Making the math work

[tweek]

I've been collecting my brass because I thought I'd start reloading my own this fall. Toward that end I've been reading up and something occurs to me: there is no way in #%^!% I'm going to save a dime reloading my own.

Right off the bat the best I can figure is that each reloaded round will cost me $.346 + my time and the cost of the reloading gear (up to about $500). Right now I'm able to pickup a box of 500 rounds of .223 psp at Cheaper than Dirt for $175 OTD or $.35 a round.

How long will it take me to reload 500 rounds once I'm good at it and know what I'm doing? Can anybody reload 100 rounds an hour in their garage? That would be less than a minute a round. You'd look like one of Santa's elves at that pace. Even at that pace reloading 500 rounds will essentially take all day.

So I don't see getting in to reloading because I'm a cheap bastard. However, there are other benefits: a better quality more accurate bullet than what I'm buying. The boxes I'm buying are reloaded rounds (I'm a cheap bastard) and are not the absolute best bullets on the market. Then again, I'm just happy that I can keep the holes inside the circle so my standards are pretty low.

Are there any other benefits (relaxation of doing something is always a good one) I'm missing out on? Having a few pounds of black powder locked away in the garage offers some opportunities for fun.

 

[Bullseye Shooter]

You can check out this site to see how much each round will cost. Handloading Cost Calculator And it's easy enough to do a cost benefit analysis to see how before you break even on the cost of the press, etc. vs. buying commercial ammo.

Depending on what type of press you're using, you can easily do a 100 rounds an hour. I can crank out 300 to 400 pistol cartridges on my Star reloader an hour and that's without the benefit of an auto case feeder or completed round ejector like they have on the newer Dillon presses.

Reloading may not save you anything in the beginning but it certainly allows you to shoot more and customize loads to fit whatever you're loading for. I couldn't afford to shoot pistol matches if I had to buy commercial match ammo that will group consistently for the 50 yard line or if I had to buy match grade .223s for High Power matches.

 

[cleric]

I will say that different rounds have different break even points. For example 9mm is not as advantageous as 45 ACP. I would think with the massive amount of .223 that is made, it could be close to null.

However reloading does give you end to end control. You can create a custom load designed to work for your firearm at your range.

 

[The_Hunter]

If you are just wanting to shoot the cheapest ammo possible then reloading may not be much of a benefit.

 

[Dawico]

Reloading pays off alot with oddball calibers, and rifle ammo other the .223. I like the joy of shooting something that I made. I can also reload match ammo for less than half the price of factory, and beat the accuracy. For the 50 BMG, I am reloading accurate ammo for $1.60 or less, while the cheapest ammo I have seen is $2.50. Good ammo for it is about twice that.

For good savings in reloading, buy in bulk. One pound of powder and one box of bullets is not going to save you alot of money.

 

[cleric]

Reloading pays off alot with oddball calibers, and rifle ammo other the .223. I like the joy of shooting something that I made. I can also reload match ammo for less than half the price of factory, and beat the accuracy. For the 50 BMG, I am reloading accurate ammo for $1.60 or less, while the cheapest ammo I have seen is $2.50. Good ammo for it is about twice that.

For good savings in reloading, buy in bulk. One pound of powder and one box of bullets is not going to save you alot of money.

Although I would highly recommend the one pound one box when you are just learning I am starting to learn how to reload 45 and am taking it REAL slow.

To the op you can prolly go get once fired ammo for cheap at gun shows. If you are just looking for something to through down range.

 

[cuate]

True, math is the real answer but I just enjoy reloading. I have a turret press, a Lee 4 holer press, a Mec Jr. shotgun press and whatever dies....But occasionally I will dig out my old 310 tool composed of some plier like handles and reload some pistol rounds like they did 100 years ago. Have the old dies for .45Long Colt and .45ACP and a couple of rifle calibers but do rifle reloading on the modern press. Lyman still sells that 310 tool but not near the variety of dies as they once did. And they are a bit expensive to buy but nobody much is into things of long ago reloading. Everybody to their own thing like the old maid that kissed the cow....

 

[tweek]

I'm still saving the brass as I continue researching this. The reloading calculator helps a lot. It looks like you need to run in batches of 1000 to make the math work. Which means I need to look in to the gear in order to be able to load 1000 rounds in an evening.

Right now it would mostly be for the fun and bragging rights to be shooting my own stuff. Unfortunately, I'm not skilled enough of a marksman for better ammunition to make a difference. Being consistent shot to shot is more important.

 

[Texas42]

Let me think.
14 cents for once fired brass form Top Brass (good quality LC brass, which has its primer pocket reamed and trimmed by someone else)
~7 cents in powder
~7-9 cents in a cheap bullet
2-3 cents in primer.

You can use brass several times, you just have to find it after you fire it. I like the freedom of reloading. Premium bullets and components will cost a lot more than cheap factory ammo.

 

[tweek]

Like said: I police my brass. I have one box filled with at least 500 cartridges and another one started. Have a fresh box of 500 rounds that I've started on and will probably pickup another next week. So by October I'll 1500 empty brass cartridges to reload.

 

[medalguy]

tweek, you're right about bulk being the answer. I load and shoot a LOT. I use a Dillon press almost exclusively, although I do have 2 Rockchuckers and an old Lyman press I use sometimes. I buy 5.56 GI brass in lots of 3-5000 for under 5 cents per. Primers, well, I just received 40K from Graf. Powder I buy 48 pounds at a time. Bullets I might buy 10K at a time. I have the brass fully processed by Custom Brass Processing in Abilene for 3 cents each. He deprimes, swages primer pockets, trims to length, and tumbles bright and clean. When I get it back it's fully ready to prime. I load it on the Dillon, and I can easily load 400-500 per hour. Bullets I get for 6.5 cents each, Wolf primers for 1.8 cents each, and powder for around 4 cents per round. That's 12.3 cents a round plus the brass which I can load 5-8 times before I pitch it. Add 2 cents per cycle for the brass and now I have 14 cents a round in it, it's better than factory ammo, and I don't have to have it all loaded up, I can just keep the components on hand and I'm never running around looking for ammo when it's not available. Works for me.

 

[tupperware9mm]

I started collecting brass from the two ranges I go to a year before I started reloading. I collect all calibers clean it and sort it, the stuff I don't use I trade or donate. At this point the cost of the equipment has been absorbed . I buy powder bullets and primers in bulk and my 9mm, 40 and 223cost about 12 -13 cents a round not including my time. I enjoy reloading and it is a hobby unto itself and I am now buying different caliber guns just to make the ammo for them. As far as time goes I can knock out 400 rounds of 9 in an evening about a100 an hour same for 40, .223 takes a lot of preperation if you do it right and there is much more time involved. My feeling is that sure ammo is cheap now but You could not find any just a year and a half ago. I decided I would learn how to make my own as not to get stuck again.

 

[rsayloriii]

A lot of it comes down to the round itself. As far as .223, I can buy steel rounds and cabela's cheaper than I can reload the brass. But if I was to buy brass, then the cheapest I've found still costs more than I can reload. Now, for 30-06, it costs roughly a dollar per bought round, but reloading, it costs me about 43 cents per round. And as said before, the more you buy in bulk, the more cost effective reloading is on certain rounds.

As far as "mass producing" reloads, I've found it faster for me to work it out in stages. Take all the spent cases and clean them. Then deprime all of them. Prime all the cases. Then fill all with powder. Then seat the bullet in all of them. I've tried filling with powder and then immediately seating the bullet one round at a time, but I've found it takes longer. YMMV ...

 

[Wolfwood]

casting your own bullets is where the savings is at.

 

[subhunter]

First time in this area of TGT but here are some of my breakeven points for reloading
(Let me remind you that reloading supplies vary on price and the key is free brass amazing how the cost jumps when you buy brass)
here are a few that I load and each has its own characteristics of a breakeven point versus factory ammo.

1) .223, using varget powder, fiochi primers,FREE ONCE FIRED BRASS, and midway usa el cheapo 55gr bulk FMJ : break even point per/1000 is around $225.00/ 1000 ,Cost per 1000 factory loads with once fired brass is 315.00 so a savings of around 90 bucks; THIS AINT EVEN INCLUDING THE PAIN STAKING TIME TO PREP CASES AND INSPECT! so from a time cost perspective it is not worth it to me

2)300 win mag, imr 7828, cci mag primers, berger 210's, nosler brass, cost per 20/ $23.00, box of semi close factory ammo that is not built for my gun with same quality will run around 60.00/20; so in a case of making accuracy loads with tight tolerances and high quality bullets, its a no brainer to reload for this caliber

3) 44 mag, h110 powder, cci mag, hornady xtp 240gr, win brass, cost per 50 is around 30.00 , actual cost for a cheap box of 44mag that shoot the same is $29.00-31.00 ; not that much of a savings in it for my taste , hard to find 44 mag sometimes, easy to reload though because of the straight case and minimal case prep

4) 300 whisper; acc no#9, fiochi primers, smk 220's, commercial brass cut down and opened up, also use 221 brass (.43cents/piece), strictly a wildcat cartridge, lots of chamber reamers out there and no one is alike, bottom line not going to get the perfomance I need unless I reload; average cost per round I figured it running me $1.10 new brass- .60cents with once fired. This is not even worth looking at the cost of reloading, its labor intensive and uses expensive bullets and wildcats are just that, a wild ass round that is not mainstream and I cant buy shells for it.

So after looking at these few reload scenarios you have to do one main thing and that is make a decision to reload based on perfomance or cost, the only time that it seems to break into both of these catagories is when you are loading custom loads for a rifle, the performance gains you get by building a bullet specifically for your rifle accounting for extreme accuracy has always been a primary focus of reloading, as far as wanting plinking rounds you may save a little money but you have to look at your time, and yes reloading is good therapy, as long as it doesnt feel like a job, and reloading thousands of rounds of 223 with a turret or single is a FREAKING JOB!! And yes I know you could just get a good dillon setup that cuts a lot of steps down, but thats 1300.00 I could just put towards another 3K+ rounds of factory and spend my time shooting instead of reloading.

Not trying to piss anybody off or make fun of their quality time reloading, but your time is finite and make the best of it.

 

[randmplumbingllc]

I've been collecting my brass because I thought I'd start reloading my own this fall. Toward that end I've been reading up and something occurs to me: there is no way in #%^!% I'm going to save a dime reloading my own.

Right off the bat the best I can figure is that each reloaded round will cost me $.346 + my time and the cost of the reloading gear (up to about $500). Right now I'm able to pickup a box of 500 rounds of .223 psp at Cheaper than Dirt for $175 OTD or $.35 a round.

How long will it take me to reload 500 rounds once I'm good at it and know what I'm doing? Can anybody reload 100 rounds an hour in their garage? That would be less than a minute a round. You'd look like one of Santa's elves at that pace. Even at that pace reloading 500 rounds will essentially take all day.

So I don't see getting in to reloading because I'm a cheap bastard. However, there are other benefits: a better quality more accurate bullet than what I'm buying. The boxes I'm buying are reloaded rounds (I'm a cheap bastard) and are not the absolute best bullets on the market. Then again, I'm just happy that I can keep the holes inside the circle so my standards are pretty low.

Are there any other benefits (relaxation of doing something is always a good one) I'm missing out on? Having a few pounds of black powder locked away in the garage offers some opportunities for fun.

It has been said many times before. If you have more money then time, reloading is not worth it. Even match grade ammo can be bought. If you have more time then money (me), then reload.

I can't quote rifle ammo, cuz it has been a while since I reloaded any, but I know that brass cased, boxer primed 230 gn, FMJ .45 ACP is going for about $400.00 a thousand, more or less. I make the exact round for about $160. to 170. a thou. If I shoot 2 thousand a year, I save $460.00 every year ! That is if that was the only round I loaded for. I do about 9 different cal,s now and have to save, at least $1500.00 a year. Probably more.

The other thing you get, when reloading, is that you are not at the mercy of WalMart saying "Two box limit" or that we don't have any. Okay.... so you say that you will just hoard ammo. I guess you could spend a few grand extra and hoard a couple of thousand of each round. Again, time vs. cash.

The trick to reloading is to be smart about it. Read and go to all the reloading forums. See where people get the best-cheapest supplies and buy in bulk.
I have over 130 thousand peices of brass that I have collected, over the years. I will Never buy brass. Soon, I am gonna starting to cast my own bullets. That is really gonna bring down my cost.

Do you have any friends that shoot ? You could share some of the costs or you could split the cost by you having the press and them buying some components.

Bottom line is no one can tell you that it is worth it, except you. Just remember that if you do it and go cheap, that is what you' ll be stuck with forever, or til you sell it to some other sap that you are gonna be putting through your same plight. If you ARE gonna do it, do it ONCE, do it RIGHT, and you will never have any regrets.

On pistol ammo, I spend about 3 hrs. a thousand, from start to finish, not counting sorting or cleaning brass. Rifle takes longer to prep then handgun, LOTS longer. You have to trim, lube, swag military crimp brass (or sort it out)

In my humble opinion.

 

[GJW1911]

I reload all of the calibers I shoot, (308win, 45-70, 500S&W, 357mag, 44mag, 50AE, & 45acp), and I enjoy the task. Reloading for me is a therapy, I find it very relaxing.
When I am sitting at the bench I feel like a mad scientist!

The way I save money is buying bulk components with friends, splitting the shipping costs, and looking for sales. You also have to split the brass cost based on how many times you will be able to reuse it.

Last time I checked my 45acp, not counting the range pick up brass the cost was $10 per 50 rounds. On my Lee turret I can load 50 rounds in about 15-20 minutes.

In my 357 and 44mag I shoot lead bullets, and some of my brass is on its 10 loading. With the same loading rate as above.

For rifles I really don't save any money, I just shoot more.

 

[MR Redneck]

I think reloading is worth it. I dont reload at the moment but im buying the stuff here and there to start. Mostly in case we cant get ammo for some reason.
Now, even when I get all setup, I wont be reloading much. Just enough to learn how. I stay really buisy and I think reloading only pays if you have spare time.
It been said already, and I agree, Reloading is only worth the time you have to spare.

 

[robocop10mm]

I don't care if I save money or not. For me it is about self reliance. I reload for every caliber I shoot. I cast my own bullets for nearly every caliber I shoot (except .25-06). My handloads are far more accurate than run of the mill cheapo range fodder, for about the same cost.

 

[tweek]

Forget it. I'm going to buy a slingshot! No problems with reloading.