Bullet use now that we reload

A hidden cost of reloading, that I did not anticipate, is some of the guns I own now would not have been purchased if I didn't reload.

Walkalong said:

Then you are more disciplined than most.

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Of course I shoot more because the cost is so much cheaper that the more I shoot the more I save.

The only difference now is I'm more cautious with my ammo.

I used to do mag dumps for fun, and just shoot at junk, because I could.

Now that I reload, I'm pretty stingy. I don't like to just waste ammo in anything. 90%of the time, it's on paper, measuring accuracy.

I think that's because I only have a single stage, and don't get to reload as often as I'd like.

I always like to have a good quantity of ammo on hand just in case.

buck460XVR said:

I was at my LGS yesterday and actually saw bulk factory 9mm 50 round boxes of ammo for less than what they were asking for some .22LR they had sitting next to it. At $.17 a round, I don't know if I'd even bother to cast and reload my own.

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Using my cast bullets, I can reload 9mm for $.05 a round. I'd say that's worthwhile.

Don

Now that we reload? Do you have a tapeworm, are you an editor, or are you a reigning monarch? I've been reloading since 1972. I save money on plinking/ball ammo in some calibers, and produce high quality hunting ammo for a lot less than factory.

Reloading odd ball or large calibers has always been cheaper than buying factory ammo.

Getting set up to reload has always been expensive. But once you've got it together after a few hundred rounds it starts pay off.

Casting your own slugs it the way to go. I can now powder coat bullets also. I recently bought "BC Snipers" .40 cal swage dies that use 9mm casting to form a bullet. As I cleaned up 9mm brass from a Police range for years, I have saved several 5 gallon buckets of brass for free. My local reloading shop has lead ingots (30#) for $1 a pound. The cost to make .40 cal/10mm slugs is very cheap. My plan is to make about 50k of all the calibers I shoot then sell off the equipment. The real savings is when you cast for larger caliber rounds like .41 mag,44 mag, 45 lc, and 45-70 etc. I enjoy the time I spend casting and seeing how my bullets look every bit as good store bought at a fraction of the cost. The start up cost my be prohibitive to some but shop around for used equipment. My old "Ohio Thermal" melting pot recently took a dump. I found a like new Saeco pot at the LGS for $30!!!!. I took apart the Saeco pot to find the off/on switch had burned out (about 30+ years old) replaced for $5. I now have two great pots to work with. Deals are out there for savings, just need to keep at it. Good luck and be safe.

Bartojc said:

My problem isn't so much keeping up, it's finding someone to shoot with. Out of my shooting friend group I am the only one that reloads. When we go shooting they end up metering their shooting based on their ammo supply and cost. I can shoot at least twice as much as they can for the same cost so I always seem to have plenty of ammo.

So it's all true. No cost savings, but lots more shooting, or better ammo for the cost.

-Jeff

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On the plus side, you can collect your friends' empty brass since they don't reload.

I pay $0.70 a lb for scrap lead. For wheel weights I've been averaging $0.30 a lb. I've got about 500 lbs that need to be sorted right now. Also I've got around 600 lbs that are mine, I just need to pick them up after I heal up, two surgeries in 11 days this month kind of put a crimp in my activities. I buy pewter for the tin. Average price there is under $4 a lb.

Wheel weight availability will vary depending on where you live. In several states it's going to be VERY low due to laws eliminating the use of lead weights. Also all new vehicles come with non-lead weights.

One can always find lead for sale over at the Cast Boolits forum. In a pinch you can buy from Rotometals. If you're really serious you can go foundry direct, buy a ton at a time of whatever alloy you want.

Now---if you REALLY want to save money (sarcasm) learn to cast your own bullets!!!!

It is more than just the money aspect. You have more consistent loads, it's harder to do with factory ammo, different brands are different. My wife likes to shoot my 44mag, but because I load up light 44spl for her, has less recoil than a 22lr. Fun for her to shoot. Factory 44spl have too much recoil, though I found Space Coast Bullets to load up nice soft rounds for the 44spl. I load light 9mm for my derringer, so it's fun to shoot. Heavier loaded 9mm are a little snappy for that little gun. I load up two different loads for my 44mag, one a moderate load, shoot 24 rounds, then a heavier load of 24 rounds. The last gives the big boom, but not has hard as full house 44mag. I use different loads for my 357 snubby and my 357 SA. Reloading - You get to shoot more rounds, of loads customized for you.

Reloading is my hobby and I've been reloading and casting for almost 40 years,it's what I do in my free time for relaxation after work or when I'm not doing things in or around the house. People say you don't save money reloading but you shoot more,well if all your doing is just shooting up more ammo at the same cost as factory and your having to handload it to boot whats the point unless you just enjoy the process.

The who idea behind reloading is to produce your own ammo for a given purpose and velocity range using whatever components of your own choosing that is tailored to your individual firearm that is more accurate and cheaper to produce. Other than an occasional bullet mold I buy myself or a set of dies for a new caliber I reload for I've pretty much use the same equipment I started out with in my late teens,I have bought or traded for new pieces of equipment or small tools on occasion as I ware it out but nothing expensive and it's paid for itself long ago so I have not real cost as far as reloading or casting equipment goes except anything new I purchase.

All my brass is once fired the majority of it was all free just by picking it up at the public range I used to shoot at years ago,I have a lifetime supply of all my pistol an some rifle calibers. I make all my 9 x 18 Mak. brass for once fired 9mm and convert .308 Win. and 7.62 NATO to 300 Sav. The only brass I've had to buy is 7.62 x 39 & 54r I lucked up years ago and got 1K pieces of new IMI X39 brass for Wideners Reloading for 10 cent each along with 1K of bulk Hornady 123 gr. SP for $79 but I hardly ever shoot those bullets. With the 54r at first I Mexican Matched a bunch of Bulgarian surplus brass case ammo with 150 gr. Speer Hot Core bullet to make hunting ammo a friend gave me from his 303 British days as the only hunting ammo was made by Norma at about a buck per rds. and no reloadable brass was available in my parts at the time. Later on I was able to purchase several hundred pieces of once fired 54r PPU & Win. brass for the local gun range out of the scrap brass barrel for 10 cent a pop,I have around 700 pieces of 54r brass at the moment.

Mexican Matched surplus ammo.


Although I have jacketed or plated bullets that I bought in bulk on the cheap many years ago I haven't shot any of those in years. I shoot cast lead bullets I cast myself in ever handgun and rifle I own in all action types and use them for plinking,target shooting as well as small and big game hunting. For all intensive purposes I can't think of a good reason I have to use a jacketed bullet unless I just have nothing else left. All my lead I've cast with over the years has been free with the exception of a 100 lb. roll of roofing lead I paid $30 for and about 50 lbs. of Monotype a guy offered me on another forum if I just paid the shipping cost,I also recover as much lead from the shooting berm that I an my friends shoot into it as I can. Lead for casting and all my shooting needs want be a problem for many years to come at the most if I use a gas check on my bullets they cost me about 2.5 cents each otherwise it just electricity to run the pot.

Depending on the mold a Lee mold pays for itself after about 100+ bullets while the NOE molds take about 500+ bullets cast depending on the mold style and number of cavities to pay for themselves compared to the cost of of an equal number of commercial cast or jacketed bullets. I own about 20 different rifle and pistol molds which are a mix of Lee,NOE,Accurate and Lyman/Ideal. Many of the molds produce bullets that can be used in multiple calibers just by sizing accordingly.

Back in the early spring of this year I spent a few hours melting down several 5 gal. buckets of wheel weights and a nice batch of range scrap,when finished I had enough alloy to make about 11K bullets with an average weight or 158 gr. some will be less some will be slightly more weight wise.


I can reload my plinking,target or hunting ammo for my purposes much cheaper than I can buy it an shoot what I want,when I want and how much I want regardless of market forces or political winds. Below is the cost projection for my 54r general purpose ammo using a 160 gr. gas checked cast lead bullet with once fired brass,the cost is pretty much the same for 7.62 x 39 using the same bullet and powder as well. The cost does go up slightly if I produce cast lead hunting loads for the 54r due to powder type but it's only about 50 cent per 20 rds. as well as using a 215 gr. FN bullet.

Now if you really want to save money, sell your guns and take up more sedate hobby. This is the only hobby I've heard of that so many that do it are money driven. When I was albacore fishing, when I hauled in 30 pounder, nobody asked me how much it cost to get that fish...

I like reloading, not for $$$ savings, but because I like assembling my components to make ammo, customized for a particular gun or just plinking fodder. I enjoy the researching loads, I enjoy preparing brass, I enjoy casting and loading bullets, I enjoy shooting and recording my ammo and scrutinizing the results. I have no idea how much it costs and I don't care...

I spend about the same amount of money as most of the non reloaders do. However I end up with 2X to 3X as much ammo as they do. On a range trip they will shoot until they run out of ammo, I shoot until I’m tired of shooting and still have ammo to take home.
I have enough components to reload at least 30K rounds. If ammo becomes scarce or unavailable I can go on shooting, they stay home.