9mm....worth it?

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I used to spend time playing stupid online video games that ate up my money for absolutely ZERO payback. Then I found reloading and casting.
I cast my own bullets from certified bullet metal, (I have a Doe Run secondary smelter a few miles from my home), brass is free, and I got some sweetheart deals on powder and primers I literally cannot go into here, so my cost for relaoding 50 rounds of home cast powder coated 9mm rounds is...



Well, less than you will EVER find it in the store. Ever. As a state slave, my "petty cash" is always more like "pennies in cash", so I will take any advantage I can get. Yes, it's on a single stage press, (1981 RCBS RS), but I do things in stages, no pun intended. I'll spend a night doing nothing but depriming/resizing/repriming brass and storing them in marked plastic baggies. On a weekend day I will cast for 30 minutes, then spend a few hours powder coating all the bullets that passed muster. After all these prelims are done, then it takes me about 1/2 hour to load 50 rounds. I rarely do more than 100 at a time, and inspect each and every one.
So why? Cost is one huge thing, but it keeps me out of the bars and off the computer games...which leads to my wife actively supporting my reloading "habit". I am no great shakes as a pistolero or rifleman, but I have fun, and with casting and reloading, i have ways to enjoy my hobby on and off the firing line.

 
The short answer is YES it is worth your time, but not on my single stage.

I reload 9mm and .40SW on a Dillon 550b and my Lee Classic Turret. I would NOT load bulk 9mm on a single stage. I also reload shotshells for trap. This bulk reloading I do because I prefer my own loads over factory loads. Also, eventually factory ammunition will again become scarce and prices will go up due to some external event.

Why not on a single stage? My Lee classic turret is inexpensive and yet produces great handgun ammunition. The time I save is put into bottleneck rifle loading on my single stage press. It is by far my favorite part of the hobby.

I have revolver purchases in my future. .38/.357 and .44 magnum/special. I hate seeing brass in the ground. I use a tarp when not shooting at the range. At the range, I pick up all brass. I just can't stand seeing it not get reused.

I love handloading but want to minimize my time on the bulk calibers.

Swanee
 
SwaneeSR said:
The short answer is YES it is worth your time, but not on my single stage.



Swanee
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Agree with this. I'm seriously considering a case feeder for my LnL for my 380, 9mm, 40 loading to speed it up even more. Handloading is fun but those semi autos can go through some ammunition pretty quick.

When the wife and I go to the range, it is nothing to blow through 300 rounds in an hour or less. On a single stage, that would be too time consuming.
 
I reloaded for almost 40 years. Handloading/reloading became my REAL hobby; and I'll never know the thousands of 9 x 19, and 9 x17 millimeter rounds I ran through my RCBS 'Rockchucker' and Dillon XL650 presses! What I might have been saving never really mattered to me. Why? Because, as the years past, I became more and more heavily invested in more and more reloading equipment; and, as a result, I strongly suspect that I never saved so much as 5¢ on the majority of what I reloaded.

The real advantage I enjoyed most was being able to turn out any and all custom loads I wanted using specifications and materials of my own choice. I used to love building beautifully made and finished centerfire ammunition! Caliber (or 'chambering') was always insignificant.

With this understood I'll add that, several years ago and after my health forced me to finally give up reloading, I've been buying my 9mm 'range quality' ammo from Walmart. This Walmart junk is certainly cheap enough to purchase; however, the real problem I have with it is that I do NOT trust anybody's cheap commercial ammo as much as I was able to trust my own manufactured cartridges!
 
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IMHO loading 9 is worth it. It's the caliber I started with, it's the one I shoot the most, and it's the one I reload the most. I am currently equipped to load for 29 cartridges. Some I haven't loaded for yet, but others I load and shoot regularly. I load and shoot around 3-4K rounds of 9MM a year. 9MM is around 50% of all the rounds I've loaded since 2005, around 37K.

As others have mentioned, another factor is loading custom ammo for your guns. I'm currently loading 147gr subsonics which are soft shooting, accurate and fun to run through the suppressor.

As to picking up brass, yeah, you gotta pick it up, it's not as refined as the revolvers which leave it in one tidy pile for us, or exit into our hands out of the cylinder. But the flip side is that at some places, you'll find much more 9MM lying around than other calibers.
And if you want, I'll send you a small flat-rate box full of 9MM brass to get you started.

So, yeah, 9MM is worth loading for.
 
Glad I read this thread. I've not had the wallet depth to buy the ammo for the .38 SPL and .357 mag being in the $0.32 and $0.45+ respectively. CA's impending ammunition purchases will change in '18 so I've been wondering how this will alter my shooting. Just put in an order for some Speer Lawman 9mm at an effective $0.19/round. I typically shoot about 600 rounds/month and the cost is factor in that. The past two months I've been picking up brass especially the .45 ACP. The issues CA faces are head shaking so I see the direction to take. I'll be able to enjoy shooting the wheel guns and ultimately reduce the cost per bullet for the semi's.
 
As long as I don't value my time, reloading 9mm is a clear win. Time at the reloading bench is typically time I'd be in front of the TV, so I consider it free.

I like 9mm for target shooting because I don't have to care if I lose 30% of my brass in the grass on my home range shooting run-n-gun steel courses. It's so cheap and easy to replace. Versus my 10mm, where I'll only shoot it indoors where I can recover the brass 100%.
 
It all depends on what volumes your trying to load and what equipment your going to use. If your not loading much (1000 a year or less) it's not really worth it. If your not loading on a indexing turret or a progressive then it's not worth it.

From the guy loading it on a single stage...the cases are small and the bullets are short and fat, makes it difficult for fat fingers to accomplish the task without cramping. I still load 9mm but I buy it if I can get it under 10 bucks a box.
 
red rick said:
The range I last went to was sweeping the brass up as fast as it was hitting the floor . They must resell it . I was glad that I was shooting a revolver .
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One of the ranges I used to go to wouldn't even let you sweep up brass, they had to sweep it up for you and only what's behind the firing line. This way they can limit what you can take home and they have more brass to sell. This range is the most expensive one in town and everything they sell is 15% higher than anywhere else.
 
Hmm, never thought about the cost/time factor when it came to my reloading. Like others, I started reloading during the panic days when factory ammo was non-existent only to find out that reloading supplies were just about as hard to find. I devoted my early days to grabbing up as much brass as I could find while I slowly tried to build up my powder and primer inventory and soon I was sitting on thousands of pcs. of assorted brass, mainly 9mm. Now, I still do the same (collect brass and reload) but not out of necessity or to save money. Simply for my enjoyment of reloading.
 
It is worth the time IF you have the time. You can shoot the ammo faster than you can make it, so if you are shooting 200rds per week the time becomes significant. If you shoot that much then the price becomes important. Add the other calibers you will reload and the quality of ammo produced, it is a no brainer as long as the time is worth it

Loading 9mm you make $3 per hour, assuming 100rds per hour. I would rather reload then space out watching TV or read the entire internet.


For a single stage or turret operation, do everything in bulk batches of around 500. Just resize/flare 500 pcs. It might take 2 hours

Then prime while watching tv,

Now you are ready to add powder and bullets as needed, maybe 100 in a day, maybe you have lots of time so you do all

I got a progressive last year and it has been great. Sadly, i dont shoot enough to need to load very much. I am working on depleting my stock of ammo to justify anothet bulk order from rmr
 
mljdeckard said:
I am about to switch from .45 to 9mm for carry, and one of the main reasons is to be able to consolidate reloading and practice.
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I recently went the other way.
I added a 45 and made it EDC my 9mm EDC is now my alt for when I need to pocket carry.

I figure in addition to other reasons this gives me the ability to use both large and small primers. So in the next shortage I won't be stuck looking for only SPPs. If either large or small are available I'll be able to get some so I won't only be relying on what I've stocked!
 
Can't really add anything else to the reasons for reloading. It's all been said. But I am amazed at the differences in the amount of shooting we all do, yet we all share similar feelings. Some shoot a couple of hundred a month and call it a lot while others, like me, average 1K or more a month and wish it could be more. When you have IDPA, USPSA, and various steel shoots around it goes quickly. Ain't it all grand!!
 
egd said:
.........Some shoot a couple of hundred a month and call it a lot while others, like me, average 1K or more a month and wish it could be more. When you have IDPA, USPSA, and various steel shoots around it goes quickly. Ain't it all grand!!
Click to expand...

I want to break my personal record for yearly ammo consumption this year. My goal is 8000 rounds, mostly 9mm but some 38 spl and 45 acp. Just this month, in two weeks of April I have shot just shy of 800 rounds. Three matches and two practice sessions. One more match this month and 2 or 3 more practice sessions to go.
 
If you don't already have one, get a PCC 9mm. They eat through ammo quickly. I shot pistol and PCC Sat. at a steel challenge and went through 350 rounds. Of course if I wasn't so terrible with a pistol that would have been about 50 or more less.
 
Walkalong said:
They don't sell my two favorite loads in factory form either.
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What are your 2 favorite 9mm loads?

The reason I'm asking is I purchased a CZ75 compact and I'm expanding my reloading horizon from rifle only into pistol. I didn't even bother doing any cost analysis like the OP, I just called Dillon and said ring me up for a caliber conversion kit.

The only real way to save any money:

1. stop reloading
2. sell all your reloading equipment
3. take up gardening
 
I Figure it this way. If you can buy it cheaper than 3/4 the cost of components it is not worth reloading it at the time. BUT you still can reload some and find loads that are good when supplies are available. Next stock up on components slowly over time until you have enough to last, say 4 years of your average shooting and then only make the loads you can't otherwise buy. Do this until the price goes up or supplies dry up and you have to start reloading to shoot. Then you will be really glad you preplanned.
 
Nature Boy said:
What are your 2 favorite 9mm loads?
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A 90 Gr JHP at around 1450 FPS from a 5" barrel. (Makes around 1275 from a 3" barrel) (Nicknamed Little Lasers)

A 124 Gr bullet (usually plated) at around a leisurely 1050 FPS from a 5" barrel. What I shoot the most of.
 
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