Starting Reloading

[cw308]

You can turn out safe reloads with keeping to a budget if your looking to save and shoot more . The problem comes when you get deep into reloading for precision . Then upgrading equipment come into play . Buy once cry once . Some get into reloading for a few years and some , it never ends . Good Luck , Be Safe.

Chris

 

[Walkalong]

70 hours

The point, which you’re missing, is the fact you don’t have a life either way. One option is making money during those hours, the other is reloading. Just for bulk ammo, there’s usually a means to make money during the same amount of time spent, especially on a single stage or progressive, to cover the gap in expense.

The OP will be doing neither, he just wants to make a small amount of .40 but spend less for it.

 

[mstreddy]

OK, to bring this back to the OPs question, which Walkalong keeps reminding us of...
OP, consider this...
When you choose to reload, your cost per round WILL be less than comparable factory ammo. PERIOD.
Yes, you can look at budgetary questions for the gear, but in all reality, if you are planning on shooting any fair amount of quantity, the reloading gear initial investments will be paid off rather quick.
For most common pistol calibers, 9MM, 40 S&W, 38 Special, 45 ACP and even 357 Magnum. There is plenty of free brass around. In my area, MOST shooters I encounter do not reload. So, the brass is there for easy pickup.
The budget on equipment can vary, but for beginning, I'd suggest the Lee Classic Turret, and while I haven't seen one, many are suggesting the new Lee Auto Breech Lock Pro. It seems to be a good choice. You will need the dies, calipers, scale, powder measure, and MAYBE a tumbler.
So, you're probably looking at a few hundred dollars to get started.
What I'll recommend is look at bulk component purchases. That's how you can reduce your costs in reloading.
Get smart on what powders to buy and buy the 8# jug.
Buy primers on sale and look at some of the mentioned bullet sources. Order 1, 2, 3K bullets at a time. The per bullet cost comes way down.
I load 40 S&W using Berry's plated factory seconds for around $5-6 per 50.

 

[John Joseph]

Get Lyman's ABCs of reloading if that hasn't been mentioned already. Seriously.

 

[Dudedog]

I don't believe Lyman does the ABCs of reloading, two different manuals.

Legionnaire
kindly offered a copy of Lyman 49.

I started with a Lee 3 hole turret, Lee disk measure a RCBS 505 and some other bits and pieces. Very low budget at the time. (scale was a big chunk of the $, about as much or more than the press if I remember correctly)
Washed cases in bucket of soapy water.
Loaded 1000s of 9mms that way before I started buying more goodies.
Still have and use that old Lee 3 hole turret. Maybe 10-20K rounds on it.
Think I paid about $60 for it so I would say I got my moneys worth and it still works.

We all have to start somewhere and have a budget. We may buy more/better/faster equipment later on or we may not.

As a side note I think the money I spent on my WFT to trim .223 brass was some of the best reloading $ I have spent.
Trimming it by hand to feed a semi auto got old quick.

 

[Old Stumpy]

[

A lot of guys think they need to reload because folks say it saves money. And it can. But most folks have means to make more money in the same time spent than their savings, and simply buy factory ammo.

I DO save money by reloading. When I started reloading it was because I found that the ammo that I was buying for a weekend range session was just too expensive and ate into my normal budget for discretionery expenses. After I started reloading I did not increase the amount of ammo that I was shooting, because what I had been shooting was enough for me to begin with.
I was working 40 hours a week and I had no desire to work more.
I would have preferred then and now to spend a couple of hours a week reloading rather than spend any amount of time working overtime.
Reloading is recreational for me. Work was not.
It depends of course on how much that you earn and take home an hour after deductions, and whether you are shooting bulk 9mm or ammo not available in bulk. If you can pay for your weekly bulk ammo with a couple of hours work, then go to it.
But, many shooters don't shoot bulk 9mm and don't shoot in action sports at all.
So, that wouldn't have worked for me since I was shooting .45 Colt and .44 magnum and surplus rifle calibers and I wasn't earning a great income.
Like I say, I preferred to reload rather than work a six day week.