Cheaper to buy Factory Ammo??

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Well hopefully there are more people reloading 9mm with components they bought a few years back. Like when primers were $30 a brick. RMR fmj was $76.00 per 1k. Powder was $15-25 a lb. I don't know what new 9mm brass cost, as I've always used old brass.

To load it now, at today's prices of components? Yeah it's probably not worth it. But if you bought your components, just 2 years ago, you would be way ahead of the game.
 
I was going to start reloading 9mm this winter but may save the SPP for 38/357 since I'll be saving more than I will loading 9mm. Have to keep an eye on prices. Plus I've still got a few thousand Remington and Federal 9mm 115 FMJ from Walmart closeout. Just before Walmart donated all the ammo they didn't sell to the police depts I was getting 9mm FMJ & 38spl FMJ for .05/round.
 
OP needs to show his math. Is it per 100 , 500 or 1,000?? What is the price per round?
Need to study accounting, economics.

Reloading is supposed to be reloading the used brass, not new brass,

Reloading is also not just 9mm and 223/5.56. Calculated some of high priced rounds like 10mm, 45 acp 357 mag etc.

Can't compare todays prices of ammo and components

Before Biden, Before Covid. Things were reasonable. The time to buy components was then, heck before Obummer even.

Back when things were reasonable, sure it was cheaper and less trouble to buy factory 8mm and 5.56. So then was the time to buy not now!

Also need to amortize the cost of all the high priced presses, top of the line bullet and case feeders. calipers, scales, dies, die plates, case plates, trimming machines. tumbling machines etc etc. Even bullet casters think there bullets are free but unless they stocked up on free lead still have the cost of molds and equipment,

Labor and time is never calculated because it's a HOBBY!:)
 
twarr1 said:
@Highland Lofts , your photo shows polymer tip 223 for $1.40/rn. Which is my point. The cost of the case (plus prep), powder and primer are the same whether you top it with a 15¢ FMJ or a 25¢ HP, SP, Polymer tip, etc.
Use the FMJ and you end up with a 50¢ round
Use the not-FMJ bullet, end up with a $1.50 round.
Click to expand...

My 223 isn't 50 cents a round to reload. The FMJ bullets are 12 cents apiece, primers are 4 cents a piece. Powder $30 a pound.
I'm not paying $1.50 for any 223 round just for my grandson to throw them at targets at the pit.
If I were to use 223 for hunting I'd buy a hundred projectiles the proper size & design for the task at hand.

We will be heading to the pits here shortly for him to get some trigger time it.
I'm sure there will be more 223 brass on the ground for us to pick up.
Brass is either free or really reasonably priced when I buy it so brass cost is insignificant to me.
It would be nice if things would get back to normal for everyone.
But that will not happen anytime soon.
I have a good inventory of supplies and cut back on what we use to make it last longer.
A friend just bought 69,000 small rifle primers for $125 a thousand.
He has enough to last him his lifetime.
 
Admittedly I got caught out this time around primer wise. I was able to find an auction at an old friends Auction Company. Paid up $75 per K for 5K LP and 2K SR. Still short of SP down to less than 500. However, I have always been a buy it cheap and stack it deep kinda guy. I just now used up my last few hundred lead .44 429421’s that I bought 10K of for $10 per K or in other words a penny a piece. Brass some is new, some I have used going on 10X with no signs of problems. Benefits of loading target level loads. Powder still paid less usual price recently for a few pounds of Unique, a bit more for Win 244 with shipping added. New bullets are becoming more and more available and prices are not that bad. So in my situation I am probably into a 50 round box of .44 Special and .45 ACP for around 6-8 bucks depending on load and bullet choice. Cannot even come close to that even at older prices. .38/.357 a bit less. Like others said I have not loaded 9mm or 5.56 for a long time. I instead bought a fair amount when it was cheap. So even if I were to find SP primers at the current prices I would still be in the green. When $10 a box ammo comes back if it ever does I will buy it cheap, shoot it, use the brass for when prices rise again.

That being said reloading is one of the few hobbies I have that does pay for itself. I would not want to be a new loader that I can say, it would take a long time to recoup any savings. But, if you jump when it’s cheap you can defer trends like this somewhat. Purely my fault I got caught out on the primers.
 
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When folks start talking about costs of reloading vs factory ammo (factory ammo? Whaz dat? Some new and improved TP?) my eyes glaze over and I get sleepy. Beside my computer is an ammo box I with 15 handloads; Scrounged 357 nickel brass. CCI SPM primers I purchased in '99, a medium charge of WC 820 I bought in '90 and topped off with a 125 gr XTP.I bought 15 months ago. I ain't gonna even try to figger a cost per round of that! have been reloading for many years and while I'm not wasteful, I don't even consider what my components cost. IF I did think about trying to determine my handload costs I'd have to do one heck of a lot of historic research. How much did the powder I bought in 2020 cost? What components did I get for free? How many were on sale? (I scrounged wheel weights from work so how much do my home cast bullets cost?). With all the "reloads vs factory" threads I'm seeing, I'm beginning to reloading is just a money thing, with a shooter thinking every time they pull the trigger "How much did that shot cost?".. I would have to be a CPA to figger what my handloads cost, but I don't give a rat's patooty what they cost. I reload because I like to!

Try this; how much did that salmon you caught cost vs how much would an equal portion cost in a grocery store, fish market? Or how much did your salmon cost vs a salmon dinner at a restaurant. My world doesn't revolve around my money...

Rant? Prolly. I just get a bit tired of "Money Threads" (handload costs vs factory). I know, jes don't read them. I was able to go about 15 years without buying a box of factory ammo, and then only when I bought a new gun and had no components or dies and wanted to shoot it the same day. A few weeks ago I bought 3 boxes of various 9mm ammo for a new type of gun that I was trying out (9mm revolver and wanted to see how such a gun performed).
 
Shak3s1977 said:
Well hopefully there are more people reloading 9mm with components they bought a few years back. Like when primers were $30 a brick. RMR fmj was $76.00 per 1k. Powder was $15-25 a lb. I don't know what new 9mm brass cost, as I've always used old brass.

To load it now, at today's prices of components? Yeah it's probably not worth it. But if you bought your components, just 2 years ago, you would be way ahead of
Click to expand...
Rule3 said:
OP needs to show his math. Is it per 100 , 500 or 1,000?? What is the price per round?
Need to study accounting, economics.

Reloading is supposed to be reloading the used brass, not new brass,

Reloading is also not just 9mm and 223/5.56. Calculated some of high priced rounds like 10mm, 45 acp 357 mag etc.

Can't compare todays prices of ammo and components

Before Biden, Before Covid. Things were reasonable. The time to buy components was then, heck before Obummer even.

Back when things were reasonable, sure it was cheaper and less trouble to buy factory 8mm and 5.56. So then was the time to buy not now!

Also need to amortize the cost of all the high priced presses, top of the line bullet and case feeders. calipers, scales, dies, die plates, case plates, trimming machines. tumbling machines etc etc. Even bullet casters think there bullets are free but unless they stocked up on free lead still have the cost of molds and equipment,

Labor and time is never calculated because it's a HOBBY!:)
Click to expand...
I baerly graduated high school and it too me 4.5 years to finish a 2 year college. I’m not good with math. But, I know how to compare prices
 
Mark_Mark said:
I baerly graduated high school and it too me 4.5 years to finish a 2 year college. I’m not good with math. But, I know how to compare prices
Click to expand...


Take the factory NEW brass out of the calculation. Who buys 9mm brass??

It's more like $220 for primers, bullets and powder. Using todays prices (100 +100 +20
Even less if using coated lead bullets.
 
Encoreman said:
Don't be looking for any available primers for the next few years if ever. I am conserving mine, I haven't stopped shooting though. I shoot a little .22 and some air guns. We could always revert to our childhood and start shooting slingshots!!
Click to expand...
Rule3 said:
Take the factory NEW brass out of the calculation. Who buys 9mm brass??

It's more like $220 for primers, bullets and powder. Using todays prices (100 +100 +20
Even less if using coated lead bullets.
Click to expand...
It comes with fresh brass already loaded
 
mdi said:
When folks start talking about costs of reloading vs factory ammo (factory ammo? Whaz dat? Some new and improved TP?) my eyes glaze over and I get sleepy. Beside my computer is an ammo box I with 15 handloads; Scrounged 357 nickel brass. CCI SPM primers I purchased in '99, a medium charge of WC 820 I bought in '90 and topped off with a 125 gr XTP.I bought 15 months ago. I ain't gonna even try to figger a cost per round of that! have been reloading for many years and while I'm not wasteful, I don't even consider what my components cost. IF I did think about trying to determine my handload costs I'd have to do one heck of a lot of historic research. How much did the powder I bought in 2020 cost? What components did I get for free? How many were on sale? (I scrounged wheel weights from work so how much do my home cast bullets cost?). With all the "reloads vs factory" threads I'm seeing, I'm beginning to reloading is just a money thing, with a shooter thinking every time they pull the trigger "How much did that shot cost?".. I would have to be a CPA to figger what my handloads cost, but I don't give a rat's patooty what they cost. I reload because I like to!

Try this; how much did that salmon you caught cost vs how much would an equal portion cost in a grocery store, fish market? Or how much did your salmon cost vs a salmon dinner at a restaurant. My world doesn't revolve around my money...

Rant? Prolly. I just get a bit tired of "Money Threads" (handload costs vs factory). I know, jes don't read them. I was able to go about 15 years without buying a box of factory ammo, and then only when I bought a new gun and had no components or dies and wanted to shoot it the same day. A few weeks ago I bought 3 boxes of various 9mm ammo for a new type of gun that I was trying out (9mm revolver and wanted to see how such a gun performed).
Click to expand...
Well you certainly “spent” a lot of time writing that:)

(We have two salmon filets baking right now)
 
CQB45ACP said:
Well you certainly “spent” a lot of time writing that:)

(We have two salmon filets baking right now)
Click to expand...
I like to bake the salmon whole, then flake off the meat and sauce it or salt it! VERY MOUSIE
 
For some of us it was never about cost. I stopped buying factory around 25 years ago, except for .22 & 12ga. I load everything else I shoot and cast for most of it. I’m a scrounger by nature so lead and brass are always free for me. I barter frequently and that helps too. I have traded brass to a shop for powder or primers more than once over the years and my only real cost to load is powder and primers. I am at 42.00/1000 for my pistol and will be probably until I can’t shoot anymore.

I reload because I enjoy it. There may have been times it was more cost efficient to buy factory, but I couldn’t find anything that got me the accuracy I was after in quantity I was shooting. Reloading is a primary hobby for me, like woodworking. I like to be self sufficient and if I need a new kids bed I’ll build it, more shelves, storage, or a she shed for the wife just build it. I collect logs after summer storms, trade half the lumber for the milling and have years worth waiting to be used. Same with ammo, cheap cast plinking rounds, self defense rounds, long range target rounds, load it myself with components on hand that were cheap years ago.
 
I've been reloading for 3-4 years now and never had any interest or intent to load for 9mm because factory ammo both now and pre pandemic was cheap. Sure, $360 for a case compared to the $140 for steel case 9mm is a horrible price jump, but when primers are basically no longer available and if they are you're stuck paying $90 for a brick and can only buy one brick, it would be an absolute waste for me to use those primers to reload 9mm when I could use them to load any other caliber that is not available even in factory ammo now, such as .38 or .357.

Then there's the time spent doing the reloading and in the time it would take me to reload 9mm, I could have reloaded any other caliber whose factory ammo costs much more than factory 9mm does or is not available.

Now that I say all this I'll wait for the squares to come in and say it's not about the money, they reload 9mm and only 9mm because it's so therapeutic and relaxing and good for their health or whatever. I find it odd how it's only reloading 9mm that they get those good vibrations from, surely they could reload any other caliber and receive the same holistic benefits.
 
If we can't readily buy primers at sane prices, then I think its reasonable to talk about tradeoffs between reloading and buying factory, at least for blasting/basic ammo. 9MM FMJ just for trigger time? That for me makes sense to buy if it is cheap enough. I was beaver hunting last night with factory FMJ 350 Legend and fired 5 shots. At under $20 a box even today (a good deal more than I paid for it), I will eventually get around to developing a load with 9MM 147 grain FMJ bullets, but it isn't all that high on my list of load workup plans.

30-06 with partitions for elk hunting? Don't really care what the primers cost, I will handload.
 
Armorer 101 said:
In 60+ years of reloading I have heard all the Micky Mouse excuses not to reload. If you do not want to reload, then just go shoot, throw rocks. As Clark Gable said; Frankly my dear, I do not give a Da**.
Click to expand...
It’s the mag dumpers. Shouldn’t even be handloading. Just let them go buy milsurp and LEO rejected stockpiles. More for the dedicated loaders and once they leave the market prices will drop for basic supplies.
 
Yeah, it’s going to be a problem all of us will have to address eventually. I learned during Clinton that I needed to, at least, have enough factory ammunition and reloading supply’s to last me two terms.

Others, that laugh at “old guys”, are learning that now.
 
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