Lost Sheep
Member
Consider the cost of getting into handloading by comparing the cost of retail boxes of ammo to the cost of that same amount of ammunition bought as components and including the cost of the reloading gear.
For comparison purposes, I will stipulate that a typical box of (50 count) handgun ammunition costs about the same as a typical box of (20 count) rifle ammunition.
If you take enough money to buy 12 boxes of ammunition and apply it to the purchase of;
A) 2 boxes of store-bought ammunition (so you have the brass which you will re-use) and apply the remaining money to the purchase of
B) A decent press, dies, scale, a few extra small implements necessary to the activity
C) enough powder, primers and bullets to make 10 more boxes of ammunition, (500 handgun or 200 rifle)
you will have spent the same amount of money for the same amount of shooting (12 boxes worth - 600 handgun or 240 rifle) and you may well have some powder left over.
After that, all your ammunition is a fraction of the cost of store-bought (excluding your time, of course, but for some cartridges, you can amortize your time, too and still be saving money; depending on if you count your time as worth $20 per hour or $100, of course. The bonuses of satisfaction, better quality ammo and the independence from retailers are not even addressed here).
This rough estimate applies equally well to bottlenecked rifle cartridges as to handgun cartridges.
The exact figures will depend on local prices, but I expect counting by boxes will be more universal than counting by currency, even in different countries.
Anyone care to comment on or refine my (very rough) calculations?
Lost Sheep
For comparison purposes, I will stipulate that a typical box of (50 count) handgun ammunition costs about the same as a typical box of (20 count) rifle ammunition.
If you take enough money to buy 12 boxes of ammunition and apply it to the purchase of;
A) 2 boxes of store-bought ammunition (so you have the brass which you will re-use) and apply the remaining money to the purchase of
B) A decent press, dies, scale, a few extra small implements necessary to the activity
C) enough powder, primers and bullets to make 10 more boxes of ammunition, (500 handgun or 200 rifle)
you will have spent the same amount of money for the same amount of shooting (12 boxes worth - 600 handgun or 240 rifle) and you may well have some powder left over.
After that, all your ammunition is a fraction of the cost of store-bought (excluding your time, of course, but for some cartridges, you can amortize your time, too and still be saving money; depending on if you count your time as worth $20 per hour or $100, of course. The bonuses of satisfaction, better quality ammo and the independence from retailers are not even addressed here).
This rough estimate applies equally well to bottlenecked rifle cartridges as to handgun cartridges.
The exact figures will depend on local prices, but I expect counting by boxes will be more universal than counting by currency, even in different countries.
Anyone care to comment on or refine my (very rough) calculations?
Lost Sheep
Last edited:
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That said I've gotten to the point where I'm loading .45 and 9mm for the price of powder and primers, roughly $.05 a round. Yes, I cast as well.
