Currently, is it economical to reload?

[kingfish]

Hello, I have no clue how to reload. I have just thought about doing it in the past, but never committed to it. Regarding today’s high prices in ammo, I’m wondering if it is more economical to reload calibers like 5.56 and 308. Assuming, I have the brass already, I would need powder, primers, and bullets. What are these components going for? Are they easy to find? For those of you who reload, how much does it cost you for, roughly, each of these calibers? I would be reusing my own brass, as I have a good amount of surplus quality ammo. Any help would be appreciated, thank you.

 

[Mack C-85]

Can't help with brass loads, but for shotgun shells my 12 ga. target loads are ~$6.50/box versus ~$10/box for promotional loads and ~$13/box for name brand loads. The load I'm using is a Winchester AA equivalent.

BTW - don't forget to include the cost of your equipment in your "is it cheaper?" calculations. I've been loading long enough the cost of the equipment is long paid for....

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[ken792]

It depends on the load. Common blasting ammo might not be worth it for the small amount saved. Match and hunting loads are still worth reloading. Gold Medal Match .223 77gr is over $1.50 a round and .308 175gr is just under $2 a round.

Fiocchi small rifle primers are $0.075 apiece.

Single pounds of powder are $35-45.

Sierra Matchkings are about $0.50 apiece.

 

[Uncle Duke]

You've listed the 2 rifle cartridges for which reloading likely makes the least sense, if "more economical" is your sole motivation. I'm assuming you're looking at and comparing prices for blasting ammo here. Add 9mm on the pistol side, and you have a trifecta of center-fire cartridges that make the least sense.

 

[Cochise]

a long time reloader here. For most rifle rounds it will save a bunch to reload as rifle ammo is expensive. Your the brass is a major cost and can be re-used. I cant really answer as I buy things like primers and powder when they are cheap and haven't needed to buy any for about 5 years maybe more. On rifle stuff unless you are cool using cast bullets, the big cost for you will be jacketed bullets and of course equipment.

 

[Triggerfinger]

Buy quality reloading equipment is the first thing. Buy bulk powders, primers and bullets when prices are down. Further savings if you cast your own bullets. Essentially, whatever you can do or make for yourself is cheaper, better and keeps you shooting. If you don't reload, you're subject to the whim of political, economic and corporate currents.

 

[lazarus]

Hello, I have no clue how to reload. I have just thought about doing it in the past, but never committed to it. Regarding today’s high prices in ammo, I’m wondering if it is more economical to reload calibers like 5.56 and 308. Assuming, I have the brass already, I would need powder, primers, and bullets. What are these components going for? Are they easy to find? For those of you who reload, how much does it cost you for, roughly, each of these calibers? I would be reusing my own brass, as I have a good amount of surplus quality ammo. Any help would be appreciated, thank you.

Sure. At least if you buy in bulk. If you are buying a tray (100) of primers, a pound of powder, bullets per 100, etc. then probably not.

Also ammo prices, for common stuff, is fairly low now. Not remotely as cheap as 2019. But it’s cheaper now than it was for a lot of stuff than circa 2016 or 2017ish

~25 cents a round for 9mm doesn’t compare great to 14-15 cents a round for it in 2019, but again, that’s around where it was a few years earlier. And less than half of what it was in late 2020.

And prices continue to come down.

Reloading prices aren’t coming down as quick, but still lower than loaded ammo.

You’d just have to access yourself do you shoot enough to make it worthwhile. It sure does insulate you in the future on runs on ammo and price’s skyrocketing.

Reloading supplies dried up and prices shot up in 2020 also. But they were a solid ~6-8 weeks behind availability and prices compared to ammo. And prices were generally a lot slower to react once they did start going up. Of course on the tail end of it, prices are much slower to come back down and availability to go up.

You probably can’t answer if you’d enjoy reloading. But it takes time. And you’ve either gotta enjoy doing it, or money is really tight, or you reload so much is just makes financial sense to do even if you don’t like to reload.

Well and you need the time. It’s going to be a few dozen hours invested to, in my mind, e a reasonably accomplished reloader. I don’t me some wizened expert. I just mean you know your equipment pretty well. You know what you are doing. It’s not all a mystery to you. You probably have loads worked up for your equipment, components, and some/all of your guns, etc. your rate of reloading has gone up a lot and problems down.

Just like any skill, you aren’t an expert from day one.

At that point, what equipment you got is going to determine how fast you can reload. So the time investment. And no matter what you look at, there is at least much time invested in the rest of the reloading process as there is pulling the press handle. Case prep, collecting brass, cleaning brass, etc. likely more.

So on a progressive you might be able to load 500 rounds of 9mm in an hour. But you might be spending 1-2 hours to pickup that brass, clean it, sort it, Setup the press, load more primers, etc. rifle is worse.

If you go cheap, reloading can pay off fast. Go expensive it takes longer, but it might be easier to do, faster, more accurate, etc.

Reloading more common stuff with a fine setup might take 2 years to pay off these days if you are loading a couple thousand rounds a year or things like .223 and .308. Sooner/fewer if you are loading things that are less common like 44 magnum. Longer if you are just loading 9mm. A LOT longer.

 

[trickg]

Hello, I have no clue how to reload. I have just thought about doing it in the past, but never committed to it. Regarding today’s high prices in ammo, I’m wondering if it is more economical to reload calibers like 5.56 and 308. Assuming, I have the brass already, I would need powder, primers, and bullets. What are these components going for? Are they easy to find? For those of you who reload, how much does it cost you for, roughly, each of these calibers? I would be reusing my own brass, as I have a good amount of surplus quality ammo. Any help would be appreciated, thank you.

The short answer is yes - it is more economical to reload, even those two calibers. Your savings may not be what they were a handful of years ago before the price of components went through the roof, but it is more economical. Even if it's not purely more economical, you'll get better, more consistent ammo than what you can buy, and you have the freedom and flexibility to dial the load in to exactly what you want it to be, and that right there is the biggest value in reloading IMO.

Others have mentioned the investment in good reloading gear - that does have to be considered, but my reloading gear has long since paid for itself.

You've listed the 2 rifle cartridges for which reloading likely makes the least sense, if "more economical" is your sole motivation. I'm assuming you're looking at and comparing prices for blasting ammo here. Add 9mm on the pistol side, and you have a trifecta of center-fire cartridges that make the least sense.

One of the things I value about reloading is that I'm not beholden to the market costs of ammo, and I don't have to scrounge around trying to find a deal. Inevitably "finding a deal" often also means compromising on ammo quality on cheap ammo that I wouldn't particularly want to use.

By reloading, it's been my experience that it's easier to find components than it is to find ammo, with the exception being primers, but even that's not as bad as it once was, even if the prices are still higher than they should be.

If I have components on hand, getting more ammo is as simple as setting up the loader and cranking them out.

 

[Bountied]

I only reload for target rifles currently and sometimes .44 mag. Buying 9mm and 5.56 on sale saves me a lot of time and time is money. I have .50beo parts and dies so I will reload for that at some point as they are expensive. $2.50/rd ouch.

 

[Biggfoot44]

Between the two of them , Uncle Duke and Cochise laid out the opposing viewpoints . And they're both corect !

However , Uncle Duke is most directly answering Kingfish's (OP) question .

5.56 and .308 (and 9x19 ) have the lowest margins for loading your own . At least if generic ammo meets your requirements .

Move beyond the handful of most popular calibers , and the savings are large .

Hop in the time machine to 5 yrs ago to stock up on components at then current prices , and savings are big .

 

[lazarus]

To directly answer your question, ignoring the reloading equipment, bulk .224 bullets, like 55gr FMJ I can find for about 8 cents a bullet shipped in 1k quantities. .308 147/150gr bullets in 500 bullet quantities at around 15 cents a bullet shipped.

Powder is about $180-200 with shipping and hazmat for 5lbs if you find a deal. Or more. It depends on the exact powder you want to use. Figure you’ll get between 210-270 rounds per pound for .223 loads or about 145-170 per pound for .308. Call that around 15 cents a round for powder for .223 or about 25 cents a round for powder for .308. If you are buying in bulk. The right powder or the right deal might save you 15-20% on that.

Primers, you can find small rifle for around $75/1k shipped for the right brand in bulk with free shipping and hazmat if you are buying 2-4k (or more). Large rifle for .308 I don’t seem to be able to find anything for under about $100/1k. How much, what brand, etc. can easily make that 9-14c per primer for small rifle or 12-18c per primer for large if you are buying just 1k and eating shipping and hazmat.

You’ll also need case lube if some sort. But that works out to probably something between .05-.25c per round (as in 5 hundredths if a cent up to a quarter cent) depending on brand of lube, DIY the lube, etc.

Call it about 31-34 cents a round to load .223 or 50-55. Ents a round to load .308.

Just basic FMJ loads. Not match bullets or match primers, etc. my experience is I can make much more accurate loads with basic decent components than the “mil spec” or blasting FMJ you’ll find from almost anyone. But still not match quality. You’d save more by rolling your own match loads than commercial match loads though. Bigger delta.

Anyway, I can save a few cents a round over those figures because I hunt for deals on stuff. And a lot of my components were bought at even lower prices a year or four ago. But that’s a lot of rounds to break even when you figure your reloading equipment is likely at least $200, and probably more like $500 once you have a couple of reloading manuals, a reloading press kit, a bench/stand to mount it to, vibratory tumbler, tumbling media, a .223 and .308 die set, etc.

If you shoot several thousand rounds of that in a year, you can have saved more money in just a few short years. Much sooner if you really hunt for bargains (spending time doing that…)

You’ll also likely have spent a few dozen hours reloading all of that, learning the process, range time to test loads, etc (hey, it’s still shooting, but it still might not be your cup of tea and it can be frustrating when something isn’t working right).

A few dozen hours to break even…

And then maybe a couple dozen hours to save $200-400 a year is a lot of work. I love to reload. So I don’t mind it. Even reloading 9mm I am happy to do it.

But I’d save more money going to cutting and splitting firewood for my wood boiler. My math over there is saving around $15-30 an hour for my labors inclusive of ALL of my time involved. Including hauling the wood to different piles, chain saw time, log splitter time, time stacking it, time hauling it in to the house, cleaning and feeding the boiler, and chimney sweeping time. Figure 60-80 a year. This last season with crazy heating oil hills I probably saved $2000 through the heating season by burning several cords of wood (around 3 if I am estimating right).

So if I want to save money on something, I always have it in my head, go cut, split, and stack some more firewood so I’ve got the fuel to stay better on top of feeding the wood boiler so I burn less oil. I only used about 180 gallons for the heating season this past year. I could have still done better if inhale more seasoned firewood (I didn’t run out, but I was still burning less well seasoned firewood in March that is only cut and split in November and December).

Not everyone has something that has a nice money savings like that. But most people could come up with something creative.

Reloading, maybe the closet ROI I have is something like 44 magnum where I can reload for about 25 cents a round and it costs about 80 cents a round to shoot. And I can reload about 200 rounds an hour on my Lee Classic. That’s about $110 an hour. And revolvers have little time wasted collecting the brass. Sorting is easy, etc. so even figuring other time spent on at the press handle, 44 magnum is probably around $70-80 an hour for me to reload in cost savings. I did invest 3-5 hours still on the front end getting some loads worked up and tested.

Then there is 9mm. Some of my component prices are almost silly cheap (I have a few thousand bullets I got for about 4.5 cents a bullet as an example. Powder is about 2 cents a round. Primers are still expensive). Even still, I am saving maybe $20 an hour. More than I save on loading .223 because of all of the other work involved in .223. I doubt I save $10 an hour.

And my recreational time is little and far between. So either I want a nice payback, like that wood splitting, or it needs to be something I get some kind of enjoyment out of it anyway. Otherwise I’d rather watch a movie or read a book.

PS I do enjoy reloading. So I do it. If I didn’t, I’d probably still reload the most expensive stuff now that I am into it anyway. 6.5 Grendel and 44 mag are just $$$ compared to reloading costs. Because I do I am happy reloading 9mm, .223, and .308 blasting loads. It doesn’t save me much money, but it’s a pass time.

 

[trickg]

I only reload for target rifles currently and sometimes .44 mag. Buying 9mm and 5.56 on sale saves me a lot of time and time is money. I have .50beo parts and dies so I will reload for that at some point as they are expensive. $2.50/rd ouch.

Time is relative when it's something you enjoy doing.

A month or so ago I wanted to bump up my stock of both 9mm and 223. I bought 500 bullets each, and I loaded 1000 rounds in just a couple of hours in two nights.

With my Dillon 550 I'm rolling about 100 rounds every 12-14 minutes, so it didn't take long. It usually takes me longer to set the press for the caliber I'm loading when I do a caliber change than it takes me to load the first 100 rounds.

I know that would be more time than someone wants to burn, but I bet I spend less time reloading that some guys do hunting around online for the best ammo deals.

 

[Uncle Duke]

Between the two of them , Uncle Duke and Cochise laid out the opposing viewpoints . And they're both corect !

However , Uncle Duke is most directly answering Kingfish's (OP) question .

5.56 and .308 (and 9x19 ) have the lowest margins for loading your own . At least if generic ammo meets your requirements .

Move beyond the handful of most popular calibers , and the savings are large .

Hop in the time machine to 5 yrs ago to stock up on components at then current prices , and savings are big .

To BF44's entirely valid point, standard CCI primers at Midsouth Shooters were $144.50 per case of 5000 in the Spring of 2019. On top of that was the availability of a 20% rebate. That math works out to 2.312 cents per primer. Yeah, there's a tear in my beer too!

A pound of Hodgdon H335 was 25 bucks. With Alliant, an up to $20 rebate was available on Alliant powders like Reloader 10 and 15 for us Alliant fans as well. The Hodgdon 335 is 36 bucks a pound at Powder Valley as I write this, and you'll find it higher elsewhere. On top of that, most anything Alliant is largely to be found most quickly in the Smithsonian at present.


I was paying less than 7 cents a bullet for Hornady 2266B 55 grain SP w/cann. in 6000 round case lot in the same timeframe. They're over 10 cents per today.

Some loaded ammo cartridges have dropped more recently in price. Not so much the case with many and most others. Component prices have risen substantially, and they remain stubbornly high in comparison. Some indications exist that select examples have started to recede a bit in some instances. But I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for 2019 prices again anytime soon.

As they say, buy 'em cheap and stack 'em deep!

Read 'em and weep......

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[Bountied]

Time is relative when it's something you enjoy doing.

A month or so ago I wanted to bump up my stock of both 9mm and 223. I bought 500 bullets each, and I loaded 1000 rounds in just a couple of hours in two nights.

With my Dillon 550 I'm rolling about 100 rounds every 12-14 minutes, so it didn't take long. It usually takes me longer to set the press for the caliber I'm loading when I do a caliber change than it takes me to load the first 100 rounds.

I know that would be more time than someone wants to burn, but I bet I spend less time reloading that some guys do hunting around online for the best ammo deals.

Yeah I only have a singles stage press, an old Rock Chucker that was my grandfathers. Doing large batches of 9mm would take forever. I like reloading too but I usually only make about 20-40 rounds of pet loads for target shooting. I guess when you get into the flow and are cranking out rounds it's very rewarding.

 

[Fundamentalist]

Reloading is like anything else, are you going to save money? Nah. Well maybe if you stick with it, but in the end, nah.

But being able to load your own rifle ammo for the range trip and order the supply’s when on sale and available… priceless

 

[GuitarmanNick]

I load for: .223/5.56, 7.62x54R, 9mm, 9x18 Makarov, 7.62x25 Tokarev, .38 Special, .45 ACP, and sometimes 7.62x39(when I can find cheap bullets).
Most can be loaded for about 60% of comparable ammo purchase prices.
As stated by others, buy primers, powder and bullets in bulk when possible.
Purchased my rig used from another MDS member a few years ago and have gotten addicted to rolling my own. The initial purchase price of equipment can be justified if you will use it regularly. I recommend buying only quality items. They perform better and last longer. Things sometimes break, have spare parts on hand(like decapping pins).
These days, I rarely shoot any factory ammo because the consistency of my hand loads has spoiled me. Overall, I think it is saving me money, but admittedly, it may not be a lot.

 

[Mack C-85]

Oh yeah, the bottom line on is it economical, no it isn't.....

Why???? You're going to spend the same amount of money shooting. You're just going to shoot more rounds doing it.

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[trickg]

Yeah I only have a singles stage press, an old Rock Chucker that was my grandfathers. Doing large batches of 9mm would take forever. I like reloading too but I usually only make about 20-40 rounds of pet loads for target shooting. I guess when you get into the flow and are cranking out rounds it's very rewarding.

I reload 223 on my Dillon, but I really want to invest in a solid single stage for my future rifle ammo that isn't 223. I like the idea of taking my time with maybe a batch of 50, or even 20.

 

[Melnic]

Unless you have a boat load of free time and you shoot an equal boat load. And your own time is worth zilch, Reloading IMO is NOT saving $.

Its a hobby and a fascination all unto itself. Its a means to higher accuracy in many cases and involves investment in time and $.

I can boast how I reload 9mm by casting and powder coating my own bullets and its costing me 6 cents a round for components I purchased 3 years ago but I also spent a lot of time on it. (time lately I don't have though).

I'm a casual trap shooter and was happy to buy walmart 100 round boxes for $20. unobtanium now I bartered my components and the Lee Load all to reload them at 20cents a shell. I now have more than I have time to shoot.

do it only if its interesting and a hobby unto itself.

 

[Mack C-85]

I'm a casual trap shooter and was happy to buy walmart 100 round boxes for $20. unobtanium now I bartered my components and the Lee Load all to reload them at 20cents a shell. I now have more than I have time to shoot.

do it only if it's interesting and a hobby unto itself.

You're doing well, I just ran my current trap load, and I'm at $0.30 per shell. I bought my primers a while back at an extremely good price. They are currently double what I paid for the one's I'm using.

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