Justifying reloading -- 7.5x55

[Jolly Green]

I've been interested in reloading and sketched up an excel sheet to see if it will save me from buying .49 cent shots at SAMCO. I've read elsewere that by reloading 7.5 swiss you can drop it to almost 0.20 per round. I unfortunately found otherwise.

Heres the quick breakdown of it all:
Lee aniversary single stage -- 80.99
length guage/shell plate -- 6
calipers -- 20
Redding 2 die set 7.5mm -- 64.99

This puts my start up press at about $175 -- not bad


Actual reloading components

Bullet (sierra 30 cal 168 HPBT MK) -- 172.99/500cnt.

Powder IMR 4064 -- 21.99/1lbs.

Winchester .284 brass (to be resized) 56.99/100

primersCCI 29.99/1000

Adding this to the initial gives me around $455
(Thats ~2 packs of gp11)

Running cost:
Initial cost includes 500 bullets, 100 reusable brass, 1000
only limited by powder up to 500
than need to purchase bullets again
so to reach 500 it will cost around $70 more in gunpowder yeilding ~$520 start up
after that to make another 500 and reach my first 1,000 it will cost
$80 dollars in powder and $172 in bullets
This levels my running cost to ~$252 per 500 negating primer cost and
eventual brass exchanging
This produced $0.50 per shot

Please tell me I did something wrong or offer a way better solution

p.s. I think I may have confused grains w/ grams in the powder calculations

 

[Airpark]

Well, I guess I look at it a bit different.

You can measure life in dollars and cents....OR...you can measure life in the satisfaction of saying..."I did it!" Priceless.

There are some things that money cannot buy.

Just my $.02.

Bill

 

[Plain Old Bill]

Jolly- yes, to reload 500 7.5s - let's figure (just for example) 40 grains apiece of powder, that's 20,000 grains. There are 7000 grains to a pound...so I think we're a little off there.
Buy a Lee set of dies for less than half the price.
You'll need a bullet puller for sure, and eventually a trimmer, and....well, you CAN use this equipment for other reloading, and it holds its value well.
You missed the priceless part...those of us who reload and have learned over time to keep a fair stash to avoid the type of crunch in primers and powder you've seen over the past year have been very comfortably able to keep on shooting.
It gets even better when you cast your own bullets.....

 

[delta5]

What happens when the Swiss GP11 dries up? All thats left is one or two foreign brands. You will wind up buying those and reloading the brass (if it is reloadable...), or you will be paying high dollar for new brass. I had the same problem with 7.5 MAS. If you own these types of rifles, a reloading setup is almost a must unless you have VERY deep pockets. It would not hurt to invest in at least a Lee aniversary kit. Its a good press for the money, and it will come in handy.

 

[jcwit]

I'll side with Plain Old Bill, I think the guy missed the whole point of reloading entirely.

 

[delta5]

If I am not mistaken, GP11 is not boxer primed. Most people cant reload it.

 

[Jolly Green]

I'll side with Plain Old Bill, I think the guy missed the whole point of reloading entirely.

I don't think I missed the point at all. I was simply trying to receive input on my calculations and to see if I could reduce the costs anywhere.

Regarding "the point", it's different for everyone. For example, a frequent shooter might scoff at a collector for "missing the point", when in reality they each simply view firearms value differently.

For me reloading would be interesting and hopefully cost-efficient, but I am currently on a budget for my first rifle and ammo/reloading. Since it appears more cost effective to buy ammo, reloading is pushed on the back burner once more...

 

[delta5]

I seldom buy new .45 ammo anymore. I buy once fired .45 brass by the ton at the gunshow here. I watch for sales on cheap bullets for plinking. I do save a bit of money there and .45 is extremely easy to reload. Its cheaper, and I can control powder amount and bullet depth, something you cant do with new ammo.

 

[evan price]

Here's one thing to put into your equation:

There's only so much military surplus GP11 ammo in the world, and someday that 49 cent a shot stuff will be $1 a shot, or more, or unobtainable at any price.

A Swiss rifle is a nice match grade baseball bat in that case.

Secondly, buying that milsurp Swiss match grade ammo at that price will spoil you to the reality of what comparably available commercial ammo will do. It will not mbe nearly match grade, like the Swiss stuff. It won't be as well matched to the rifle. It will be made by the cheapest bidder. If you handload your own stuff, you can make the best load for your rifle at the same price as buying the mass-produced stuff at the store.

Never mind the fact that with careful selection of components you can then save a lot of money.

Startup costs of equipment (such as press, dies, etc) should not be weighed so heavily into the final cost of the produced ammo. We're not a business to justify the expenditure. Buy a good used press and new dies. The value of the gear is surprisingly high when resold if you decide to get out of it.

 

[evan price]

Heres the quick breakdown of it all:
Lee aniversary single stage -- 81
Lee Case length gauge and shellplate -- 3
Harbor Freight calipers -- 10
Lee die set 7.5mm Swiss w/shell holder-- $34


This puts my start up press at about $128 -- PLUS SHIPPING


Actual reloading components

Bullet (HORNADY 168 BTHP MATCH) $120/500cnt.

Powder IMR 4064 -- $130/8lbs.
(Charge of 42 grains per round means you need 3 pounds exactly to charge 500 rounds - IF you don't spill a single flake!) You're going to need 3 pounds of powder just to reload the 500 rounds that you are already buying bullets for. Best deal is buy a 8# jug of powder now that way you don't get dinged for buying individual pounds.

Winchester .284 brass (to be resized) 56.99/100

primers CCI 29.99/1000

Cost for 500 rounds will be $48.75 for powder, $120 for bullets, $15 for primers and $57 for brass (that assumes 5 reloads per case). Total $240.75 for 500 shootable rounds, 100 at a time. That's 48 cents a round.

Consider that the available 7.5x55 commercial stuff out there is around 75 cents a round- advise you start shooting Wolf Gold, Prvi Partizan, etc ammo and save all the brass to reload yourself. The Swiss GP11 stuff is Berdan primed and not easily reloadable in the US. If you have a stash of Prvi brass you can significantly reduce your expenses.

 

[jcwit]

Start up costs for reloading ammo should not be encluded in the price of shooting said rifle/handgun. Equipment costs are an asset and many calibers can be added and used on the same basic equipment. I currently reload for 24/25 different calibers, both rifle and handgun.

Looking at it another way, does one factor in the price of a rifle in the price of shooting per round? Haven't seen that happen yet.

Brass is also almost in the same category as equipment, because there is no way of knowing how many reloads one gets from a round of brass. I have some .223 Lake City brass thats shot in a bolt action and hase now been reloaded close to 100 times and still going.

Heres an example of my costs of reloading .223 match ammo.

Cost of primers $50.00 per 5000 thats .01 cent each
Cost of powder encluding hazmet $.12.00 per lb. comes close to .04 cents per round
Cost of Match King bullets $60.00 per 500 comes to .12 cents per round.

Total cost per round $0.17 per round or $3.40 per box of 20 rds.

Now then if I use cast bullets ie; for handgun or M1 Carbine cost per round goes down to less than $0.04 per round, or less than $2.00 per box of 50 rounds. Thats cheaper than shooting .22 rimfire.

I realize that if one has to pay the current price for components the pricing will go up, but then still nowhere near what loaded ammo costs.

 

[Roccobro]

Slightly OT, but I remember my first batch of GP11 ammo costing the same as it is now. From 5 years ago...!

I'd stock up if I thought they would dry up soon. THEN worry about reloading for it once I have 1k+ reserve squirreled away.

By then you will have moved on to another classic shooter and not worry so much, or not even be into shooting at all.

However, if your thinking of getting into reloading for (eventually?) loading ALL your calibers, then your equipment costs (and payback!) will be much more palatable.

Justin

 

[qajaq59]

Buy the PVRI brass, don't load it to max and it'll last a long time. I think some of mine went to 18 loads before I replaced it. Yes. it is boxer primed. Cast works well in those rifles too. I shot plenty of my own cast bullets in the K31 and they did fine.
Also don't buy the most expensive press, dies etc that you can find. The lee stuff will work, and once you've loaded for a while you will have saved some money.
But keep in mind that is a good size case so it is bound to use some powder.

As for saving money? Since when do we do that with our hobbies?

 

[Noveldoc]

Yes, got to factor in multiple uses of the cases.

And reloading is fun in and of itself. And you can quickly learn to make primo ammo custom for just your gun.

Sometimes I think I shoot just so I can have cases to reload. ;-)

Tom

 

[GRIZ22]

You're looking at start up costs, buying powder by the pound (the more you buy the cheaper it is), expensive bullets (WW 147 gr fmjs are about $185/1000 at Midway, you can find cheaper), etc.

You're looking for a way not to justify it. Spread the hardware costs over 40-50K rounds or more.

 

[ojibweindian]

Amortize the costs of your equipment over the period of time that you plan to reload. For me, that period of time is roughly 40 years. So, the yearly cost of the Classic Cast press is $85.99/40 = $2.15 per year. A set of reloading dies at $50.99/40 = $1.27 per year. A scale at $74.99/40 = $1.87 per year.

Assume that in one year's time, you reload 200 rounds of 7.5x55. Your cost total would be $219.58

bullets - 179.99/500 * 200 = 69.20
primers - 29.99/1000 * 200 = 5.98
powder - 21.99/7000 * 40.0 * 200 = 25.13
brass - 56.99 * 2 = 113.98
press - 2.15
dies - 1.27
scale - 1.87

Your brass assumes a one-time use then pitch. But because no reloader I know of trashes brass after one use, you can actually amortize the cost of brass per usage (assuming 5 reloadings) to around $22.80 per 100. 56.99/500 * 200. Using the amortized cost of brass reduces the price to $128.40.

200 rounds of SAMCO ammo at 49 cents a round will run you $98. However, that ammo is not customed tailored to your rifle. Nor is it particularly new. Brand new, out of the box 7.5x55 ammo runs $16.99 per 20 for Prvi Partizan. The really good stuff from Norma runs about 50 bucks.

I'll save the rest of the math for you to do, but as far as I'm concerned, it's still better to reload than buy commercial off the shelf ammo.

 

[falldowngoboom]

Your math isn't off, but as it's been suggested already, you can probably save a lot more money by shopping around and buying in bulk. You can also save that $56.99 by buying ammo until you save up a good stash of brass and then starting to reload (or picking up range brass, though that case might be hard to come by).

I think people are saying "you missed the point" because most everyone (in fact, probably everyone) who reloads, ultimately does it to increase accuracy and shoot more on the same budget. Some people (myself included) start out strictly wanting to save money but then discover just how much more accuracy you can get and how cheaply you can get it. So, in effect, you're not really saving money, you're shooting more and with more accuracy than you ever would if you bought all your cartridges.

 

[Duce1]

One is not saying the investment in the press and other small stuff is a mute point . Once the initial investment is made there are many other calibers to use it for other than the 7.5x55 to take away from the added cost of just reloading one caliber .

initial cost of dies goes down with the amount of ammo reloaded .

It should in my mind to finally come down to the cost of the brass , bullets , powder , and primers and nothing more unless you want to add the value of your time .

All others will finally pay themselves off after a small amount of time .

 

[NuJudge]

If I want to save money while shooting, I cast my own bullets, and use small charges of relatively fast powders such as 4198 or 2400. As I scrounge Lead and bought large quantities of bullet lubricant years ago, use Berdan primers and Swiss brass, my cost per shot is about:

Gas Check: $0.025
Powder charge: 0.043
Bullet Lube: 0.005
Primer 0.020

I can shoot about a 3 inch group with Cast through a K31 at 100 yards. I can do a bit under an inch sometimes with worked up Jacketed handloads.

You'll shoot a lot more if you learn to scrounge and buy in quantity. If you can't buy all of it for yourself, find someone else to split a bulk purchase with. It will not take much scrounging to come up with reloading equipment, much cheaper. There are times I buy Sierra match bullets, such as for the National Matches, but the truth be known I can't tell the difference between them and the Nosler's I shoot the rest of the year.

 

[qajaq59]

Anyone that thinks reloading is expensive certainly never wants to take up skiing or golf.

 

[RustyFN]

I ask myself one question, do I shoot that caliber. If the answer is yes then it is worth reloading. I haven't bought factory ammo in over three years.

 

[G33InMyPocket]

Take your set up cost (press, scale, caliper, etc) as your biggest investment. Reload for the other rounds that you shoot. That will spread your cost out. If you only plan to reload for one caliber it may not be worth it unless you shoot it alot.
On a sidenote, brass can be loaded several times. Take the cost of brass and cut it down to roughly 1/5.
YMMV.

 

[Claude Clay]

i am about 10% below gp11 using varget & sireea 168 gr.
gets me poa/poi at 100 yards
i ammoritse my hardware at 1 cent /round.

but your 50 cents is close enough.

cost effective is real nice for pistol:
13.5 cents per round for various lead 32's, 380 all the way to 45 colt.
add 1 cent more for plated--used to replicate sd velocities
add a nickle for jacketed--357 mag/44 mag etc

 

[NotSoFast]

Others have given you quite a bit of good advice. Buying once fired brass can save quite a bit as well. You lose one firing out of each case, but the savings more than makes up for that.

GP11 is Berdan primed. To me it's not worth trying to reload. That brass goes in my recycle box.

 

[Cosmoline]

Winchester .284 brass (to be resized) 56.99/100

Graf sells 7.5 brass.