Why the disbelief?

Dibbs said:

.. and if you shoot this much, saving money is almost a moot point, wouldn't you say? Because you're
still going to spend a ton of money on bullets, anyways. It's 500 instead of 275, sure, but there's still a
considerable amount spent.

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No it's kinda like this I would rather spend 120 bucks a month on my shooting instead of 250 bucks a month.

The best I can do is a nickle (.046) for all pistol cartridges. I'm not a fan of S&B primers so I stick with WLP and CCI 500 at .03. My 45 auto cost as follows: powder is .014 on average (4.5 gr. of WST) and the lube is .002 per bullet. I do 38 spl for a 1/10th cent less and 32 auto for 2/10th less.
Heck, my standard 357 blasting load of 1,205 fps with a 1:3 lino to range scrap alloy is .095, which saves me ~81% off factory fodder. If I had more money than time it wouldn't make sense, but I've never had that problem.

sota said:

The one factor people neglect a lot is time. My time is more valuable than the cost of ammo.

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The cost of time all depends on how one values it. Leisure time, whether expended reloading or watching a football game on TV or playing a round of golf is just that, leisure time. Generally it is of no value except for providing a relaxing time to recharge one's "batteries".

If reloading is a distasteful task to the individual and he has to justify the value of the time, maybe reloading is not a useful avocation for the person. Just buy one's ammunition and be happy.

An individual cannot hand load ammunition as cheap as factory if labor is included in the equation. One cannot load enough ammunition fast enough to get the labor costs any where near where the manufacturers have their labor costs.

Only the individual can determine what is the best ammunition value for himself. It is great we have options to buy ammunition, reload our ammunition, or cast our own bullets and reload our own ammunition.

Do what works for you and be happy. I'll do what works for me and I'm pleased as punch.

P.S. I race road race sports cars. It is a good way to turn a large fortune into a small fortune and there is not one dollar awarded for prize money--its called amateur racing. Talk about time spent to earn nothing.

I would argue that my leisure time is the most valuable; I spend the majority of my time awake, doing things so that I can "afford" to have leisure time. By using that argument, to quantify the value of my leisure time I'd have to say it's at least a 10:1 ratio of work to leisure, which would mean my leisure time is worth well over $1000/hour.

To be clear, i'm not arguing for anyone or everyone to give up reloading; on the on contrary I encourage people to do what they want and enjoy. It's important though to understand the "opportunity costs" involved in all aspects of life and activity.

Tilos said:

I asked a local gun shop owner why he didn't stock/sell anything related to reloading.
His answer: "Reloaders are the cheapest bastages in the gun/shooting/hunting sports and will scrounge the world, wasting time and money to save a penny, and rarely buy anything."
Not my words, his …

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I’d venture to says he’s screwed himself out of lots of money. In general guys who reload buy lots of guns. I don’t frequent but one gun shop that doesn’t sell reloading stuff. I’ll buy reloading components every time I walk in if the price is right guaranteed, that business comes with several transfers and new purchases a year.

jmorris said:

Reloading is actually one of the less expensive things I like to do, so time spent doing that is often keeping me from spending more money somewhere else

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EGGGGZACKTLY!!!!!

Assuming my equipment is amortized, I am loading .45 ACP for less than $194/1000, which would be two hour's work at half my Dillon's advertised rate.
Cheapest thing at Target Sports today is $260.
So I would be working for $33 an hour.

Can I earn that at will?

The value of time added to the cost of reloaded ammunition is always at the center of these discussions and will never be resolved. Folks value their time differently.

One final note from me. When I was younger, to help with our budget's cash flow, I'd do lots of less than pleasant repairs and maintenance around the house and cars because my out of pocket cash flow was less than hiring someone to do the work. In many cases, hiring someone to do the work would have completed the jobs in less time than I would have spent but the out of pocket costs would have been higher (labor, material mark-up, etc).

In other words, I had the time but not the cash.

These days, cash flow is not as critical as in times past and I can select what I want to do myself or fix with my check book.

Shortly after we got married, to make life simpler and more cordial about our hobbies, I made an agreement with my wife - She gets to spend twice what I spend on my hobbies with no questions asked.

Well, several years ago, I went on a gun/shooting accessories buying spree for Christmas and spent over $7,000. My wife didn't question what guns I bought but proceeded to spend over $15,000 for Christmas.

Last year was a great year for shooting/reloading component purchase as prices were lowest in recent years/decades, especially Black Friday sales. I spent close to $10,000 stocking up for approaching retirement years buying components/guns/shooting accessories ... Yup you got it. Wife is STILL smiling.