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is reloading cheaper

3K views 30 replies 24 participants last post by  SamF 
#1 ·
me and my dad shoot a good bit being as we have a range in our yard and ammo is a good bit of money for 9mm and we want to start reloading . so about much does it actually save $ wise
 
#2 ·
I can't remember who said it, but one of our senior members put it very nicely- "You don't SAVE any money; you just shoot more for the same amount". I don't have any reloading experience- I don't have a good work station or the money to get started right now- but I think that sounds about right according to the pricing I've done.
 
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#3 ·
I reload 9mm with 135gr Bayou Bullets @ 7 cents ea. Along with that is a primer @3 cents, and 3.2gr of Titegroup powder @ 1 cent. All total for one round it costs me 11 cents per round, which expands out to $11.00 per hundred. The last I saw WWB at Wally World was $22.00 for the 100 round box. All brass I use is range pickup brass which is free to me.

The load I listed above just makes the power factor floor for IDPA and USPSA. This strength level is about 7% lower than factory ammo, so it will be easier on your gun.

I load .45 ACP for $14.00 per hundred. A hundred from Wally World is about $55 per hundred! You can really save some money if you have calibers other than the widespread 9mm.
 
#5 ·
i have been teaching reloading for many years. you shoot more and what you want to--power or accuracy or factory replication.

set up can be $300 ( Lee turret) to $600 for Dillon sq-d (pistol only)
than figure 12 cents per round for lead or 5 cents more for plated. more still for fancy 357 HP.

if you are not strongly mechanically inclined find someone who is experienced to help you set up.

good luck & don't load distracted
 
#6 ·
if you already own the brass, it generally saves you about half. BTW, I carry factory loaded ammo, but I have anywhere from 4-500 bullets to make more "carry" ammo if the shtf and I can't find it or its unavailable.

With our chronograph, I can fine tune my reloads to equal that of my carry ammo so recoil and ballistics are close to identical.

With our dillon 650 I can churn out several thousand rounds in an afternoon if need be. 223 ammo -same way. Components used in ammunition have a pretty long shelf life.... for now! I can see the government putting restrictions down the road on how long primers and powder will store.

If your worried to the point of having a year long food storage, then I'd be worried about having enough firepower and ammo to protect it when the shtf.
 
#7 ·
I cast my own bullets from used lead wheel weights,and with the casting equipment I have invested in can cast and lube around 500 bullets an hour,I have a Dillon 550 reloader with dies for 9mm,40s&w,45acp,38/357,44 mag,380acp,223,308,I have a case feeder for pistol cases and crank out about 500 completed rounds an hour,My Pistol ammo costs me .01 bullet,.02primer,.01 powder,so about 4-$5.00 100.
Now since I make my own 223 bullet tips from spent 22lr brass it costs me 223 .01 bullet,.02 primer.05 powder,so 223 is about $8.00 100
So I can honestly say YES reloading saves me a lot of money,and I shoot all I want
 
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#10 ·
Although I don't make my own .223 bullets I agree with the Duke on the price of the pistol ammo, when you/I cast your/my own bullets. More bank for the buck
 
#8 ·
When looking at the cost of reloading one has to look at more than the cost of the bullet materials. The initial cost of a solid set-up, including dies, can be around $600-$800. More or less depending on quality and features. That is a lot of money to make up in ammo. If you were to shoot a lot you can make that up fairly quickly, if you don't shoot alot, it will take a long time.

One also has to factor in the time to procure the materials then do the actual reloading (including cleaning and inspecting used brass), very few people I think can say they have so much spare time they can consider it "free". If you are reloading you aren't doing other things like working, honey-do lists, children, shooting, etc.

If you don't have access to lots of spent brass, i.e. a range, and only reload your own brass, you need to consider that you will have to throw out some spent brass each time you shoot. You will be unable to find some as well, so over time you will have to continue to buy brass, which is the situation I would be in.

For me personally, it would take me a very long time just to get a return on my initial investment, and since I don't have a source of free used brass, I wouldn't be saving enough money to make it worth it to reload. A friend of mine who does part-time work at a gun shop contends that for the average joe the best argument for reloading is the ability to set your own standards for the power of your ammo.

For dukalmighty, who has the 1) skills, 2) equipment and 3) time to pretty much literally make his own ammo I can see him saving a lot of $$. But I think he is far from the "average joe".
 
#11 ·
I started reloading in 1970. Comparing the cost of my equipment then to now is quite a price difference. Ever comparing the cost of my Dillon 550b ( starting in1981) Dillon 400 to 450 to 550 to 550B is quite a price jump. The 550b has loaded over 500,000 rds and may have passed the 1,000,000 rd mark if not it is pushing it hard.

What has helped is that I still have some of my original reloading equipment and still use it,, RCBS single stage press and a Lyman Spar-T press.

One also has to factor in the time to procure the materials then do the actual reloading (including cleaning and inspecting used brass), very few people I think can say they have so much spare time they can consider it "free". If you are reloading you aren't doing other things like working, honey-do lists, children, shooting, etc.
AS far as my time reloading time goes I am retired. The less money I spend on factory ammo the more shooting I can do, by reloading. If I had to depend on my monthly income to control my shooting habits I would shoot much less. I shoot an average of at least twice a week. The honey-do's still get done. We visit our children/grandchildren as often as we can. Some are in CT, some are in RI some are in NV. So at home it is just my wife and me, our 2 GSD's guard dogs, my Jeep wrangler and all the other hobby equipment ( reloading, prospecting, exploring and photographing ghost towns).

I agree for some people the time factor wouldn't work. But some of those that don't have the time spend hours working on a boat, restoring/building a car, sitting in a bar after work ETC all of that also takes time.
 
#9 ·
If u want to save some and hav fun..I have a lee hand loader dies....plenty of fun there and latter on u can get a good scale, powder measure . But they r limited to one caliber...I shoot 357 a lot
 
#13 ·
Unless you buy components in bulks, you won't make a large savings on 9mm target loads since the price of factory ammo has come back down to more realistic prices. I buy a few hundred primers at a time, keep one Lb. of powder on hand, and buy LRNs for my .45 ACP in boxes of 500. It costs me $9-10 per box of reloads, which is cetainly less than the $18 or so for factory-loaded range ammo. Of course, if I bought primers by the 1000s, 8-lb. cans of powder, and huge lots of bullets, the saving would be greater (and I once did back in my more active reloading days with multiple calibers).

Reloading should be looked at as more of an extension of the shooting sport rather than a simple savings. It takes time to recoup the the investment in the equipment. If you're looking for mass quantities of reloads, then you're looking at a progressive reloader and higher expense initially. For me it's one more hobby and my therapeutic time.
 
#14 ·
me and my dad shoot a good bit being as we have a range in our yard and ammo is a good bit of money for 9mm and we want to start reloading .
I reload for quite a few calibers, rifle and pistol. To me, reloading is almost as much fun as shooting. However, I have never put a calculator to the cost savings, so I can't comment on that aspect of it.
Speaking from experience though, I will say this about reloading. You can get into a lot of trouble unless you keep a clear head and have no distractions while re-loading, especially while using a progressive press. You must have your head in the game at all times lest you dump a double charge of powder in a cartridge case. This is easily done as some cases, such as the 38 special, hold a lot more powder than is required for a single charge. I double charged a 45 ACP round once, and the results were not at all pleasant.
Please be careful!

Michael
 
#15 ·
When my brother and I went in with my dad on our Dillon 650, we bought the powder check die on accident. Now that I'm reloading pistol ammo I realize the benefit of this "extra die" that came with the unit. Every time a primed case goes up the the shellplate, a rod connected to the die is inserted into case. If the powder charge is less or more than normal a little buzzer goes off, and I can find out whats wrong
 
#17 ·
Over the long haul it is worth it. It really depends on how much you shoot and what calibers. If it's just 9mm then probably not. If it's 300 Winchester Mag then it certainly is.
 
#19 ·
It may be cheaper AFTER your reloading tools are paid for.
Then, it's cheaper if your time is worthless.
But, if you enjoy it, then I say go.
If you're doing it to save money, no.
I hear people saying, "I can reload 200 rounds in an hour."
Really? Tumbling brass, trimming cases, sizing, buying supplies, re-loading?
 
#21 ·
It'll take you a while to load enough ammo to make back the investment in loading equipment, but probably not more than a year.

Once you've done that, wither you will save money...or you will shoot more for the same money. It shouldn't really cost you more in the long run. It certainly will save you money per round fired in the long run.

My personal situation was this—I dropped a lot up front for a Dillon RL-550B with a ton of accessories. It ran me about $1100 in start-up costs. I shoot a lot of .45ACP in competition (and so does my g/f); I reload .45ACP for around fifteen cents a round (give or take component prices at the time), and the best bulk ammo I could find commercially (Georgia Arms) is about thirty-five cents a round. It took me 5,500 rounds to make back the original investment, which was less than a year. I am now up to about 15k rounds in about two years of reloading, so, yeah, I am pretty sure I am saving money.

On the flip side, you could start with a much cheaper setup that will only run you a few hundred dollars to start, and you will pay it off much more quickly and be saving money.
 
#22 ·
I decided to tinker with a bit of realoading early this year, and like everything else I've ever done I wanted to start out with the bare-bones basics in equipment and technique so that I would understand the idiosyncracies (finally got to use that word in a sentence :smile:) of the total exercise. My intention was to work with .45 acp and .357 mag, since they were the most expensive commercial ammunition I use in handguns, but from a "what do I shoot the most" realization I opted for 9mm and .357 mag. So, keeping with my "start with the basics" attitude, I bought the Lee Classic Loaders for the 9mm and .357 mag, as well as a balance scale, micrometer, flaring tool, chamfer tool, and several other assorted tools (about $150 total) and started learning from the ground up. After several months of fooling with the tapered cases of the 9mm and the hand hammered process involved with the Lee Classic Loader I decided to set it aside until I find the space needed to set up a real bench. I just couldn't find a good technique for working with the 9mm with the given tools. But, the straight walled cases of the .357 have been a real joy to work with. No doubt I have already saved money on range fodder by hammering out my own in the last 9-10 months. No doubt I will get a "big boy press" someday, but for now my intention is to study every single part of the process in detail with every round I finish. Besides, all the hammering keeps mrs. surveyor at her end of the house:wink:

surv
 
#25 ·
If you only shoot a few hundred rounds a month I would suggest you get something like the lee anniversary kit,you can do several hundred cases during each step and load enough to make up the cost fairly quick,later on if you want to upgrade you will still have your single stage in case you are loading for accuracy etc.
If you belong to a gun club/range you may find some other guys to go in on a bulk primer powder buy to save some money on hazmat and shipping fees.If you have to pay a 25.00 hazmat fee on primers or powder unless you order 3 or 4 8# jugs or 20,000 primers your not gonna get them cheap enough to offset buying them locally IOW if I can get primers online at 16.00 1000,or pay 30.00 1000 locally,and buying powder online at around $12.00 a pound or $20.00+ locally then I gotta be able to justify eating up the $25.00 to $50.00 shipping/hazmat fee.
The only way to get around the cost of equipment and supplies is to have a friend locally like me that will sell you ammo for a couple dollars over my cost.
 
#26 ·
Check out Kempf Gun Shop (online) -- they've bundled some nice goodies with the Lee Classic Turret Press Kit.

My cost to reload a box of 9mm is about $6. I calculated it will pay for itself in about 60 boxes (three months of shooting for me). After that, I save $7-8 per box + will own the equipment for a lifetime.
 
#27 ·
Short answer no, long answer yes...

First the no... $$$ outlay for dies, powder, primers, brass if you do not have any, bullets, brass polisher, media for same reloading press, powder dump, scales, dedicate an area for you stuff, buy the books for the reloading data, it all adds up...

Now for the yes, the quiet time, ability to customize your rounds, and the lower per round cost eventually catch up and yes in the end if you shoot a lot you will save money...
 
#28 ·
I've been reloading since about 1995. The cost hasn't gone up, percetage wise, as it has for factory loaded ammo. Over the long haul it will save you money.

I don't use picked up brass at the range....I want to know how many RL are on each batch. I also do not tumble and trim my brass each time. I do check the length as well as over all length after loading. I don't shoot competively anymore so getting the brass to .001 of an inch isn't a big concern for me.

I am also retires so a few hours in my garage on a single stage press to RL is not wasted time for me.
 
#29 ·
One of the major factors that is being overlooked as a benefit of reloading...

availability.

When Ammo went zipping off the shelves due to various circumstances, us reloaders that had sizable stashes of brass,powder,primers,bullets and powder suffered no ill effects.

We we relatively unaffected by cost increases due to supply and demand.

No one that considers seriously preparing for the future should overlook reloading capability. When the SHTF, it might could be the difference. If nothing else, it will be valuable as barter.

In the mean time, it can be therapeutic to reload while listening to classic rock.:image035:
 
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