Cheap bulk 9mm

[chris in va]

I know the thread took an access road, but if you do decide to start reloading, be sure to just get minimum equipment for starters. Heck, I'm still using my Lee Hand Press after thousands of rounds. Let's me resize while I curse the Colts game.

 

[Fishslayer]

Are you going to be able to catch all of your brass? If not reloading is pointless. Huge time involvement and if you can't catch most every piece you are not really saving money.

I see you sell ammo...

I started out buying used brass (9mm is dirt cheap) & scrounging at the range. Now I don't have to buy brass. I've been at it less than three years & don't have to buy brass anymore. I count my brass cost as "$0."

Reloaders are still a minority and there's plenty of brass to pick up.

My reloading setup cost me less than $300 grand total OTD ready to roll. Loading .45ACP during the Great Ammo Drought paid for it pretty quickly.

Reloading 9mm will take a bit longer but the OP will have good quality ammo & not have to deal with steel & bimetal ..ummm.... "stuff."

 

[medalguy]

If you want to save money on 9mm you really need to cast bullets or buy cast. I don't cast 9 but I bet you could cast them for .02 each, I can buy primers for $15 per K, brass is so plentiful I'd never buy 9mm, and in fact I give flat rate boxes of it away because I have so much. Powder is about .005 per round. Total to reload 9mm? 4 cents each, $2 per box of 50.

Personally I use Berry's plated FMJ and my cost for 9mm is .10 each or $5 per box for excellent ammo.

 

[chicharrones]

I've been reloading and casting boolits since 1970 and at the time I got the bulk of my gear prices were low, factory fodder was junk and reloading saved a lot of money. Not to mention the advantage of custom made high quality ammo. And for obsolete weaponry it may be your sole source of ammo. Then there's the customization aspect.

I fire between 10,000 - 15,000 rounds per year (average over the years) so I've loaded my share. But hand loading is a hobby and a labor of love. Being a hobby like say, golf, there's no way you can justify costs. It's what you do that gives you pleasure and a sense of accomplishment among other things. It's like the Rolls Royce salesman told the prospective buyer, "If you have to ask how much it costs, you can't afford it."

Over the last few years, mostly because of rising ammo costs, several people have approached me about them getting into hand loading. I sit down with them, get an idea of what they want to do and calculate the equipment and material cost to load their first 100 rounds. The last time I did this was with my son-in-law and he was looking at $6.00 per final loaded rifle round. He simply didn't shoot enough to make it anywhere near a reasonable deal. $300 - $400 can buy the occasional deer hunter a good bit of ammo. And it doesn't take you away from your wife and 5yo son either. There is such as thing as "one hobby too many".

But hey, hand loading and casting are wonderful hobbies. And for me it's a craftsmanship adventure too. So if you got the cash, the place to do the deed and time to learn the craft safely then go for it. Just beware, once you fire your first batch of ultra reliable and accurate stuff you're going to be hooked for life. Catalogs will start showing up at your house, you'll start to get backaches from bending and stooping to pick up brass, any brass, and your wallet will be thinner and a good bit lighter. Which I feel is just therapy for that aching back.

Good post. Someday, I can foresee me having the time to get into loading my own. When the kids are all grown it will give me something to fill my extra time. Until then, I will pay the extra premium of someone else making my ammo.

 

[chicharrones]

If you want to save money on 9mm you really need to cast bullets or buy cast. I don't cast 9 but I bet you could cast them for .02 each, I can buy primers for $15 per K, brass is so plentiful I'd never buy 9mm, and in fact I give flat rate boxes of it away because I have so much. Powder is about .005 per round. Total to reload 9mm? 4 cents each, $2 per box of 50.

Personally I use Berry's plated FMJ and my cost for 9mm is .10 each or $5 per box for excellent ammo.

Speaking of lead bullets out of a 9mm, how many rounds can you put down the tube before leading becomes an issue?

I've been given cast lead 9mm reloaded by a friend and that stuff leads up my barrel BAD in less than a box of ammo. I've never spent so much time getting lead out of a barrel before.

 

[rellascout]

Originally Posted by ku4hx
I've been reloading and casting boolits since 1970 and at the time I got the bulk of my gear prices were low, factory fodder was junk and reloading saved a lot of money. Not to mention the advantage of custom made high quality ammo. And for obsolete weaponry it may be your sole source of ammo. Then there's the customization aspect.

I fire between 10,000 - 15,000 rounds per year (average over the years) so I've loaded my share. But hand loading is a hobby and a labor of love. Being a hobby like say, golf, there's no way you can justify costs. It's what you do that gives you pleasure and a sense of accomplishment among other things. It's like the Rolls Royce salesman told the prospective buyer, "If you have to ask how much it costs, you can't afford it."

Over the last few years, mostly because of rising ammo costs, several people have approached me about them getting into hand loading. I sit down with them, get an idea of what they want to do and calculate the equipment and material cost to load their first 100 rounds. The last time I did this was with my son-in-law and he was looking at $6.00 per final loaded rifle round. He simply didn't shoot enough to make it anywhere near a reasonable deal. $300 - $400 can buy the occasional deer hunter a good bit of ammo. And it doesn't take you away from your wife and 5yo son either. There is such as thing as "one hobby too many".

But hey, hand loading and casting are wonderful hobbies. And for me it's a craftsmanship adventure too. So if you got the cash, the place to do the deed and time to learn the craft safely then go for it. Just beware, once you fire your first batch of ultra reliable and accurate stuff you're going to be hooked for life. Catalogs will start showing up at your house, you'll start to get backaches from bending and stooping to pick up brass, any brass, and your wallet will be thinner and a good bit lighter. Which I feel is just therapy for that aching back.

+100000000000000

Well said!

I reload around 10,000 rounds of 9mm a year, 4k or so of 147g competition loads, and the rest being 124g practice/plinking loads, and over the course of the year, I save a huge amount just on 9mm. I shoot 2gun and IDPA almost every weekend.
Where you really start saving money is when you start loading 45ACP, 45COLT, 357Mag, ect, those save a ton of money. When you get into high dollar rifle stuff, you save even more, but really if you are shooting 2gun often, get a turret or a progressive and you will see the savings sooner or later and you will be happy.

I think what other people are saying is that unless you are a high round count shooter 9mm simply does not yield the savings to justify the time and the upfront expense. I personally shoot 9mm and 45 ACP. I do not have the room to properly setup a re-loading station so I buy ammo in bulk.

I can find high quality ammo like RWS which costs me about $190 per 1000 for 124gr and $350 for ACP1000 rounds 230gr 45 delivered.

One of the best points that has been brought up in this thread is that reloading is a hobby as much or more than it is a way to save money. You have to like the process or it becomes work. For many people the minute it becomes work the savings comes at too high a cost. That cost is not necessarily a monetary one.

 

[ElrodCod]

Check out aim surplus. I bought 1500 rounds of Aguila 124 gr. hardball for $317 & change delivered.

 

[rellascout]

I like Dan's Ammo. Dan's a great guy and is close enough to me so shipping is cheap. http://www.dansammo.com/ammo.asp

9 mm 124 gr FMJ 1000rds CASE $219.99 9MM 124 gr full metal jacket 1,180fps 1000rds. 20bxs per case.

And

Weapons world who has $10 shipping. http://www.weaponsworld.com/ammunition.html?manufacturer=132

RWS $209

 

[theglockside]

Honestly Walmart is the cheapest place I find ammo anywere....kinda sad. Federail FMJ brass casings 100 packs are 20 bucks. You could go with the tul if your using a glock. but if its a finiky gun like a kel tec you need better stuff.

 

[Dr.Rob]

For a while 9mm was so cheap it wasn't cost effective (factoring in reloading time) to run a press.

Ammo prices have swung back up, so I might start reloading 9mm again, I still have a bunch of bullets.

 

[Fishslayer]

I think a lot of people have already forgotten The Great Ammo Drought. For about a year or so the only people that HAD any ammo were reloaders. Remember the empty Walmart shelves?

It was grab what ya could where ya could. I get depressed when I think of all the FMJ range plinker .45ACP I have stashed at 2008/2009 prices...:banghead:

 

[97guns]

im still sitting on cases of X39 that i paid $79 for and .223 that im in for $99

buy it cheap and stack it deep

 

[reloader-1]

In all of the calculations for reloading, almost no one ever calculates time.

My time is worth something to me. I could be sleeping/eating/shooting/watching tv/playing sports/hanging out with friends etc. I work full-time, which leaves me with not much time after work to do all the things I want, and weekend time needs to divided among shooting/family/etc.

So yes, I can reload (I was actually pretty into it for a while, hence my username), but SHOULD I reload? Calculating 100 rds/hr (which is pretty darn fast on a single stage), I would save either $4 or $10 an hour using mgmorden's cost breakdown.

My hourly salary is well north of that, and I still think I'm underpaid. Why would I value my scarce free time at less than my work wage?

I don't reload, I buy cheap ($180/1000rds 9mm) and enjoy my time for other things.

 

[Fishslayer]

In all of the calculations for reloading, almost no one ever calculates time.

So by your logic I should count my fishing time into my cost per pound of fish?

Like fishing, reloading itself is a hobby. I just get ammo instead of filets.

Unlike fishing though, my ammo is cheaper than if I went & bought it at the store.

 

[chicharrones]

I think a lot of people have already forgotten The Great Ammo Drought. For about a year or so the only people that HAD any ammo were reloaders. Remember the empty Walmart shelves?

I only noticed the scarcity of .380 ACP then. Everything else I could find on the net if I couldn't find it in a local store.

 

[reloader-1]

So by your logic I should count my fishing time into my cost per pound of fish?

Like fishing, reloading itself is a hobby. I just get ammo instead of filets.

Unlike fishing though, my ammo is cheaper than if I went & bought it at the store.

Correct - if reloading is a hobby, then all arguments fly out the window. A hobby is something that almost never "pays for itself", but it does so in satisfaction.

That being said, for many of us, shooting is our hobby, and reloading is used as a way of lowering costs, which I disagree with. If you want to reload 9mm, go ahead - but you are probably doing it because you want to, and you enjoy it.

 

[tahunua001]

I generally pay extra for lake city/ATK ammo but I do make exceptions for sellier and bellot.

USA ammo usually runs the cheapest as it's lake city reloads but reliability is supposed to be up to milspec standards. for 20 a box though that's hard to beat