Pays less and less to reload

[ra]

I will say that I am pretty much out of the loop with component prices, but I didn't know how much. I started laying in bullets, brass, powder, and primers in around 2000. I have not bought much except 22 rimfire ammo, primers and some powder in the last several years.
Today my wife and I went to Walmart and I was wandering around and wound up at the ammo case. I never buy factory ammo but when I seen Winchester white box 45 ACP for 36.97 a hundred I bought a box because I knew I could not reload it for that price if I bought new brass.
When I got home I went online to Midway and W-W 45 ACP brass was $26 a hundred, 230 gr. W-W FMJ bullets were $22 a hundred. Figure $3.50 for 100 primers and $2.00 for powder and the components would cost $53.50 plus tax. Even if you had fired brass it would cost $27.5 plus tax to load 100 rounds.
If you are a new shooter starting out today unless you do a lot of shooting or you cast your own bullets there is not much cost savings to reloading.

Roger

 

[Olsherm]

Try buying a box of good 45 colt ammo or a box of 44/40 or 38/40 or 38/55'a and you will probably "sing a different tune".JMHO
However I agree if you don't cast your own lead bullets or buy the lower priced commercial lead bullets then you might be close to correct.I just cast over 5000 for myself so that will keep me shooting for a while.I still have almost 200 lbs of pure lead yet .I have been shooting some pure lead slugs in my guns with good success with mild loads.

 

[williamc]

I bought my reloading gear to reload .44 special. It'll pay for itself in the first 1000 rounds.

I don't have plans to reload 9mm or 5.56 NATO, though. Milsurp ammo is super cheap.

William

 

[anachronism]

So you buy all the components new, and then assemble the ammo. You are correct, you cannot assemble plinking grade ammo in such a manner & save money. Most guys reload their original cases, and make a sport of finding deals on components, and buying what they can, when they can. Done in this manner, you can save some serious money. Bullet casting makes it even cheaper, although there is an initial equipment expense involved, and new skills to be learned.

 

[J.Johnson]

I started reloading a little over a year ago because I needed hunting quality 45 colt ammo. I didn't want to pay the buffalo bore price for something I could reload myself. However for plinking type loads in say 9mm, it can be hard to compete with bulk store ammo.

 

[volshooter]

I shoot way to many rounds to buy factory. I cast and buy projectiles. For me I can get a better shooting round by reloading. I also enjoy reloading. A couple of weeks ago my son shot some factory .357 ammo and two of my reloades ammo. The reloads preformed better groups. I want accuracy and have spent many years developing rounds for each firearm that produces the best group. After all, hitting what you aim at is the goal.

Getting started reloading is expensive, now. I got all my stuff 20+ years ago. However I get better groups with my firearms than using factory, but I'm in to it. When I started reloading I was only paying $4 per box of .44mag.

 

[mattsbox99]

I gotta agree with DixieBoy, ra you can spin it up any way you like but a little common sense goes a long ways around these parts and there is no way I can buy any factory centerfire ammunition cheaper than I can make it myself. Even when I started loading my 6.5 Creedmoor and bought new brass I was still saving $.50 per box of 20, reusing the brass on that alone saves me $14 a box of 20, which takes my net cost down to around $8/20 with premium match bullets.

 

[mike7mm08]

There is nothing I load that can be bought for even close to the same price. Best part is when I need something all I got to do is walk downstairs. No running around to a bunch of stores looking for what I want. Only thing that occasionally comes close to reload prices is 9mm. Maybe a buck or two more a box. But that would be starting with new brass.

Too many people figure the new brass cost when pricing out handloads. If you break down the cost of brass over multiple loadings you will quickly see the light of the possible cost savings.

The last ammo I priced out was some 38 special I loaded for a friend. Loaded ammo was around 16 17 bucks a box of fifty for something comparable to my handloads.

Priced it figuring bullets powder primer and new cases. Get around 12 bucks a box. Brass being around half that. Well considering I have 38 special brass that is on ten plus loadings and still going strong that takes the brass cost down to around 60 cents or less. So my handloads cost about 6.50 to 7 bucks a box opposed to 17. Want to tell me how I am not saving money????

 

[opos]

45 Colt...50 rounds of commercial loads about $35 to $40 per box of 50 for nothing special. Just bought 1000 new Starline cases a guy wanted to dump for $130. Trail Boss powder cost for 6-7 grains is about a nickle...the Missouri Cowboy #4 soft lead 200 grain boolit is about 6 cents and a primer is under a penny....so my cost of a custom loaded round is about 24 cents if I buy everything....compared with 70 or 80 cents each for factory...in addition I will get multiple loads out of the new brass I bought, If I buy in larger quantities on projectiles (or cast my own) the price drops a bunch and using a powder like Unique cuts costs even more....I think it's well within reason to load 45 Colt for about 10 bucks a box of 50 vs $35-40 a box.

Beyond that I enjoy reloading...sort of like ocean fishing... I can go to the fish market and buy most any ocean fish for a heck of a lot less than I can go spend the day chasing them around with fuel at $5 a gallon, etc...but what would I do with my time? Watch Pawn Stars?

 

[XP100]

opos,
Where are you gettng primers for under a penny each? I want some.

 

[mr surveyor]

opos,
Where are you gettng primers for under a penny each? I want some.

ditto

 

[opos]

It's a secret...can't slip anything past you guys....ok, I'm using match heads and a scratch block...My error....I pay $25-$30 per thousand just like everyone else....too early in the morning...hardest part of things this morning was figuring cost of powder as a "1# bottle" of Trail Boss is only 9 ounces so had to re figure everything in my head....got all confused and gave out my secret primer prices...2 1/2 to 3 cents....not a penny...but with my light loads I can get way more than 10 loadings out of the brass so that makes up for it....or something like that.

 

[ra]

I never said that you could not reload a box of shells cheaper than you can buy factory. I started reloading in 1973 and at that time you could reload for probability 20% of factory. I am saying that with component prices and the cost of equipment that unless you shot a lot or cast your own bullets there may not be as must savings as you think. I know that there are people here who shoot tens of thousands of rounds a year, but the majority of gun owners shoot a couple of hundred a year, if that. There are many guns that people have had for years and they still have the first box of cartridges they bought for it with only a couple of rounds shot.
I agree that reloading is a great hobby, and that itself is enough reason to reload. But I have to figure in my cost of equipment, Dillon 550 with 6 conversion kits, dozen die sets, RCBS Jr. press, scale, tumbler, Uniflow measure, case trimmer and pilots, calipers, outside neck trimmer and all the small stuff, load blocks, funnels, primer pocket cleaners, etc. If you shoot a lot your equipment cost per round is almost zero, if you don't shoot a lot it adds to your per round cost.
I guess I am rembering a time years ago when there was a vast difference between reloading and factory. Back then there was not a lot of factory ammo to pick from, each caliber you had 2 or 3 bullet weights to choose. Now there are factory loads in several weights and bullet styles, and the factory loads now are very good. In the 1970's I could load for my 270 with Sierra or Hornady bullets and get better groups than factory R-P or W-W ammo, now factory ammo is very accurate.
I am not knocking reloading, as I said I have been loading for almost 40 years and enjoy it. And I also have a good stash of ammo loaded and enough bullets on hand to last me the rest of my life.

Roger

 

[opos]

I began reloading back in Colorado in the 50's....quit in the 70's and have been loading off and on for a few years now. What I did was to go the "cheap" route and sort of back to basics for my loading these days....I'm older, retired, absolutly in no hurry for anything and so my reloading equipment list is really low end and not costly.

I do my loading with a Lee Breech lock hand press (the nutcracker)....it's just fine for 38, 357, 44 special and 45 Colt...probably not the ideal thing for a 50 cal but works for me.

I have Lee 4 die carbide die sets.

I wash all my cases like I did 50 years ago and that works for me so no tumbler mess.

I have an RCBS scale and trickler along with a bunch of Lee dippers....I dip the powder, trickle it to load weight and load it and insert the bullet.

I use the $13 Lee primer unit that will handle either large or small primers in the "nutcracker" "press".

I have 3 loading manuals plus assorted stuff like funnels, home made loading blocks, etc etc.

My "investment" in loading equipment is almost embarassing but it works and again, I'm in no hurry....if I had some smoking progressive load equipment I'd just hurt myself...I'm the old guy in the fast lane in the big old Suburban with the left blinker going for miles and miles.

We all find our niche and cheap and slow is mine...but I'll put my home mades up next to most and see how they run.

I load because I like to load....the big "other benefit" is that I can either shoot one heck of a lot more for the same net cost or I can shoot the same amount for much less cash...win / win.

 

[Ruber]

I get what you are saying, but also don't think it's quite that bad. Last box of Win white box ammo was the last I'll ever buy. Brass was not W-W brass, bullets were inconsistent in shape, two cartridges had bullets seated such that they crushed the case wall, one primer was seated sideways, not a fair comparison to the more premium components found at Midway.

On the other hand, Midway isn't that cheap either. Our local gun store has WLP primers for $18 per 1000 and good sales on powder too, much cheaper than I can order through Midway as long as I stick with 231, blue dot, 748 and the like. They also sell generic round nose for around $10-12 per 100. That would get you a load much closer to the white box ammo.

With a little help from an experienced friend, a new shooter loading batches of 100 can still come away with a good cost savings, and have much better ammo too!

 

[ra]

I don't know if this is W-W white box or not, it was a 100 round bulk pac of 230 gr. hardball. All the cases were Winchester, I am pretty sure the primers, powder and bullets are Winchester too. I put them in a 100 round ammo box and they were all flawless. I shot a few mags this morning and they worked great.
I buy all my powder and primers local, jacketed bullets online, and cast bullets from small casters. I bought a lot of cast bullets from a gentleman on another forum, he had good bullets at a fair price, but he had to quit for health reasons.
I wish I could buy primers for $18 a thousand, they haven't been that price here for years. Lots of shops are usually out of some sizes or brands, they sell for $32-$36 a thousand.

Roger

 

[volshooter]

Primers here run $29/1000. 9mm FMJ run $11/15 per 100. I shoot mostly cast. I spent $29 for 500 9mm cast.

IHonestly, I just love to reload. Just today I loaded 300 9mm and 100 .380, just for fun. My biggest saving is with the .44mag and .45 LC. It is very satisying that every hit is with a hand rolled round. So far the only one I do not reload for is the .223. I can get 1000 rounds of Wolf for $225, not worth the effort to reload.

I started reloading to get better performance. My first was the 30-30. I found/developed a load with a spire point 110gr loaded one at a time. Crows at 150 yards fell as well as deer close to 200 Yards. Very accurate and deadly.

That is why I got into reloading, I knew I could get better ammo. Nowadays the factories can produce better than I can. BUT, when I harvest, it is with MY handrolled cartrige. That makes it special.

 

[Jimbo357mag]

The price of ammo has gone WAY up and the cost of reloading supplies also but I think the average savings has remained about the same. That is; if you are careful you can make your own custom ammo for about one third of what it costs for factory made ammo depending on caliber.

 

[Olsherm]

I have a lot of 45 colt brass that I have loaded from 20 to 25 times and I am still using them over and over.However I only shoot mild to factory velocities.

 

[Ruber]

I don't know if this is W-W white box or not, it was a 100 round bulk pac of 230 gr. hardball. All the cases were Winchester, I am pretty sure the primers, powder and bullets are Winchester too. I put them in a 100 round ammo box and they were all flawless. I shot a few mags this morning and they worked great....

Ya, just looked at them on line. Different that what I had shot, mine were foreign made and these definitely have 'Made in the USA' stamped on them, and the price is much higher too. I'll have to try them out, I've been turning away from them for a while now, looks like they got the clue.

A local shop around here runs one day specials middle of the week and those primers come up for any where between $1.79 to $2.58 per 100. Normally they are stocked at $3.28, but when that e-mail alert comes out, they get me in the shop.

Thanks for the info on the Win ammo, I'll give it a run through.