Ok, I'll give you my results.
I reload for .45acp.
My reasons for reloading were the ammount of cash I was spending on factory ammo, and the feel of shooting someone else's reloads that were a lower power factor than factory.
To jump in, I got myself a lee turret press kit, some dies, and various accessories like a priming tool, case tumbler, calipers, etc.
To get everything I needed to reload except bullets, powder and cases, I spent approximately $325. That price even covered corn cob media in the form of pet bedding from the local pet warehouse.
The basic formula for me is
$15 of powder gets me over 1000 rounds
$15 of primers gets me 1000 rounds
$70 of heads gets me 1000 rounds (variable with teh current metals market, but that's about what I paid for the last batch of 230gr copper plated lead after shipping, jacketed run me about $78)
So about $100 per thousand if you don't count the time it takes you. with my cheapy turret press, I crank out about 100 rounds an hour.
cheapest amo I can find that I trust at the moment is S&B and a csae it $180 + S&H. There are a number of similarly priced and reliable competitors. The only ammo I've found cheaper is the various steel cased russian ammo and american ammunition, which I've found to be questionable enough it isn't worth the savings.
So I get ammo that works better for me form a competitive standpoint, so far seems to be more accurate than factory, and I only have to have $100 on hand and some time to get 1000 rounds. Granted, at some point I will ahve to aquire more brass, but lightly used 45 brass costs about $35-45 a thousand, and last quite a few reloadings in 45acp making 176pf.
To people's arguments that "my time has value," yes, it does. But try as I might, I can't seem to get people to pay me for the time I spend reloading, and short of working a second job, in which case buying extra ammo would be pointless without any time to shoot it, sweat equity is the only way for me to find more "money" with which to shoot.
that's .45
some things, it's a no brainer with.
.223 for example, unless you need to game some form of competition, there is no point. Basically the only reason to reload is for reliability ina custom gun, or a custom load you can't get at factory. It won't be cheaper on any measuring scale.
my .444 marlin on the other hand... ammo is basically over $1 a round. Even if I buy new unprimed brass every time, throw away any left over powder after loading 100 rounds, and load with pricey bullets I can still load 100 rounds for $72 compared to $105 for the best price I can find on similar commercail ammo. Even if I only get three loadings out of the brass, and I don't throw away the excess powder, and I stick with the high quality bullets, then it comes out to about $132 for 300 rounds as opposed to 315. Granted, in .444 that's going to take me a while to shoot that much ammo, but I will eventually, and the brass I ahve is from loaded ammo, so the cost is even cheaper.
major savings. Similarly, in .308 I can do do up a nice high quality round with brand new brass and match grade bullets for about $0.64 each if I buy new lapua brass every time and throw it away. If I do something more sane like buy cheaper brass and use it 3 times, it's $0.34 a round. That's under $7 for a box of 20. looking at sales at the moment, in that price range we have UMC at 7.86 a box of 20, and igman at $6.49. The ammo closest to the laod I'm doing the math on is $16.89 for a box of 20. Seeing as A range trip is anywhere from 50-200 rounds of 308 for me when I go shoot it. The only thing that beats it is surplus, which isn't as accurate.
Honestly, before I was buying a case of 45 every 2 months and shooting less than I could. Now, I either shoot the same ammount for about 55% of the price. Or I actually manage to get out and practice, in which case I shoot almost 150% of what I did for roughly 72% of the cost. In addition, I actually like reloading as it gives me something to tinker with that I can do at any hour of the day without disturbing anyone (well except tumble cases).
....hmmmm.....
