The cost of reloading 9mm and .223 is it worth it?

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FROGO207 said:
It seems a lot of us that have been reloading a good volume and doing it for some time have gravitated to deprime/prep in one cycle and to reload at another time. My issue is that the components (really primers) are more able to be used where I need them as my shooting changes rather than having to take down primed cases or reloaded ammo that I would not use for a good time to get primers to reuse. That said I keep what would amount to enough loaded ammo for a range trip made up ahead for each firearm I have leaving the balance as stored components. Also note that bulk components are resellable, more so than reloaded ammo at a greater price if the need arises in the future.
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Simple solution just buy more primers :)
 
Yep, buy more primers.

That said, I rarely prime in advance, I get the brass ready, store, then hand prime when I am ready to load.

I do have a little bit of brass primed and ready to go though.
 
The problem is that I need three separate locations that I use to store the max amount of primers/propellant (+ a bit more) I can in each. I try to keep 20K or so of each LR, LRM, SP ,SPM, SR, SRM, and about 15K LP, LPM as a minimum supply threshold. This (50K SPP alone) has helped me to all but avoid the last primer drought during the "O" years. BUT I only load ahead for the next months estimated shooting requirements. I am not one to load 25K 9MM at a time. Never know if I will find a better load or different bullet and then want to change my load over to that. Usually 500 each on hand is a good number for assorted handgun and 223/308. Hunting ammo 50 to 200 is good. YMMV

ETA I bet I am a light weight compared to some of you guys when it comes to on hand supplies though.;)
 
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ReloaderFred said:
You definitely don't have enough! I'd be in panic mode at those levels......

Fred
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When you start reloading you quickly realize you can never have "enough."

In the summer I go through 2-300 rounds per week, mostly 9mm. I grab all the range brass I can and try to reload 400 or more per week. My goal is to keep enough supplies on hand to reload a years worth of ammo. Not sure if I'll get there but I'm trying.
 
I don't shoot as much as some of the guys here (wife and I together, about 10k per year) but I have more than enough supplies to keep me busy for at least 3-4 years. Still, I'm trying to build up my inventory.
 
Guitarmike said:
When you start reloading you quickly realize you can never have "enough."

In the summer I go through 2-300 rounds per week, mostly 9mm. I grab all the range brass I can and try to reload 400 or more per week. My goal is to keep enough supplies on hand to reload a years worth of ammo. Not sure if I'll get there but I'm trying.
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Pickup every single piece of brass you can, brass is gold to us. I always tell the range officer I am pickup up my brass and about half the time I get a nice RO who says no problem I will push some your way. I usually go home with at least what I shot and usually more. If it crosses the firing line it belongs to the range! Forgot my brass catcher for my AR last week and the guy was nice enough to grab his squeegee and sweep it back over for me!
 
The time you really see the savings is when you cast your own bullets. I get lead from the range backstop.

My rounds run around 5 cents per round. Around 3 cents for the primer and 2 cents for the powder
 
If you compete then most likely you will eventually start to handload. I worked as an RO this past Friday-Sunday at a very large 3 day steel challenge match. This match was a lost brass match meaning that the shooters could not pick up their brass. This is to save time as there were over 500 competitors that needed to shoot the 8 stages. There were AM and PM sessions all three days.

Anyway, as a lost brass match the ROs are allowed to keep the brass. I only picked up the easy stuff and another RO didn't want his brass so I came home with in excess of 10,000 9mm and several 1000 40 S&W cases. It's gonna take me a while to sort it and clean but add that to the 40k 9mm cases I already have. The other calibers I will trade for something else. Point is when you use up a lot of brass you find yourself in the company of others that use a lot of brass and sometimes that brass becomes yours for free.
 
thomas15 said:
Anyway, as a lost brass match the ROs are allowed to keep the brass.... Point is when you use up a lot of brass you find yourself in the company of others that use a lot of brass and sometimes that brass becomes yours for free.
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Sounds like a nice perk for working the match but I am sure you worked hard during the match. Thanks for your efforts from a competitor (I used to shoot competitively but currently still racing sports cars. Workers are important!)
 
I've also cut back on my brass hoarding a bit. Running out of room and harder for me to keep everything "dress right dress"
 
cfullgraf said:
Sounds like a nice perk for wor
king the match but I am sure you worked hard during the match. Thanks for your efforts from a competitor (I used to shoot competitively but currently still racing sports cars. Workers are important!)
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The real perk for working the match was the food and the RO prize table. :D I won 3 really nice prizes but one in particular (a CMC drop-in trigger for an AR) is what really made it worth the effort. The brass was really just a pleasant side note.

Not to stray off topic but yes, it was a lot of work. Hot (90 degrees) lots of sun (burn) but offset by very pleasant company (the shooters). I felt like I had been hit by a truck once it was all over.

I know that some people will report back that at their range or the public shooting spot that they go to or even the commercial range they are a member of doesn't offer a chance to pick up free brass. That is of course adding to the cost of handloading 9mm. There is a company that I have purchased from in NJ that sells 9mm cleaned and delivered for 2 cents/case if you purchase 6000 pcs at a time. So unless it's easy to recover it isn't unreasonable to me to pay a small amount to purchase 9mm range brass vs. crawling on the ground to save some money.

If I were to go to my club with a 5 gallon bucket right now I'm sure I could fill it to the brim with 9mm, this would consist of the brass the ROs left lying on the ground after the match I spoke of earlier. The brass I picked up was that which landed on a tarp and I simply poured the brass into a bucket, there is a lot that missed the tarps and is still on the ground just a bit more work to recover that's all. I got the low hanging fruit so to speak. But I have somewhere in the neighborhood of 50,000 pcs of 9mm range brass so I'm not inclined to spend much energy on picking up more but it is hard to say no when it's right there in bulk.
 
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