Cheaper to buy Factory Ammo??

[Mark_Mark]

And then calculate what it would’ve cost if…oh never mind.

Here’s a better idea, $.30 9mm. Pull it, then sprinkle 1gn of powder! +P+ load! Hog Stopper

 

[Buzznrose]

I am reading this thread with much interest. Thanks to all for a great discussion...

Long post for relevance...

In a previous life, I hunted for fun and shot for some enjoyment but never burned up more than several hundred rounds (300-500 max) of all shotgun, rifle, and pistol ammo in a single year. That was from 1982-1998ish. Then, I pretty much stopped shooting altogether until retiring from the military in 2010. At that point, wife told me to get into a hobby again, and I chose shooting, which I've embraced. My shooting interests are mainly beer league clay pigeons and pistol shooting...some rifle but not much. I mostly shoot .22 and 9MM. Some .45 and .40. Just getting back into revolvers slowly. Pre-COVID, I probably fired 4-5K rounds of 9MM a year combined on average, and up to 8K on years I'd attend training classes.

She did some shooting with me...even joined me in a Gunsite 250 Pistol training class. We shot a lot. She was always nervous any time I brought up reloading, so we agreed I'd stack up range ammo by the case when it was cheap. This worked for us for several years. Lived through the ammo cycles since 2010...

I missed an opportunity 2 years ago to buy a buddy's entire reloading setup (Dillion 650 + several sets of dies, stash of components, etc.)...still hurts to think about the deal I lost. Then, about a year or so ago, I decided I wanted to get back into reloading and had to convince my bride it was safe if done properly. It took several conversations, but wife came around. I hunted for equipment for 6-9 months. Finally decided the gear I wanted and bought it all online to get started loading 9MM. Total gear cost was right around $1,000. Over the last year, I've bought 4K primers and several thousand bullets and plenty of powder. I have a LOT of brass, so my cost to make a 9MM round is around $0.27, which is a LOT more expensive than the cases of 9MM I have put away. So why am I doing it?

Good question! Not one I'm sure I can answer rationally, but I will try to outline the points I keep coming back to...

1. I want to reload because I enjoy making stuff. I'm not particularly mechanical or creative, but I like the process.

2. I want to have the ability to make my own ammo...which I technically do but I'm NOT flush with components like many of you are. If primers get back down to $60/1000, I am going to start buying and continue to add aggressively as they fall This was my strategy with loaded ammo and it worked well. I'd love to be able to buy 50-75K SPP and a solid amount of the other flavors. But my reality now is I'm not chasing $100/1000 boxes.

3. I want to teach my grandkids down the road. I have a plan to get them into shooting...I'd love to get them into reloading too when they are ready.

4. It's about money, just not ONLY about the money. I have to be realistic. I am a frugal person...I prefer value to penny pinching when possible. I have always told folks that "guns aren't expensive...ammo is expensive". Buying factory or reload, the more you shoot, the less the price of the gun matters, and the cost of ammo it the limiting factor.

All in all, I am trying to get to a "blended approach" to my ammo needs. I want to be able to make my own ammo as needed, and have components on standby to meet my shooting needs for the foreseeable future. But I will continue to add factory ammo when cheap and plentiful.

Other that the fact that I didn't buy bricks of primers when they were $30/1000, I made another mistake...I should have bought a dozen cases each of the cheap steel 9MM, .223, and .45 when it was selling dirt cheap. I passed on $99/1000 steel 9MM when I was buying $165/1000 brass 9MM, but in hindsight, that dirty Ruskie range fodder works fine.

Just my thoughts...appreciate everyone's insights.

 

[Buzznrose]

Here’s a better idea, $.30 9mm. Pull it, then sprinkle 1gn of powder! +P+ load! Hog Stopper

Creative....

 

[WeekendReloader]

When does the cost of a .357Mag case amortize to zero? How many reloads before its considered "paid for"?

I consider any brass I pick up as "free", or "no cost", even if it is from a fresh box of factory ammo. If I didn't reload, it would have been tossed into the recycle bucket at the range.
When I calculate my cost per round, I leave the brass out. I guess I'm really calculating a cost per trigger pull.

 

[Buzznrose]

License? Not in Florida if you're hunting vermin (pigs) with the landowner's permission. Farming land is regulated by Ag, not FnG. Last time I bought one a season license was $9. Let's you hunt any of the regulated management areas in the state. Whoa! nine bucks! Wow! that'll break the bank! 150 pounds of meat versus a $9 license, $40 in gas, and a 50¢ .357Max. Yeah, hardly a worthwhile trade. I mean, pork is like, what? 20¢ a pound now, right? Last time I saw venison in the store it was... ummm... let's see, that would have been never ago, so it must have cost... nothing! Gator shows up every now and again but it's pricier than pork or chicken (we get hens from the free range egg farmers down the road) and it's always brined before being frozen. Ruins the meat, in my opinion.

I hear you, but most folks I've seen pay to have the game processed, which adds to the price.

I understand public land hunting...did it for years in Montana with decent success, but not every tank of gas equaled a critter. And other gear also adds up, as does the incidentals of the hunt.

Again, if you are close and have free access to good hunting land and are successful, butcher your own meat, etc., it can surely be a way to fill your freezer. But even here in TX, with the plague of feral hogs, most folks have to pay serious funds to hunt hogs, and at a cost much above the price of some baby back ribs or a nice pork shoulder.

 

[GeoDudeFlorida]

But even here in TX, with the plague of feral hogs, most folks have to pay serious funds to hunt hogs, and at a cost much above the price of some baby back ribs or a nice pork shoulder.

Now that's just wrong. Hunting vermin ought to pay, not cost.

Well, given the general consensus of the group, I guess we ought to just close down the reloading forum and make it all about where to get the cheapest boxed ammo. Right? Isn't that what y'all have proven, here? Reloading is a fool's sport that costs WAY more than it ever pays? Seems to be the general theme of the thread. Anyone who tries to say reloading is worthwhile gets pounced and mocked. Even hunting is now too costly and not worth the time or gas. Seems to be the course of the thread. So let's close the whole forum and make it all about mag dumps of cheap FMJ.

 

[gifbohane]

T

I looked into loading 9mm a while back, pre-craziness, and found it would cost me ~.50 cents more per box than factory ammo when it was on sale. Didn't make sense to load

.

I am sure that you realize that "Factory" can be 15 cent Russian steel or 30 cent Blazer plinkers, as compared to hand loaded Hornady precision rounds. "Pre Craziness" the cheapest I saw Factory was about 15 cents per and I could reload for less. I also recognize that prices today are vastly different than they were 2 years ago

 

[CQB45ACP]

No response?

Let's put this another way: some of us shoot for food. Ever price the cost of a whole pig, butchered and wrapped for the deep freeze? Good luck getting one of them with a pocket rocket 9mm using cheap blasto-mag-dump FMJ. Compare the cost of a full freezer of meat to factory hunting ammo vs. handloaded hunting ammo and let's talk real numbers. All y'all who just hunt paper are paying for entertainment. Those of us who hunt meat are getting something of value from our shooting hobby. Compare those costs, too.

Well I don’t want to shoot for food. I want to go to the range, hunt for paper as you put it, then go to a great steakhouse, rib joint, or burger shack on the way home, load up some more ammo and do it all again the next day. Buying ammo doesn’t quite thrill me like loading does.

I don’t care how much any of it costs…I’ll calculate the amount and perhaps try to get a better deal here or there (pickup as much brass as I can for instance), but I really don’t care what the amount ends up being.

Note: the eating part changed once I had a heart attack in August. Now meat is just a fond memory.

 

[Mr_Flintstone]

Well I don’t want to shoot for food. I want to go to the range, hunt for paper as you put it, then go to a great steakhouse, rib joint, or burger shack on the way home, load up some more ammo and do it all again the next day. Buying ammo doesn’t quite thrill me like loading does.

I don’t care how much any of it costs…I’ll calculate the amount and perhaps try to get a better deal here or there (pickup as much brass as I can for instance), but I really don’t care what the amount ends up being.

Note: the eating part changed once I had a heart attack in August. Now meat is just a fond memory.

Just trim the fat off and don’t put any salt on it. I know that isn’t much fun either, but better for you.

 

[GeoDudeFlorida]

Well I don’t want to shoot for food. I want to go to the range, hunt for paper as you put it, then go to a great steakhouse, rib joint, or burger shack on the way home, load up some more ammo and do it all again the next day. Buying ammo doesn’t quite thrill me like loading does.

I don’t care how much any of it costs…I’ll calculate the amount and perhaps try to get a better deal here or there (pickup as much brass as I can for instance), but I really don’t care what the amount ends up being.

Note: the eating part changed once I had a heart attack in August. Now meat is just a fond memory.

Dang that's a shame. After I had a heart attack and stents in 2019 the cardiologist told me to eat lean meats, including beef. Just watch the fat and salt.

 

[CQB45ACP]

Dang that's a shame. After I had a heart attack and stents in 2019 the cardiologist told me to eat lean meats, including beef. Just watch the fat and salt.

That’s what my cardiologist said too, but so far my nutritionist and dietitian (read: wife) will absolutely freak out in such circumstances. So, for the time being….

(I have just one stent—Inserted as I watched on TV in the emergency cath lab at 2:30am—literally saved my life.). The Lord has blessed us with amazing physicians.

 

[GeoDudeFlorida]

That’s what my cardiologist said too, but so far my nutritionist and dietitian (read: wife) will absolutely freak out in such circumstances. So, for the time being….

(I have just one stent—Inserted as I watched on TV in the emergency cath lab at 2:30am—literally saved my life.). The Lord has blessed us with amazing physicians.

I got four - three in the LAD and one in the cruciflux. The first ER doc gave me two nitro caps and four aspirin and called for an ambulance. He said it was the weirdest thing that I drove myself there while in full cardiac arrest and sat in the waiting room waiting to be seen. I flat-lined (just the heart monitor - brain activity was still wiggling ) three times in the cardiac ER but never stopped talking. Doc there said it was because of the nitro caps. They got me in for emergency stents then two days later put in one more. Four days total in the hospital. It was HORRIBLE!!! being confined for that long. Anyways, good lean meat and eggs are good for you. Tell you dietician that's from a guy whose "Widow maker" artery was 100% clogged and was still driving.

 

[CQB45ACP]

I got four - three in the LAD and one in the cruciflux. The first ER doc gave me two nitro caps and four aspirin and called for an ambulance. He said it was the weirdest thing that I drove myself there while in full cardiac arrest and sat in the waiting room waiting to be seen. I flat-lined (just the heart monitor - brain activity was still wiggling ) three times in the cardiac ER but never stopped talking. Doc there said it was because of the nitro caps. They got me in for emergency stents then two days later put in one more. Four days total in the hospital. It was HORRIBLE!!! being confined for that long. Anyways, good lean meat and eggs are good for you. Tell you dietician that's from a guy whose "Widow maker" artery was 100% clogged and was still driving.

And haven’t stopped talking, eh?

You’re blessed my friend.

Mine was the LAD too=100%. 36 hours in hospital for me. I screamed to get out so I wouldn’t catch Covid or something worse. Mowed the lawn three days later.

Doctor did say hold off on going to the range for a couple of weeks until any side effects of medications were well known. Not good getting dizzy on the firing line.

 

[Mark_Mark]

I am reading this thread with much interest. Thanks to all for a great discussion...

Long post for relevance...

In a previous life, I hunted for fun and shot for some enjoyment but never burned up more than several hundred rounds (300-500 max) of all shotgun, rifle, and pistol ammo in a single year. That was from 1982-1998ish. Then, I pretty much stopped shooting altogether until retiring from the military in 2010. At that point, wife told me to get into a hobby again, and I chose shooting, which I've embraced. My shooting interests are mainly beer league clay pigeons and pistol shooting...some rifle but not much. I mostly shoot .22 and 9MM. Some .45 and .40. Just getting back into revolvers slowly. Pre-COVID, I probably fired 4-5K rounds of 9MM a year combined on average, and up to 8K on years I'd attend training classes.

She did some shooting with me...even joined me in a Gunsite 250 Pistol training class. We shot a lot. She was always nervous any time I brought up reloading, so we agreed I'd stack up range ammo by the case when it was cheap. This worked for us for several years. Lived through the ammo cycles since 2010...

I missed an opportunity 2 years ago to buy a buddy's entire reloading setup (Dillion 650 + several sets of dies, stash of components, etc.)...still hurts to think about the deal I lost. Then, about a year or so ago, I decided I wanted to get back into reloading and had to convince my bride it was safe if done properly. It took several conversations, but wife came around. I hunted for equipment for 6-9 months. Finally decided the gear I wanted and bought it all online to get started loading 9MM. Total gear cost was right around $1,000. Over the last year, I've bought 4K primers and several thousand bullets and plenty of powder. I have a LOT of brass, so my cost to make a 9MM round is around $0.27, which is a LOT more expensive than the cases of 9MM I have put away. So why am I doing it?

Good question! Not one I'm sure I can answer rationally, but I will try to outline the points I keep coming back to...

1. I want to reload because I enjoy making stuff. I'm not particularly mechanical or creative, but I like the process.

2. I want to have the ability to make my own ammo...which I technically do but I'm NOT flush with components like many of you are. If primers get back down to $60/1000, I am going to start buying and continue to add aggressively as they fall This was my strategy with loaded ammo and it worked well. I'd love to be able to buy 50-75K SPP and a solid amount of the other flavors. But my reality now is I'm not chasing $100/1000 boxes.

3. I want to teach my grandkids down the road. I have a plan to get them into shooting...I'd love to get them into reloading too when they are ready.

4. It's about money, just not ONLY about the money. I have to be realistic. I am a frugal person...I prefer value to penny pinching when possible. I have always told folks that "guns aren't expensive...ammo is expensive". Buying factory or reload, the more you shoot, the less the price of the gun matters, and the cost of ammo it the limiting factor.

All in all, I am trying to get to a "blended approach" to my ammo needs. I want to be able to make my own ammo as needed, and have components on standby to meet my shooting needs for the foreseeable future. But I will continue to add factory ammo when cheap and plentiful.

Other that the fact that I didn't buy bricks of primers when they were $30/1000, I made another mistake...I should have bought a dozen cases each of the cheap steel 9MM, .223, and .45 when it was selling dirt cheap. I passed on $99/1000 steel 9MM when I was buying $165/1000 brass 9MM, but in hindsight, that dirty Ruskie range fodder works fine.

Just my thoughts...appreciate everyone's insights.

WOW! nice write up! appreciate it!

 

[Mark_Mark]

I got four - three in the LAD and one in the cruciflux. The first ER doc gave me two nitro caps and four aspirin and called for an ambulance. He said it was the weirdest thing that I drove myself there while in full cardiac arrest and sat in the waiting room waiting to be seen. I flat-lined (just the heart monitor - brain activity was still wiggling ) three times in the cardiac ER but never stopped talking. Doc there said it was because of the nitro caps. They got me in for emergency stents then two days later put in one more. Four days total in the hospital. It was HORRIBLE!!! being confined for that long. Anyways, good lean meat and eggs are good for you. Tell you dietician that's from a guy whose "Widow maker" artery was 100% clogged and was still driving.

I wish you good health! They don’t make people like you anymore . I mean that too!

 

[Mark_Mark]

Just trim the fat off and don’t put any salt on it. I know that isn’t much fun either, but better for you.

over 40 and people should supplement as much as you can!

 

[AJC1]

Now that's just wrong. Hunting vermin ought to pay, not cost.

Well, given the general consensus of the group, I guess we ought to just close down the reloading forum and make it all about where to get the cheapest boxed ammo. Right? Isn't that what y'all have proven, here? Reloading is a fool's sport that costs WAY more than it ever pays? Seems to be the general theme of the thread. Anyone who tries to say reloading is worthwhile gets pounced and mocked. Even hunting is now too costly and not worth the time or gas. Seems to be the course of the thread. So let's close the whole forum and make it all about mag dumps of cheap FMJ.

Some of us cheat and inherit all the reloading gear. Hard to beat those economics. It's also a hobby that doesn't require a full up front investment like a case of ammo......

 

[Mark_Mark]

Some of us cheat and inherit all the reloading gear. Hard to beat those economics. It's also a hobby that doesn't require a full up front investment like a case of ammo......

I think there is value in factory Russian ammo!

 

[CQB45ACP]

I wish you good health! They don’t make people like you anymore . I mean that too!

You’re too darned kind and you STILL have to pay for those primers I sent you!

 

[BJung]

Reloading even 9mm ammo is worth it to me. First and foremost, CA requires you to go through a background check with any firearm of your choice to buy even a small box of .22lr. Then, they go through a background check for every purchase. To me, the reason is to get an idea what guns you have so they can go after them in the future. So to me, it's better to reload and save even a few cents than tell the State anything. My second reason is cost. The primer and powder costs me money. The brass was free because all of it was range brass. And the cost of the bullets took time because I cast them and and to assemble the components. In the end, I have a pretty accurate load too.

 

[GeoDudeFlorida]

Reloading even 9mm ammo is worth it to me. First and foremost, CA requires you to go through a background check with any firearm of your choice to buy even a small box of .22lr. Then, they go through a background check for every purchase. To me, the reason is to get an idea what guns you have so they can go after them in the future. So to me, it's better to reload and save even a few cents than tell the State anything. My second reason is cost. The primer and powder costs me money. The brass was free because all of it was range brass. And the cost of the bullets took time because I cast them and and to assemble the components. In the end, I have a pretty accurate load too.

They what??!! Never mind. Not my state, not my circus.
Given all that you got to figure it won’t be long before some clever folks start taxing and tracking primers. Maybe even powders. Do you think that will change the calculus?

 

[Obturation]

I only buy ammo that isn't worth my time to load. Cartridges like 45-70 & 454 casull are often unavailable and when they can be found are outrageously priced. Similar situation with 357 mag, while it is more common, there's no way I'm p

 

[Mark_Mark]

They what??!! Never mind. Not my state, not my circus.
Given all that you got to figure it won’t be long before some clever folks start taxing and tracking primers. Maybe even powders. Do you think that will change the calculus?

We have a ammo tax too! but it much more that CA. It’s $.05 a round including .22 LR. In my short stay in Seattle, I’ve only bought 100 rounds of 10mm and only cuz it was $26 a box for 10mm JHP, were everywhere is $50 a box

 

[Mark_Mark]

You’re too darned kind and you STILL have to pay for those primers I sent you!

I’ll send you some fresh horse dewormer!

 

[Mark_Mark]

I only buy ammo that isn't worth my time to load. Cartridges like 45-70 & 454 casull are often unavailable and when they can be found are outrageously priced. Similar situation with 357 mag, while it is more common, there's no way I'm p

I would never or have ever bought 45/70, 454, or .357. Those are some of my fun happy shine rounds that I look forward to load!

Most of my gun have never tasted factory greasy ammo