Do ammo prices have you considering reloading?

[jeepmor]

I'd post in reloading section, but relevance is in here for the person who may not be perusing that section just yet.

Do ammo prices have you reaching for your calculator to see if reloading is the way to go?

I bought a 10mm and just figured if I wanted to shoot it a lot, it was a sound long term economic decision to get into reloading. I started about a year ago, and don't have any regrets for choosing this path.

So far, I reload for 9mm, 10mm/40S&W and 45ACP. Just the 223 in rifle thus far, but plan on the hunting calibers before fall. It's easy to argue that I could have bought a lot of ammo with the money spent on equipment. But I can also state that I saved enough in one year of shooting nearly ~1k rounds per pistol and 300-400 .223 to pay for the equipment in savings relative to money spent on just ammo. Particularly with that 10mm round in teh mix.

If you have one of those "special" rounds like the 10mm, 454 casull, 500S&W and so forth, it is money well spent if you want to shoot a lot of rounds per year. The more exotic, the more savings.

 

[sansone]

10 years ago I put away my reloading stuff because .223 was cheaper to buy than reload. my other guns were rimfire.. month ago it all got dragged out of mothballs because of the huge jump in ammo costs. I wish I could make my own gas

 

[jeepmor]

I know some coworkers that co'oped together and make biodiesel. They are saving bunches of money. It is a viable future fuel, heck we have about 30 stations that sell it in Oregon already and most restaurants have contracts with SeQuential. All with a base product of restaurant waste fry oil. I want a small turbo diesel in my jeep so bad. Sorry, guns, guns, guns, there, back on topic.

I was reloading the .223 as my intro to the rifle calibers. It was cheap there for a while, but it's climbing like everything else. Lucky me, I saved all my brass. I like how it's only two die steps instead of three with straight wall pistols.

 

[sansone]

I put a new engine in my truck last year. should have installed a diesel. what was I thinking guns guns and more guns, yes

 

[hagar]

I have always reloaded for some guns and shot surplus for others. I could not load 9mm for what it sold for, but 10mm is another story. Now I will start loading for 9mm again if I cannot buy it for less than 15c/round. I always loaded my AR15 highpower competition loads, because shooting surplus at 600 yards is not even close to an option, and nobody sells 75 AMax or 80 grain Sierra loads loaded to 2.45. For my M1 garand matches I use Danish or Greek surplus at 100/200 yards, if I have to go shoot them at 600 yards, handloads it will be.

 

[poor_richard]

I just recently got into reloading because of the prices of ammo. Started with .308 and .38 Special. I anticipate getting some .223 as my next set of dies.

 

[Zach S]

Its not ammo prices keeping me from the range now, its time and space, or lack thereof.

I would have been handloading years ago if I had a place to put a press or two. I'd put one in the garage, but it needs a lot of work, not to mention the flying sparks (and tools).

Hopefully this fall I'll be able to set up a gun room. I'd like have two presses, one for .45 and another for .223. As much as I'd like one, I'm trying to stay away from 10mm and .38super till I can start handloading.

 

[wolf_from_wv]

Just wait til you see how much reloading stuff went up...


(Just wait til they raise the price of corn products...........)

 

[fspitzdorf]

I havn't bought factory ammunition in a decade... except for the Speer GD's for the carry gun... I started as a hobby to make something better... now i just reload everything when i want to shoot it... and i can put it together cheaper than i can buy... or if i want i can put it together better than i can buy... and i can put together any combination i want... that was the allure for me.

Shelled dry corn price was 3.89 / bushel at the co-op last week when i stopped for chicken feed...feeding the little feathery friends is getting more expensive every month... might be time to put some in the freezer... I pity the poor folks that splurged for the corn furnaces when corn was CHEAP... Forcast has it on the rise for a while... :banghead:

 

[ball3006]

I have been reloading for over 40 years....

I started to reload to make more accurate ammo then to save money. As C&R is my main interests now, I just shoot the cheap surplus ammo. My 60 years old eyes won't allow pinpoint accuracy with iron sights any more so I just shoot to have fun. I have geared up to reload milsurp calibers though, bought dies, for whe the surplus ammo dries up......chris3

 

[strat81]

Yes, I built the bench this past January and have been cranking out 9mm. Don't recall my price per 50, but I remember it was better than factory ammo. It's more accurate too.

 

[byf43]

Do ammo prices have you reaching for your calculator to see if reloading is the way to go?

I reached for the calculater back in '78 or '79!!!!!!

I was shooting a S&W mdl 39. (POS, in my opinion!) Sold it. Good riddance.
Bought a mdl 19 in .357. I was shooting it at least twice a week. Monday and Thursday nights.
At $14.00 a box (back then) I was going broke feeding that gorgeous revolver. (Like an idiot, I was throwing away the brass. I didn't need it!):banghead:

I talked with the man that owned the local gunshop and got my education about reloading vs factory.

Only after buying my K98k rifles, did I start buying surplus ammo.
Looks like I'll be loading for them, soom

Everything I shoot in centerfire, I load for.

 

[DMK]

Buying new components right now, I've never been able to add it up where reloading comes out noticeably cheaper than buying (unless you use lead cast bullets).

Maybe I'm just looking at the wrong calibers.

 

[M2 Carbine]

Do ammo prices have you considering reloading?

I started reloading in 1962 as soon as I started shooting centerfire, 38 and 45. It was either reload or shoot little.

There's been no way that I could have afforded to shoot the quantity and quality of ammo that I've shot all these years.

I have never understood why most shooters don't reload.

 

[M2 Carbine]

DMK
Buying new components right now, I've never been able to add it up where reloading comes out noticeably cheaper than buying (unless you use lead cast bullets).

Maybe I'm just looking at the wrong calibers.

If you are buying new brass, the first time you load the cost will be almost the same as factory ammo.
Once you are loading your own brass a rule of thumb is the reloads are about half of what the same factory rounds cost.

If you shop around and buy in bulk, good quality reloads can be very cheap compared to factory ammo.

The bullet is the biggest expense.

 

[Wayne02]

Question for you guys. How does cost increases in reloading components track against the cost increases we have been seeing in ammo?

Thanks

 

[M2 Carbine]

Wayne02,

The price of bullets, primers and powder are all steady going up but I'm not sure it's increasing as much as factory ammo. I've seen ammo that's doubled, and more, in price but reloading components haven't quite doubled in price, yet.

About a year or two ago the gun show price was,
Primers = $12/1000
Cast bullets = $34/1,000
Powder = $14/pound

Now,
Primers = $19/1,000
Cast bullets = $46/1,000
Powder = $22/pound


Reloading is more expensive but is still about half as cheap as factory ammo.

In just the last couple years the foreign ammo, like Wolf, Barnaul, etc was so cheap that it didn't pay to reload it. But now the foreign ammo has become so expensive that reloading is cheaper again.

For instance I load .223 FMJ for $70/1,000. I think the cheapest factory ammo, Wolf, probably costs twice that or more.

 

[BADUNAME13]

Don't need the calculater.
I'm near having the space for reloading... but I havn't bought much ammo in the last year. (Just .22's and some .45's)
Been stocking up on components insted.

 

[RNB65]

No, I have no interest in reloading. Been there, done that with shotgun shells and don't care to do it again. But ammo prices are encouraging me to buy a .22 rifle and maybe a handgun also.

 

[ndh87]

Started reloading a few months ago, bought a lee pro 1000, i think its already paid for itself. I've got the .44 mag and.45LC dies, .38 and 9mm will probably be next.

 

[morcoth]

Been saving brass...

cause I know that ill be reloading soon.. I have a $2500 windfall comming soon, and plan to setup a reloading area in my home office, and buy lots of components.

Ill be reloading 44 mag 45 acp/lc and .223 for starters.

Morcoth

 

[streakr]

As a cowboy shooter reloading is a necessity! Light loads mean the brass lasts longer. Wore out a Dillon 550 which was replaced at N/C! (Go Dillon)

I shoot 6-8K rounds a year and can load for half or less than cost of new.

streakr

 

[JLStorm]

I think about it sometimes, but I just buy my .40 and .45 by the case and it works out to around $10.50 a box including shipping. Its not cheap, but seeing as I travel so much the last thing I want to do is be stuck in the house on my day off making a 1000 rounds of ammo. Besides I tried reloading for a few months, I never got a reliable magazine full of rounds, it may have been me, or it may have been my reloading equipment (lee). One thing is for sure, if I try reloading again at some point Im going for the top of the line Dillon that is supposed to be able to do something like 500 or 1000 rounds in an hour...that would be worthwhile.

 

[Vern Humphrey]

I have a dozen or more Lee moulds, and an with my local tire dealer. I can still shoot pretty cheaply.

 

[Guy B. Meredith]

When I first began shooting handguns at age 52 I thought $10 for a box of PMC .357 magnum (stupid me--starting off with magnum loads) was okay. Eight months later I got into action pistol competiton and the economic reality made reloading mandatory.