Value of Handloading/reloading

[AlabamaDan]

I've haven't reloaded i n years and years. When I did I was really more of an apprentice type. But, I'm thinking of starting myself. My primary rifle is a 300 weatherby Mag. I realize all the quality benefits of custom load development

Manufactured ammo is $40-$100 for a box of 20. How much would it cost to load myself?

 

[ColtPythonElite]

If you own the brass probably less than 50 cents a round.

 

[sexybeast]

Depends on the components you buy. Bullets and brass would be a prime consideration. If you have the brass you are way ahead, thats not a caliber you find all over the ground at the range.
Some bullets can be expensive. When I loaded 300 win mag Sierra Match Kings were about $8 per box of 100, now they are close if not more than $30/box of 100. Barnes and Berger are also pricy. But still you will be able to load them for less than factory prices.
There is also alot of satisfaction with loading your own and tuning your gun to your bullets.

 

[AlabamaDan]

I'd love to shoot more, but at $3-$5 a bullet, it's hard. I do have quite a bit of brass saved over the years.

 

[cfullgraf]

Manufactured ammo is $40-$100 for a box of 20. How much would it cost to load myself?

If you do not account for your time, you can always save money by reloading. What you do with the savings is up to you. Many shoot more, others spend the savings on their significant other.

Reloading is a hobby unto it self for me so time spent reloading is a past time from me. I have equipment and dies to reload 28 or so different cartridges.

Cases are probably the largest single cost item in reloading, but since they can be used multiple times, the cost per round for the cases is low.

Hope this helps.

 

[gahunter12]

Nosler Partition 180gr (50) $35.37
1lb of powder $28-$30. Just say $30
Primers $4/100
You are looking at $70, but you will have 50 primers, and some powder left over. You can reduce this cost by buying in bulk. In reality you would have about $58 invested in 50 rounds if you have brass.

I buy my powder, and primers in bulk. I have about $17.71/box of 20 (300WM) using Nosler Accubond 180gr. That's about $40-$50 less than factory ammo, and much more accurate! Besides its fun loading, working up loads, and harvesting game with your own loads!

 

[chuckpro]

How much do you shoot? What are you paying for your hunting ammo. I think the last time i priced out my 30-06 it cost me almost a dollar a round with new components. The ammo is on par to the 40 to 50 dollar commercial available. the difference is that my particular gun will shoot true sub 1/4 inch groups with my reloads and about 3 to 4 inch with the commercial. Now i have a 243 for my son that shoots hornady superformance very accurately and the gun does not get shot much. Sighted in before season and then during season. Say less than a box a year. I dont reload for that gun.

No my smith 500 i save about 3 dollars a round by reloading and this lets me practice a lot more with my hunting loads than i would if i didn't reload.

I guess the short of it is that if your gun likes factory ammo, it is available, and affordable or you dont shoot that much i wouldn't start reloading. It is very addictive and you might find yourself buying guns just to work up loads for.

 

[gamestalker]

Well, considering it's a .308 projectile, the options are immense. Even if you used a more expensive premium match grade bullet, it still won't cost as much as a box of factory.

Aside from economics, there is just so much more to be gained by reloading. The ability to tailor your loads to your liking is such a great advantage. Another great advantage is consistent velocity, and this is a major factor when attempting to get repeatable POI at extended distances.

GS

 

[plmitch]

If you buy powder/primers in bulk, cast your own bullets and have brass already you can make a box for under $10.00

 

[Lost Sheep]

http://www.handloads.com/calc/loadingCosts.asp

or just do an internet search on the phrase "Cost of reloading" or "reloading cost" or phrases like that and you will find dozens of cost calculators. There is even one that has a downloadable EXCEL spreadsheet you can use offline.


Gamestalker hit the nail on the head mentioning the OTHER advantages of loading your own ammunition.

Let me count the ways:

Economy: Depending on what cartridges you are reloading (and whether or not you want to count your time and the up-front equipment costs) you can save anywhere from just a little to 80% or more of your ammo costs. (9mm is very close to no savings. 500 S&W, my friend's ammo costs are $0.75 per round, factory loaded ammo is $3.00 each for comparable ammo. More exotic calibers (especially rifle calibers) can save even more. Some rounds are not even available on a regular basis at any price.

Quality: Ammo you craft yourself can be tuned to your firearms particular characteristics. Handloaders for rifles quite often find some individual guns have quite striking differences in group size when shooting tuned ammunition.

Knowledge: As you study reloading, you will, perforce, also study internal ballistics. The study of internal ballistics leads into the study of how your firearm works.

Customization: Ammo you load yourself can be tuned to your particular needs. My friend with the 500 S&W loads full power loads and "powder puff" loads that clock 350 grain slugs a little under 800 feet per second. I know that's more than a G.I. 45 ACP's power and momentum, but they shoot like 22 rimfire in that big, heavy gun. Great for fun, familiarization, training and letting the curious bystander go for a "test drive" with a super-light load, a medium load, a heavy load and, if they are still game one of the big boomers. This tends to avoid the "rear sight in the forehead" mark.

Satisfaction: Punching small bunches of small, medium or large holes in paper or bringing down a game or food animal with ammunition you crafted yourself has a good deal of satisfaction. Same reason I prefer to make my own biscuits instead of store-bought.

Smug satisfaction: When the ammo shelves are bare during a market or political scare, loaders are demonstrably less affected by the shortages. A couple of pounds of powder, a thousand primers and bullets (or few pounds of lead) and a hundred cartridge cases wouldn't fill a small book carton, but lets the loader know he can shoot while price-gougers take advantage of non-loaders.

Self-satisfaction: The repetitive, calm, attentive concentration of the reloading activities is often found to be so much fun as to bring to the shooter's mind the question, "Do I reload so I can shoot shoot or do I shoot so I can reload?". Some find loading to be as satisfying a hobby as shooting or fly-tying or many other hobbies.

The more fanatical among us combine a couple of the features I have mentioned and, instead of shooting for bullseye accuracy at the range, reload in a search for the "magic load" that achieves perfection in a given rifle. Then, they move on to the next target, which is another rifle and another tuned load. But you do have to be at least a little fanatical to even get it. It is the hunt they seek, for they enjoy the quest more than the goal.


I am sure there are many other reasons, but these are the main ones I can think of.

Handloading is not rocket science, but it does involve flame and smoke and things that go very fast, so caution is appropriate. If you can change a tire without losing your lug nuts and follow a cake recipe reasonably well, you can reload.

Thanks for asking our advice

Lost Sheep
Good Luck.

 

[fallout mike]

Yea, I stopped fishing when I started accounting for my time bc it then became cheaper to just go to the fish market! :banghead:

 

[Lost Sheep]

Yea, I stopped fishing when I started accounting for my time bc it then became cheaper to just go to the fish market! :banghead:

Did market-bought fish taste half as good as the ones you took yourself?

Just because the ammo I load myself (when I add in my time and the amortization of my equipment) sometimes exceeds the price of store-bought stuff, I am still not deterred from the activity. It is relaxing and my out-of-pocket is still less (and I don't pay taxes on the "wages" I count for myself). I only count cost because I can, I wonder about it and crunching numbers pleases me, just like crunching lead into brass does. If you don't like crunching numbers, don't do it.

Lost Sheep

 

[gamestalker]

Many, many tasty game animals have made their way to my freezer thanks to my great reloads.

GS

 

[45lcshooter]

I priced out 30-06( i dont reload 300 wby mag, so just trying to give you some comparison)

brass .20
Primers 4/100
bulllet 25/100
powder 25 a pound

say you do 100 rounds, brass 20.00, primers 4.00, bullets 25.00, and you might use a quarter pound of powder but for argument sake i will say you will use a half pound, 12.50 for powder

Proof is in the pudding my friend. $51.00/100 reloaded shells from a 30-06, that is crisis pricing, i find a lot of my components extremely cheaper than what I have listed, because of where im located, i have lots of little gun shops

And i reload for over 20 different calibers so i'm constantly looking for cheap components.

 

[dodge]

Here's the pricing on my components for a 30-06.
Brass free as I already have it on hand.
Primers $3/100
bullets $25/100
powder $22/pound
With this broken down to a box of shells it's $9.40 a box of 20. I don't count the cost of the brass due to being able to reuse I multiple times. I haven't seen 30-06 going for that price in quite awhile and now it seems to be going for closer to $20 a box. As for my time in reloading a box I look at it as free therapy.

 

[jcwit]

Did market-bought fish taste half as good as the ones you took yourself?

Just because the ammo I load myself (when I add in my time and the amortization of my equipment) sometimes exceeds the price of store-bought stuff, I am still not deterred from the activity. It is relaxing and my out-of-pocket is still less (and I don't pay taxes on the "wages" I count for myself). I only count cost because I can, I wonder about it and crunching numbers pleases me, just like crunching lead into brass does. If you don't like crunching numbers, don't do it.

Lost Sheep

I fail to see the reasoning of factoring in time while doing a hobby I enjoy. Do I factor in my time while reading a book? NOPE. How bout while eating in a cheap or even a fancy restaurant? NOPE Factor in my time while getting my sleep/rest? NOPE Do I factor in my time while taking a crap? NOPE Do I factor in my time while reloading? NOPE

Heck! Reload, Go to the range, shoot the bull with friends, and enjoy life. Its all gonna be over before you know it anyway.

 

[Big JJ]

Total agree with jcwit about the time factor.
If we were concerned about time we would not be on this website answering this post.
We are all about enjoying life at the best price.

 

[Vodoun da Vinci]

I don't load for rifles but only for handguns....I know that I could not afford to shoot/train the way I do if I did not reload my own 9mm and .38. At the price you are quoting for rifle ammo I'd weight it against how much I intend to shoot and how much the dies and components costs as well as factoring in availability of the components and how much time and effort it might take to find and stock them.

I spend a lot of time finding stuff....researching bullets, finding powder, etc takes time now when 30 years ago I just went to the local LGS and bought them on demand. Not so for me now although internet buying helps a lot.

If I was only gonna shoot 200 rounds a year I'd just buy it. But at 400 - 800 rounds a month i really like making it and enjoy the fruits of my finicky labor. My ammo beat factory to death in price, availability and accuracy.

VooDoo

 

[ZX John]

Realising this is about as far from .300 Weatherby Magnum as you can get, I shoot .45 ACP for less than 7 cents a round.

- The boolit was a wheelweight at one point, and I buy a bucketful I can barely carry for fifteen bucks so its cost is negligible.

- I use 3.2gr Trail Boss, and it really slays that piece of paper I'm shooting at! ( - which is about the only thing you can shoot with a pistol in Canada ) One of my .45's is a 1918-vintage .455 Webley Mk VI, and I REALLY don't want to blow it up, so to save time I use the same bullet / powder charge for all the .45's; if it cycles the actions on the other two, it's fine by me. For sake of argument, 2.9 cents' worth of powder a round - too lazy to work it out, and I bet it's a LOT less than that.

- Primer - 3.7 cents each.

For your Weatherby I offer an old bromide - "Beware the man with one gun; he likely knows how to use it." Reloading lets you do so much more with it than you can currently get-away with:

- Varminting? A light varmint pill, saboted if you wish, would step-out your bore at ~4,000 fps without doing harm to the barrel because the load would be so light. This is not a beginner's load, but it's a possibility; and a real good excuse to buy that mammoth Leupold 'scope you've always wanted.

- Small game? a light bullet and reduced powder load would be good medicine for any small game, and wouldn't be all that noisy.

- Plinking? - at $3 a round? - not this weekend chum, and not looking good for next; but a 150gr gas-checked lead boolit and ~15gr H2400 powder made a fine plinking load in my .303, and cost maybe 15 cents each.

In effect, if you want to use your Weatherby a whole lot more, for a whole lot more things (and I sure would!!! ), reloading opens the door wide and drastically reduces the cost. Go for it!

BTW, your Weatherby being a bolt-action, you need only re-size the necks of your cartridges, not full-length; so shooting light loads, they may last as long as 100 re-uses each. Just sayin'

 

[gahunter12]

Total agree with jcwit about the time factor.
If we were concerned about time we would not be on this website answering this post.
We are all about enjoying life at the best price.

Exactly! I truly enjoy my time I spend at the bench, and the range.

 

[RandyP]

If you no longer have any reloading gear, starting with a Lee single stage kit (under $100 usually) dies, calipers, trimming tools will add another $75 or so, then component costs. Let's just say for 'conversation' about $250-$300 (5-6 boxes of factory ammo) total out the door, ready to start making ammo.

Reloading will only 'save' you over the cost of factory made if you plan on shooting that 300 Weatherby Mag a lot. It is not generally viewed as a 'plinking' round - lol - that same single stage will allow you to also reload most any caliber you want to add, rifle or pistol and thus 'save' more.

The only real way to save cash is by not spending it -I spend the same amount on my shooting hobby, but reloading allows me more shots per budget dollar spent.

 

[AlabamaDan]

Thanks guys. I've always wanted to get back into reloading, I just never had a good place. I know excuses excuses. But now I have a good place for a bench and reloading equipment. I would also reload some pistol rounds, like 45LC. Thanks for all the feedback. Now to find some equipment and a mentor.

 

[J_McLeod]

IMO, as a general ball park rule, handloaded ammunition will cost about half the price of equivalent factory ammo. However, I have yet to actually save any money. I just shoot more for the same price.

 

[Poper]

The more fanatical among us combine a couple of the features I have mentioned and, instead of shooting for bullseye accuracy at the range, reload in a search for the "magic load" that achieves perfection in a given rifle. Then, they move on to the next target, which is another rifle and another tuned load. But you do have to be at least a little fanatical to even get it. It is the hunt they seek, for they enjoy the quest more than the goal.

Then there are those of us that say to ourselves: "Hmmm. That 150 grain bullet works so well in that .30-06, I wonder if I can get a good 165 grain bullet load or maybe a 180 grain load?"
And then there is the thought: "I wonder if I can get the Hornady 150 grain SP to shoot as well as that 150 grain Sierra GK?"

WARNING: Once starting this hobby, one may fall victim to its addictive qualities which can lead to the accumulation of esoteric tools and equipment as well as additional unanticipated firearms.
Those whom possess any symptoms of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder would probably do themselves a great favor by sticking to factory ammo only.

Just my $0.02.

Poper

 

[mstreddy]

OP, seems that you have the answers above, and that you have made up your mind -- that is good. Now, welcome to the addiction-hobby. What you will find, if only from the economy side is that for rifle calibers and 45 Colt, you will be beating factory prices by a long shot. Think about it -- what is the current price for a box of 45 Colt rounds?
Check out some of those calculators and pay attention to some of the general prices above. But, you will load rounds for much less than factory. Again as some have stated above, that is only the beginning.
And, just to note -- even on the lowly 9mm, my reloads are much, much less than factory rounds. I can load a box of 50 9mm for around $5-6. At the prices I've seen recently that is about 50-60 percent less.