# Reloading economics?



## smlranger (Jan 13, 2011)

Like many folks who love shooting, I am considering doing my own reloading. Been reading 'The ABC's of Reloading' and all I can find on the web, along with talking to other shooters who reload. I get the concept of being able to do more accurate loads for special shooting needs, the fun hobby, the good feeling of loading your own, etc. I am not sure I get the economics though.

I shoot mostly 9mm and 40 SW and some .380. Using the 9mm comparison, I can get decent 9mm ammo at local Gander Mountain for $12 - $15 per 50 rounds, or $.24 - $.30 per round. Looking at various sources (Cabela's, Midway, etc.) just the primers and FMJ bullets could average $.44 per round (based on the per 100 price). That doesn't include any brass I might need to buy, the powder, and all the reloading hardware of course. On one of the reloading forums I've read, one long time reloader said he stopped reloading since factory pistol ammo is now cheaper than the reloading components. 

What am I missing?


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## twomode (Jun 7, 2009)

You're missing discounts gained by shopping, and volume. Component costs drop dramatically when you increase quantity. I reload for shooting paper so for me it's round nose, popular powder, standard primer. When I decide to experiment with SD loads, or just more bang, I expect to pay more. I just shopped Midway for 1000 primers, RN tips, and 1 lb of Titegroup. Came up with 13.55 cents per round including these factors. 

I own the equipment (paid for by the second thousand)
I have my own brass.
Buy at gun shows and avoid tax, and hasmat charges.

Oh, and at 4.5 gr per rd, you still have enough powder to do another 500 or so!


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## recoilguy (Apr 30, 2009)

Reloading is not really a way to save money as opposed to a way to shoot more for the same amount of money. No one buys reloading material in 100 lots you buy it in 1000's and if you really want to save and shoot alot buy 8 - 10 thousands.

My last 1000 I reloaded were as follows:

* 1000 124g FMJ from Percision delta dot com for 77 dollars deliverd to my home or 7.7cents per
* 1000 Winchester Small Pistol Primers 24.99 at Scheels or 2.49 cents per
* 2/3# of Titegroup powder at $18.99 per pound also at Scheels or 1.25cents per
* Brass found and picked up at the range by the "range kid" 20 bucks per 1000 or 2 cents per
I could pick it up my self but he bends over, picks it up, seperates it out from other calibers, and bags it per 1000 in a bag for 20 bucks. No brainer no one is that cheap that they wont pay the kid to do that.
There is other start up costs involved IE the cost of your press, dies, cleaning media and tumbler.
but not including that initial cost my per bullet cost adds to about 13.5 cents per round. It makes a very nice round too. use 4.2 gains of Titegroup and seed the bullet to 1.123 OAL it is a sweet soft accurate load that gives you pride to shoot.

You can do better then my estimate if you look hard and shop very carefully, and you can obviously from your research do worse. If you only shoot 500 rounds per year rather then over 500 per month like some of us do it may not be economical. 

What you are missing is the idea of buying in quantity and you are not shopping in the right places.

I load during my free time so I never put a value on free time cause its free. If you are one who put a value on their time the perspective may change again. I for one think that is folly.

It is a lot of fun It wastes away the winter evening hours and makes me want to go shoot even more. Most people who did reloas and have stopped because shells are cheap now only shoot on occasion. If you shoot often and regularily the economy to reload is very obvious.

RCG


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## Overkill0084 (Nov 28, 2010)

if you buy name brand bullets for $16 per hundred and nothing else. You will have a hard time saving money. Shoot cast or plated for your day to day plinking and use the fancy stuff for specific applications. I haven't done the definitive math on my most common .45 acp loads, but I believe they average out to about $12 to $13 per hundred. I use mostly Missouri bullets most days for most of my calibers. I found a decent deal on Rainier plated for my 9mm so I will be using those for a while. Misouri Bullets are a great value and the service is great. I keep a lookout for bullet sales at Midway for the Ranier plated. I have by no means found the holy grail of cheap ammo, but I'm happy for now. I suppose the next level is casting my own.
If you're not saving money, you're doing it wrong.


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## Steve M1911A1 (Feb 6, 2008)

The big savings are in the "free" brass-using it over and over again, but having paid for it only once-and in the "free" expenditure of your own, unpaid time. If you can pick up range brass, that's "even free-er."

If you are serious about self-defense shooting, you will need to do a lot of practice. Even using the least expensive _dependable_ (not junk) ammunition, that will become extremely costly very quickly. Reloading solves this problem, reducing your ammunition costs to a very low level-but only if you carefully scavenge your brass for re-use.
You can amortize the price of a good progressive reloading machine (for instance, a Dillon) by reloading between 2,000 and 4,000 rounds (using "free" brass).


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## smlranger (Jan 13, 2011)

OK, you guys gave me good stuff to ponder. I suspected those of you with a lot of shooting/re-loading experience would tell me what I was missing. I would certainly plan to keep my own brass and scavenge what I can from the range (not sure my club allows that but plan to ask). I am fairly new to shooting and have been getting to the range at least every other week and shoot 100-200 rounds per visit. I would expect that number to grow if I was able to reload and save money in the long run. Plus, our club is new and there are plans to have more competition shooting. 

I shop Cabela's since I buy all my striper fishing stuff there and get 'points' for every purchase. Obviously, my allegiance to Cabela's need not make me avoid better deals from other vendors. 

I will check those vendors you suggested, shop the gun shows and keep looking for a good deal on some basic equipment.


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## Lee H (Feb 6, 2011)

*Cost of Reloading*

you should visit this following site and it will show you your return on investment.
Lee

http://www.handloads.com/calc/loadingCosts.asp


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## Steve M1911A1 (Feb 6, 2008)

Thanks, *Lee*. That is quite useful.

My full-power .45 ACP reloads cost about 9.5¢ each (using "free" cases and "free" labor).


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## TOF (Sep 7, 2006)

Once fired cases are available from a number of sources at significant savings over new. If you reload 15 or 20 cycles the case cost reduces to negligable. If not loading hot you can get a lot of mileage from a case.


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## 357 Man (Mar 17, 2011)

I cast my own bullets for recycled range lead, and buy other components in bulk. I recently refigured my for box of 50 cost at less than $5.00 for 9mm, and $6.00 for 40 S&W and 45ACP. Including all shipping and HasMat fees. I would like to see any retailer beat that. Not to mention all the fun I had doing it.


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## RiverratMike (Feb 27, 2011)

*Reloading Economics, The Wear and Tear*

First of all my compliments to the previous posts for a good, comprehensive, concise rundown of how the numbers work out for reloading. But please to note......the guys that do it well seem to know a lot about it. It's a commitment, a hobby in itself. My wife came out to my shop late one evening and, noting that I had just finished up a batch of belted rifle, sighed and said "I suppose you are going shooting tomorrow." I gasped and said "What? After I went to all that trouble to load it up?" After struggling with a slipping powder measure caliper, extracting casings minus their heads from my resizing die, trying to outhink a jamming primer feeder, and running out of One Shot I sort of lost my perspective. 
More to your question, today I priced out some cheapie 250 rd boxes of 9mm and .45 auto at 7 and 11 cents respectivly and small pistol primers just went up to $34 per brick of 1000. I don't shoot enough pistol to take advantage of bulk pricing. What I bought works just fine at 15 yd steel shoots. Also, if you use some of the less common stuff like buck shot and shotgun slugs loading your own is still cheaper even in lesser amounts.


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## chp1911 (Apr 17, 2011)

If you want to save money on brass , find out where your local police department does their qualifiction shoot at. In my area most PD's do not shoot reloads and they go through alot of ammo during the shoot . The PD for my Township uses a local out door range in nice weather and they do not pick up the brass. So in about 20 minutes I can scare up enough 9,40,45 brass to keep myself at the reloading bench for a few hours. After all it was my tax dollar that paid for the ammo in the first place and recycling used brass is not a bad thing!:mrgreen:


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## high pockets (Apr 25, 2011)

Just looked up my costs.

9mm

purchased brass (once fired)
[email protected]
7.85/50
156.95/1000

using existing brass
[email protected]
5.50/50
109.94/1000

Fun of shooting a lot = Priceless!


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