Reloading Economics

[tedster]

I could see myself hand loading nice custom loads in 45-70 Gov't or .45LC where the round would cost me $1 or $2.
Those are straight wall cartridges. I can see .308 or .30-06, but there is the neck-shaping which requires more detail.

I met match shooters who load their own ammo. 600 yards with an AR, I hear them talk about the specs. Or the other guy shooting F-Class with his Palma rifle. Every round of .308 is literally "hand crafted".

 

[AR15barrels]

It's a fundamental question I had to answer for myself: Can I afford to shoot firearms? Which includes buying ammo.
The answer is yes, within proper means. I am not the kind of guy who shoots a few thousand rounds of 9mm or .45 ACP in a single day.
Re-loading to meet large volume cost efficiency will never be my thing.

Reloading over long periods of time is also a method to beat the cost swings of ammo due to supply/demand swings around election cycles.
You buy the components in large volumes when they are at their lowest costs and you load ammo with those components to get you past the times when component prices are high.
I bought into components HEAVILY 20ish years ago because I was shooting 3-4 matches a month.
My shooting volume has gone way down since then, but I am still using the components I stockpiled in the early 2000's.

So today, I am shooting 9mm for about $48/1000 rounds as long as I pick up my brass.
I have enough comonents on hand to likely last me the rest of my life.
I have also been given components at times and I am sitting on 5000 primed 38 special cases and 3000 free 38 caliber bullets.
The 38 special rounds I will load up with those components will cost me $4 per 1000 rounds.

 

[Ktm45]

I don’t think loading primer tubes is a big deal. Slide the cardboard sleeve off the 100 primers in the plastic tray. Using Ginex spp as the example they are placed in the tray anvil (plus their anvil is red) up. Take the “shake” tray and place it over the full plastic with new primers in it and flip it over. It’s ready to take a Dillon primer loading tube and load up the primers except the 5 that might be upside down. Do them last after you flip them over. Now CCI loafs their new primer tray with the anvil down. Again put the shaker tray and place it over the new product tray and flip it over. Then…put the shaker tray and put the cover on and do it again. The only difference is when you do it a second time the primers are all random vs the perfectly organized setup when you only flip once. I always load 10 tubes at a sitting. I have them in an alloy holder and know exactly how much I have loaded and how much I need to load at a glance. Personally I load 100 or 200 9mm rounds every time I get the time. They add up fast.

Personally I load because I always have the ammo I want when I want it. The trick to me is to just have the components and do so in good advance .
Ya can’t shoot if ya don’t got it

 

[bonesurf]

Reloading over long periods of time is also a method to beat the cost swings of ammo due to supply/demand swings around election cycles.
You buy the components in large volumes when they are at their lowest costs and you load ammo with those components to get you past the times when component prices are high.
I bought into components HEAVILY 20ish years ago because I was shooting 3-4 matches a month.
My shooting volume has gone way down since then, but I am still using the components I stockpiled in the early 2000's.

So today, I am shooting 9mm for about $48/1000 rounds as long as I pick up my brass.
I have enough comonents on hand to likely last me the rest of my life.
I have also been given components at times and I am sitting on 5000 primed 38 special cases and 3000 free 38 caliber bullets.
The 38 special rounds I will load up with those components will cost me $4 per 1000 rounds.

That’s the big key. Stockpile components. Primers USED to be dirt cheap. Powder fluctuates and is up now. Mostly what affects my reloading is the PITA factor.

I find 556 to be a PITA to reload caliber personally. So i have a little more leeway in what i will pay for it

9 and 45 are easy to reload, particularly since i leave my progressives setup for those.

308 is pretty easy ergonomically IMO too.

 

[BIGOX]

Cleaning brass takes up about 5 minutes of my time. The $25 tumbler dose all the work. Loading primer tubes, most people pre load them for the next session when they have a few minutes of free time. As for money put into equipment, if you bought used, it’s very likely it can always be sold from 80-100% of what you paid. If you bought quality equipment you might make a profit selling. Not Lee stuff but better equipment.
Too many options for people today, if you don’t want to utilize your FREE TIME ( time off when im not being paid to work) or don’t have any free time, then reloading probably isn’t for you. I recently took some of my FREE TIME to read to young kids, very rewarding but maybe I should have billed them for my time?
Well I’ll spend around 2.5 hours today making 3000 rounds of 9mm while listening to a podcast or research stuff on YouTube. If I was getting paid $25 an hour that would be $62.50 in hourly wages be for taxes. But if I bought 3000 rounds the 11% tax alone would be over $80.

I’ll probably break up the session into 40 minute intervals after that I’ll set up for tomorrow’s session of defense rounds. 124g jhp that I got really cheap and this is were the bigger savings are.

 

[shroom]

Reloading gear can be gotten pretty cheap at gunshows. Might be the last reason to go to any in CA... last couple I've been to in this state barely even had any guns. Plenty of cheap reloading gear though.

 

[Gawernator]

Cleaning brass takes up about 5 minutes of my time. The $25 tumbler dose all the work. Loading primer tubes, most people pre load them for the next session when they have a few minutes of free time. As for money put into equipment, if you bought used, it’s very likely it can always be sold from 80-100% of what you paid. If you bought quality equipment you might make a profit selling. Not Lee stuff but better equipment.
Too many options for people today, if you don’t want to utilize your FREE TIME ( time off when im not being paid to work) or don’t have any free time, then reloading probably isn’t for you. I recently took some of my FREE TIME to read to young kids, very rewarding but maybe I should have billed them for my time?
Well I’ll spend around 2.5 hours today making 3000 rounds of 9mm while listening to a podcast or research stuff on YouTube. If I was getting paid $25 an hour that would be $62.50 in hourly wages be for taxes. But if I bought 3000 rounds the 11% tax alone would be over $80.

I’ll probably break up the session into 40 minute intervals after that I’ll set up for tomorrow’s session of defense rounds. 124g jhp that I got really cheap and this is were the bigger savings are.

also need a garage for all of that

 

[BIGOX]

also need a garage for all of that

No you don’t. When I first started reloading I had an oak desk in the corner of my room that I modified as a reloading station and storage. The tumbler fit under the desk with media but I ran it outdoors. Powders, primers and bullets in the bottom drawer and tools and equipment in the top drawer. A cheap Lee pro 1000 mounted on the desk. We all have to start out somewhere but it doesn’t require that much space

 

[five.five-six]

Just shoot loads of high power and you’ll save enough money to feel good about it. lol.

What does .30-06 cost per round? These I made for 100 yard club level NRA highpower match in my 03A3. I’ve got 4¢ cent WLR, 17¢ 24 grains 2400, 0¢ free brass and 15¢ pulled FMJ 150’s. So that’s 36¢ / round. Now that i set up my 550, making 90 rounds is maybe 30 min max.

The fun part is I’ll never run out or at least I’ll have years off lead time and I get to make them exactly the way I like for the game I’m playing.