Reloading vs buying new

The #1 community for Gun Owners of the Northeast

Member Benefits:

  • No ad networks!
  • Discuss all aspects of firearm ownership
  • Discuss anti-gun legislation
  • Buy, sell, and trade in the classified section
  • Chat with Local gun shops, ranges, trainers & other businesses
  • Discover free outdoor shooting areas
  • View up to date on firearm-related events
  • Share photos & video with other members
  • ...and so much more!
  • pre64hunter

    Active Member
    Mar 19, 2010
    643
    Harford County
    That's Right!

    The consensus from the reloaders I know is that you have to love reloading as an activity upon itself. If you’re doing it just to save money it becomes tedious.

    I enjoy reloading. I've cast bullets, slugs and I have never fired factory loads in most of my guns. I started reloading with a Lee hand loader when I was a teenager 50 years ago to save money.
    With the price of lead and shipping shotgun shells are cheaper to buy.

    I cast and reload my own 12 gauge slugs that shoot sometimes better than factory sabot ammo. When my sons were young and beginning deer hunters I could have never afforded $15 a box of 5 slugs. We shot well over 100 slugs a year and we were confident where our guns hit.
    But now my kids are making good money, they don't care about reloading, they buy slugs.
    If I find factory rifle ammo that shoots good that's what I use. Most of the time though handloads will shoot better, much much in a rifle.
    Sometimes handguns can be finicky with resizing the brass but usually much cheaper for just shooting.
    ONE GOOD QUESTION, MANY ANSWERS!
     

    BuildnBurn

    Professional Pyro
    Oct 25, 2012
    731
    Frederick County
    With the scarcity of components now would be a tough time to start reloading. Things may return to somewhat normal in the future, who knows.

    I save money by casting for .38 and .45 Colt and load them for less than $0.06 per round, but I consider all phases of reloading a hobby timewise.

    The best thing about reloading during this entire ammo panic/pandemic/shortage is I am able to shoot as much as want with no worries of resupply.
     
    Sep 4, 2019
    1
    Truth is that you will seldom save money by reloading.

    You will shoot more with higher quality ammo for sure. Save money, not so much.
     

    jjjefferson

    Member
    Aug 22, 2011
    21
    Laurel, MD
    Lets put it another way......what is the value of having the ability to have thousands of rounds at about half of 2019 prices?

    That is what reloading gets you. Yes, you can tune ammo to a specific firearm. Yes, you save money when you can't resist getting into the expensive rounds.... 300WBY Mag, 300BO, 6.5Creedmoor, 6.5 Grendel, .50 Beowulf.

    You can crank out quality ammo. But.... most importantly....you can buy components when they are "on sale" during the good times....and never have to go to the store to buy "new ammo" in the stupid times....aka....right now.

    What is the value of having ammo only a reloading session away? Primers that cost $0.027 ea. Brass that wasn't obscenely priced, Powder you could get for about $20 - $25 / lb. bullets.....cheap for plinkers....modest for "accurized" rounds. total cost of a range day.223 round.... about $0.20 ea.

    I "broke even" just after a few hundred wildcats were loaded up. (when ammo is $3 - $4 a round....you can save because brass is the expensive part....that most people leave behind). Is it worth it to get into the game at todays price's....probably not. But its like the stock market....will Apple stock ever be at $38 like it was in 2019? Probably not. Will it NOT go any higher than it is right now.....probably not.

    Learn to reload, buy when its on sale....save for when its lean.....keep on plinkin!
     

    trickg

    Guns 'n Drums
    MDS Supporter
    Jul 22, 2008
    14,597
    Glen Burnie
    I bought a bunch of reloading equipment but don't see how it's viable until primers come back on the market being the choke point of doing this.
    This. I've been on the hunt for primers at a reasonable price for weeks and have come up with nothing yet. Bullets and powder seem to be available - powder being a bit harder to come by than bullets, although if you know what you're looking at there are substitutions that can be made if you can't find a specific powder.

    I reload for 3 reasons.

    One, I like the economy of it - it allows me to shoot more for less.
    Two, I get to decide how the load goes together.
    Three, as long as I have components, * I'm not beholden to anyone else to maintain my ability to shoot.

    * Never before have I see this kind of shortage. I never stocked up on primers before because there was never really a reason - I could always get them, even if I had to pay a bit more than I would have normally liked. It used to be, I'd hit a gun show about twice a year, pick up a brick of 1000 of whatever I needed, and that was that. I'm below 500 now on every type, so I've stopped shooting as much, and I've stopped reloading until I can manage to score some that aren't $100/brick. I REFUSE to pay that.
     

    PowPow

    Where's the beef?
    Nov 22, 2012
    4,712
    Howard County
    File this under reloading reason "Specialty Loads".

    The thing I reload the most cannot easily be purchased commercially if at all: 45acp SWC target loads. When you could find these loaded commercially, the cost per round was ridiculous as compared to what I load them for. I can even cast my own bullets for them. I'm still shooting at my normal rate today thanks to stocking components for the long haul at reasonable prices.
     

    trickg

    Guns 'n Drums
    MDS Supporter
    Jul 22, 2008
    14,597
    Glen Burnie
    File this under reloading reason "Specialty Loads".

    The thing I reload the most cannot easily be purchased commercially if at all: 45acp SWC target loads. When you could find these loaded commercially, the cost per round was ridiculous as compared to what I load them for. I can even cast my own bullets for them. I'm still shooting at my normal rate today thanks to stocking components for the long haul at reasonable prices.
    I think that's part of why I like reloading - having the choice of how the load goes together is nice.

    45 ACP with a 200 gr LSWC is a pretty economical loading - using Bullseye, it's a small powder charge - 4-5 gr - and even buying cast LSWC, that's one of the cheapest bullets out there for 45 ACP.
     

    BuildnBurn

    Professional Pyro
    Oct 25, 2012
    731
    Frederick County
    This. I've been on the hunt for primers at a reasonable price for weeks and have come up with nothing yet. Bullets and powder seem to be available - powder being a bit harder to come by than bullets, although if you know what you're looking at there are substitutions that can be made if you can't find a specific powder.

    I reload for 3 reasons.

    One, I like the economy of it - it allows me to shoot more for less.
    Two, I get to decide how the load goes together.
    Three, as long as I have components, * I'm not beholden to anyone else to maintain my ability to shoot.

    * Never before have I see this kind of shortage. I never stocked up on primers before because there was never really a reason - I could always get them, even if I had to pay a bit more than I would have normally liked. It used to be, I'd hit a gun show about twice a year, pick up a brick of 1000 of whatever I needed, and that was that. I'm below 500 now on every type, so I've stopped shooting as much, and I've stopped reloading until I can manage to score some that aren't $100/brick. I REFUSE to pay that.


    Primer shortages started in the early 90's with slick willie, I started preparing then and haven't looked back. I wasn't happy paying $30- per K a few years ago but now I'm damned glad I did.
    It's so bad now bullet molds are not available in common sizes.

    I've added some new calibers this year and have had to scramble to find brass, dies and bullets (anyone have an extra set of 8mm Kropatscheck dies and .329 mold they would like to part with...lol)
     

    trickg

    Guns 'n Drums
    MDS Supporter
    Jul 22, 2008
    14,597
    Glen Burnie
    Primer shortages started in the early 90's with slick willie, I started preparing then and haven't looked back. I wasn't happy paying $30- per K a few years ago but now I'm damned glad I did.
    It's so bad now bullet molds are not available in common sizes.

    I've added some new calibers this year and have had to scramble to find brass, dies and bullets (anyone have an extra set of 8mm Kropatscheck dies and .329 mold they would like to part with...lol)
    If primers ever become available, you can bet your sweet bippy I'll never get caught short again.
     

    Bountied

    Ultimate Member
    Apr 6, 2012
    6,893
    Pasadena
    I only load target rounds for rifles and my .44. If I had a progressive press I'd reload 9mm at least. BTW I have bags and bags of range brass if any one wants to buy it at strike prices for brass.
     

    BuildnBurn

    Professional Pyro
    Oct 25, 2012
    731
    Frederick County
    I only load target rounds for rifles and my .44. If I had a progressive press I'd reload 9mm at least. BTW I have bags and bags of range brass if any one wants to buy it at strike prices for brass.


    I have a Dillon Square Deal B and would not recommend it. It's a great press for pistol calibers only, but conversion kits are expensive. I could have bought a 650 for what I have in just conversion kits.
     

    SavageShooter

    Active Member
    Jan 10, 2014
    644
    Arbutus, MD
    I've been handloading for 40 years started when I was 23 and glad I did. Not only do you save money. You produce more accurate custom ammo. I do all the steps to make it more accurate. From pistol to rifle. The factory ammo is the best it has ever been, but still not as good as handloaded. Just my 2 cents!
     

    trickg

    Guns 'n Drums
    MDS Supporter
    Jul 22, 2008
    14,597
    Glen Burnie
    I have a Dillon Square Deal B and would not recommend it. It's a great press for pistol calibers only, but conversion kits are expensive. I could have bought a 650 for what I have in just conversion kits.
    Every caliber on every model of Dillon has its own expenses. On my 550 I figure that between a caliber conversion kit, a powder die, and a tool head, it's roughly $100 per caliber. The differences of course being that I can load rifle rounds and I don't have to use proprietary dies.

    I currently have 7 calibers set up for my Dillon with more on the way - that's $700 in just conversion kits, powder dies and tool heads.

    If all I ever wanted to load was for pistol, I considered getting the SDB, and I liked the idea of the potentially faster production of the 650, but I liked the simplicity and versatility of the 550, so that's what I went with.
     

    Bountied

    Ultimate Member
    Apr 6, 2012
    6,893
    Pasadena
    I have a Dillon Square Deal B and would not recommend it. It's a great press for pistol calibers only, but conversion kits are expensive. I could have bought a 650 for what I have in just conversion kits.

    Old RCBS rock chucker here. Inherited it and it's been solid. Also got an AMT auto powder measure that works really well. I still verify each weight on a mini scale that goes out to 3 decimal places in grns. It's nice...
     

    lazarus

    Ultimate Member
    Jun 23, 2015
    13,678
    This. I've been on the hunt for primers at a reasonable price for weeks and have come up with nothing yet. Bullets and powder seem to be available - powder being a bit harder to come by than bullets, although if you know what you're looking at there are substitutions that can be made if you can't find a specific powder.

    I reload for 3 reasons.

    One, I like the economy of it - it allows me to shoot more for less.
    Two, I get to decide how the load goes together.
    Three, as long as I have components, * I'm not beholden to anyone else to maintain my ability to shoot.

    * Never before have I see this kind of shortage. I never stocked up on primers before because there was never really a reason - I could always get them, even if I had to pay a bit more than I would have normally liked. It used to be, I'd hit a gun show about twice a year, pick up a brick of 1000 of whatever I needed, and that was that. I'm below 500 now on every type, so I've stopped shooting as much, and I've stopped reloading until I can manage to score some that aren't $100/brick. I REFUSE to pay that.

    Yeah I can understand that. At the same time, that’s only 10cpp. That makes 9mm cost about 21cpr loaded right now +/- a little if you are reusing brass. Commercial is still 55-70cpr.

    So if you plan to shoot a fair amount, 10 cent primers isn’t that horrible a deal. I won’t be paying it, but I’ve got primers to last me a few years. I managed to get a fair number before the pandemic went real pear shaped on reloading supplies. If I were really low, $100/1k wouldn’t stop me. It would just sting some more.

    I do plan if or when prices have gotten sane I’ll stock up better on some primers. And then make sure I don’t get low. Same with commercial ammo. At some point I’ll stock up on a bit more once prices are pretty same. Though. It that much extra compared to what I have. I’ve been shooting mostly reloads the last year.
     

    trickg

    Guns 'n Drums
    MDS Supporter
    Jul 22, 2008
    14,597
    Glen Burnie
    Yeah I can understand that. At the same time, that’s only 10cpp. That makes 9mm cost about 21cpr loaded right now +/- a little if you are reusing brass. Commercial is still 55-70cpr.

    So if you plan to shoot a fair amount, 10 cent primers isn’t that horrible a deal. I won’t be paying it, but I’ve got primers to last me a few years. I managed to get a fair number before the pandemic went real pear shaped on reloading supplies. If I were really low, $100/1k wouldn’t stop me. It would just sting some more.

    I do plan if or when prices have gotten sane I’ll stock up better on some primers. And then make sure I don’t get low. Same with commercial ammo. At some point I’ll stock up on a bit more once prices are pretty same. Though. It that much extra compared to what I have. I’ve been shooting mostly reloads the last year.
    10¢ per primer is simply more than I'll do - the last time I bought primers they were just about $30/brick. At $100 that's a 233% price increase. At 10¢ per primer, (assuming these were "normal" times) it puts my cost per round for something like 9mm at a point that's pretty close to what it costs off the shelf.
     

    Pinecone

    Ultimate Member
    MDS Supporter
    Feb 4, 2013
    28,175
    10¢ per primer is simply more than I'll do - the last time I bought primers they were just about $30/brick. At $100 that's a 233% price increase. At 10¢ per primer, (assuming these were "normal" times) it puts my cost per round for something like 9mm at a point that's pretty close to what it costs off the shelf.

    But they aren't normal times.

    If 9mm ammo gets back below 20 cpr, primers will be back under 4 cents each.
     

    trickg

    Guns 'n Drums
    MDS Supporter
    Jul 22, 2008
    14,597
    Glen Burnie
    But they aren't normal times.

    If 9mm ammo gets back below 20 cpr, primers will be back under 4 cents each.
    No disagreement, but the only way to get primer prices to come back down is if people refuse to pay $100 a brick for them.

    The unfortunate thing is that prices never fully rebound to what they were before when these ammo and component shortages occur thanks to the dumbasses out there who are like, "Here! Take mah munny!!!!! LOLOLZ!" Every single time the prices bump up, and then only relax about 70-80%. I fully expect primers to be $40+ permanently, even when the shortage is over.
     

    Users who are viewing this thread

    Latest posts

    Forum statistics

    Threads
    274,922
    Messages
    7,259,115
    Members
    33,349
    Latest member
    christian04

    Latest threads

    Top Bottom