Made one last powder run.

[AJC1]

Upstairs, buried in my paperwork somewhere, is a chart I made up on what I need to shoot. That is... what does it take to load, say, 1000 rounds of .41MAG? Certainly 1000 primers. 8000grn of Unique... just over 1#, OR 3# of W296! And then there's the bullets, of course.

It occurred to me that it didn't make any sense, for example, to have 5000 55grn .224" bullets... and 1# of H335. That revelation is what drove me to start buying 8# jugs instead of 1#ers... and to better evaluate my inventory of primers and brass.

Until we had that freakish bullet shortage 2 years ago. That was a first for me, but so was the TP debacle. Having jacketed bullets set aside is now part of my reserve, and I have lead for those I cast... if only we had reserves as deep as our brass piles

 

[dcarr]

Definitely agree. When I first started working up loads for .375 H&H, I went through a whole bunch of H4350 in a hurry. That big case takes 80+ grains of H4350 with the 270gr Speers.

I definitely wouldn't consider myself a high volume pistol shooter, but I could see how someone shooting 100+ rounds every session, with weekly range sessions would eat up powder in a big hurry as well.

i didn't think i was a high volume pistol shooter but i go through at least 100 rounds a week so maybe i am. Arthritis is starting to slow me down in reloading and shooting. Something i really enjoy though.

 

[AJC1]

i didn't think i was a high volume pistol shooter but i go through at least 100 rounds a week so maybe i am. Arthritis is starting to slow me down in reloading and shooting. Something i really enjoy though.

That's 5200 a year, isn't 5k kinda a dividing line for volume. I couldn't afford to shoot that much 357 from the store, but hand loading I do....

 

[Larry in wyoming]

I dont save money handloading....I JUST SHOOT MORE!

 

[Charlie98]

I dont save money handloading....I JUST SHOOT MORE!

It's a vicious circle, or maybe more charitably... The Circle of Life.

There is no way on this planet I could afford to shoot more than a box or two of factory .41MAG ammo every year... if I could even find it. Handloading allows me to shoot the .41's.. period. Same same with something like the .348WCF. Over Christmas, we fired 100 rounds in the Browning 71; 100 rounds of factory .348... again, if I could even find it... would be around the $500 mark. That 100 rounds cost me less than $100... and I didn't have to agonize over the cost every time I pulled the trigger.

So, it's not necessarily the money I 'save' by not buying factory... it's being able to shoot some of my firearms... at all.

 

[Larry in wyoming]

It's a vicious circle, or maybe more charitably... The Circle of Life.

There is no way on this planet I could afford to shoot more than a box or two of factory .41MAG ammo every year... if I could even find it. Handloading allows me to shoot the .41's.. period. Same same with something like the .348WCF. Over Christmas, we fired 100 rounds in the Browning 71; 100 rounds of factory .348... again, if I could even find it... would be around the $500 mark. That 100 rounds cost me less than $100... and I didn't have to agonize over the cost every time I pulled the trigger.

So, it's not necessarily the money I 'save' by not buying factory... it's being able to shoot some of my firearms... at all.

I own a 25-20. I feel your pain.

 

[dcarr]

That's 5200 a year, isn't 5k kinda a dividing line for volume. I couldn't afford to shoot that much 357 from the store, but hand loading I do....

not just .357 , that's a total of 100 shots made up of 9mm, 38spl, .357, .45acp and usually some .45 LC, I certainly could not afford to buy factory

 

[AJC1]

not just .357 , that's a total of 100 shots made up of 9mm, 38spl, .357, .45acp and usually some .45 LC, I certainly could not afford to buy factory

The 357 is my main round, but any round you shoot 5k+ qualifies. If you calculate 5+k of 45c factory ID be flat broke. I shoot a lot of it...

 

[dcarr]

The 357 is my main round, but any round you shoot 5k+ qualifies. If you calculate 5+k of 45c factory ID be flat broke. I shoot a lot of it...

I like reloading the 357 and shooting it in the blackhawk and henry big boy lever gun. Have made a small effort (not too serious) to work up a load that will shoot well in both guns .
Pretty miserable results
(usually in accurate)
but no stuck bullets or leaded barrels or blown up guns so doing good.

 

[Rimfire McNutjob]

It's a vicious circle, or maybe more charitably... The Circle of Life.

There is no way on this planet I could afford to shoot more than a box or two of factory .41MAG ammo every year... if I could even find it. Handloading allows me to shoot the .41's.. period. Same same with something like the .348WCF. Over Christmas, we fired 100 rounds in the Browning 71; 100 rounds of factory .348... again, if I could even find it... would be around the $500 mark. That 100 rounds cost me less than $100... and I didn't have to agonize over the cost every time I pulled the trigger.

So, it's not necessarily the money I 'save' by not buying factory... it's being able to shoot some of my firearms... at all.

Amen ... from a fellow 71 shooter. I can't remember the last time they even made a run of .348 WCF brass. I got a few bags of Winchester back in the 90's I'm still running.

 

[Charlie98]

Winchester kicked some out a few years ago, along with some factory ammos... maybe 10 years ago? Thankfully, Starline is now making... or at least cataloging... .348 brass... but you are right, there was a Dark Time for a while when you couldn't find almost anything .348 except bullets. ...and even that... Hornady discontinued their .348 bullets recently.

I've got... exactly... 350 .348 cases. I recently annealed the necks on all of them in the hopes of extending their life a bit. I've been loading some of that brass for nearly 30 years...

 

[W.E.G.]

I've got $407 worth of UNIQUE (nine pounds) scheduled for delivery tomorrow.
Been unobtainium of late, but popped up at Natchez for reasonable price.
Sort of like, "Here's your chance to go ONE MORE TIME old man!"
I love a good challenge.

I can't imagine that I will ever need to buy UNIQUE again for the rest of my life.
Already sitting on two jugs of 231. Big jugs. Not them little bottles.

While I was pondering all this, I did pull out the beat-up SIG 226 and dry-fire it a little last night while I was handloading 5.56 for the 2026 or 2027 rifle season.
If I even make it THAT far.

I'm old.

 

[AJC1]

I've got $407 worth of UNIQUE (nine pounds) scheduled for delivery tomorrow.
Been unobtainium of late, but popped up at Natchez for reasonable price.
Sort of like, "Here's your chance to go ONE MORE TIME old man!"
I love a good challenge.

I can't imagine that I will ever need to buy UNIQUE again for the rest of my life.
Already sitting on two jugs of 231. Big jugs. Not them little bottles.

While I was pondering all this, I did pull out the beat-up SIG 226 and dry-fire it a little last night while I was handloading 5.56 for the 2026 or 2027 rifle season.
If I even make it THAT far.

I'm old.

View attachment 1190635

With our mountain of components, it seams reasonable that we include instructions for what to do or who to contact for handling after were done...

 

[Charlie98]

I can't imagine that I will ever need to buy UNIQUE again for the rest of my life.

I've got about 11# of Unique on the bench. I'd like to think I'll, eventually, burn through that, but it may very well outlast me. Part of that is I have about 5# of Other Powders that I have to use up first, including TiteGroup, W231, and WST... which will take a bit. But even at my heaviest charge... 9grn Unique in the .41 or .45... that is 8500 ROUNDS of ammos.

To be honest... that $300 is a pretty darn good price!!! Nice score!

 

[ballman6711]

With our mountain of components, it seams reasonable that we include instructions for what to do or who to contact for handling after were done...

I gave my son some very specific instructions about my reloading supplies. Something like this... "I have this many primers, this much powder, this many buckets of brass, and a pile of bullets. If I die before you, it'll be yours. Do whatever you want with it, and good luck!"

He won't want any of it, and I doubt any of my other relatives will either. Once I'm gone it probably won't matter much to me either way!

chris