Some good advice in here on the reloading side. IMO 9mm is not a round that saves much money at the reloading bench.
Not the experience I've had. Even the cheapest 9mm brass ammo runs about $9.50 per box of 50.
Now, looking at reload costs:
$15 for a lb of Titegroup. That'll do about 1400 rounds of 9mm.
$79 for 1000 Precision Delta FMJ's.
$30 for 1000 CCI Primers
Normally I reuse or get range pickup brass, but I'm going to assume actually buying used brass which runs about $30 per 1000.
So for a box of 50:
$0.54 powder
$1.50 primers
$3.95 bullets
$1.50 brass
Total for 50 rounds: $7.49. That's $2 per box saved when using pretty high quality stuff AND buying once-fired brass. If you do save your brass then drop the cost down to around $6 per 50.
Now, lets go really cheapskate:
8lb Alliant Promo Powder $90 (will do about 12,000 rounds)
125gr Bayout Bullets $67/1000
Wolf Primers $22.50 per 1000
Brass - reuse or range pickup
$0.38 Powder + $3.35 bullets + $1.13 primers = $4.86 per box of 50.
Now you're approaching half the price of factory ammo. I'll readily admit that 9mm doesn't show as much of a savings compared to some other rounds, but it's still plenty enough to be economically wise. Trust me, you'll find VERY few competition shooters (besides sponsored guys getting it for free) who shoot factory ammunition. Heck even the guys who are sponsored tend to use tailored loads from places like Atlanta Arms simple due to the fact that a lot of the mass-produced factory stuff tends to be rather inconsistent.
