Expense??

[oldknotty]

How difficult is it to learn how to reload safely and what kind of expense is involved to get started say just for a few calibers ??? i was looking at the cost of rounds for my Lee Enfield and about dropped from shock :-)
Martin

[Blindstitch]

Depends how crazy you want to go.

Dies are $30-40 for Lee.
You need a press, scale, trimmer for starters.

After that projectiles are $25-35 for 100 depending on what type you get.
Powder is $23-30 a pound and can reload say 250 of the 303 british if you use imr 4064. That's just a guess.

Primers are $30-40 for 1000.

If you shoot cast lead the figures can change quite a bit.

For the most the problem cost is getting the gear and not exactly the loading part.

[603Country]

Look into one of the reloading kits from RCBS or Lyman, or maybe Lee. The Lee kit is easily the lowest cost, but I don't think it's the same quality as the RCBS gear. Then you need brass (about 50 cents apiece for Winchester or Remington, I think, or $1 per case from Lapua). Primers are cheap. Powder will cost you rougly $30 or less for a pound of IMR 4064, which will work in many calibers. Bullets are anywhere from 13 cents apiece to 50 cents.

[kilimanjaro]

I'm reloading 140 cartridges for my Lee-Enfields from a pound of powder. Cost is about $70 total, not including dies, press, scale, manuals, all that stuff. So the economics are good, especially for just one caliber. Buy bulk, the cost drops.

For a beginner on a budget, get the Lee Classic Press, about $75. If you get two of them, you can crank out rounds.

For a totally hand-made round, you can reload for as little as $250 for a press, dies, mike, scale, reloading block, funnel, lube, and a manual.

Should be amortized in about 500 rounds.

[catgunguy]

If you are ok with buying used: There is used Dillion 550, 650 and 1050 presses on E-Bay. There are others also and some used scales.

[nemesiss45]

I don't want to dissuade anyone from reloading, it is cheaper in the long run, but what ammo are you looking at that is so expensive? I just checked midway since I had not looked at the cost of .303 before and there are a few varieties for under $1/round. that seems about on par with the average rifle round these days.

I just got an enfield, myself, and while I have a crate of ammo for it, it is berdan primed surplus, so I will have to get some brass to reload when I run out.

[Blindstitch]

PPU can be had for around $18 a box or Remington Core lokt for $35.

I also just bought a 303 as it's a bit cheaper to shoot than my 30-40 krag. I save my brass and if I come across lead cast for the 303 I might just turn it into a lead only gun.

Shooting one of my 30-30's with green dot powder I can load upwards of 1000 cartridges per pound of powder. Cast projectiles are about 10 cents a piece.

[kilimanjaro]

You want to load 30-40, too. That's the only way I can run the Krags, $38 a box is a bit much to throw downrange for me.

For single stage presses, you can start reloading with a few hundred bucks. With a progressive press, you'll spend $1000 or nearly so if you buy new.

It's not rocket science. Use the manuals, and pay attention to what you are doing, you'll make good quality ammo and save money you use to buy more guns, components, scopes, etc., kind of a whirlpool effect.

[skizzums]

go single stage, its very cheap, the whole process is cheap if you want it to be, period

[cdbeagle]

I've been loading for a little over a year now. Have a Lee Classic Turret Press I bought as part of a kit. I've never loaded with a progressive or single stage press. I'm sure I'll never buy a progressive for two reasons. I don't load enough to warrant one in my opinion and I also found out I prefer to hand prime and I don't use my press to throw powder. I use a RCBS Chargemaster Combo to dispense and weigh my powder charges. I doubt I'll ever own a single stage because for me they are two slow and I don't like to have to swap dies after every process.

I'm not suggesting you buy a Lee though I'm happy with mine but if I were in your shoes, with my limited experience I would look into a Turret press. I consider them midway between a progressive and a single stage.

[madmo44mag]

I shoot 303 and I also reload but not for the 303 LE.

For the number of rounds of 303 I shoot in a year vs the cost to reload 303 ammo; I save my brass and sale it and reduce the cost of store bought ammo.
The cost savings of re-loading is not great enough to cover the time I would spend loading the round.

Now if I shot twice as much 303 ammo as I do then re-loading would be cost effective.

Re-loading rifle ammo IMO is twice a time consuming as re-loading pistol ammo. So the only rifle ammo I re-load is ammo I shoot a lot of such as 5.56.

Now if you want the best accuracy you can get then re-loading is the only real option.

OH, BTW - Lee Enfield's are like rabbits they will multiply and do so quickly so be warned.

[skizzums]

i agree that rifle is signifigantly more work than pstol, pistol is 45 an hour start to finish including prep

rifle is about double as the poster stated above, now that extra time could be allieviated with better equipment, but the way i see it, is a also shoot pistol rounds twice as fast and dont need nearly as much rifle ammo