cost effective reloading

Biggfoot44 said:

I'll throw a further twist , If :

The load in question is one of the handful of very popular, widely available loads

And you are satisfied with the quality and specs of said generic loads

There is minimal economic incentive to load your own .

But for less common , or inherently expensive calibers , it makes significant savings . Likewise , if you seek a particular bullet weight , velocity , accuracy , etc not represented by the standard generic load for that caliber , then reloading is your answer .

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This!
I reload and cast for 45-70, 44-40, 45 long Colt. I shoot the 45-70 the most. I’ll be adding 348 Winchester into the mix as well, pretty shortly. Reloading and casting save a lot of money on those calibers!

I reloading other cartridges (mainly rifle cartridges) for accuracy. These accuracy loads really don’t save much money.

Until recently, I never seen much use in reloading 38 special. Now with this ammo being hard to find and expensive when you do, I’m rethinking that. Casting and reloading should save me some money on that caliber.

I don’t take my time into account of the price. I enjoy reloading and casting, so I don’t see it as an expense. I hardly watch any tv, so I look at it as my entertainment.

Brickman301 said:

This!
I reload and cast for 45-70, 44-40, 45 long Colt. I shoot the 45-70 the most. I’ll be adding 348 Winchester into the mix as well, pretty shortly. Reloading and casting save a lot of money on those calibers!

I reloading other cartridges (mainly rifle cartridges) for accuracy. These accuracy loads really don’t save much money.

Until recently, I never seen much use in reloading 38 special. Now with this ammo being hard to find and expensive when you do, I’m rethinking that. Casting and reloading should save me some money on that caliber.

I don’t take my time into account of the price. I enjoy reloading and casting, so I don’t see it as an expense. I hardly watch any tv, so I look at it as my entertainment.

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Now granted I only started reloading 2 years ago, but 38spc always made sense to me. At its best it hovered around 20cpr. With reloading component prices then it was between 10cpr with lead bullets from the right source. Maybe 12 for powder coated bullets.

A lot more savings than reloading 9mm.

Now? Holy heck the savings is enormous.

Saving money with reloading is a myth. Otherwise show me your hoard of saved cash.

The cost savings as it were usually works out as shooting more for the same $ , least way for calibers midway on the juice/ squeeze ratio .

GunBum said:

Saving money with reloading is a myth. Otherwise show me your hoard of saved cash.

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All the saved cash was reinvested into more reloading components to ride through lean times like we’re having now..

I don't feel like I really experienced any savings or if I did I just bought more equipment. You can save a lot reloading match type rounds but it depends how many you shoot.

GunBum said:

Saving money with reloading is a myth. Otherwise show me your hoard of saved cash.

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Honestly at this point pricing out what I’ve invested vs saved, at the rate I am reloading and shooting looking at current loaded ammo prices and what I paid for the components I’ll probably be in to “actual savings” in another year or two unless prices slump dramatically.

Sure I might buy more equipment at some point. But I am kind of in to “well I’ve got everything I need and then some” for components and equipment. Sooner rather than later I’ll need more powder. But I am flush on projectiles and primers for a long time and mostly got them at close to pre-pandemic prices with only some at current prices (when I’ve found a really good deal on bullets). I don’t plan on changing how I am reloading, so press, dies and tools are good. Not going to get in to any new calibers any year soon.

Now, will I have saved more money than what I spent on components anytime soon? HAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA

But that’s because I bought components to load thousands of rounds, which represents years and years of reloading for me. But if you want to do that math, then you’d need to compare the cost of all those components against loaded ammo value, in which case I’ve saved thousands of dollars. Even against pre-pandemic prices, deducting equipment costs I’ve saved hundreds.

of course not. But just on the equipment, I am saving probably $400-600 a year right now at a guess once you deduct the cost of my components when I bought them from the current price of ammunition. At a guess I’ve spent maybe $2000 on reloading equipment total. Give or take a couple of hundred. Some of it was gifted to me. Though I’ve mostly replaced that with stuff that works better for me. Reloading for a couple of years. I’ve mostly not increased my volume of shooting because of reloading. Or if I have, it’s been minor at best.

GunBum said:

Saving money with reloading is a myth. Otherwise show me your hoard of saved cash.

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Again, it depends on what specific calibers you'd be reloading and the amounts. I got into reloading because I was into Cowboy Action Shooting and my guns were in .45 Colt (both rifle and pistols). When my son and I were both using my guns and going to a couple shoots a month, we ran through a ton of VERY expensive factory ammo. This would be back in ~2008-2010. Even then a box of factory .45 Colt was over $40.00, but I could reload equivalent lead ammo for about $5.00 per box of 50.

To continue shooting and not need to refinance the house, I bought a used Dillon 550 and stocked up on powder, primers, bullets. I had always saved the .45 Colt cases, so I just started reloading what I already had in stock. Being an engineer, I had a spreadsheet to calculate the break-even cost, which IIRC was about 1,200 rounds of factory ammo. That came and went in a few months. Admittedly, that doesn't factor in my time, but with a progressive press, it's not hard to do a couple hundred rounds per hour.

The counterpoint is for basic 9mm "blasting ammo." Years ago, I bought dies and bullets for 9mm. I've never bothered to set up the dies -- it was always cheaper to buy commercial 9x19 ammo. I've kept everything in case we get into a long-term shortage, but so far I've not needed to start reloading the thousands of empty cases I have.

JoeR

You guys sound like my wife telling me she saves money by buying something on sale.

GunBum said:

You guys sound like my wife telling me she saves money by buying something on sale.

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And YOU save money by telling her "yes dear".

See how that works?

GunBum said:

Saving money with reloading is a myth. Otherwise show me your hoard of saved cash.

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In a way you are not wrong however, reloading is a long game. Like any hobby or even compared to a business startup it takes on the average after 5 years to turn a profit.

Once you have built up cartages you can reuse them at no cost. Also, time is not a factor in doing anything it is just time and it cost you no money unless it is a business.

When all said and done a box of 20 .500 S&W mags cost 60 bucks. I save $1.81 on each load including the cost of powder, cases, heads, and primers. I also save a $1.70 on each round of 47/70. I bought my press 10 years ago for $135.00 and my 45/70 dies and beam scale at the same time.so after reloading about 150 rounds it was paid for in 6 months. A new set of dies runs 50 bucks so after 50 reloads they are paid for.

It is not so much having a pile of money savings but the smarts to be able to do things cheaper and more efficient. If things are less expensive to produce yourself than buying from off the shelf you save money. Basic economics.

lazarus said:

Now granted I only started reloading 2 years ago, but 38spc always made sense to me. At its best it hovered around 20cpr. With reloading component prices then it was between 10cpr with lead bullets from the right source. Maybe 12 for powder coated bullets.

A lot more savings than reloading 9mm.

Now? Holy heck the savings is enormous.

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You are correct, Now you will definitely save money reloading 38. You always could but the savings weren’t that much.
I started reloading in my early teens, maybe a little before. I started casting bullets over 20 years ago. I remember when factory 38’s and 9mm were about the same price. In the mid 90’s you could sometimes find 38’s cheaper than 9.

Like I stated before, I reload a lot of different calibers. The ones I listed earlier are the ones I save the most on. About 20 years ago it didn’t make since to reload 12 ha shotshells with today’s prices it makes since again, if you can find the components. I only reload 12 ga slugs anymore. And of course I cast my own 1oz slugs.

Harrys said:

In a way you are not wrong however, reloading is a long game. Like any hobby or even compared to a business startup it takes on the average after 5 years to turn a profit.

Once you have built up cartages you can reuse them at no cost. Also, time is not a factor in doing anything it is just time and it cost you no money unless it is a business.

When all said and done a box of 20 .500 S&W mags cost 60 bucks. I save $1.81 on each load including the cost of powder, cases, heads, and primers. I also save a $1.70 on each round of 47/70. I bought my press 10 years ago for $135.00 and my 45/70 dies and beam scale at the same time.so after reloading about 150 rounds it was paid for in 6 months. A new set of dies runs 50 bucks so after 50 reloads they are paid for.

It is not so much having a pile of money savings but the smarts to be able to do things cheaper and more efficient. If things are less expensive to produce yourself than buying from off the shelf you save money. Basic economics.

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I am not reloading anything that expensive. But my best bang for the buck right now is 6.5 Grendel, which is very hard to find. It is one of the few calibers where I bought much brass for it. INCLUDING new Starline brass, I am reloading for about the cost Wolf steel for the cheaper bullets I’ve scored.

Or saving more than $1 a round compared to the cheapest brass cased 6.5 Grendel. And with vastly better accuracy.

If you amortize the cost of that brass over just 5 reloading a and I am loading at 20-30CPR cheaper than the cheapest Wolf steel and around $1.40-1.50 than the cheapest brass cased available. I am not shooting a hell of a lot of it, but at least 150 rounds a year right now and I’ll likely crank that up to more like 200-300 once the weather warms and I have a chance to work up more loads without my fingers getting numb at the range.

For the most part I would be buying factory ammo, at some point anyway (I’ve got a decent stock still and I am using reloads at the range in 95% of cases). If I was going to be doing it anyway, yeah it’s saving money.

Unless I get an FFL to SELL ammo, it isn’t like making my own makes me money. The best it can do is cut down my costs.

GunBum said:

Saving money with reloading is a myth. Otherwise show me your hoard of saved cash.

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My wife reminds me all the time: spending less is not saving.

sgt23preston said:

To be honest with you, reloading takes a ton of your time...

I have loaded 9mm, 38 Specials & 45ACP...

I had a Dillon 550...

I probably spent $1500 (at least) on Reloading Equipment...

Back then, the price of bullets & primers didn't enter into my cost equations at all...

When I realized how many hours to took to make 500 rounds, it was beyond the spare time I had available...

Think about it: Cleaning the brass, thoroughly inspecting each piece of brass, sorting 45's by primer size, going to York Pa to buy primers & powder & inspecting each round in a Go/No Go chamber gage, etc...

The ammo was VERY VERY accurate, but the time required to reload wasn't available to me...

I gave it up & sold all my stuff long ago...

Good luck...

Let me add that I reloaded about 9000 total rounds in 3 years before selling my stuff...

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Let's see. I load mainly .45 ACP, .40 S&W and 9mm on my Dillon 650.

I can do 1000 rounds of .45 in one hour pulling the handle. .40 and 9 are about 750 per hour.

It takes maybe 30 minutes to prep (mainly loading primer tubes) and shutdown.

I was buying powder and primers locally. So no real time.

When I was doing a LOT of reloading, there was no SP .45, so only sorting was by caliber. Toss in the tumbler and go do something else to clean.

I did not inspect every piece of brass. I did not gauge every round.

When I started reloading (Lyman turret press) was spending 1.5 cents per round for components (brass was range pick up). That was casting my own bullets. At the time, .22 LR was 2 cents per round. Commercial .45 was 10 - 15 cents per round.

Plus, I find reloading relaxing.

GunBum said:

Saving money with reloading is a myth. Otherwise show me your hoard of saved cash.

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Really??

The saving goes either into shooting more or other things.

Yes, you could put the savings in the bank each time you go to the range, but who does that???

Although, I did meet a couple in the BVI that funded their vacations by the savings from quitting smoking. Each week, they would price their brand of cigarettes and put the amount they would have spent that week in the bank.

Every year or two, they had a very nice vacation, first class for 2 weeks.

GunBum said:

Saving money with reloading is a myth. Otherwise show me your hoard of saved cash.

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But, But, My 7 cent cast powder coated 9mm and 8 cent 45 say otherwise
Besides, all the TIME I SPEND is free Time spent reloading is time not spent on the couch after raiding the fridge.

Reloading equipment is ASSets.

Pinecone said:

Let's see. I load mainly .45 ACP, .40 S&W and 9mm on my Dillon 650.

I can do 1000 rounds of .45 in one hour pulling the handle. .40 and 9 are about 750 per hour.

It takes maybe 30 minutes to prep (mainly loading primer tubes) and shutdown.

I was buying powder and primers locally. So no real time.

When I was doing a LOT of reloading, there was no SP .45, so only sorting was by caliber. Toss in the tumbler and go do something else to clean.

I did not inspect every piece of brass. I did not gauge every round.

When I started reloading (Lyman turret press) was spending 1.5 cents per round for components (brass was range pick up). That was casting my own bullets. At the time, .22 LR was 2 cents per round. Commercial .45 was 10 - 15 cents per round.

Plus, I find reloading relaxing.

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I am not an old hand at reloading (or that old, unless maybe as a little kid then again, I looked at a calendar and I am turning 40 soon).

But that said, I enjoy reloading and I can sure load a lot fast with my Lee classic turret. Oh, sure, a lot of stuff still takes a long time. So I say as I trim 30-50 .308 cases to length a few times a day in a few spare minutes.

But for handgun rounds? Hell, I do a cursory look at my brass from range pickups just to make sure I don't get shoddy brass, like the stepped 9mm and I've got to sort it anyway.

I'd guess I probably spend on average an hour sorting ~1000 pieces of brass from likely several range trips. Maybe an hour pickup up all that brass (mine, a quick look in the range buckets, brass I see laying in the gravel or grass, etc.)

Probably 3hrs of tumbler time (~330 pieces a pop for 9mm or 45, roughly). But MY time there is only a few minutes at most.

I'd guess I probably spend 10 minutes of setup time on my less classic if I need to swap on a die plate, load the powder dropper and then check the first 3-4 rounds and maybe tweak things a little. Then I spend about 3 minutes per 100 rounds loading the primer tray and occasionally pouring some more bullets or cases into my bins. Then I am loading around 4-5 rounds a minute. So with the few minutes added in to top off components as I am reloading, I'd call it 250 rounds an hour at a good clip. I usually don't reload for more than about an hour at a stretch. But if I am going to load a lot in a day, I leave everything setup and I'll just come back to it in an hour or two.

It is maybe 3-4 minutes when I am done reloading to clean up.

You are talking maybe 3 hours up to MAYBE 4hrs total time invested to load 500 rounds of 9mm, 9x18, or .45acp.

Trickier, little bullet, to load pistol rounds like 32acp are slower, maybe 200 rounds an hour., so more like 3.5hrs or so to load 500.

Rifle rounds are of course WAY slower. But even including swaging primer pockets (let's assume range brass, not my stuff where the pockets are already swaged and lets assume the brass gets trimmed every time, rather than every 2-4 firings), and trimming the brass to length, plus sizing as the separate step before doing all of that now I am talking probably 5-6hrs for 500 rounds all steps added up.

Most of the pistol brass in my stash has been fired by me, and a small percentage is range pickups. With .223, more range pickups than fired by me.

I can load .223 for around $.23 each, 9mm for .$17 each. Definitely saving a little money when reloading, and the loads are better than anything I could buy.

Reloading your own ammo comes in handy when ammo is hard to find like it was in 2020.