i just dont see how some can say reloading is cost effective

[beex215]

ive looked at several websites and for the cost of only 2 components, its already over what i can pay for factory ammo. brass and bullets come out to be around 25 dollars for 100 pieces. dont forget i need primers, powder, etc.

i can just buy factory brassed ammo for $20 for 100 pieces. or im just looking at the wrong sites that has ridiculous prices. whats the secret?

[Hook686]

So buy factory ammo and be happy. You do not even mention what caliber you were looking at.

[beex215]

sorry it was 9mm. it might be a better buy to buy factory

[44 AMP]

9mm is probably the most produced handgun round in the world. You won't save much, if anything reloading it.

Look at something different, say .45 Colt, or .22 Hornet, and you will find a considerable difference between the cost of componests and the cost of factory loaded ammo.

I'll give you an example thats fresh in my mind, the .350 Rem mag. Cheapest factory ammo I could find was $40 for 20rnds. New brass was $40 for 50. Bullets $30/100. A pound of powder and a hundred primers for less the $30.

SO, 100rnds of my handloads for a little under $140 vs $200 (or more) for factory stuff. Plus, my loads are tailored to my rifle. Factory isn't.
And, the next 100 rounds will only cost me about $60, as I am reusing the brass.
Thats just one example. The amount you save varies with the caliber, and is the least with the most popular rounds, but you still save some, even with them, as you can make better ammo than the cheapest factory stuff, and after the first time you use the brass, its free.

[Jim Watson]

If you buy in bulk, the unit cost is lower.

You can REload your brass until it cracks or is lost, you don't base costs on one use of the cases unless you are a high level competitor going to the national championships. And by then you won't be worrying as much about cost.

[Rifleman1776]

It is not just about ecomony. A big reason to reload is to custom load to your personal preferences. Probably more important for rifle than pistol however.

[hogcowboy]

It used to be cost effective. You can still customize your loads to your weapon but in general reloading is just a hobby that's part of the shooting sports. I spend hours just reloading and then shoot'em up. Not much for fun than that!

[Krieger9]

Brass cost needs to be divided by the # of times you reload it for cost savings.

[demigod]

Brass cost needs to be divided by the # of times you reload it for cost savings.

What cost? The only cost for brass is the time spent picking it up a my shooting spot.

[pgdion]

Depends on what your loading and where you live.

For me, even scrounging the brass (saving mine & picking up what I can), 9mm is about a wash in my area. Everything accounted for it costs me about $8 per 50 to reload and I can buy new for $10 to $12 per 50. I save a little but payoff is a long time out (and if you factor in expensive equipment, it may never come). For the .40 and .45 the return is quicker and for my sons 30-30, it really gets worth it then. For me, I mostly just save the brass and have the supplies on hand so I can load if I want to. But for 9mm I don't reload too often.

[wncchester]

"i just dont see how some can say reloading is cost effective"

I've been loading since '65 and have helped quite a few get started. BUT -- my usual response to anyone asking if reloading is "worth it" is, "NO". That's especially true for commonly available puny ammo like 9mm .38 S, 5.56 or 7.62x39. It's commercially loaded in such volumes the economies of scale allow it to be purchased new (or "remanufactored") for very low cost. The advantages of reloading are rarely found in loading vast quanities of "cheep" ammo.

[demigod]

The advantages of reloading are rarely found in loading vast quanities of "cheep" ammo.

I disagree. I can reload .223 for $0.19 per round, and make very good ammo. Equivalent quality ammo would run at least $0.32 to buy new.

Economies of scale means that WIN can make ammo much cheaper than I can, but that's irrelevant since I don't buy ammo at WIN's cost to produce. I buy it at retail.

[Pilot]

I scavenge my brass, so I can still make 9MM and .223 more inexpensively, but were reloading shines is with other calibers. If you shoot .45 Colt, .45 ACP, etc, a lot, you want to reload.

[Mike Irwin]

it appears that you're looking at the cost of things like powder and primers not on a per cartridge basis, but on a package basis. That's not the way to do it.

For example, powder. There are 7,000 grains in a pound.

If you pay $20 for a pound of powder, and use 7 grains of powder in a cartridge, you load 1,000 cartridges with one pound of powder, so the cost of the powder charge for each cartridge is 2 cents.

With primers, the cost is similar.

As others have noted, brass continues to go down in price every time you use it. If you get range pick up brass, it's free, but for this example, we'll say 3 cents for this particular loading.

And, if you use cast lead bullets, depending on caliber, you can find them for maybe $25 per 500, or 5 cents per cartridge.

So, in this example, the cost of a loaded cartridge is 12 cents.

Multiply that by 50 and the cost is $6.00.

I don't know where you're buying your ammunition, but at the moment the most common rounds I can find, .38 Special, 9mm, etc., are well in excess of double that amount.

Yes, you have the cost of the press and dies and other sundries to figure in, but that cost is amortized over time. The more you reload, the faster you pay those items out.

And no, I don't consider the cost of my "time" in any such equation. I reload as a hobby, which supports another hobby, so I don't place a dollar value on it, just as I don't place a dollar value on the time I spend with my dog or watching TV.

[Brian Pfleuger]

As others have mentioned, the apparent discrepancy is likely that you're not calculating the savings of reusing brass. The brass for 9mm you buy can be reloaded, practically, forever. You'll lose 90% of it before it wears out. If you buy Starline brass from MidWay, you can get 500 pieces for about $75 delivered. That's 15 cents each, which could easily be 1 cent per shot. If you don't lose it, you can almost definitely get 15 mid-range 9mm loads from that brass.

Rifles loading is an even better value. I can load premium, 1/2 MOA accurate ammo using bullets that you can't even get in loaded ammo for about 1/3 the cost of generic, factory ammo.

[4runnerman]

I reload 223 also. Cost is one factor,but accuracy is another. also i have not seen 223 loads in my bullet weight. I shoot 75 gn bullets and all i seem to find around here is 55 gn. The cost savings is still there no matter how you look at it. 9MM, you can pick up a 1000 a day at the range so brass cost is nothing.

[jmortimer]

I can't buy premium ammunition for what I can reload same thing. I like hard cast LBT bullets which only a few manufacturers sell such as Buffalo Bore or Double Tap. I can get very similar results for a fraction of the cost. It is true, that if you shoot military calibers like .223 or 9mm you can get cheap ammunition but you can still beat that as well. Even something as simple as a 255 grain SWC will probably be "soft" and an anemic "cowboy load" for more than I can load a hard cast 255 grain SWC at around 950 fps. My ammunition is better and costs less. If you are only shooting paper I suppose it does not matter but for self defense and hunting you can load the "best" ammunition for far less and develop a load that works best for your gun, and in hadguns especially, you can reverse engineer ammunition to the gun's specific point of aim.

[overkill0084]

9mm is going to be one of the "worst" one to reload, as far as savings are concerned. The math has already been done, so I won't go into it. It's worth noting that components are cheaper in bulk. If you buy your components 100 at a time, the savings are minimal. Buy stuff 1000 or more at a time, now you're starting to talk savings. Locally I can buy a tray of primers for $3+ per hundred. But I come across sales where they are 25.99 per 1000. Probably not a super great deal either, but still noticeably cheaper than individual trays. Start looking at group buys and such, and savings will continue to mount.
I'm going to slowly buy up as many components as I can afford &/or store. As inflation and overregulation get worse, none of this stuff is going to get cheaper.

[IllinoisCoyoteHunter]

If you shoot alot, then casting your own bullets + reloading is when you really begin to save alot of $$$$$. PLUS, I can gurantee you that with a little tweaking of your handloads, they will be more accurate than factory loads (which are loaded to fit all guns, and are not taylored to fit yours perfectly).

AND as someone has already stated, you must figure on reusing your brass. I am lucky enough to have a free supply of lead, which I use to trade for brass. So my brass and lead (bullets) are free. With the initial cost of getting setup not figured in (which can be really expensive or fairly cheap depending on which equipment you buy) I can reload a box of 50 45 acp lead hollowpoints for $1.80-$2.00 (.025-.03 cents for primer and .01 cent for powder). BUT, where I see real savings is loading "expensive calibers". I can load a box of 20 454 casull to match buffalo bore specs for about .16 cents each (including the cost of brass cuz no one will trade me 454 brass). That comes to $3.20 for a box of 20. Ever look at the price of Buffalo Bore 454 Casull rounds......?

[mapsjanhere]

For another example of BIG savings:
300 RUM factory loads $3 ea.
brass $1, used 10x, $.10
powder 85 gr $.25
primer $.03
bullet $.45
_________
total $.83

Even without the reused brass savings, I paid $300 for a Lee reloading kit, dies and components for 100 rounds, same as for 100 rounds factory ammo.

[dlb435]

A lot depends on how much you spend to get set up and how many rounds per year you reload. I find that my cost per round is lower than even the cheapest factory loads. I'm reloading 45 ACP, 9mm, 223 and 243.
I got into reloading when I started shooting IPSC. Bruning through 200-500rounds a week gets a bit expensive. My first suprise was how much more consistant my reloads were. Next, I could reduce powder charge to meet the shooting standards but gain a bit in recoil control.
I don't compete any more but still reload my own ammo. Reloading can become a hobby in it's own right. You can also cook up special loads that are either hard to find or just not made any more.
You should try reloading with a freind that is already set up. You might like it or not. If it is something you like, then you can get your own press.

[spacecoast]

Don't buy the brass, pick it up at the range for free. 9mm is the MOST available because almost everyone shoots it. In terms of savings, it is true that the savings on 9mm is the least percentage-wise, I save only about 50% reloading it (with plated bullets) vs. 75% for .380 ACP (the best).

[MrWesson]

I sweep my brass at the range
primers run around $29 per 1k
powder runs around 20
I cast my own bullets from wheelweight's usually free


I reload 1000rds of 9mm for $40 including everything. I couldnt even buy 200 for that price in the store.

[Xfire68]

Beex, as already said above you are looking at it in the wrong way and your math is way off!

I don't recommend you to go out and pick up range brass until you have read a few books on reloading and have reloaded your own a few times. There are to many "Snags" to run into with range brass if you don't know what to look for. Everything from Berdan primed, steel cases, brass coated steel cases, military crimped cases, aluminum cases and cases that are cracked or damaged.

Just stating out in reloading you should either (A) pickup "your" once fired brass or (B) buy new brass.

You can save money reloading 9mm but, again as already stated above it's not a ton. You really make out in quality of the ammo for the price. I can load up high end self defense loads for around the cost of cheap factory FMJ ammo or make the factory ammo at close to half price.

[BODAME]

My Reload Costs:
45ACP 192.71 Per 1000 Exceeds 165,000 PF
9MM 180.74 Per 1000 Exceeds 125,000 PF

Depending on the amount you shoot would depend on how
beneficial Reloading would be to you, and also the type of Shooting
you are doing has to be figured in.