Whiskey11,
The WWB I was quoting was $29 per 100. Reloading .40SW is a lot harder to beat commercial than the prices you quoted for your 45 by a factor of almost two. I just put what I pay into a spreadsheet and divide by rounds loaded. I have fixed costs (press, dies, primer cleaner, crimp dies...) and components (primers, powder, bullets). I need to shoot about 2000-2500 rounds of .40SW to break even and get to the point where my stuff is paid for. On the other side of your .45 ACP, I load .454 and .45LC. .454 is about $1.16 a round commercial and I will need about 700 rounds to break even. By the time I hit 5000 rounds I will be at $.31/round. I need to look at the .380 and see if it's even worth it to ever reload.
Cost per round is overall key factor to me for ever starting reloading. In many ways it's just cost cost per mile for a car. Always goes down but at some point you'll buy a new one anyway. For me the best economics are the Pro 1000. Couple of years from now I may be shooting more and want to move up. Or less and that Herter's No 3 might be just fine.
The WWB I was quoting was $29 per 100. Reloading .40SW is a lot harder to beat commercial than the prices you quoted for your 45 by a factor of almost two. I just put what I pay into a spreadsheet and divide by rounds loaded. I have fixed costs (press, dies, primer cleaner, crimp dies...) and components (primers, powder, bullets). I need to shoot about 2000-2500 rounds of .40SW to break even and get to the point where my stuff is paid for. On the other side of your .45 ACP, I load .454 and .45LC. .454 is about $1.16 a round commercial and I will need about 700 rounds to break even. By the time I hit 5000 rounds I will be at $.31/round. I need to look at the .380 and see if it's even worth it to ever reload.
Cost per round is overall key factor to me for ever starting reloading. In many ways it's just cost cost per mile for a car. Always goes down but at some point you'll buy a new one anyway. For me the best economics are the Pro 1000. Couple of years from now I may be shooting more and want to move up. Or less and that Herter's No 3 might be just fine.