Why DON'T you reload......

.455_Hunter said:

Given my professional career, family commitments, and shooting needs, saving a few $$$ reloading has been FAR from a priority. Maybe that will change, maybe not- I am far more interested in custom loads like .45 Colt BP or 200 gr .38 Special than seeing how cheap I can make range fodder.

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I want to try BP 45 Colt too! in a SAA! YES!

Good news in the American BP world, GoEx was bought by Estes the rocket motor company. They are going to start American BP production again

HighRoadRover said:

I re-load in 9mm -- where the savings margin is the least, but still worth the trouble. Roughly speaking, my 124 grain 9mm ammo costs half of what I can buy it at commercially ($.035).

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Did you mean you load for 3 and one half cents a round. Do you cast your own bullets? All my supplies are from 3 years ago and my cost is 12 cents each. But I do not cast.

.455_Hunter said:

Given my professional career, family commitments, and shooting needs, saving a few $$$ reloading has been FAR from a priority. Maybe that will change, maybe not- I am far more interested in custom loads like .45 Colt BP or 200 gr .38 Special than seeing how cheap I can make range fodder.

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Sounds like my story. When I was working I didn't shoot often enough to warrant reloading at that time. But I did invest in the needed equipment back before the mass 'covid' hysteria shut everything down (as intended). I retired last year and have since moved to a different state. Getting the home and property situated is the priority.
Been wanting to custom load 10mm for a 610-2. I have the equipment and plenty of Starline brass, powders, and primers of all types, Have also saved .357/.38 and .308 brass. As of now I have no space for a reloading room. I have to make room by UNloading all of the now useless crap that I've collected over the years.
Anybody interested trading their primers for these beer signs??

I reload for about half of what I shoot. I reload for .40, .45, 357 Mag and 44 Mag. I don't reload for 9mm, .223/5.56 or 12ga.

I actually do reload, but I chose not to reload everything...

Specifically, I don't reload .380 auto. The reason being that I don't shoot an abundance of it and with the tiny case capacity and typical 2.5 to 3.5 gr. powder charges, there's very little margin for error.... and the typically acceptable tolerances will result in a much larger % delta and potential pressure spike.

I don't reload shotgun, because the variations I (infrequently) shoot are cheap and I don't want to invest in a whole additional set up.

I also don't reload rimfire, for obvious reasons.

My house is on the small side and I don't have a reasonable location to set up.

I also would have to start from scratch and that seems daunting right now.

This year I caught covid and I have not fully recovered from it. Typically I'm so worn out from work it would not be safe to attempt to reload.

BlueHeelerFl said:

My house is on the small side and I don't have a reasonable location to set up.

I also would have to start from scratch and that seems daunting right now.

This year I caught covid and I have not fully recovered from it. Typically I'm so worn out from work it would not be safe to attempt to reload.

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you can reload on your coffee table with $35 and a hammer!

HighRoadRover said:

I re-load in 9mm -- where the savings margin is the least, but still worth the trouble. Roughly speaking, my 124 grain 9mm ammo costs half of what I can buy it at commercially ($.035).

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gifbohane said:

Did you mean you load for 3 and one half cents a round. Do you cast your own bullets? All my supplies are from 3 years ago and my cost is 12 cents each. But I do not cast.

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Gifbohane - Got me! I put the decimal in the wrong place. I meant 9mm rounds go for about $0.35 each in commercially made ammo, counting tax, shipping, etc. I am using an aging mix of components, some going back to the days of $.04 primers and $.08 bullets, so I estimate my costs overall are about half of the going commercial price. I think folks who load .45 and other large rounds -- which are very expensive commercially -- enjoy a better margin, but at least for now it is still worth reloading 9mm.

Reloading is a lot like making your own bread. It's a rewarding hobby and it's a lot cheaper than store bought bread, but not many people do it.

I love sour dough bread. I took the time to learn how to bake it. The ingredients are flour, salt, starter and water. Pretty simple and the reason pioneers and 19th century miners baked it. I probably baked 25 loaves of it and perfected my skill to a point where you thought it came from a specialty bakery. I still buy bread at the store and only bake it now to retain the skill. Years ago just about every woman knew how to bake bread because it was more or less a survival skill. We're slowly going back to that time. What are you going to do when you go to buy ammo and there is none?

CoalTrain49 said:

Reloading is a lot like making your own bread. It's a rewarding hobby and it's a lot cheaper than store bought bread, but not many people do it.

I love sour dough bread. I took the time to learn how to bake it. The ingredients are flour, salt, starter and water. Pretty simple and the reason pioneers and 19th century miners baked it. I probably baked 25 loaves of it and perfected my skill to a point where you thought it came from a specialty bakery. I still buy bread at the store and only bake it now to retain the skill. Years ago just about every woman knew how to bake bread because it was more or less a survival skill. We're slowly going back to that time. What are you going to do when you go to buy ammo and there is none?

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Bread! GREAT apology, before the internet, I was traveling in europe and eating amazing bread. Nothing I could find back home. I spent years reading and testing, and finding ingredients for the perfect bread. Just like reloading!!!

CoalTrain49 said:

Reloading is a lot like making your own bread. It's a rewarding hobby and it's a lot cheaper than store bought bread, but not many people do it.

I love sour dough bread. I took the time to learn how to bake it. The ingredients are flour, salt, starter and water. Pretty simple and the reason pioneers and 19th century miners baked it. I probably baked 25 loaves of it and perfected my skill to a point where you thought it came from a specialty bakery. I still buy bread at the store and only bake it now to retain the skill. Years ago just about every woman knew how to bake bread because it was more or less a survival skill. We're slowly going back to that time. What are you going to do when you go to buy ammo and there is none?

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Almost like when I brewed my own beer in the 1990s. I originally got into that game to save money, reusing bottles is like reusing cases. But after a few batches of ingredients bought on the cheap, there was no getting around that the beer tasted cheap.

So, I kept experimenting with better and better ingredients and started making good tasting beer. I mean good enough that other people would drink more than one bottle. Suddenly it cost more than decent store bought beer and it took me a heck of a lot more time to make than simply buy it. The brewing, the fermenting, the bottling, the capping, the aging, and the cleaning, cleaning, cleaning.

That's how I think I'd end up with reloading. I'd start cheap and then increase the quality of components to the point that I'd probably end up buying factory ammo again.

chicharrones said:

So, I kept experimenting with better and better ingredients and started making good tasting beer. I mean good enough that other people would drink more than one bottle. Suddenly it cost more than decent store bought beer and it took me a heck of a lot more time to make than simply buy it. The brewing, the fermenting, the bottling, the capping, the aging, and the cleaning, cleaning, cleaning.

That's how I think I'd end up with reloading.

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I suspect you probably would. That's exactly how it went with me and bullet casting - which I haven't done in 15 or 20 years.
I buy my cast bullets (mostly from Rimrock Bullets of Polson, MT) nowadays, and I don't miss the scrounging, the coming up with the perfect alloys, the electricity used to run my furnace (or the fuel burned up in my Coleman stove), the regulating the temperature of the alloy and the bullet molds, the smoke, the risks, the sizing and lubing, and the clean up one darned bit.
And I'm one of those guys that truly loves handloading - IF I leave the bullet making to the professionals.

Hikingman said:

Let's face it. Some of those considering it may exercise very little patience to ensure safety for each step involving primers, charging, and seating, and COAL.

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Very true, most folks aren't cut-out for reloading. That's why 99% of the noobs abandon the hobby after the first year.
And I'll be eager to join them as soon as I win the lottery.

chicharrones said:

Almost like when I brewed my own beer in the 1990s. I originally got into that game to save money, reusing bottles is like reusing cases. But after a few batches of ingredients bought on the cheap, there was no getting around that the beer tasted cheap.

So, I kept experimenting with better and better ingredients and started making good tasting beer. I mean good enough that other people would drink more than one bottle. Suddenly it cost more than decent store bought beer and it took me a heck of a lot more time to make than simply buy it. The brewing, the fermenting, the bottling, the capping, the aging, and the cleaning, cleaning, cleaning.

That's how I think I'd end up with reloading. I'd start cheap and then increase the quality of components to the point that I'd probably end up buying factory ammo again.

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I did that in the 90’s But I had a hard time with the 2nd fermentation, keeping the yeast alive. Wish there was a support group back then… kindda like THR!

Otto said:

Very true, most folks aren't cut-out for reloading. That's why 99% of the noobs abandon the hobby after the first year.
And I'll be eager to join them as soon as I win the lottery.

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99% I think more like 1/2

For me the reason I reload I can reload for much less than buying factory ammo & I can (in most cases) reload more accurate ammo than factory.

I reload every centerfire cartridge I shoot. The reasons are many, for some calibers it's because the types of ammo I need (say, .30 Luger with LRN bullets) simply is not available. For some (like 6.5 Jap) it's cost. But in the end, I do like the idea of being able to reload them all, even if the "savings" for a particular caliber would never compensate the cost of dies alone. Still I certainly reload to shoot, not the other way round. Reloading is not my passion, it just makes me possible to shoot the way I like to shoot.

On the other hand I have friends who shoot action style disciplines and fire moderate volumes of factory 9mm and .223, also maybe a box or two hunting ammo per year. I very well understand why they do not reload - or, like at least one of them, did reload but stopped when the intensity of his shooting got lower.

chicharrones said:

Almost like when I brewed my own beer in the 1990s. I originally got into that game to save money, reusing bottles is like reusing cases. But after a few batches of ingredients bought on the cheap, there was no getting around that the beer tasted cheap.

So, I kept experimenting with better and better ingredients and started making good tasting beer. I mean good enough that other people would drink more than one bottle. Suddenly it cost more than decent store bought beer and it took me a heck of a lot more time to make than simply buy it. The brewing, the fermenting, the bottling, the capping, the aging, and the cleaning, cleaning, cleaning.

That's how I think I'd end up with reloading. I'd start cheap and then increase the quality of components to the point that I'd probably end up buying factory ammo again.

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That's a great analogy. I think you're spot-on.
I've done both, and still do one.
Had an all-grain setup that was the bomb. I can honestly say I brewed some of the best ale I've ever drank.
That can be both a good thing, and bad. And that's the reason I don't do that any more lol!
I loved the process, but yes, small-scale anything usually doesn't make economic sense, and brewing was no exception.

As for the money savings reloading (9mm), I've actually done the math.
From the point of inspecting / sorting brass up through the last case-gauge check, I estimated my time was approximately worth $6-7/hr, tops.
That's using other people's brass, 'cheap' powder, on a progressive, with everything bought in bulk. And, of course, that was all before the great primer crisis of 2020.
It doesn't count the time spent sourcing brass, consumables like cleaning media, electricity for A/C, lights, & tumblers, or the significant time required developing loads.
Yeah, I can knock out a box of 50 for $5 in materials. But time is money.
When you add that in, you could literally make twice as much as you save working a part-time greeter job at Walmart. And that's before you factor in your employee discount.

I'm not saying don't do it. I enjoy it immensely. But if you think you're saving money - at least w/ common handgun rounds - I won't believe you

Time, or maybe its better described as "sweat equity", regardless of what it is you're doing, reloading, home improvement, etc, still can and does make a pretty big difference.

You have XX amount of dollars to get the job done, and if you do it yourself, you can pull it off, whereas, if you pay someone else to do it, youre going to get less than you wanted, or have to come up with more money.

As I said before, if you only have $100, you're still going to come out on the other side, with more ammo for that same $100 than if you buy factory. The "sweating" part only depends on where you set up to do it. My basement is cool.

As I said in an earlier post, I DO handload, but I quit casting my own bullets many years ago. I have the time to cast my own bullets, and I can cast them for a lot less money than I spend on factory cast bullets. However, I simply prefer to spend my time and money watching TV and THR rather than spending my time and money on casting bullets. I suspect a good many folks that don't handload at all feel the same way.

"... But time is money.
When you add that in, you could literally make twice as much as you save working a part-time greeter job at Walmart. And that's before you factor in your employee discount.

I'm not saying don't do it. I enjoy it immensely. But if you think you're saving money - at least w/ common handgun rounds - I won't believe you "

But when you consider your cable/internet bill, do you just look at what the provider charges you, or do factor in an hourly rate for your time to figure what it actually costs?

I reload in my free time.

Reloading is like Marrying your Bride, and building your own house!

CoalCrackerAl said:

I was afaid of the idea. Then it dawned on me. When im shooting my muzzle loaders. Im reloading.

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I had the exact same thought!!! What I initially set out to accomplish was saving money but now I just enjoy it. Also enjoy vintage shotguns more than the new ones so in that case I suppose I reload to avoid blowing my fingers off! I'm also a diy kinda guy anyway