Savings over store bought?

savings over store bought

If you use the cost calculator on Handloads .com 38 specials will cost you about .12 cents I do not figure brass cost as I have never bought 38spl brass just picked it up at the range and have had shooters next to me just give it to me as they seen I reloaded.

38 spec? You should get way more than 5 reloads per case, especially if you don't load hot, it really takes very little to kill paper.

I reload way cheaper than that, but my component cost is way lower,,,,,,,,,way lower. As in 5,000 primers, less than $40.00!

I don't factor my time in my hobby it's a hobby

There was a post a while back by a guy who tested many headstamps of 9mm to see how many times he could reload them. It ranged from a low of 30 times to as much as 50! You'll lose them well before they wear out.

...the .38 Specials I'm reloading will run right around .20 each based on today's component costs.

Click to expand...

The cheap .38 spl ammo at Walmart is running over $20 a box or more than $.40 a round. Using your figures you will save 50% or at least $10 a box.

You can load .38's cheaper. The largest cost is the bullet and commercial cast bullets run around 8 cents a bullet. Powder for typical .38 spl loads of 5gr or less will cost about 2 cents. Primers another 2 cents. Cases last longer than I care to count the number in my experience with good quality cases like Winchesters, Federal, Remington, CCI, PMC, Fiocchi. As mentioned you can often get Free range pickups. Now you are down to 12 cents a round and saving $14 or more for every box of 50. Even shooting as little as 1 box a month you will save $168 a year.

Onward Allusion said:

Being a numbers guy, I calculate the .38 Specials I'm reloading will run right around .20 each based on today's component costs. I'd estimated re-using brass 5 times. Dunno if that's conservative enough. Note - I did not factor in time as this is a hobby.

Thoughts?

Click to expand...

Numbers guy, eh? Check out this thread.
http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=663065
I developed a spreadsheet to figure in component cost, equipment cost, my startup (learning) time's cost and processing time cost. It was fun for me and I hope you may enjoy it, too. Maybe even expand on it.

(To those who decry counting time's cost for a hobby, I would like to point out that crunching numbers is also one of my hobbies. Don't trash the pleasure I get from my hobbies and I won't take offense.)

Lost Sheep

Onward Allusion said:

I'd estimated re-using brass 5 times.
Thoughts?

Click to expand...

Like others have said, 38 Special cases last darn near forever and unless your shooting one of the wadcutter target auto loaders, they do not get lost either.

Shopping around and buying in bulk really gets the component costs down.

I'm loading .38spl using X-Treme 158gr SWC plated bullets for my wife at $140.39/1k rounds, or $14/100 rnds. I could load cast, and save a little more, but I can live with those prices.

Along the same lines, not only is it WAY cheaper to reload, but the main reason I started is to improve the quality of my ammunition...

Reloading is a way to save money from buying ammo from the store, improve accuracy with every shot, a great hobby, and most important a way to be self sufficient when the Apocalypse happens- meaning while your neighbors are fighting over the last box of 38spl in the last store in the country, you can be cranking them out in your basement or den.

You will get a lot more reloads than 5 if you dont make your loads hot. I dont reload for 38spl or 357mag, which i should because i have casings and bullets for it, but... I do reload for 45lc(hence my screen name) i seperate my brass by loads. Light-Med-Hot.

I get average 12 loads with light, about 10 Med, and 5-7 hot. Its a bigger case, and also has a roll crimp, i crack, or over expand case necks more than i wear out the casing itself.

At current prices, buying in bulk with jacketed bullets and free brass, I think $.14 to $.15/round is a realistic number. I know some will claim they reload for half that, but they either bought their components 30 years go or cast lead! Bullets by far are your biggest expense. Powder and primer together for pistol calibers are in the neighborhood of $.03 - $.04 per round! The problem right now with someone just staring out is most online retailers don't have everything you need to buy, so you are forced to pay more than one hazmat fee. Also, many placed have a silly 2# or 1000 primer limit. For this reason, I think this current shortage actually helps the LGS if they have any stock.

Right now I think my cost per round is about $150.58. I am new to it and probably "crank" out about 10 per hour.

Okay it's not that bad but it will be a while before I get proficient enough to even consider breaking even.

Five times is very conservative on .38 Special cases. I'm reasonably sure they're near immortal. I'm not sure what my current loaded round cost is for 38s but I do know I'm currently paying $40/1000 primers and normally use Missouri Bullet Company 125gr TC bullets. Ballpark is probably 12 cents a round.

My favorite .38spl load is a 158gr LSWC and 3.3gr of Red Dot. When paying for those bullets I buy MBC .38 "Match" for $38.50 (including tax) per 500. That comes out to $0.077/ea, use free brass, and paying Cabela's prices for Red Dot and primers that adds another $0.055 per round. A total of 13.3 cents per round. Now when I cast my own 158gr LSWC boolits out of free lead, all I'm paying is 5.5cents per round. $2.75 for a box of 50.

With my cast wadcutters I am doing a box of 50 for 3.97 I know an old timer who stocked up years ago on powder primers and the like and he can make a box of 50 for under 2.00 dollars

For me - using Current component prices
Brass -- free -- I have never bought 38 Special brass and I've given some away.
Missouri bullets 158 LSWC ~70/1000 -- .07 ea
Primers - 25/1K (bought in bulk including hazmat) PV -- .025 ea
Powder - WST 3.4 gr 8lb/135 (after hazmat shipping on large order) PV - ~.002 ea
Grand total is .097 per round -- $4.87/50, $9.74/100

If I want to load with plated, then the Berry's at PV round around .10 each. So bump up the per round cost to .13.
Hope this helps.

Where do you guys get all this 38 brass for free? There aren't enough people shooting revolvers around here to pick up a box of brass a month.
If you want 9mm and 45 then it is abundant.

I don't shoot or load a lot of .38's but my expenses to load 'em are really low.

The last time I bought small pistol primers I paid $22.00 per 1k.
I was given 1000 rounds of brass about 6 years ago for free.
I was given 2# of Bullseye about that same time from a friend that didn't like Bullseye. I still have a bit more than 1/2 a pound left.
Another friend loves to cast bullets and has lead coming out his ears. (He was a master carpenter and disassembled a large x-ray room in an old hospital and salvaged the lead. Also, his father owned a tire shop and the amount of wheel weights he has is nothing less than amazing...) When he goes on a casting binge he generally casts a thousand or so .38's and a thousand or so .44's for me while he's at it for no charge.

My actual .38 Special cost has been for some time, and will be for the near future, only the cost of my primers ($0.022 ea.) and my time ($0.00), or about $1.10 per box of 50. That will change in the next two years or so as I am running out of my cheap primers and will be forced to buy some pricey ones. Shortly after that my Bullseye will be running out, too.

Poper

With my cast bullets, I can load 1k rounds for right at $65.

I don't even factor in brass in the cost. I've purchased some once fired stuff here and there for cheap. I believe the last time I paid a nickle apiece from a LGS.
I have .38 Special brass that I have reloaded 50+ times. I have casings that started life as nickle plated brass and is not just yellow brass.

I read an article in a gun mag where a writer wanted to see how long a .38 case would last using standard loads. He took one case and loaded and shot it over and over until it split. If I'm not mistaken, he got over 140 loads out of it. From my experience, I don't doubt it.

Note - I did not factor in time as this is a hobby.

Click to expand...

Good. I always laugh at the guys who do this, as if they get paid for every hour of every day.
I always wonder about their logic. What do they do instead of loading, since it isn't worth their time? lol

I can see them going, "My time is valuable, so I'm not going to handload. I'm gonna go watch Big Brother."

You aint gonna save any money by reloading........


But you will shoot alot more!

^ No doubt. You may pay less per round, but you aint saving money. lol

Where do you guys get all this 38 brass for free?

Click to expand...

In my case - my stash grew from the following:
My own rounds that I bought and shot -- kept the brass (only a few boxes of this)
A buddy gave me a small ammo can full of 38 spcl/357 Mag brass.
At the indoor range where I shoot - I scrounge around the brass barrel and the ROs sweep brass my way. A couple of times I've been next to shooters that police up their brass into the box and then hand it to me when I ask.
And lastly -- ask your friends that shoot -- they'll usually save brass for you.
And if you must buy - buy from the BST forums here. There are some good deals to be had.

jrdolall said:

Where do you guys get all this 38 brass for free? There aren't enough people shooting revolvers around here to pick up a box of brass a month.
If you want 9mm and 45 then it is abundant.

Click to expand...

I had about 500 pieces from 8-10 years ago when I went shooting with friends fairly often. One of them had a Taurus .357. Between the ammo he shot and the ammo I bought to shoot through his gun, I only saved about half of it. This was at a time when I wanted to reload bu hasn't got into it. Fast forward 6 years, my dad bought 2 Ruger .357s and I just got into reloading. He shot up about 1k of factory .38spl and maybe 300 .357. He never has and never will reload. I make him cheap .38 ammo and he lets me shoot his Rugers whenever I want. And last year a buddy of mine did some work for an old lawyer on the lawyer's farm. He gave my buddy about 3k of old .38 and .357 brass, which my buddy has no use for. I offered him scrap price for it. After heavy cleaning about half of it actually was just scrap. Then he decided he wanted to learn the reloading process. I taught him what I knew and he went home with 250 rounds of .45acp, that he reloaded, and I got the brass basically for free. So I have somewhere in the ballpark of 3k worth of .38 brass. More than I'm likely to ever wear out. I even "paid it forward" here with 100 new pieces of Remington .38spl brass that I bought when I first started reloading and never used. And my dad keeps adding to the stash. He'll shoot whatever I reload for him but he still buys factory .38 when he finds it for a cheap price. I try and try, but I just can't seem to get rid of much of it