Poll:do you handload or reload ammo?

[mstreddy]

Question for you guys who do reload - how much does it save on the popular calibers? I get that you can probably save some significant dollars on the Weatherby magnum type stuff that runs $50-100 a box, but what about 9mm that you can buy in bulk for $.14-.15 cpr? Or 223? I'm not sure what that stuff costs per round but I know it's gotta be pretty cheap in bulk.

IdaD, I haven't bought factory ammo in a while, so I don't know where I could get 9MM for $7 a box of 50 these days. The last good deal on 9MM that I saw was around the $9-9.50 range shipped, or at WalMart. Using that as a comparison, I am loading 9MM with plated 147 grn subsonics at around $5-5.50 a box. I usually load up 200-300 in a batch.
For 223, the savings are when I compare my reloads to brass cased plinking ammo. Not, the steel cased stuff. Similar thoughts on 7.62x39. Brass case vs steel case.
For other popular rounds - 45 ACP, 38 Special or 357 Mag. I can load 50 of them for around $6-7, compared to $13-15 factory.
308 Win, 30-30, plinking ammo I can reload for less than 50% of factory.
The savings on 9MM may be small, but I shoot around 4-5K rounds of 9MM a year. They can add up.

I'm now into casting, but I won't include that in these calculations.

 

[rpenmanparker]

IdaD, I haven't bought factory ammo in a while, so I don't know where I could get 9MM for $7 a box of 50 these days. The last good deal on 9MM that I saw was around the $9-9.50 range shipped, or at WalMart. Using that as a comparison, I am loading 9MM with plated 147 grn subsonics at around $5-5.50 a box. I usually load up 200-300 in a batch.
For 223, the savings are when I compare my reloads to brass cased plinking ammo. Not, the steel cased stuff. Similar thoughts on 7.62x39. Brass case vs steel case.
For other popular rounds - 45 ACP, 38 Special or 357 Mag. I can load 50 of them for around $6-7, compared to $13-15 factory.
308 Win, 30-30, plinking ammo I can reload for less than 50% of factory.
The savings on 9MM may be small, but I shoot around 4-5K rounds of 9MM a year. They can add up.

I'm now into casting, but I won't include that in these calculations.

I buy 9mm in bulk bags of 500 or 1,000, not 50 in a tray in a box, for under $8.00/50 delivered. Brass cases. Usually reloaded cases but not always. Usually not from a major manufacturer.

 

[Mauser lover]

Hope that answers some of your questions

Yes, thanks!

 

[Texas10mm]

IdaD, I haven't bought factory ammo in a while, so I don't know where I could get 9MM for $7 a box of 50 these days. The last good deal on 9MM that I saw was around the $9-9.50 range shipped, or at WalMart. Using that as a comparison, I am loading 9MM with plated 147 grn subsonics at around $5-5.50 a box. I usually load up 200-300 in a batch.
For 223, the savings are when I compare my reloads to brass cased plinking ammo. Not, the steel cased stuff. Similar thoughts on 7.62x39. Brass case vs steel case.
For other popular rounds - 45 ACP, 38 Special or 357 Mag. I can load 50 of them for around $6-7, compared to $13-15 factory.
308 Win, 30-30, plinking ammo I can reload for less than 50% of factory.
The savings on 9MM may be small, but I shoot around 4-5K rounds of 9MM a year. They can add up.

I'm now into casting, but I won't include that in these calculations.

Why not? My cast bullet 9mm loads are running under $0.05 each. .45 ACP is maybe another penney.

 

[Legionnaire]

My guess is that (1) there is a higher proportion of hand loaders on THR than in the general shooting population, and (2) a higher proportion of those will respond to a thread like this than the average member. That is, someone who doesn't hand load is more likely to ignore this thread than someone who does.

With 87% thus far indicating they reload for pistols, and 78% indicating they reload for rifles, I think my earlier guess was fairly accurate ...

 

[rpenmanparker]

With 87% thus far indicating they reload for pistols, and 78% indicating they reload for rifles, I think my earlier guess was fairly accurate ...

Looks like it. That is certainly not representative of the shooting public as a whole.

 

[PapaG]

With the tons of equipment I've accumulated over 62 years of reloading, a dozen presses, forty die sets, five lubrisizers, eighty plus moulds, and assorted measures, scales, trimmers, and so on.....yes, I reload and no, I doubt I've saved much but I have sure had a ball. Most of my reloading these days is for trap and skeet. Everything else is sporadic.

 

[mstreddy]

Why not? My cast bullet 9mm loads are running under $0.05 each. .45 ACP is maybe another penney.

I'm not including here - meaning this post discussing the comparison of reloaded 9MM vs factory.
My 9MM cast with purchased lead @ 1.25/# is running around $.06 for me. The .45s are just a little more. I'll be smelting and casting some free range lead I picked up soon.

I buy 9mm in bulk bags of 500 or 1,000, not 50 in a tray in a box, for under $8.00/50 delivered. Brass cases. Usually reloaded cases but not always. Usually not from a major manufacturer.

Some years ago, before they got really big, Atlanta Arms ammo guys would make it down to South Florida on the gun show circuit. I liked their ammo, never had an issue. But I had some various QC issues with three other different commercial reloaders. So, I quit buying factory reloads a long time ago. I'll stick to my own.
And, I use the 50 round box as a comparison. I've bought many 1K round cases myself.

 

[Trey Veston]

I started reloading a few years ago when I got into BPCR competition. Black Powder Cased Rifle. Basically, you take the old Sharps and similar rolling block style buffalo rifles and shoot at either animal-shaped steel silhouettes at up to 500yds, or the 1000yd bullseye competitions. Used a simple lee hand press to make those.

You HAVE to roll your own to get the max performance and to avoid ridiculous costs per round. That also lead to me casting bullets as well.

Moved up North and haven't shot in a match in years. Then I bought a Ruger Blackhawk Bisley in .45 Colt and started casting bullets for it and got a cheap Lee single-stage press. Bought a 10mm a few months later and now have gotten involved in GSSF matches, I pretty much shoot almost all of my own reloads.

I still don't know nearly as much as I should and consider myself a newbie at reloading, but my reloads are now very reliable and much more accurate than factory stuff.

I'm about to go to my loading room and crank out 100rds of 9mm plinking and CCW loads to see if the new G19 is going to like it.

 

[cfullgraf]

Reloading for me is a hobby unto itself. I enjoy many aspects of it from handgun to rifle to shot shell.

 

[rskent]

I've heard it said that the difference between a "reloader" and a "handloader" is that a "reloader" reloads so they can shoot more, but a "handloader" shoots so they can reload more.

I have always felt that a “reloader” is making rounds to shoot more. Such as a run and gun competitor. Trying to make enough quality ammo to be competitive at a price point. Or cheaper ammunition for practice or self-defense training.

And that a “hand loader” is crafting ammunition for a specific purpose. Such as a hunter that has a special load to bring down that big buck. Or a person in some accuracy-based competition with goals that can’t be reached with factory ammunition.

I am both.

 

[.308 Norma]

I have always felt that a “reloader” is making rounds to shoot more. Such as a run and gun competitor. Trying to make enough quality ammo to be competitive at a price point. Or cheaper ammunition for practice or self-defense training.

And that a “hand loader” is crafting ammunition for a specific purpose. Such as a hunter that has a special load to bring down that big buck. Or a person in some accuracy-based competition with goals that can’t be reached with factory ammunition.

I am both.

Come to think of it, I guess you’re right. I too, am “both.”

I was especially “both” back in my wife’s and my IHMSA days. We could not have afforded the 500 to 600 rounds of 44 Mag ammo my wife was burning up every month in practice and actual competition if I had not been a “reloader.”

But the 44 Mag ammo my wife was burning up had to be accurate enough to hit the 150 meter turkeys, and powerful enough to tip over the 200 meter steel rams. So that made me a “handloader” too.

Besides, my own IHMSA gun was a 7mm International. There simply wasn’t any factory ammo for it, and even if there had been, we wouldn’t have been able to afford as much of it as I was shooting every month. So that too made me a “handloader” as well as a “reloader.”

Nowadays, I’m mostly a “handloader.” I love crafting terrific ammo for our big game rifles. And I’m still searching for the “perfect” all-around, loads for several different revolvers.

I do “reload” a few semi-auto cartridges. But that’s just because I enjoy reloading; no more often than we shoot semi-autos, we can afford factory ammo for them.