Economics of reloading

[kilimanjaro]

I still have a case of Winchester .223 I bought and tucked away around 1990, it was $3.95 a box. That's close to your $3.09, but 35 years off !

[larryh1108]

Buying sorted, "once fired", same head stamp Winchester or Federal brass goes for $.086 per case. I could try to figure the cost of demising recovery and suitability and the cost of cleaning, but I'm just talking about the first 1000 rounds. I know they are reusable, but I'm just setting up, so its an expense.

All true so if you buy store bought 9mm ammo, then the cases are once fired by you and after shooting 2000 rounds of the premade stuff, you have your brass at no extra cost.

If reloading is a chore instead of a hobby then you are right, loading 9mm or .223 is not for you. If you enjoy reloading as a hobby then once you have your own brass the cost savings become worthwhile. If you want to bill yourself for the hours used in reloading then sell the equiptment and buy off the shelf.

[Zmax]

If dicks, walmart or local gunshop has ammo for cheaper than I can reload I buy it shoot it and reload the brass.

[Kirkpatrick]

I know I probably rankled a few hairs when I brought up my price for reloading, but its more than that. The price of reloading is what a "plinking" round goes for, its what a "quality" target load goes for, its what the price of an enjoyable hobby goes for, and its what the peace of mind knowing you will have ammo regardless of whatever the current economic or political reality is.

I was never suggesting that its not worth it, its worth it on almost every level short of just being handed free plinking ammo. I'm happy to reload and its always worth the cost, in time, effort, and in dollars. Its just that there is nothing wrong with reloading without having your only goal that of "saving" every last penny you can. The main goals of reloading (for me) are shooting and a deep sense of satisfaction I get from being involved in almost the entire cycle of firearms.

[ghbucky01]

Its just that there is nothing wrong with reloading without having your only goal that of "saving" every last penny you can. The main goals of reloading (for me) are shooting and a deep sense of satisfaction I get from being involved in almost the entire cycle of firearms.

My initial reason for getting into reloading was cold dollars and cents. I was starting to shoot more, and I wanted to get competitive, but when I looked at the expense of shooting .45, I took out a spreadsheet and did a break down.

That was the reason to start. Now I find that I always have an excuse to be on my bench for some reason, so I guess I'm hooked.

[velillen]

Reloading for me started as a way to save money. Have I? Yes on the cost of ammo. Others have given examples of what you can save.

Have I saved money overall? Not really cause it has turned into a hobby so I keep buying new things. Dillon 550b and a chargemaster being the latest. So the money I've saved has gone right back into reloading. In a few years ill have everything I could want so it'll be all saved money.

[2400]

In a few years ill have everything I could want so it'll be all saved money.

rotflmao

Keep repeating that over and over. I've been loading since 69 and am still buying stuff.

[skizzums]

same as everyone, i started to save $$

i started one year ago exactly, at the time, the ammo shelves were dry at big box stores and the LGS were bending everyone over, so i started out of almost neccessity, i still feel like i save $$

9mm per 1000
25$ for tula primers
10$ 1/2 pound of powder
cases=free
lead for bullets=35$ per 100pounds of WW, so maybe 5$
lube=2-3$
we will say 55$ for taxes and whatever, thats alot of savings
--------------------------
223 per 1000 for match-grade
35$ for CCI primers
100$ for 4lbs of powder
100$ for bullets
i just get brass from friends and where i shoot, havent bought any in a long time
so about 250$ for nice 77gr bullets, still a big savings over factory

i buy alot of toys and reloading stuff, but i am still on my single stage press that came in a set for 100$, overall i have saved a ton of $$ especially on 9mm and 38spl because i use cast bullets, i dont think my equipment will ever surpass my savings even if i upgrade to a progressive press, i get to shoot a ton now and never think twice about how much ammo i have, and my friends dont have to worry about it either; usually they will just throw me 10-20$ when we go out and they know that ill let them shoot all the pistol rounds they want

[gwpercle]

Economy.... Lee sells double cavity moulds , from Midway $20.00 and you become the master of your own bullet supply.
Find a friend in the tire business and you are set.
Reloading saves some , casting bullets and reloading saves a lot.
Gary

[bt380]

Lots of good info. The only problem I have is the word reloading used with the word economics. Those two words have always been at different end of the planet for me. This bullet is good but that bullet "could" be better. That didn't get any better, may be I can use "X" powder and so on. Then a new press toy comes out and it all starts all over again. Then naturally the next gun at the end of the gun case looks interesting and so the trek of finding that sweet spot starts.

[skizzums]

sorry i never actually anwered the OPs question, for pistol bullets that i dont cast i use www.extremebullets.com

for rifle rounds that i need jacketed i go to www.grafs.com

for powder and primers, i dont buy enough at one time to cover the hazmat fees, so i shop local. good luck and have fun, unless ou always making hornaday or other brand name ullets, you can save some skrilla

[Bezoar]

econimics of reloading is not about saving money. The economics of reloading is about being able to shoot.

The only jacketed ammunition i can find on shelves in 38 or 357 magnum is 130 grain 38special fmj 50/22.99. And 38special pdx jhp for 35 a box of 20 .

the only lead factory ammo can find is lead round nose. best deal is 21.99 for 50.

Now for reloading economics. at this time i can buy 1000 rounds of standard 38 special 158 grain lead round nose for 419.99 plus tax and delivery.


now i can buy cast bullets in different shapes, and hollowpoints too.

typically right now expect $30 for 100 bullets. but you can still get those 300 and 500 round boxes lswc or even lswc-hp for 45-65 dollars.

places are still selling mixed brass for 38 special online. saw one that was charging $300 for 1000.

can get various plated bullets and jacketed. depending on company that made it 100 bullets can cost 20-35 dollars.

might cost more once you ad in primer and powder and reloading gear. but
if you cant get ammo your screwed.

[skizzums]

30$ for 100 bullets. i think all your prices are a little out of whack. expect to pa about 9.00 per 100 lead or plated bullets. the cheaper ones like georgia arms are 65.00$ per thousand. .38spl brass is about 110$ per 1000 and 9mm being about 50-60$ per 1k and .223 being about 100$. the only bullets i have ever seen over 20$ per 100 is brand name jacketed defense or hunting bullets.

[Bezoar]

well no offoense but i was going off of the cabelas and midway websites. Sure the prices are rough averages but they are what youd be paying. do a few dummy orders and see what you get charged.

[cryogenic419]

Buying in bulk is the first step towards cost savings. Buying things when they are on sale or snagging a really good deal when it presents itself is second step. Big part of the savings does kind of depend on what you are shooting caliber and bulletwise.

What is a little trickier is putting a price on ammo tuned to your gun or specific needs. What if there really wasn't a noticeable cost savings or god forbid actually cost you a penny more per round, but the ammo you produced was leaps and bounds above everything else out there accuracywise? Would it be worth it?

This thread caused me to do a rundown on my .223 loads. I shoot in highpower rifle matches and go through a lot of ammo throughout the season. I'm including the cost of once fired brass, obviously this gets reused but I'm including it just to show the savings. I'll even throw in electricity, water and cleaning solution for the ultrasonic cleaner. I'm not including time for initial case prep things like swaging military brass, pocket uniforming, and flash hole deburring as they only need to happen once. Decapping before ultrasonic cleaning I've got down to a very short amount of time. Cleaning doesn't really require much of me other than throw the brass in, the rinse afterwards, putting wet brass in a metal colander and shake the excess water off the brass and then let airdry overnight.

.24 per bullet 77gr SMK when bought in 500
.05 CCI BR-4 primer
.09 IMR XBR 8208 powder
.09 once fired brass
.01 electricity for ultrasonic, powder dispenser
.01 cleaning solution
.01 water

.50 per round plus my time for ammo that shoots better in my gun than Federal GMM with the same bullet. With my current setup I'm able to do 100 rounds an hour comfortably. I only mention rounds per hour as trying to rationalize the work that goes into loading. If I only got 20 rounds per hour I might have to seriously rethink the cost savings versus time/energy put into it. For me 100 rounds an hour for match ammo is acceptable. $50 per 100

Midway shows a 20 round box of that for $32.49. Looking around I find this same ammo for $24.95 on sgammo.com. That's $1.24 per round on the cheap side. $124 per 100.

$74 difference per 100. Even if I bought brand new LC brass and only used new brass for every load I'd only be up to .64 per round knocking the savings down to $60 per 100.

Obviously the savings isn't going to be as huge with plinking ammo however.

.14 Hornady 55gr FMJBT if bought in 100 round, .11 in 500 pack, .09 in 1000
.03 CCI 400 primer
.08 TAC powder
.09 once fired brass
.03 water, electricity, cleaning solution and water for ultrasonic

.37 per round on the high end, .32 per round on the lower end. This actually can be a lot cheaper as I was using the max powder charge, assuming brass isn't being reused and yanking all the prices off Midway. Comparable ammo would be Hornady training ammo with the same bullet listed at $24.49 per 50 puts it right around .49 per round. 150-200 rounds comfortably per hour.

I know there are other variables that do factor into long term cost like the price of the press, dies, other various tools, etc as well as shipping from a lot of these places. I try not to order too much online frequently or at least order in enough bulk that the savings make it worthwhile as some of the shipping costs will kill any sort of savings if you order a little here and a little there. Luckily I am able to stockpile on things like powder and primers at amazing costs every summer so unless its some sort of experimental thing I want to try out I do pretty well costwise.

The costs of shooting can get insane if you do it on any sort of a regular basis. Between practice and shooting matches last summer I shot over 1000 rounds just in the above mentioned .223 loads, that's just for highpower. Factor in pistol rounds, the bolt gun, and shooting the other AR's just for fun I honestly don't think I could afford to shoot half that much if I wasn't reloading.

[skizzums]

The first-time is pricey cause your paying for all that brass. Everytime after that you can deduct the .09 cents per round.ive only loaded my .223 three times now. Haven't yet attempted a fourth time, but x3 reloads your only paying 3 cents for brass

[cryogenic419]

Another thing you can do to help with the economics of reloading. If you are diligent on collecting your brass at the end of shooting and later find this piece of brass is worn our or should no longer be reloaded, save it in a scrap bucket. You aren't going to get rich when you get a full bucket and take it to the scrapyard but you should get a decent amount that you can put towards new brass.

[stubbicatt]

Guess it is the cartridge you are loading for. 6.5x47 Lapua is nearly $100 for 20 cartridges, which as I figure it, is about $5 a pop. I can handload it, not factoring in the cost of brass, for less than a dollar a pop.

The initial cost of brass is high, but the cases seem to last forever.

When comparing 223 ammo, I think it is probably better to compare ammo loaded with better bullets than FMJs to get a more favorable comparison point. To my way of seeing it, aside from savings, the reason I hand load is to obtain better more accurate ammunition. It is an intangible benefit which to me outweighs the savings factor.

[skizzums]

I just paid 69$ for 1k pulled .223 penetrators for plinking. 25$ for tula primers, plus powder. so its a lot cheaper when just making FMJ too. that'll cost me about 19c a round loaded.

I also buy VLDs and HP bullets and better primers, just depends on what I want to do and how much I wanna spend

[Red_Eagle]

With 223 it really depends on what you are trying to do with it. If you want to shoot FMJ plinking ammo at a zombie target in your back yard, you my save a little money or you may not. When it comes to quality varmint or competition ammo, it is almost impossible to not save money. I was just on Midway's site and it starts at $18 per box and goes all the way up to $50, and that's before shipping and HAZMAT.