Im sure somebody else has already said this, but I haven't read all of the posts. IMHO, most of the cost from factory ammo comes from the fact that they need to make a profit, you don't normally buy in huge lots (discounts on large orders and bulk ammo is normal), and possibly the biggest factor, the cases. For example, my 308 ammo costs around a dollar a round for cheap hunting ammo. Even bulk or steel case stuff isn't cheap. However, when you realize that just buying the cases cost maybe 70 cents a piece, it makes sense why the factories can't make it really cheap. When you reload, you can reuse a lot of these cases 10 times, so 7 cents a piece now if you take care of the cases. Basically, 7 cents case, 18 cents powder, 30 cent bullet and 3 cent primer makes my ammo extremely cheap considering all components are match grade and the accuracy of them is unparalleled by factory "Match ammo." The 223 loads I am doing are around .17 cents a round, so 3.40$ a box/20. Pistol is even less since most use less than 10 grains. I know 45 acp is around 4-7. Plus, bullets and cases are cheaper. If you get into 223 or 308, you may consider Lake city brass. its once fired, but only about 125-150$ for 1000. You can't really beat 1.4 cents a shot after reloading 9 more times which should be possible considering NATO brass is somewhat tougher (thicker) due to having to follow mil spec. Anyways, if you don't already have a press and aren't looking at doing an excessive amount of reloading, Id go Lee challenger kit. Theres an anniversary kit and a regular. Only difference is one has an primer mounted on press and other has a auto hand primer with shellholders. Its approx 80-100$. Youll need at minimum, dies (30$ range). You can get away without reloading tray, and several other things, but they make it easier. After powder, primer, bullets, and cases, probably another 30$ for 1lb powder, 30$ for 1000 primers, and bullets and cases for my situation are another 30 for 100 bullets and 20$ for 100 cases. 240$ going cheap. You can get a better powder measure, scale, reloading tray, etc., but its gonna run some money and unless your going to do a lot of shooting, stick with the cheap. Reloading tray is only 7 bucks and it makes your life easier. But good scales and measures can run over 150$ easy for the pair. Tumblers will also run some good money for a decent one if you want shiny brass so take that into consideration too. All and all, you will most definetly save money reloading in the long run, but start up costs will take a bit. Sorry if I am a bit redundant here, I can't remember what was in you post or mine,
GOOD LUCK!
Oh, and like the guy above me said, sometimes reloading doesn't save you money, but only because you SHOOT more since its cheaper per round. To put it in a universal way, you will cut the cost per round shot if you do some searching for good deals and don't try to go too fancy. But when you realize your only throwing a (talking about 308 here) .25$ bullet downrange instead of a 2 dollar bullet of less quality, you want to shoot more. Who doesn't?
