Just a reminder to why we reload.

[BigBore45]

So i was figuring cost per round for my 45 acp rounds and this is what i get


Bullets cast 230 grain lead i cast my own: $5.50 per 100

Lube PC harbor frieght red: $8 per 1000

bullet total $6.30 per 100

Cases once fired $44 per 500 divided into 12 reloads.

i can get 15 to 20 reloads on brass but i do loose a few brass in the grass: and i had to cover shipping for the brass
do get a lot of free brass at the range though. which i did not figure in. (saves roughly a penny a round with free brass.)

Powder ( im gonna pay $26 per lb to cover hazmat on primers and powder ordered at 8lbs at a time and 12k primers) $26 per lb
( powder charge is 5 grains )

Primers $20 per 1000 ( ginex primers )

total per round is $0.10 per round or $5.08 per box of 50 or $50.79 for 500 rounds.

I did leave out electricity and labor of course but in my free time i would most likely be using electricity anyways on something else.


cheapest i can find steel cased is .25 cents a round without shipping cost. makes it all worth while, and my ammo is way more accurate than steel cased junk. really see the saving with my .45 colt and .308 Winchesters with factory ammo running at or over a dollar per round

 

[Paddy]

I figured mine recently and came out to about .06$ea somehow. Oh probably because didn't figure Powder coat or used brass as I seem to find enough to keep up with loses on that.

 

[BigBore45]

yeah and im high on the lead and powder. but those are the current prices. my real cost would be around .07-.08 cents per round. using supply i still have. free wheel weights and 80 dollars for 8lbs or promo

Wish i could find some more Alliant Promo

 

[horsemen61]

I Reload because it's cheaper that's why I started

 

[joem1945]

I started reloading to save a bit of money. I found I liked it so saving money is no longer my concern, I just enjoy doing it.

 

[Reloadron]

I load primarily, first and foremost, to make more accurate ammunition tuned to my rifles than I can not buy. I load handgun simply because I am setup to do it. Anyway, some of the rifle ammunition I load isn't always going to be cheaper or cost less than what I can but but will shoot better in my guns. So I do not reload or hand load because it cost less or saves me money.

Ron

 

[kcofohio]

Good job BigBore45!

I don't know how much I have "saved".

I do know the fact that I like to make my own loads the way I want, and am not beholden to who has what in stock. I do like that freedom!

As for casting my own. I haven't found a cheap supply of lead in these parts, or I would have.

 

[Paddy]

I started because of cost also. What I found is that I've spent maybe 3000$ on reloading which is much more than my previous lifetime total of ammo expediture. But, I also enjoy it and I also get to shoot more. Shooting has practically become the burden to getting more brass to load lol. I never would've predicted.

But, after all of the time, money and space dedicated to it, it's nice to self justify a little with those 5$/box calculations

 

[X-Ring]

Reloading will give a shooter a better understanding of components, ballistics, and firearms in general. I can not say that anyone that doesn’t reload is not a good shoot, but the best shooters I know are reloaders.
Do you guys realize how many shooters at public ranges do not know that there are different types of smokeless powder? Or that the case is most likely not completely full of powder? The only thing many of them know is that when they pull the trigger the gun goes off.
I am not saying you have to be a mechanic to drive a car, but it sure doesn’t hurt to know how to change a tire.

 

[Bronx kid]

I started reloading to get the most accurate load for my pistol. Developing them is fun, & relaxing. It's the shooter that needs help. Saving money wasn't even a consideration.

 

[lvl1trauma]

25 years ago or so I loaded a little over 1,000 .38 cases- single stage no less! Not counting the cost of the cases- most of which I picked up at the range- I was at 3.2 cents a round. Compared to what that would have cost me to buy loaded USA 130 grain ball, the savings paid for my press. I have done that many times over except on the dillon now. I cast my own so the cost of ammo is probably still no more than 3.5 to 4 cents a round.

 

[Reloadron]

Reloading will give a shooter a better understanding of components, ballistics, and firearms in general. I can not say that anyone that doesn’t reload is not a good shoot, but the best shooters I know are reloaders.
Do you guys realize how many shooters at public ranges do not know that there are different types of smokeless powder? Or that the case is most likely not completely full of powder? The only thing many of them know is that when they pull the trigger the gun goes off.
I am not saying you have to be a mechanic to drive a car, but it sure doesn’t hurt to know how to change a tire.

When I go to my indoor range I see two classes or types of shooters. There are guys like me who have been enjoying the shooting sports for many decades and are not just enthusiast rifle and handgun shooters but also have been rolling our own ammunition for years. The other group is the CCW group whose only experience with a gun is using it as a defensve weapon CCW. Here in Ohio CCW has only been popular maybe 8 years so by shooting standards it really is brand new. The CCW people come in, tape a target and typically shoot a box of factory ammunition using a single gun. They have no interest in the brass. They also likely will shoot just one single gun. Many have little to no desire to learn more than what they learned in a CCW class and are not what I would call shooting enthusiast. They may shoot an hour a month if that.

Just My Take....
Ron

 

[theleo]

My cheapest reloads are 38 specials at 6 cents a round. My biggest savings is reloading 45-90's. Honestly reloading for me is just habit. My dad always reloaded and he taught me how to reload, then he gave the wildcat bug.

 

[bullseye308]

I started loading about 25 years ago to save money. I got a Lee anniversary kit for my birthday and started loading 30-30 for my Marlin 30AS and Contender. I saved lots of money and got to shoot a lot more. I loaded probably 10,000 rounds on that single stage and then lost everything in a fire. 12 years later I got back into shooting and reloading and with 3 kids and a mediocre job I had to reload to shoot. I loaded about 16,000 rounds per year up till a couple years ago and cast my own bullets with free lead from Craigslist.
My pistol loads run $40/1000 for 9, 38, 357, 40, & 45. I pick up every piece of brass at the range and what I don't need I trade for what I do. I'm thrifty and save a penny every chance I can, and I still like to shoot.
My reloads are tailored to each pistol and are extremely accurate. My load for my Ruger GP-100 has over 3500 rounds with no barrel cleaning and just a light gray wash in it. My Astra A-100 9mm shoots 30-06 cases at 65'-75' all day long, so I get the best of both worlds, accurate and affordable.

 

[WestKentucky]

Buying projectiles makes it tough, but I'm at a point now where I have so much cast lead that it doesn't make sense to start casting, and what I'm needing is all jacketed anyway. Today I spent 32 bucks after shipping on 200 .224 projectiles. That will use up about 1/2 pound of powder, so now I'm at 45 bucks, add 8 bucks in primers, and 4 bucks in brass (assuming I get 5 loads from .223) 57 bucks for 200 rounds or 27.5 cents per shot. Makes me sick to think about loading these tsx .284 bullets that were 60 cents each.

Now on the flip side of the coin, loading 9mm, 38 spl, or 357mag...30 bucks for 500 cast bullets, 20 bucks in primers, 20 bucks in powder, 5 bucks in cases assuming I get a few loads...75 bucks for 500 rounds or 15 cents a shot. It's actually considerably less for me since I got most of my cast lead basically free in a big bench buy a few months ago. Still have about 3000 9mm bullets to go through.

 

[WestKentucky]

One more route to consider here are my oddballs. .256 win mag is about 3 bucks a shot to buy loaded ammo...when you can even find it. I'm loading it at 20 bucks per hundred bullets, 1 dollars worth of powder for those hundred bullets, and I'm snagging my own .357 mag cases to form them. I'm at 25 bucks per hundred, or about 92% off of the price of loaded ammo. 7-30waters is not nearly as much of a savings, and neither is .308 cetme, but again I'm loading at a fraction of the cost of loaded ammo.

 

[GLOOB]

I started because of cost also. What I found is that I've spent maybe 3000$ on reloading which is much more than my previous lifetime total of ammo expediture.

True, but this isn't even figuring out the biggest source of savings. The average reloader probably buys a heck of a lot more ammo at a time than non-reloaders. By the time we get around to using up our current supplies, who knows how much ammo will cost by then? All you need to do is get bored of reloading for a few years, and next thing you know you'll be sitting on a jackpot.

When I started reloading I did some simple calculations. I purchased the exact amount of components where the total cost of components plus gear = the cost of that much factory ammo. It wasn't all that much to get there. But yeah, I shot that up in about 1/10th the time factory ammo might have lasted.

 

[VINTAGE-SLOTCARS]

I started reloading in 1973 when I bought my first Ruger 45lc blackhawk. The cost of ammo to feed it was high back then. I would'not be able to afford shoot it and other big bore guns if I didn't cast and reload my own ammo.

 

[jmorris]

I get my lead out of berms after matches while people are picking up brass. Use a nut wizard to pick brass up while other shooters are shooting (set it down to tape).

After that it's $20.80/1000 for primers, $7.50/1000 for hi-tek coating and almost $13/1000 on powder. $41.30/1000 not counting time.

 

[AnselHazen]

I haven't been into it very long but I sure do have that money under the mattress feeling.

 

[Parman]

I enjoy reloading to save a little money and pass time on cold winter days and foul weather days. Great way to spend the day relaxing dong something I like to do.

 

[Candyman87]

Right now I'm not reloading 9mm since I'm only saving a penny or two a round (I don't cast yet, and my last order of factory 9mm was $0.19 a round!) and I'm not reloading .45 either (once again, only saving a nickel or so around... last order was at $0.26 a round).

Right now my big money savers are .303 British, .30-06, .38 Special, and .380.

But these days, I just enjoy reloading.

 

[Kingcreek]

I started reloading and high volume shooting 30 years ago. Its been at least 25 years since I tried to estimate the cost and gave up. I've sorted barrels of brass, cast thousands of bullets, picked and scrounged and hoarded until I don't care anymore. I have realized that its going to take a serious commitment to shoot all of what I have before I die, and I hope that isn't for quite a while!
I'm still using primers marked $12.00 per thousand, I have 5 gal buckets full of brass and coffee cans and ammo cans and shelves full of bullets. I just finished up a 1# metal can of IMR4895 that was marked $10.50 and I have another full metal one before I'm into the plastic. Still have cardboard canisters of bullseye and unique.

 

[627PCFan]

I wish I could break even with 45.I have to buy brass, not enough around to scrounge at my range and I figure i only get back 15-20% of my empties. Now my 45 reloading is reserved for specialty loading only.

 

[GBExpat]

When my Dad first taught me Reloading Math in the late '60s, for 7.92x57 rounds the "line" was ~5¢/round; if I could find 8mm mmo for about a nickle apiece, I was better-off (financially) buying rather than reloading.

Actually, that "line" was accurate for many years.