cvhoss

Stitch,
There's really no "pat" answer to that question. A lot depends on how hot a load your loading. It also depends on how well your particular firearm's chamber supports the case. On pistols, I usually load only light target loads with the exception of 44mag. revolver loads for hunting. Assuming your 1911 fully supports the cartridge case and you use light loads, you should average at least 7-10 loads out of a case. In calculating my costs for any given caliber, I usually assume at least 5. I have some that have 15 loadings and are still going. In all honesty, it's probably best to pick a number in that 7-10 range and when you reach that many loadings, sell the brass for scrap and buy more. In any case, always inspect your cases for any early signs of head separation or splitting. If anything is suspect, don't use it. One other thing, and I'm sure others may have different experiences, but I try to avoid using nickel plated cases. The nickel cases seem more brittle and more prone to case mouth splits. This is especially true when loading lead bullets (non-jacketed) where you have to bell the case mouth more to avoid shaving lead as you seat the bullet. I have had several nickel cases split after only two loadings.

Hoss

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Tubby45

Load it til it splits. 45 Auto is a very low pressure cartridge. I'm still shooting brass that has been loaded and shot over 20 times.

The only time I take my time into consideration is when I'm loading commercially. I do not make cheap ammunition and your jaw would drop at my profit per hour of loading.

How much time does it take to get in car, go to the store, walk to the counter, wait for them to pick out the ammo, walk to the register, wait in line, pay for it, drive to the range, shoot it all. If you used your credit card, how many hours of work did it take to pay off that purchase? Now you have interest and finance charges on top of that purchase to pay off, so you ended up paying more than you should have the the ammo in the first place.

A Dillon 550 progressive can load 500 rounds an hour easily. The Dillon 1050 can load 1200 rounds per hour easily, with a KISS bullet feeder, even 1900-2000 rounds per hour is not difficult.

The PM is accurate enough to throw a proper powder charge within .1gr variance. Certain powders meter better.

Mousehunter, save your money on the Dillon powder check. Look into the case before you place a bullet on top of it to make sure your powder level is correct.

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SSDD

The problems with the DPM is that stick powders do not measure that consistently, so for rifle reloading on a progressive I stick to ball powders....
TAC works well with the 223 and the 308 very well, but there are those that say the Hornady PM with case activated linkage gives better consistency with the Dillon. Personally, the orginaly DPM that was manually operated gave me very consistent results with IMR 4064 and IMR 4895 holding closer to the +/- 0.1gr some suggest is possible? Hey it was just as good as M852 the Military version of FGM.

There is post on one of the boards about doing some mods to the DPM to help with increased consistent powder charges with rifle powders.
Dillon Powder Measure Retrograde
Dillon Powder Measure Tips - 1911Forum

hickatheart

May I submit: the cost for materials for reloading may well be lower than buying if the likes of hilly getting into office. With so many states passing crazy laws surrounding ammo, I would advise everyone that can, to buy said equipment, collect lead, store powder etc, while you can. The cost now is one thing, but the cost later may be another altogether. Just a thought.
H@H

ozshadow

N/m - saw you calculated loadings x 5
Any specific reason for buying new brass ?

cvhoss

Excuse me for being slow, but I not sure what N/m means but I'm going to assume your question is for me. Edited -- Now I get it -- Never Mind. I've been wondering what was wrong with my computer as I received an email notice with a reply from you but couldn't find it anywhere in the thread. You must have edited your post prior to me seeing it for the first time.

The cost of brass has to be figured into the reloading equation somewhere. If you save brass from your fired factory ammunition, that brass was a substantial portion of the cost of the original ammo and so should be figured into the calculation. I've been reloading for so long that my usual method is that I don't buy any factory ammo when I buy a new firearm in a different caliber. I just buy brass & components and assemble my own ammo from the start. CCH has changed that somewhat for me as I want factory ammo in my EDC but carry ammo is so expensive that I usually only fire enough of it to confirm POI and functioning. This means that I'm not generating enough fired brass for reloading and have to come up with more from some source. The only way brass wouldn't need to be accounted for is if you have friends who don't reload and can get them to save their brass and let you have it for nothing (my personal favorite).

Hoss

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I ain't as good as I once was, but I'm as good once as I always was
Kahr PM-9 / Sig P-245 / Para NiteHawg / Walther PPK / Beretta Tomcat / Ruger LCP
BDA 380 / Taurus 85 / Kel-Tec PF-9 / Am. Derringer 357 / Sig Sauer 239 SAS / Walther PPS .40

NRA Life Member
My Web Site

FearSheeple

Thanks for this spreadsheet!!!

I have decided to purchase a G23 for both a range gun and a CCW. I'm trying to figure out costs of ammo, and how much I'd like to shoot per month. I figure ideally i'd spend an hour a month at the range each month. I put around 100 rounds in an hour out this weekend with a few different handguns, and dealing with a G23 that FTE.

In any case, trying to figure out how much I'd have to shoot to break even...or come out ahead if I decide to get into reloading. I can purchase wolf ammo for ~ $12/box(50) shipped online.

Using these charts seems to come out to around $7.72 per box of 50.

Doing the math at $4.28 savings per box of 50 it'd take me 152 boxes of 50 just to break even on the press. I guess that if i shot 200rds/week I'd be breaking even after ~1.5 years.

I guess I feel like that's a hard thing to justify the time for such a small savings. Or should I not be looking at wolf ammo? :-P I know I know, reloading isn't about saving money, you just shoot more. I'm all for shooting more because I want to be as good of a shot with my pistol as I can and keep my skills tuned, but if it came down to spending a few bucks more per box and spending more time at the range, vs saving a few bucks and spending time reloading instead of being at the range I'm not sure I can see the benefits.

aus71383

FWIW if you are shopping around for reloading components there is another handy calculator over on handloads.com that is free for the using - no downloading involved. I know when I'm at work at can't access my personal email account or download anything, but I can look at anything (within reason) that I want to online.

Austin

P95Carry

Unless your time is so tight that you can't make the odd hour in an evening .... you should be able to manage the time aspect ...... plus too there is the ability you'd have to produce the ideal ammo for your gun/purpose.

It has to be viewed IMO as a long term proposition, and unless you are as ancient as me I'll assume your ''payback time'' will be plenty! I also do not feel it is all entirely about savings - well not only.

The independence is a biggie such that if you have a stock of consumables and brass, you can in essence get to it any old time if you run low or supplies are difficult.

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edr9x23super

Some differences of opinion about the Dillon 550:

I have one, and the price you list includes everything, the dies, the powder measure etc. I checked on the website.

As far as the dies not being as reliable, or loading rounds of questionable quality is pure hogwash. yes, they manufacture them differently to make progressive loading easier, but they still size the rounds just like everybody else's equipment does. I stopped logging my reloads after I crossed the 100,000 round mark in 1995. And that is strictly handgun rounds, mainly .45acp, that does not include the rifle (.223) or the other calibers, .38 super, 9mm & .38 special/.357 mag. In that time and since, I have never had a malfunction related to a round in that caliber or any other and have loaded every kind of primer from every manufacturer with zero problems. Neither have the dies failed in their designed task, ever.

If anyone doubts the quality of Dillon dies, check out an issue of "front sight", the publication produced by USPSA, specifically during the coverage of the area and national matches, and go to the back and look at the equipment used by the competitors. You will find that overwhelmingly Dillon dominates the field even more than the 1911 handgun dominates the guns used in the match.

Remember also, that the average competitor that goes to an area or national match in this sport will burn through at least 30,000 rounds in a year to hit all of the local matches as well as an area match. I know when I was hot into it, my totals were around 40-47,000 rounds. So my point here is with all these rounds being loaded with Dillon presses, if there was any issue with the dies, it would have definitely surfaced by now.......

So go with Dillon, they have progressive loading down to a science.

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