Keep Buying Bulk or Start Reloading?

[seniorxj]

WOW! With the amount of responses, great advice, different opinions, & peoples personal experiences, I'm floored with all the knowledge I now have to move forward with. Seriously though, I had to read & re-read all the replies to understand all the angles that reloading can do. Some seem to think that not much money is saved with 9mm & 45acp & that you mostly get more shooting time in which is still a plus, but might not be worth all the effort.

SO I hatched a plan! I'm gonna start with picking up a 1k bulk buy for both calibers so that I can keep & save the brass. In the mean time, I can read up & research more on reloading & gain a better idea of what I wanna do. I tend to go to the range at hours when there's no one there, so I have the time to send 150 to 200+ rounds down range & am only limited by the amount of ammo I take with me.

My first thought, 200 rounds per trip only gives me 5 trips there.
So i'll go place a bulk order, collect my brass, study & research till I know more before I take the plunge.

THANK YOU TO ALL WHO REPLIED as it helped a ton,
SeniorXJ

 

[seniorxj]

Oh & fyi, most if not all ammo will be spent shooting indoors at paper targets to hone my skills & accuracy & keep challenging myself until I get to a point to join an outdoor range & do some of those competitions which would be awesome!!

 

[contender]

Excellent that you are willing to study & learn before jumping in!
A few more thoughts.
First,,, make sure you buy ammo that the brass is reloadable. I prefer the stuff made by American manufacturers the best. Some of the foreign stuff is good, but others,,,, not as good.
Next,,, make one of your first purchases a good reloading manual. Those of us who have been at it awhile,,, we own several & recommend them all.
Lastly,,, I should have been a bit more upfront. Yes,,, reloading will save you money IF,,,,,,,, IF you do not increase the amount you shoot now. But,,, as most have shown, you will just shoot more for the same money!
Lastly,,, if you really decide you want to reduce the expenses,,,, get into casting your own bullets. It's another angle on enjoying shooting & learning more, but it'll allow you to make your own slugs for less than buying them.
PS; Don't try & place an hourly wage to your reloading. Knowledge is priceless, and a good hobby is a worthwhile endeavor. Beats the heck out of watching TV.

 

[seniorxj]

Excellent that you are willing to study & learn before jumping in!
A few more thoughts.
First,,, make sure you buy ammo that the brass is reloadable. I prefer the stuff made by American manufacturers the best. Some of the foreign stuff is good, but others,,,, not as good.
Next,,, make one of your first purchases a good reloading manual. Those of us who have been at it awhile,,, we own several & recommend them all.
Lastly,,, I should have been a bit more upfront. Yes,,, reloading will save you money IF,,,,,,,, IF you do not increase the amount you shoot now. But,,, as most have shown, you will just shoot more for the same money!
Lastly,,, if you really decide you want to reduce the expenses,,,, get into casting your own bullets. It's another angle on enjoying shooting & learning more, but it'll allow you to make your own slugs for less than buying them.
PS; Don't try & place an hourly wage to your reloading. Knowledge is priceless, and a good hobby is a worthwhile endeavor. Beats the heck out of watching TV.

I'll take this great advice in the order as given...

- First, I'm trying out Perfecta ammo which i'll put a thread up about, & at its low cost & availability at Wally World, it's better than Wolf, Bear, & Trulammo. So if I'm gonna run another 1k thru her, then I think its worth the few extra bucks & move up in quality to Federal & Winchester White boxes in 100 round value boxes.
Rumor is that Walmart is getting out of the gun & ammo business all together, so online prices are great until u figure the shipping on 1500 rounds of ammo weighs. This can kill the savings also!

*Can u name a few brands with both budget & are good reloading brass to get??

- Second, I did catch a few vids where they were using a manual & said to get one so I will. The rest of the equipment, I will more then likely by used but decent brands & i'll research all that matters with the process.

- Third, I may still be new with handguns, but I'm mechanically inclined enough to take my stock SR9 apart, polish everything that can benefit, get a smooth 4.5lb trigger pull with a quick break & TcT, & install all of Galloways fixings. Hell I even buy my supplements in bulk powder & cap them myself, (making my own capsules), which keeps costs down & product quality as high as it can be!

Thanks again for all the help,
SeniorXJ

 

[Rick Courtright]

PS; Don't try & place an hourly wage to your reloading. Knowledge is priceless, and a good hobby is a worthwhile endeavor. Beats the heck out of watching TV.

Hi,

That's excellent advice, Ty!

I hear people tell me their time is more valuable than (insert reloading, working on cars, doing yard work, or whatever.) To me, there's both a financial AND a psychological component to the value of our time. The way I figure the dollar "value" of my own time goes something like this:

If I'm giving up paying work to reload, I need to compare the "value added" by my labor while loading, vs what I'd get paid for doing "real" work. If I'm not giving up paying work, then my time is mine to do with what I wish.

For example (all numbers hypothetical), let's say I can work for $20/hr pretty much at will. And let's say a box of the factory shells I want costs $20, while the components for it cost $10. I'll need two boxes of shells for my next outing. So... I can go to work for two hours, make $40, buy two boxes and I'm done. I'm out two hours, and have two boxes of shells to show for it.

Or...

I can go to work for one hour, make $20, buy components as required, then get to loading. It takes me a full hour to load those two boxes. At the end, I'm out two hours, and have two boxes of shells to show for it. Financially and time wise, it's a wash. Psychologically, I'd rather reload than "work", so there's an intangible "win" for reloading.

But what if it's midnight, I've got insomnia, and nobody's got work for me right then? Since I did a little planning beforehand, I can still reload, using components I've already purchased. So I sit down at the bench, and spend an hour loading two boxes before finally getting sleepy. Just like the scenario above, I've got $20 "value added" to the two boxes I now have, and have two hours involved (one loading, one "working" earlier/later to cover component costs.) Still sounds like a wash, financially, doesn't it? However, sitting at the bench also relaxed me enough to get to sleep. And it was more productive than tossing and turning in bed. Priceless? If not, at least cheaper and safer than pills or alcohol!

Now we get to the "what ifs?" What if those shells are something the store is out of? Or I can actually load fast enough to "add value" faster than I can "earn" it working? Or maybe I can no longer work "at will?" Or intangibles pop up such as family commitments which take the time otherwise "budgeted" for reloading (many folks are better off financially than others, but NOBODY has a single minute more in the day than that 24 hours we're all allotted!) There are a lot of "possibles" there, so each person has to figure the "value" of their time for themselves.

So I'd offer there's no "right or wrong" to how anyone figures theirs!

Rick C

 

[seniorxj]

That's exactly what I do when making my own supplements. It takes up time; I have to do calculations for weight & dosage for every different one I do; I have to buy the empty capsules in bulk & in different colors so I know what's what; & I basically do em at odd hours, while watching TV with the kids, etc, & I have to measure every capsule so I know I'm consistent.

I would think making my own reloads shares some similarities giving me another reason to be confident in my skills to do this.

 

[Cheesewhiz]

The point about shooting more is a valid one and I do load a lot of 9mm but I always shot a lot before I started to reload. I do save money loading 9mm and I don't have to cut back on my shooting because I now load for less. The trick is to buy components in bulk, just like I did with finished rounds, I can make premium 9mm FMJ RN for $0.145 a round, I can load very fine coated hardcast for just over $0.10 a round in 9mm so the savings are there but a commitment has to be made as I said before.

 

[volshooter]

I have stopped reloading the 9mm due to cost. I can buy loaded rounds, reloadable brass cheaper than I can buy bullets and primers. Cheaper than Dirt has 1000 9mm less than $180 and .223 is super low.
I am a die hard reloader but I cannot beat those numbers for blasting ammo.
Reloading is my passion. In the past two weeks I have reloaded 25/06, .308, 45/70, 45LC, .45 ACP, heavy .357's, hot 9mm HPs and .380 by the hundreds. Those rounds cannot be bought as cheap as I can load. Not to mention but my loads shoot better. .44mag is another that #1 loads can be had without excessive cost.
Kind of like shot gun shells, I can buy them a lot cheaper than I can load them.
Yet, I love to reload to relax and will continue to do so for certain calibers.

 

[seniorxj]

Yeah but you can't compare ur hollow point hot reloads to Tulammo on CheaperThanDirt! If u choose cost effective ammo components than ud be alot better off...

Or at least i think so, lol.

 

[stevemb]

In the early '80's I bought a SBH .44mag.. After 2nd box of factory ammo I bought one of them Lee Loaders that came in the little red box. Then I annoyed the heck outta my parents by pounding at all hrs of the day/night. Still have that loader, but now a Lee press and an RCBS press bolted to a big oak table. Loading itself, the research, the data, is also a part of shooting. You will not regret it.

 

[stevemb]

The time and effort spent on learning to reload what you want, the way you want, will pay lifelong dividends. This is much more than a money issue.In a decade or two, you can chime in on ballistic/velo disagreements like a pro ! Also, we won't believe you either. Stay the course.

 

[volshooter]

When the boys and I get together to shoot it is not uncommon for me to shoot 500 rounds of 9mm as well as 500-1500 rounds of .223. When I shoot for fun I use cheap ammo for blasting. I reload the good stuff for hunting and self defense. I do tend to save my reloads for "important" shooting needs. Still the Tula or Wolf ammo does shoot straight, reliable and cheap to blast away.