PM   #94
Machineguntony
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So far I've spent this much in the last month to get started, rounded:

$1850 to fully load up a Dillon 650 for 9mm and .223 (I bought every accessory imaginable, including the Auto primer)

$500 reloading bench

$300 on Dardas Cast bullets

$2000 on various powders, in bulk (I found a great deal)

$2500 in bulk bullets for .223 and 9mm (I found a great deal)

$1000 for reloading necessities like a scale, bullet puller, OAL measuring device, tumbler, etc.

As I was looking through my receipts, I was wondering how a Dillon 650 cost $1850, especially when considering the 650 itself is only about $566.

Here is the breakdown:

$566 for the Dillon 650

$127 for .223 dies

$64 for 9mm dies

$78 for 9mm conversion kit (press came in .223)

$120 for three case feed plates

$110 for quick change kit

$70 for powder check

$40 bullet tray

$220 case feeder

$315 Auto Primer filler

$50 change kit for primer filler (from small to large primers, as it came in small)

$45 handle for press

$45 strong mount
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Old July 16, 2013, 11:07 PM   #95
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I did a spreadsheet for equipment only and used Midway USA for a replacement cost. YIKES!! When I get enough nerve I'll do one for components..
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Old July 27, 2013, 09:05 AM   #96
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I've got somewhere in the middle to upper teens. I have collected a lot of stuff and was given a lot of different reloading supplys from my father also. 4 mec 9000 loaders, a dillon amd two rcbs rock chuckers. Not to mention powder, primers bullets, ect ect. Drives a wedge in my marriage but calms my nerves to set back and reload.
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Old July 27, 2013, 11:24 AM   #97
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My setup is fairly simple compared to some.

Single stage press, powder dispenser, beam scale, hand primer, hand trimmer, funnels, about a dozen die sets, misc. tools, free homemade bench, and then all the components.

Even with my simple set up, I've probably got $2,500 into right now, and that's pretty low for most reloaded I know.
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Old July 27, 2013, 09:26 PM   #98
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Update

I got some more equipment yesterday. So I am up to $2343.00, not including cartridge components, which I have little of and I am going to have to build a bigger bookcase.

I just started 5 months ago and so far I have made 24, 45 colt cartridges, that I have not tested yet. I just got powder 2 weeks ago ( Trail Boss ) only.

Last edited by redrick; July 27, 2013 at 09:32 PM.
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Old July 28, 2013, 12:46 AM   #99
Agregory1994
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Im in about $250 and make enough .223 to shoot my Bushmaster as much as I want, and enjoy the hell out o the whole process.
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Old July 28, 2013, 03:16 AM   #100
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My new press was a great investment. Less time reloading and more time shooting!
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