question for reloaders??

[bullseye308]

I load for everything I shoot except .22 & shotguns. Many of us remember in recent times that no stores had ammo to be found. Many of us went home and loaded up whatever we needed to go shooting and fealt sorry for those that didn't have ammo to shoot. It's not just about cost savings, it's also about simply having ammo when you need some. Search here over the last year and look at all the threads about folks not being able to find ammo. You'll be amazed.

Like any other caliber, you can see savings in 9mm. If you buy cast bullets in bulk, brass by the 1k, and primers by the 5k, you will see big savings. One pound of powder(Bullseye) will load ~1400 rds of 9mm. I get Bullseye in 4# jugs for 60.00 locally. If you do that you will load 9mm for way less than WWB and you can really get to know the misunderstood little 9mm and have lots of cheap fun at the same time.

If you really want to see some savings, cast your own from wheel weights you got cheap from the tire store or scrap yard. Even at 1.00/lb for the lead, 1000 bullets is ~24# so you will have under 25.00 in your bullets. Now run the numbers again and look at the savings.

Here is what it costs me to load 9mm:
Brass = Free(range pickup)
Primers = 27.50/1000
Powder = 15.00/LB
Bullets = Free(Lead from craigslist)
My costs to load 9mm are 0.036/rd, or 36.07/1000.

Shop around for components and plug the numbers into this: http://www.handloads.com/calc/loadingCosts.asp and see what it will cost you to load whatever caliber you like.

 

[qajaq59]

Hey JC, since we're retired and getting a pension does that mean we're being PAID when we're loading?
If so, no wonder we like it so much.

 

[Jumping Frog]

223 and 9mm plinking ammo isnt worth the time to reload, IMHO.

Ditto what he said on the 223. Not much. The 9mm is cheaper to buy OTC.

My 9mm ammo costs me $3.85 per hundred (since I cast my own bullets). That is worth it to me for two reasons: (1) It is still about a quarter of the cost off commercial ammo; (2) When the stores were bare of 9mm ammo, I never had any shortage.

 

[SalchaketJoe]

Ok, for me, its not worth it. I dont cast. I have a single stage press. Work, school, wife, kid, dog= no time.

Most of the calculations people have done didnt include brass or they had free brass. While the brass gets cheaper every time you load it, up front it costs quite a bit.

 

[Balrog]

I reload everything I shoot. I like reloading as much as shooting.

 

[qajaq59]

I can't tell you the last time I purchased centerfire ammo or handgun ammo.

I can. It was in the mid 1960s.

 

[Win1892]

A couple of weeks ago I had some new shooters come up to my outdoor range for the day. As usual I'm pilfering through their stuff looking for interesting guns, etc and I'm noticing price tags on some of the ammo they've brought. I apparently live in my own world of an overflowing ammo cabinet because I had no idea 45acp was $34 per hundred. I didn't even know you could buy 100 in one box. 44mags were $22 per box of 50. That's reason enough to stop shooting. I average a dime a shot.

 

[THe Dove]

Balrog

I'm with you amigo.... I shoot to reload sometimes!

The Dove

 

[falldowngoboom]

You will always save an appreciable amount of money reloading any centerfire cartridge. The question is how much savings is worth it for YOU? Most, probably all, reloaders enjoy the process on some level, so it doesn't always come down to a pure time is money thing. The only way to find out for your situation is to do a careful web search of all the components to find the absolute cheapest prices you can and then make the judgement call of if you feel it's worth your time and effort. Also know that you will ALWAYS shoot more of what you reload than what you have to buy. So you in the end, you don't save nearly as much money as you think, but you do get to shoot more.

I reload 30-06 and I thought getting the cost down to $0.40/round was pretty good, but now my cost is $0.30/round after finding a good source for pulled milsurp bullets. On top of that, if I cast my own (which I don't currently), the cost can go down to $0.20-0.25/round. I wasn't aware of any of this when I started. My point is you might find ways of reloading for even less than what you initially think as you continue reloading.

 

[tommyintx]

I have not bought ammunition since i was 13 years old (.22 rimfires). i no longer have my ruger 10/22, and every piece of ammunition i have i load myself. My father was a reloader and i inherited his equipment, and continue to build it up. I will never pay for ammunition again. I have about 4 boxes of .45 black talon's that i have for personal defense, that will never get shot any other way. my end's are covered.

and +1 to whoever said you will just shoot more. and probably end up reloading for most of your shooting buddies (not bangbangbang but hunter's and bolt shooters probably, i know i have about 15 friend's i load for.)

 

[Clarence]

I shoot a variety of calibers and usually shoot around 15k rounds a year which costs me around $118 / 1000 for .45 ACP and less for .357 and 9mm. The price of factory ammo is around $340 / 1000. So I'm saving over $200 / 1000.

You can definitely save money reloading 9mm.