44 mag loading cost

AJC1 said:
My 357 cost is about .27 each. The shelf price is about a dollar each. I can shoot the volume I want, if I was buying factory I wouldn't shoot. One box isn't worth the range trip. Three boxes is plenty.
Click to expand...
oooh yeah! .357 cases ate like gold! I find .38 special does the job for range trips
 
That'll cut my bullet cost in half. I may have to keep a lookout here and over at castboolits for the equipment.
 
It's been many years since I had a steady source of free lead. Even the old sources of cheap smelted wheelweights have largely come to a close, and I am more-and-more buying from commercial sources. I still have hundreds of pounds of WW in the shop, but it's shocking how quickly it can go, especially for a big-bore man.

Along those same lines, even as a life-long caster I have begun to modify my behavior as a result of lead costs. I really enjoy things like .500s and .70+ caliber muzzleloaders, but that enjoyment has been tempered by the thought of all that lead going downrange!
 
I don't overthink the actual cost per , I know factory is expensive.
When I see a deal, I stock up. Bought a mystery box at an estate sale. $2 and found 5000 Hornaday .429 240 gr LSWC.
Bought 2500 powder coated .357 for $61
22 canisters of Trail Boss for $160
4# canister of Green Dot $32
10k LPP $123, those are gone. My current batch was $215 per 10k. Down to 600 and replacement may sting a bit.
Bought 2000 rounds of .44 mag range brass for $0.05 a piece in 1991. Still shooting 1600+ of those. .357 same $0.05, 4000 rds
.38 Spl $0.03 4000 rds and .45 ACP $0.02 4000 rds.
Back before the .22LR shortage, I bought 10k rounds $204. The last I bought was 4x the price. Grandkids didn't notice the difference, I didn't mention it. Their fun was worth cost.

Powder coated bullets WERE $0.05 - $0.08 and loaded up on several calibers. At that price I can't see investing in casting. I never had much desire to play with molten lead.

Just for comparison; I made more money per year through the '90s, than any year since 2003.

Be on the lookout and pounce when you see it.

ANY hobby costs $$$$$. If you enjoy it, don't fret over it.
Cost a deer, turkey, goose, bear, elk or whatever hunt, gun, equipment, and trip costs; I'm not concerned with $2, $3, $4 per round ammo.
 
Seedy you are a lucky guy you stocked up in the 90s when components were very reasonable. I just got into reloading in late 2000's and consider myself well stocked but a new caliber meant starting fresh with it. I agree with ya on hobbies and don't regret any purchase I have ever made except the dang mosquito.

Always on lookout and unfortunately I doubt that components can be found at "bargains" in this day and age.
 
ericuda said:
Kinda wondering how folks afford to shoot much or the bigger bores with the cost of factory ammo.
Click to expand...

I don’t shoot factory ammunition. Recycle lead, cast your own bullets and reuse your brass and you have eliminated the two highest costs per round.

If your not looking for “full house” loads, use smaller charges of fast powders and the number of rounds you get per pound can go up dramatically.

If you are just playing with cast bullets using the max Clays load of 6.2 below,

1C6CAEE6-5123-4664-833D-0CF3AA0A6C4D.jpeg

Will get you 1129 rounds per pound vs just 350 of your 20 grain load. That is more than 3x the number of rounds per pound, significant if your counting dollars.
 
cfullgraf said:
When I got into reloading, I could load 38 Special wadcutters for less per round than 22 LR. But those days are long gone.

It has been decades since I calculated cost per round of my reloads vs factory but I know the reloads are lower cost than factory.

I enjoy reloading as a hobby so my time is valueless which keeps my out of pocket costs low.

Finally, alot of the ammunition I load is not available commercially. My reloads tend to not be at maximum levels or use bullets not normally used by factory loaders or commercial reloaders.

Anyway, reloading is a way to extend your shooting dollars. If you get hung up on treating production costs as a business, you might as well keep buying factory ammunition. You will never be able to justify your time on a monetary basis.
Click to expand...
As @cfullgraf said, I too make shooting loads that either aren’t common, like many of my .38 and .44 Spl loads, or aren’t commonly recognized and loaded like the .41 Special (One of my new favorites) or wadcutters for a bunch of handguns, 180 gr .35 Remington, Barnes TTSX loads for Ca hunting in .257 Roberts or 6.5x55, etc.

Customizing loads is the best part of reloading as my selection of guns has increased. Saving money is now a close second.

Stay safe.
 
AJC1 said:
I never had a source and just get mine from rmr. 120lbs to your door 1.65 a pound. Still way cheaper than any other bullet.
Click to expand...
I'm sad to say my sources are drying up fast. I work at a very large , busy auto repair shop and get zero lead wheel weights or anything else. I used to get buckets full for free. I've clipped battery terminals off cars going to scrap and scratched up a little here and there but nothing worth talking about. Only place I get local lead anymore is from a roofer I know and a guy that fixes medical imaging equipment , sometimes the medical equipment guy pulls through with a lot of pure soft lead and it's free. Not very often but nice when I can get it
 
ericuda said:
That'll cut my bullet cost in half. I may have to keep a lookout here and over at castboolits for the equipment.
Click to expand...

To get started you can pick up the following:

- Lee 20 pound bottom pour pot
- Lead thermometer
- cheap hotplate from walmart
- Mold and handles of your choice. I would pick a 6 cavity Lee in the 44 mag profile of your choice, not gas checked

Then you need to lube and size or coat. Coating is most forgiving when it comes to loading without a gas check. I use some powder sold by Smoke on the castboolits forum and a convection toaster oven I bought at goodwill.
 
brewer12345 said:
To get started you can pick up the following:

- Lee 20 pound bottom pour pot
- Lead thermometer
- cheap hotplate from walmart
- Mold and handles of your choice. I would pick a 6 cavity Lee in the 44 mag profile of your choice, not gas checked

Then you need to lube and size or coat. Coating is most forgiving when it comes to loading without a gas check. I use some powder sold by Smoke on the castboolits forum and a convection toaster oven I bought at goodwill.
Click to expand...
I've never used a thermometer for casting and my toaster oven was free on the side of the road... by far the most expensive thing is a quality mold. A good two cavity brass or steel will be much easier to learn on because of thermal stability. As you get more experience that same trait makes much more consistent bullets. I highly suggest you order some samples from noe until you find that perfect bullet, then buy the mold... advice I wish I was given.
 
Sort of like sports cars, the big bores cost more to run. Just the nature of things.

That is one of the reasons I'm a big fan of the 32 calibers. Simply takes less components to run those.
 
crstrode said:
Get a job. Stay in school
Click to expand...

You are a fool, that makes me mad. I posted that as tongue in cheek and will not throw anyone under the bus. My calculations were correct but I was not going to say that bluntly. I consider the folks who questioned good folk. I hate to guess but I'd bet I have a better job and more school than you but that doesn't matter. This post was fun until you showed your complete ignorance.
 
AJC1 said:
I've never used a thermometer for casting and my toaster oven was free on the side of the road... by far the most expensive thing is a quality mold. A good two cavity brass or steel will be much easier to learn on because of thermal stability. As you get more experience that same trait makes much more consistent bullets. I highly suggest you order some samples from noe until you find that perfect bullet, then buy the mold... advice I wish I was given.
Click to expand...

Personally, I find a thermometer to be extremely helpful.

The steel molds are usually good. There is a steady trade in two cavity Lyman and Ideal molds on castboolits as guys upgrade to higher capacity options. Not a bad idea to start there as well.
 
ericuda said:
You are a fool, that makes me mad. I posted that as tongue in cheek and will not throw anyone under the bus. My calculations were correct but I was not going to say that bluntly. I consider the folks who questioned good folk. I hate to guess but I'd bet I have a better job and more school than you but that doesn't matter. This post was fun until you showed your complete ignorance.
Click to expand...
Geez!
Take a chill pill.
To quote a highly educated and gainfully employed genius: "This post was fun until you showed your complete ignorance"
 
brewer12345 said:
Personally, I find a thermometer to be extremely helpful.

The steel molds are usually good. There is a steady trade in two cavity Lyman and Ideal molds on castboolits as guys upgrade to higher capacity options. Not a bad idea to start there as well.
Click to expand...
I find by hand cutting each sprue I get thermal feedback superior to what a guage can tell me. It's like a tire pressure number vs how the tires feel on track in the corners.
 
To me the cost of reloading is irrelevant. Yes, its a big factor, especially today. But, its the only way to obtain good ammunition for ALL your special purposes. Manufacturers have kept a pretty limited offering due to having their product put into firearms rated from magnum strength to Pot Metal. Especially for the big bores. I;v invested a lot of my income through the years for my hobbies. In the end, none provided a more personal satisfaction than reloading. Now well into my 76 year its something I still get great satisfaction from. Plus, all those years of investment in equipment and components allows me to reap the full benefit of that investment. The race cars, the boats, The big time travel hunts are all done. The favorite guns and the reloading remain. I'm satisfied.
 
AJC1 said:
I find by hand cutting each sprue I get thermal feedback superior to what a guage can tell me. It's like a tire pressure number vs how the tires feel on track in the corners.
Click to expand...
lol! Sometimes too much instrumentation is a deficit. New cars have so many (literal) bells and whistles they become distractions. Low tire warning went off the other morning and I about went off the road trying to figure out what the bing-bonger and little flashing red triangle thingy was all about.
 
Years ago I used to purchase bulk Rem and Win bullets from a place called DAC then similar to Midway when they started out, just a single page ad in tha gun rags. I liked them because you got a good price, but also could purchase brass and bullets in 250ct bundles.

When my wife and I got together I was just getting into handgun hunting and together we would run 300rds a week or up to three time that a week, of 357, 41, and 44. Then came the 454, ohh my, $45-60 for sometimes 25rds. That's when I began casting. The 300gr RFN that Cast Performance sold was awesome, but for the price of a hundred, I purchased the Lee 6C mold. I already had a Lee pot and lead so I ran with it.

Nowadays, my oldest grandson and I walk past the ammo shelves and just shake our heads and smirk at the prices. We saw a box of 50 factory 357, 158gr JHP listed at $78 the other day, and I had to ask the clerk if there was some mistake on the price.

I'm like some here who purchased bulk years ago and still have some of that inventory. I doubt I'll ever run out of .308-150gr CL'S to load for all our 30 cars or any magnum caliber JHP that I own. Eventually though, primers will be the road block. I'm just hoping I have enough to weather the storm and they drop below $50 sometime in the future.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

BigBore45
  • Locked
looking for more cost savings 45 acp loads
2
Replies
34
Views
2K
mdi
mdi
M
  • Locked
Reloading costs
2
Replies
37
Views
1K
The Bushmaster
The Bushmaster
PWC
  • Locked
1984 reloading
2
Replies
31
Views
1K
hdwhit
H
BigBore45
  • Locked
Just a reminder to why we reload.
2
Replies
36
Views
3K
Wreck-n-Crew
Wreck-n-Crew
S
  • Locked
What is the least expensive cartridge you reload? And whats the load?
2
Replies
25
Views
2K
subierex
S
Back
Top