Exactly how much will I save reloading a....

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I spend more on shooting now versus before I reloaded for sure. Shoot much more now than before. It's 100% a con, nobody "saves" money by reloading. If I used to shoot as much as I do now, then yeah, I'd save over hordes of factory ammo (esp. handgun...) - but I didn't shoot a ton until ammo became "cheap" due to reloading and, eventually, casting. So dammit if I didn't cancel out any savings to be had, like every other reloading nut I know :D

I don't shoot less DUE to reloading by any means. Now I have all sorts of excuses to shoot... erm... test loads.
 
I spend more on shooting now versus before I reloaded for sure. Shoot much more now than before. It's 100% a con, nobody "saves" money by reloading.
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Speak for yourself. I can load pistol calibers for $25 per 1,000 rounds. I shoot more and still save money.
 
RustyFN, WV huh?

Born at Armours Creek (unincorporated), outside of Nitro. Loonnnng time ago.

Would you give us a component cost breakdown, please. When did you start reloading and how much were you shooting before reloading:evil:?

BTW, the best price I can find for LRNFP 38s 105gr(little lead bullet) is about $45/1000. Using my cost of thousands of Federal Small Pistol primers on hand, lets see; I paid about $20.00/1000. I use American Select and buy 8#ers. Thats about $100 using cost of whats on hand. Difficult to quantify the brass thing. Initial cost these days is about $20 and change.
Son, I need to go where you buy your stuff. My thousand rounds is gonna cost me like say $105.71.

http://www.handloads.com/calc/loadingCosts.asp
 
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Hey Red.

I started shooting around five years ago. I started reloading two months after I started shooting. I bought three 100 round boxes of WWB 9mm when I started shooting. I started reloading and haven't bought factory ammo since. Most of my guns have never seen factory ammo.

I bought 50,000 primers at $16 per 1K and powder for $12 per pound shipping and hazmat included around two years ago. I have around 1,600 pounds of free wheel weights and cast my own bullets. I have thousands of pieces of brass that I have picked up at the range/club that I belong to. I get most of it from ROing an IDPA match and GSSF match. When I'm lucky I get to the range while one of the police forces are qualifying and I pick up their brass when they are done. So basically all I have in 1K rounds of pistol ammo is $16 for primers and around $7 worth of powder.

Born at Armours Creek (unincorporated), outside of Nitro. Loonnnng time ago.
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I actually grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area. I moved to WV in 1996. I'm about an hour north of where you were.
 
Well, I am impressed. Really. Hey, if you can scounge that stuff up, you can save big time.

That puts you above Ripley and short of Parkersburg. Where do you shoot? During or after match time,you don't pick up brass down here.

When I was on the road shooting cowboy, any State, Regional, National or World was declared a "lost brass match". You could keep the revolver brass but thats all.

Used to cast a long time ago. 45acp/IPSC.

Shot some IPSC at Fort Harmar range in the 70s. Met Ken Hackathorn there.

You are the not the rule. :cool:
 
I search hard to find good brass prices or trade for the brass I need. I have bought some at the scrap yard but most I pick up from the range. I save big bucks from my reloading & shoot a lot more then I used to. Before I started reloading rifle I got a 17 HMR because it shot tight groups & I thought it was cheap. Since I started reloading I don't use the 17 HMR very often because I think it cost to much. I also enjoy reloading & it allows me to use 1 rifle for many different purposes. Another way it saves me is if I need ammo I just build it instead of having to drive 30 miles 1 way to get it & none of them are on the way to the range.
 
I belong to Fort Harmar Rifle Club in Ohio. During a match the RO's get all the brass. We don't pick it up until the match is over so we don't bother the shooters.
 
Man, I thought they would close that range years ago. First time I have ever shot up a mountain and with houses in front of me:cool:. Well, it seemed that way.
Remember an Ohio trooper that used to shoot with us. Shot in his duty rig. M19 Smith. At that time, he could reload almost as fast as Miculek. Can't remember his name but I watched him. Pity the guy who pulled a gun on him.
 
I'm anything but wealthy, I only reload with jacketed bullets, and yet I still benefit from the savings. Even now, almost 30 yrs. later, I still feel like reloading is a more economical option.
I haven't bought 500 S&W since buying the gun, but loading a box of 50 rounds of Speer Gold Dot for under $25 to me is a considerable degree of savings, especially when considering the average cost of $3 and more per round for factory. Granted not all cartridges are as spendy as the 500 S&W, but over all, reloading is a significantly better choice in more than one respect. Quality is untouchable, and that is enough reason for me.
 
When my wife started asking about all the reloading components being shipped to the house, I sat her down and showed her what it cost to shoot factory vs reloads. She was impressed with the savings.

She still thinks I shoot the same number of rounds however! I haven't told her I'm now shooting ten to twenty times as much. Hope she doesn't figure that out.:uhoh:
 
I for one have never claimed to save any money reloading. I do however claim I shoot a lot more for the same money spent. I shoot 4X as much as I could if I bought my ammo... (and the added bonus is very accurate ammo)
 
Without buying in bulk, I'm able to reload .45acp for 14 cents per round. That's assuming I have the reloading equipment and brass, and only have to buy primers, powder and bullets. Its hard to factor in the cost of reloading equipment and brass, because the more you reload the further you can spread those costs.

If you buy in bulk you can lower that number a bit, if you shoot lighter bullets you can lower it a bit more. The people that are WAY under that number (for .45acp, at least) have something else going on. The guy with 1600# of wheel weights, for example. The average joe isn't gonna have a ton of scrap lead on hand.

So me personally, I'm at 1/3 the cost of factory ammo. A box of 50 costs me $7. At the range, it'd be $20 + tax.
 
If you figure in the cost of purchasing the reloading equipment it's pretty hard to save anything reloading, especially for you guys with the Dillon set ups. You have to reload a ton to amortize that to the point where you will actually see savings. If I had known at 18 or 19 what I know now I would have invested in a nice turret like a Dillon or another good one and have been into the savings pretty deep by now.

Of course if I had known at 18 or 19 what I know now I would also be fairly wealthy given the number of upsets in sports I've seen.

If anyone wants to PM me with their email address I can send them an Excel spreadsheet they can use to calculate all their costs.
 
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