Buying New Brass vs New Ammo and Reusing Brass.

[theothermike]

I picked up 100 new starline 45 Colt cases for $25 at cabellas the other day, with loaded ammo going for $40 a box the choice isn't hard

 

[rg1]

One good example of best to buy factory ammo and reload the brass being the best option is in 6.5 Grendel. New Hornady brass runs about $78 per 100. Factory loaded 123 A-Max or SST cost is $21-$24 per box of 20 or $105 for great shooting ammunition. It's hard to beat the factory accuracy. Now add a 100 bullets, primers, and powder and it is cheaper to buy factory. Lapua and Norma 6.5 Grendel brass is even more expensive at about $104 for 100 new cases. Plus my reloads are very close to factory without any correction to sights needed. Some cases it's best to buy factory loads for the brass. For $78/100 empty brass or $105 for loaded factory it's an easy decision.

 

[alexcue]

For 45 Colt I just bought new Starline brass. You could go the route of buying the cheapest cowboy loads out there (relatively speaking) and save the brass. Brass for 45 Colt should last a good while so I didn't mind buying new, and it's tough to find at the range here. It seems pretty expensive to buy as well so your savings add up fast.

-Jeff

That's me! I think I bought some .45 Colt from Freedom Munitions, but it's still sitting there. I just bought the Starline brass and reuse it. Most of the revolver loads aren't found at the range like I can for auto's. Those I get all the time. Rifle is pretty much the same, I buy some factory loads and reuse them. My .45-70 is the exception, it's never seen factory ammo. Only my loads.

Which brings me to... .300 Wby sadly I usually pay for the factory stuff, but I get a few reloads out of the brass before I have to toss them.

 

[blue32]

I generally don't buy pistol brass with exceptions for pre-20th century rounds and 32 auto. For rifles, I buy brass because I hate spending 1.50+ per cartridge and not knowing where it hits at x yards.

 

[DeadEye9]

I bought new brass for my 357 and 44mag because I wanted to shoot softer than the full house loads, and the brass is easy to collect. Never did a cost analysis to see if buying new ammo would have been cheaper. But then I didn't want to shoot full house loads either, or go through enough factory loads to get the amount of brass I wanted.

Now for my wife's 380, it looks like buying new ammo and just reusing the brass is cheaper for several reasons, the biggest being, much of her brass runs out onto the range and can't be retrieved.

What kind of decision points do you guys use to determine whether to buy new brass, or just new ammo to build up your brass stockp

First I might mention that if you don't want full power loads in your .357 and .44 mag why not try .38 and .44 Special? They're both very soft in a factory load.
Anyway, when I need to refresh my brass stocks for a given caliber I typically decide how to do so based on current market prices and overall availability. For something common like .223, 9mm, .45 ACP I can get loaded ammo in commercial brass cases for about the same price as new brass in those calibers. (For instance in my area Winchester Or Federal 9mm is $12-13/50rds, .45 is $14-16/50 and .223/5.56 is $6-7/20rds.)
Even for some of the uncommon large rifle loads I shoot is cheaper/easier to buy loaded ammo than plain brass. (Example .300 Savage. I can get loaded ammo at LGS, Cabellas, Dicks etc From Hornady or Federal/Remington at $25-30/20rds, none of these places sell the brass, and online brass is $1 per case + shipping)
So often times in my opinion it is foolish to buy just new brass. This is especially true if you are just loading regular range use ammo.
The only time I have decided to buy new brass is when building match accuracy loads and also for developing "off the charts" loads. For developing match loads I like Nosler brass or their SSA line. The fit and finish is perfect and it's beautiful to look at. For my high power custom pistol loads, I use Starline brass. I do this because I know there won't be any weakness from wear and also it is known to be strong, quality brass. Neither of these two types of loads are something I do in large volume so the cost issue isn't really a factor there. For everything besides these two specialty purposes though I personally do not buy new brass. Even aside from buying ammo, many times local ranges do not mind you taking Brass from there, as many shooters do not reload and just dump theirs in the buckets. It may involve some sorting work on your end, but I get a ton of free brass that way. In fact since no one at one of our local ranges will touch IMT/Freedom munitions 9mm brass, they save it all for me and I haven't had to worry about brass for my action pistol and target loads for over a year now. Doesn't cost me a penny. So also in addition to buying brass or loaded ammo, get creative! Everyone said this brass, which was getting tossed way by the thousand, was no good. I did some testing and found it works perfectly fine with standard target loads and my Glocks and in doing so found a near endless supply of free 9mm brass. It pays to look at all the options/angles and make an informed decision. Also things change with time; what I do this month may be different 5-6 months down the road if times change.

 

[Gearhead Jim]

For 380 bass I would just buy once fired brass.

Buying new loaded ammo is not cheap and the odds of you finding 50% of it aer slim to none. It disappears into black hole somewhere.

Just an example. you can search around. I know folks have purchased from this place.

http://www.evergladesammo.com/brass/handgun-brass/380-auto-fired-range-brass.html

Everglades gets good remarks, I buy my mixed .380 brass from First Class Bullets and Brass in Illinois, recent prices have been below 5 cents each and I got some of his on Gunbroker for less than 4 cents. They are used and occasionally one will be split or damaged but 98% of them are good and they have all been clean and shiny. With XTreme 100 gr plated bullets, I can sometimes produce ammo for 15 cents/rd and 11 cents/rd when reusing the brass. I find about 90% of the fired ones.
The G42 is so much fun to shoot that I'm burning up about 5k rds per year.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

I'm late to the party as usual.

The only time I buy loaded ammo for the brass is when virgin or once fired brass is unavailable. Most times buying the ammo will cost you more than brass, most times...

Exceptions do exist like with the 7.62x54R where the only brass available is very expensive while PPU ammo is not.

 

[cfullgraf]

First I might mention that if you don't want full power loads in your .357 and .44 mag why not try .38 and .44 Special? They're both very soft in a factory load.

Some folks do not want to deal with the carbon ring build up in the chambers from shooting the shorter Special cases in their longer Magnum chambers. Special level loads can be easily loaded in Magnum cases and eliminate the carbon ring problem.

Besides, at least for me, I save my 38 Special and 44 Special cases for shooting in my 38 Special and 44 Special revolvers.

 

[cfullgraf]

Exceptions do exist like with the 7.62x54R where the only brass available is very expensive while PPU ammo is not.

Yup, several years ago, I bought some CMP surplus Greek 30-06 ammunition where the cost per round was equal or
less than the price for new, unloaded cases. As a bonus, I got to "unload" it in the process.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

Yup, several years ago, I bought some CMP surplus Greek 30-06 ammunition where the cost per round was equal or
less than the price for new, unloaded cases. As a bonus, I got to "unload" it in the process.

I did the same. The price was right, I got plenty of En Bloc clips with the ammo and as a bonus the ammo was fairly accurate too.

 

[Hondo 60]

I tend to buy ammo for calibers new to me.
That allows me to get the feel of the recoil & chrono the ammo.

Then I have a good idea on the difference between my ammo & the "factory new" stuff.

 

[Mike Kerr]

The answer for me is dependent on which caliber we are starting out in. Each caliber is different after you get past the basic or standard "old stand by" .357 or 38 spl.
New brass for hand gun calibers is pretty much a waste as you can find very serviceable brass on the used market

 

[Decoy80]

I try to load any ammo I shoot. That said for several pistol and rifle calibers the cheap price for loaded ammo makes it cost as much to handload as ammo factories buy or make their own components. I have been guilty as charged for buying the cheap ammo,pulling the bullets and seating bullets I like better providing the grain weights are the same. 7.62x39 often. Buying brass is a necessary evil when your range is out your door. Once fired brass is an industry term, not a sure thing. 270 brass is cheaper than most and many cases can be formed from it.Military brass is the most labor intensive but they dont reload and if the staking is present it truly is only once fired. I have been on both sides buying used brass. Some really good brass cheap, and then the deals you would like to forget. I wish you happy handloading. I havent saved any money doing it but I know what Im feeding my guns.

 

[GBExpat]

In addition to reloading my dad taught me reloading math, the idea being that I should be aware of how much reloaded rounds cost me so that I can easily make an intelligent decision regarding whether or not to buy factory ammo.

Case in point: I have loaded no 7.92x57 ammo in decades (other than a few test loads) because when decent milsurp was cheap, I always stockpiled it.