no longer econmical to reload

[skizzums]

no doubt, pistol rounds are WAY cheaper to reload for, at least in my experience. lead cast bullets, maybe 1-2c, primers 3c, powder 1-2c. that's cheaper than any .22 on the planet. even buying bullets at 8c a round, its still purdy darn cheap

[A pause for the COZ]

Even rifle shooting is much cheaper. If you take care buying components.

The only boxed bullets I buy are for hunting. 200 will last me quite some time.

The other jacketed load I buy bulk/ pulls any way I can get em cheap.
I am breaking down about 5000 rounds of Wolf 308 win. That got soaked and I got free.
When I could find them. I purchased a big pile of 124gr .310 pulls.
I shoot them in every thing 30 cal.

The rest I cast for every caliber I shoot or I wont shoot it. it gets sold.

My rifle break down is.

5% hunting/ accuracy loads.
20% Bulk buy jacketed loads.
75% cast bullet loads.

If you want to shoot lots and want to shoot cheap. You must cast your bullets.

300 Black Out


223 for my AR.


Truth is though. Any money saved just gets spent on equipment.
But at least that money is not just stuck in a berm. I can sell the stuff and get most of my money back.

[Nick_C_S]

I know a guy who started reloading 9mm solely for the cost savings.


You'll be seeing his equipment on an upcoming episode of Storage Wars.

[skizzums]

oh yeah, my .300BLK would collect dust or would be sold by now if I didn't reload. I lead cast 230gr then PC. I think my 300 is running me 7-9c a round. I like to play with the high end 300blk bullets too, and those can cost me up to 35c a round, but sure beats the 1-2$ a round store cost

[44 AMP]

Reloading still very economical, even if every caliber isn't.

9mm and .223 are the worst for any savings, and it seems to be cyclical. I STOPPED reloading these for some years back in the 90s, because literally a case of factory ball was $10 more than what it cost me to load a case.

Later, that changed again.

If you look at calibers other than the most common ones, the degree of savings goes up hugely. And when it comes to the really uncommon calibers, factory ammo is rare, sometimes even collectable.

And, of course if you are running a wildcat, reloading is the only source for ammo.

Personally, I've NEVER known anyone who got interested in reloading, looking for economy, who ever saved any money. We always wind up spending more money than we did before on ammo. The difference is that we wind up with several times the amount of ammo for the money we spend.

Economical? for some calibers, extremely. Have you priced a box of .375H&H, .458 Win Mag, .350 Rem Mag, or .22 Hornet or .221 Fireball lately?

I'm an older guy, and my values for what I think things should cost is firmly stuck in the distant past, I get "sticker shock" a lot. But I have to tell you, when a single box of ammo eats the best part of a $100 dollar bill (or worse, eats it ALL and THEN SOME!) reloading looks really, really good to me!

[A pause for the COZ]

I know. I just purchased 3 boxes of 45-70's. for a gun I have coming.
Those will be the last boxes I ever buy. 35 friggin dollars a box!!!!
Had to find the brass some how..

Have the lead and mold, have the primers. Now have the brass.

Have the dies coming. 35 bucks sheesh...

But I do think you have to also enjoy the reloading. I do so I DO.
My buddy hates it. He will reload when he has too.
He has all the equipment a LNL AP and a LEE Turret. But I will see him grab a case of 9's.
I ask.. *** you doing?
He will answer back. " Not feeling it right now"
I say... Can i have your brass????

[jimbob86]

know a guy who started reloading 9mm solely for the cost savings.


You'll be seeing his equipment on an upcoming episode of Storage Wars.

And I know a guy that started reloading 9mm for the cost savings, too ..... he started with a Lee hand press kit...... and loaded over 3000 rounds the first year ..... and shot them all again.

He didn't save a penny- spent quite a bundle, in fact .... but I highly doubt he'd have shot 1/10th that many rounds if he bought factory ammo.

And the sickness has progressed: this same guy that professed that he had a deer rifle and a 12 guage pump gun and that's all he'd ever need .....

.... he has several pistols and revolvers, built an AR, has a bench and a Classic Cast press and just today brought home a Dillon 55B .... which he wants me to come out and build another bench for. I have created a Monster....

He'll never sell any of it.

[Blindstitch]

I know. I just purchased 3 boxes of 45-70's. for a gun I have coming.
Those will be the last boxes I ever buy. 35 friggin dollars a box!!!!
Had to find the brass some how..

Wow you're lucky. I inherited a 30-40 Krag at the beginning of the shortage. My dad managed to find a friend who had 17 casings to start me off. Then a year later I finally found a box of shells on the shelf for $40.

Both Remington and Winchester make short once a year runs on brass and ammo and I was lucky to get 1 bag of 50 winchester that had 10 damaged cases in it. As a last ditch effort I have an enfield and have been saving my 303 brass for a rainy day. Not ideal but if it's rainy it's better than nothing.


Oh yeah the reason why I reload is because my Grandpa taught me when I was 10 and it started as a way to feed my 30-30 but now I have several of his rifles it helps feed the 6.5 arisaka, 30-40 Krag and that same 30-30 and two of it's friends. I have dies for 30-06, 444 marlin, 7.62x39 and probably something else but I don't need to reload for the common cheaper/available calibers.

On the fun note shooting lead in the 30-30 using lead cast, green dot powder, and primers only costs $14 or so per 100.

[trapper9260]

I reload for alot of the reason that most stated on here.I do mainly because i like to do it and also to have the ammo match my gun.When the thing that was going on about all that was buying just about every thing up ,I just did not worry about it.If I see a deal on some reload supplies I get it.it will always cost to start up but after you have the main things to do it then all you will need is just the things to keep doing it.Also I cast my own and that is for all my hand guns and rifles including semi autos for both and I also do for shotgun too.If I see a not bad price on shot I will get a bag ,but cast buck shot also.for some loads and bullets that is on the market is not what I looking for and with casting I get what I want and when I want it.The only thing I do not reload is 22lr.If I run short of them I will keep so many for the guns I have and just use one of my handguns for in place of it like my 327 that you can shoot 5 different carts. in it.

[TMD]

Ok I ran some numbers for my 9mm load.

Primers paid $14.5 per 1000. Thats 0.0145 each or 0.725 per 50

Brass= Free range pick ups. Have never purchased one. But figure your cost each divided by 3 average loadings.So if you paid $25 for 500. Take 25 /500/3 x 50 = 0.833 per 50

Powder $15 for a pound of Bullseye. 7000/4.5=1555 loads.
15/1555=0.0096 x50=0.482

Bullets. I shoot lead. I pay avg $1.25 a pound. 145 gr bullet.
7000/145=48.2 so 1.25 /48.2= 0.026x50= 1.30

Total
0.725+0.833 +0.482+1.30= $3.34 per 50 rounds.

My cost is less. I did not pay for brass and I reclaim 80% of my lead and shoot it again. In essence I shoot 9mm for less that 22 cal.

You should get much more than 3 reloads from 9mm brass. I used to count how many times I reloaded brass but found with semi-auto calibers I usually get over a dozen loads and they still looked and worked fine. Now I basically just inspect after cleaning and cull then.

[jimbob86]

You should get much more than 3 reloads from 9mm brass.

I nearly always lose them before they split.

I've got .45ACP cases that the headstamp is nearly unreadable ....

[skizzums]

Some of my 9mm has to be going on ten reloads. I have 5000 or so cases that I am pretty certain will last the rest of my life, same goes for 300 black, those thong seems to reload forever too. The only case I have problems splitting is .38, usually because I am trying to shove a .359 half inch long wadcutter into them. All my rifle calibers even last longer than 3 reloads. I also need to know where you are getting primers for 14$ a box.the cheapest I have seen is tula for 25$ which I use exclusively for .223

[44 AMP]

primers only costs $14 or so per 100.

When I began reloading, primers cost less than $0.01 each. ($0.99 per hundred), gasoline was about $0.50 a gallon and $300 a month was a decent living wage, if on the low end of comfortable...

Today, $300 won't even get you three boxes of some calibers of ammo. (particularly the big stuff. and that's NOT getting rounds with "premium" bullets.)

.22 Hornet going for $50 a box or so, and last time I saw some .221 Fireball on the shelf it was $79 a box (20)!!!

Yes, you can still get some ammo cheaper, even in the niche calibers, by shopping online and buying foreign made stuff,...usually..IF they have it...

[Blindstitch]

You forgot the rest of the quote.

On the fun note shooting lead in the 30-30 using lead cast, green dot powder, and primers only costs $14 or so per 100.

100 pieces of loaded ammo for $14.

[skizzums]

Primers paid $14.5 per 1000. Thats 0.0145 each or 0.725 per 50

talkin about this one ^^

[Dragonflydf]

I know. I just purchased 3 boxes of 45-70's. for a gun I have coming.
Those will be the last boxes I ever buy. 35 friggin dollars a box!!!!
Had to find the brass some how..

Have the lead and mold, have the primers. Now have the brass.

Have the dies coming. 35 bucks sheesh...

I load 45-70 for about $6 a box, that is 405gr hand cast, over a case full of Triple 7, I shoot my trapdoors a lot so I usually have 150 or more rounds loaded up.
38 spec is about $4 a box,
30-30 cast is $5 a box
45 Colt is $5 a box,
30-40 Krag is $5 a box

I have never seen ammo for that price on the shelf, but it is what it cost me to load, so there is a savings. The only reason I know what the costs are is a friend wanted me to load up some 30-30 for him and set $100 for his limit, so I set up a spreadsheet to keep track of cost of the loads, I had to buy brass the first time, but that was the highest price of the loads.

if you shop around you can find deals, I picked up 500 .308 180gr FMJ bullets for $45

Have to watch out picking up range brass, it is easy to get out of hand, I now have .223, 9mm, 30-06, 45acp coming out my ears...

[9mmSkeeter]

I love reloading!! And I love this thread!!

[Nick_C_S]

.359 half inch long wadcutter

Skizzums: Not to change the subject, but where are you getting .359 sized bullets for 38 Special? I'd like to give those a whirl in my guns.

[Average Joe]

Well now that I think about it, its not economical to shoot either. It costs way to much to purchase guns, ammo, range time etc....so what's the point ?
Its FUN......

[Longshot4]

SKIZZUMS If you want to save your money. Sell your guns... and turn on the radio and listen to the game...
Other than that it is going to cost you to do what you like.

[Damon555]

I do reload to save money but look at it from a different aspect....I can load "premium" ammunition for any one of my rifles or handguns for the same price that you are paying for cheap bulk ammo.

When you start talking about FMJ's loaded with surplus powder using once fired LC brass my 223 reloads are only about 2/3rds the cost of that same ammo.

With my Dillon 550b I can reload 500 rounds of 9mm, 45 ACP or 223 almost as fast as you can order it online after searching for the cheapest price possible.

[Machineguntony]

Pause,

Is your $3.50 per 50 rounds of 9mm derived from casting your own bullets?

I reloaded and shot close to 40,000 rounds of 9mm last year, and I couldn't get it that cheap.

I recently purchased 60,000 9mm bullets (60 boxes of 1000 Berrys bullets) from Cabelas during their recent sale, and even with that sale and free shipping, I could only get the cost of 50 rounds down to about $5.50 per 50 rounds.

If your number is based on casting, how long does it take you to cast 1000 bullets?

[A pause for the COZ]

Yes I cast my own. I am sort of like those guys that are obsessed with driving so that can get the best MPG that they can get and never stop trying to get a few more feet per gallon.
I will do almost any thing to cut a few cents per round.
I even go so far as shooting my 5.56 brass 10 times then convert them to 300 Black out and shoot them 10 more times.
Wish I could convert them to .380 brass after that.

[surveyor]

Pause,
You can cut the 300 blk down to 22tcm I think...
Load it with 296/110.....
After that, I don't think the 223 case owes you much money...

[skizzums]

for .359 I just honed out my .358 sizing die on the mill. very easy. they sell lyman .359 dies for like 30$, or there's a guy "buckshot" on castboolits that'll sell you a honed out whatever you want for 30$. if your mold doesn't drop that big, outside of the obvious of dropping your temp, you can chuck up a cast boolit in a drill with rubbing compound. since I powdercoat, getting to .360 isn't a problem.