At what price - stop buying/start reloading 9mm?
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right winger
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I’ve been reloading 9mm for over a decade. You have many more options in bullet choice then you can buy and I’m never out of ammo. My cost is around 7-8 cents per bullet. 3 cents per primer and 1400 rds per pound of powder. It’s cheap, accurate, and always have ammo to shoot. Maybe $8 box my cost.
SQLGeek
Member
That's what I did. I shoot it enough, I figured I was due to reload it eventually. I ended up with a big pile of it over a few years and I'm just now getting into reloading for it. Glad to not be scrounging the brass now.
There's no reason to save your brass. Just leave those gold nuggets on the ground for those who need them
Seriously, you're leaving the most expensive part of the cartridge laying on the ground so others can pick them up.
Toprudder
Member
I just wish the revolver guys would throw their 44mag cases on the ground like everyone else.There's no reason to save your brass. Just leave those gold nuggets on the ground for those who need them
Seriously, you're leaving the most expensive part of the cartridge laying on the ground so others can pick them up.
I just wish the revolver guys would throw their 44mag cases on the ground like everyone else.
I had 37 44 Mag/Special cases in the range brass I sorted today. About double that of 38/357. No 45 Colt this time though.
mstreddy
Member
The indoor range I shoot at doesn't have a lot of reloaders using it. So, I could pick up plenty of 38 Spcl and 357 Mag, and even 9MM if I wanted to. 44 Mag or Spcl, yes I'll pick it up. 32 ACP, I'll dive for!
Paul R Zartman
Contributing Member
There's guy's out there still shooting 9mm, let me help you change your ways...
splattergun
Member
Cost is irrelevant. I reload 9mm to customize my loads and please myself. It just happens to cost less than factory junk.
TTv2
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That stuff is pretty rare to find, but I did see a few dozen .44 SPL cases in the bucket at the range earlier this week. It's a lot easier to come by .38 and .357 brass, which is a reason why I decided to start loading for those.I just wish the revolver guys would throw their 44mag cases on the ground like everyone else.
I literally break out in a song and dance when I see 10mm brass, which I have oddly been finding the past couple weeks. Have about 250 cases now, all free
.455_Hunter
Member
I bought brass case 115 gr 9mm (Blazer Brass) for $11.87 per box of 50 this evening at Sportsman's Warehouse. I work full time and have a wife / 2 kids. I am not reloading 9mm to save a few bucks.
I dont buy and only reload 9mm, but not because it's less or more expensive than store bought. I don't even own a gun chambered in 9mm . I do have three sons that have guns chambered in 9mm and reloading it is something we get to do together and try to develop the best loads for their guns. I've been through enough of these "scares" where amunition is hard to come by to have learned to stock up on reloading components when the political winds create an ammo panic. Since we have our own range here on the ranch, our friends sometimes come out to shoot with us and we all pick up the brass. Most of it is 9mm so I have enough prepped for now to keep the boys guns happy. Besides, using my single stage press keeps me so busy I cant get into any trouble anywhere else . So, I guess the price of 9mm doesn't matter to me right now and I would reload it regardless - unless things were to change dramatically.
We don't shoot as much as some though either, as my boys all have jobs and so do I (for now).
. I do have three sons that have guns chambered in 9mm and reloading it is something we get to do together and try to develop the best loads for their guns. I've been through enough of these "scares" where amunition is hard to come by to have learned to stock up on reloading components when the political winds create an ammo panic. Since we have our own range here on the ranch, our friends sometimes come out to shoot with us and we all pick up the brass. Most of it is 9mm so I have enough prepped for now to keep the boys guns happy. Besides, using my single stage press keeps me so busy I cant get into any trouble anywhere else . So, I guess the price of 9mm doesn't matter to me right now and I would reload it regardless - unless things were to change dramatically.We don't shoot as much as some though either, as my boys all have jobs and so do I (for now).
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Toprudder
Member
LOL. I feel the same way about 10mm brass. I usually start picking up brass after I am finished shooting. If I find a 10mm case, I spend twice as much time looking for more.That stuff is pretty rare to find, but I did see a few dozen .44 SPL cases in the bucket at the range earlier this week. It's a lot easier to come by .38 and .357 brass, which is a reason why I decided to start loading for those.
I literally break out in a song and dance when I see 10mm brass, which I have oddly been finding the past couple weeks. Have about 250 cases now, all free
I have joked in the past about picking up brass for calibers I don't shoot, and then buying a gun in that caliber once I get enough brass for it. Sounds funny, but seriously, being able to find free brass at the range in a given caliber means that brass will likely be available for it in the future. I bought a Desert Eagle once I found enough 50AE brass to fill two mags.
Obviously, I have a low threshold for justification.
I have joked in the past about picking up brass for calibers I don't shoot, and then buying a gun in that caliber once I get enough brass for it. Sounds funny, but seriously, being able to find free brass at the range in a given caliber means that brass will likely be available for it in the future. I bought a Desert Eagle once I found enough 50AE brass to fill two mags.
And that's how I got my first 1911. Use to shoot at small rural range every Monday morning about 8am. Evidently some federal agent would practice with a box of .45 and leave the brass and box neatly stacked on the bench on Sunday nights. After I got 500 rounds I load up 50 than announced to the wife I NEEDED a 1911 in order to shoot the ammo.
My threshold is a little higher than yours. Or maybe my pocketbook a little smaller.
mstreddy
Member
You know, I'm sort of in the same boat, I had accumulated a fair bit of 44 Mag and Special brass. Just because it was laying there or someone would give it to me. Funny enough, I have no interest in 44 Mag revolvers as I have small hands and the times I've shot one it has not been enjoyable. But, a nagging voice kept telling me "a 44 Mag lever rifle would be nice". Even got some dies really cheap ($10). And in an estate sale where I picked up 14 or 15 moulds, there were two or three 44 cals. I guess the reloading gods were telling me -- do this! Finally picked up a Marlin in 44 Mag, and of course, another mould, and wouldn't you know it my range/LGS had a good deal on a used Desert Eagle in 44 Mag! I already own the 357 and the 44 was decent to shoot. So, now I have a 44 handgun and rifle.
Similarly, in that same estate sale, there were 200 or so pieces of brand new 32 S&W Long brass, 2 boxes of commercial cast bullets, 500 or so home cast and a couple of moulds. So, fast forward, and I now have not one, but two 32 S&W Long revolvers, a Colt and a Smith.
It's a disease, I tell you!
Toprudder
Member
Not anymore.
Hondo 60
Member
I've spoiled myself with the accuracy of my own reloads.
So unless it's less than $5 a box I won't buy it
So unless it's less than $5 a box I won't buy it
caz223
Member
I used to buy the aluminum cased stuff, until I had several case ruptures.
When I started loading my own, the accuracy was much better, the cost was less, the quality is better, and I now have more on hand.
Case in point, I have 3k 9mm on hand, and components to make 5k more. That's my new normal.
Having a ton of ammo on hand is not the point. But being out sucks. That's the point.
Also, being low, and not being able to get more without paying too much also sucks.
Having enough components on hand seems to be the antidote to being out of ammo.
When I started loading my own, the accuracy was much better, the cost was less, the quality is better, and I now have more on hand.
Case in point, I have 3k 9mm on hand, and components to make 5k more. That's my new normal.
Having a ton of ammo on hand is not the point. But being out sucks. That's the point.
Also, being low, and not being able to get more without paying too much also sucks.
Having enough components on hand seems to be the antidote to being out of ammo.
TTv2
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Yeah, something about .50 AE does that. I found one case and took it home, marveling at the size of it thinking maybe I should... nope, $1500 is too much for a Desert Eagle.LOL. I feel the same way about 10mm brass. I usually start picking up brass after I am finished shooting. If I find a 10mm case, I spend twice as much time looking for more.
I have joked in the past about picking up brass for calibers I don't shoot, and then buying a gun in that caliber once I get enough brass for it. Sounds funny, but seriously, being able to find free brass at the range in a given caliber means that brass will likely be available for it in the future. I bought a Desert Eagle once I found enough 50AE brass to fill two mags.
I swore years ago .50 caliber handguns aren't worth it and they're not; no real practical use, brass is rare and expensive, bullets cost 2 to 3 times what a .45 bullet does.
The only stuff I decided to start loading for, largely because of free range brass, that I originally wasn't going to is .38/.357 and .45 ACP, but I already had guns in those calibers, so I didn't buy a gun just because I had access to brass. In the future the only caliber I might buy a gun for because of brass would be something like .45-70. Zero chance of that happening tho, the rifle shooters at my range are only interested in bottleneck cases or WW2 milsurps.
gifbohane
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Found a steel round at the range yesterday. Did not see a headstamp. Took it apart this morning. Looked nasty. Powder was brown, powdery and not much of it. The bullet was gouged I guess by the loading process. I could not deprime it. I was afraid to lean on the press handle to deprime it, so I tossed it as is.
Toprudder
Member
Yep, $1500 was too much for me to swallow. It took a while, but I ended up finding a good deal on a used one with almost no use on it, and also bought a 429 barrel to go with it, for that price.
Hondo 60
Member
Most, if not all steel case I have seen, are berdan primer types.
Thinking about it now, I remember some Tulammo in 40 S&W that was boxer.
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I reload everything I shoot except .22LR. Being retired has its advantages.
My current cost is .13 per round for 9mm. I have not seen prices that low on commercial ammo in forever. Yes, it takes a while loading on an LCT but not terribly long--I can load 100 cases in about 30 minutes. Accuracy is really good and recoil is low for what I shoot. No complaints here!
Keep a watchful eye out for CCI/Federal doing another rebate after the election, depending on the outcome of same. I got 2500 rounds of CCI 5200 115gr for $0.13/rnd after mail-in rebate.
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