Can You Save Money Reloading?

[jumpinjoe]

Usually range type ammo (mostly fmj) don't save much as target and hunting ammo will. I was able to buy 338lm w/250gr smk's (Sierra match kings) for $1.47/rd, so I bought 1k. Can't even buy brass for that price (usually 2 times as much without primers). What can do is make/produce more accurate rounds.

Got to agree with this! Back when I still hunted, Sierra Game King was my go to for my .270Win 130gr BT.

 

[jumpinjoe]

I'll rightfully admit to near total ignorance on the subject. As has been a monthly average for us, four hundred 9mm and one hundred fifty .38 special. All tolled, with equipment, material, time, etcetera, I've been lead to believe the savings would be slight.

Probably would be. The 2 calibers you shoot most are two of the most common and the cost savings being the least.

 

[jumpinjoe]

We shot 350 .45 ACP, 120 .32 Mag, 240 .38 Special, 156 .45 Colt and 120 12 ga. in a month. We missed one match or it would have been more. Don't ask me to figure out the cost, but I guarantee it would be expensive at retail prices.
I don't consider the cost of my presses or brass since they've been paid for years ago.

Do I understand correctly that you and your wife shoot Cowboy comp together? If so I can relate. I enjoyed our traveling together to the various comps far more than I would have without her along.

 

[jumpinjoe]

yeah for me, i do it to keep a stock on hand for practicing.

as i do 1 box reload, and 1 box new for nearly every range trip.

then too, since we never know what will happen in the future, having as much ammo in stock, new and reloaded ain't a bad idea.

I rarely shoot an entire box of anything factory anymore when at the range. I shoot primarily reloads and only if something doesn't feel right or shoot right will I break out a box of factory. But then too I've been doing it so long and with so many variables in components and recipes, my reloads for a particular gun shoot pretty much just like the factory stuff it likes.

 

[jumpinjoe]

I really don't think you save that much money reloading. What you do is shoot a whole lot more for the same cost.

I rarely load in lots of less than 500 rounds. Usually in 1000 round batches. Cost efficiency is better that way.
I'm retired and have plenty of time.

But to be honest, for the last few years powder and components have been hard to come by. For common calibers like 9mm or 5.56, I've just been shopping around for good deals and buying bulk factory ammo. I save my reloading supplies for the more expensive and harder to find stuff.

Logical way to go these days. Buy up what you need when the price is right.

 

[jumpinjoe]

9mm and .223 are “low profit” items to reload. You’ll save a bit, but not much. Go to a more expensive caliber (.45; .44; .38/.357; 30-06 and the savings per round add up pretty quick. I’ve got an ancient Lee Turret, with a turret set up for everything I load, so caliber changes are quick and easy. I try to buy components when I find them at a good price and refrain from buying when the’re up in price. A little planning and you can save some pretty good $$

I have an oldee but goodee Lee 3 hole turret I bought back in the early 70's. No telling how many thousands of rounds it's loaded over many years. It still loads excellent ammo, especially range fodder, but I don't use it too much anymore. Some years ago I upgraded to the newer 4 hole Classic turret for most of my loading needs, but also have a couple single stage presses for other uses like trimming, sometimes priming/de-priming, etc.

 

[jumpinjoe]

what i found "enlightening" is that according to the video, our reloading presses, are only worth half of what we paid for them..??

i'd have thought they held thier value better than that.

which the only press i paid for along with the essentials, (dies, digital scale, bullet puller) was the Lee..

as for the Dillon, i paid for a NIB 550C, (no dies), a repeat of all the accessories i got for the Lee, and the rest of his reloading room, including bullets, and brass, 2 vibrating machines, all for the price of the Dillon alone.

so even "if" all i get back is half the price of the 550C, i still am ahead.

Yeh, well you were ahead of the game with the first cartridge that fell into the bin on either of those presses. You found a once in a lifetime deal for loading equipment.

 

[jumpinjoe]

Local market prices make reloading more expensive for range ammo...meaning I'd save no money for the calibers shot en-masse (9mm, 10mm and 5.56). In my area, you might save money reloading on premium SD/HD loads...but I don't blow through those at the range. So absolutely no to the question if I would save money by reloading. I tossed the idea of doing it 2-3 years ago for this very purpose. I wanted to get in to it for hobby and maybe saving, but it does not save money (where I live). Heck, around me I haven't seen anything but off-name imported primers for 3 years.

I stopped saving my brass because I know it's not likely to change...

I still save my brass more often than not, but very rarely save any range pick-ups. When I get to the range and on line, the first thing I do is to sweep the line of any brass already there. Then after shooting that box/bag I know whatever is on the floor belongs to me. I also try to keep all my brass in groups together so that each one in a group of any number has generally been reloaded the same number of times. I usually store my reloads in boxes or bags of 50. Occasionally one will come up missing or get stepped on and ruined, etc. When this happens I just keep the remaining 49, 48, 47, 46 etc together until down to about 30 or so ... usually by then I've gotten my 5,6,7 reloads out of them anyway and I'll just discard the remainder.

 

[youngolddude]

The wife and I shoot CAS and now Wild Bunch. 9mm range ammo can be cheap and not much savings there, but some of the others offer a lot.

 

[KH1]

Still possible, yes, especially if you are still using older components you bought back in the "buy them cheap and stack them deep days"...but I actually don't reload as much as I used to (also don't shoot as much, sadly). But what I have started doing when I do reload is to only do calibers that are ridiculously expensive right now (relatively-speaking) like .30-06, .30 carbine, 10mm, .380, etc. While I have components, brass, dies, etc., for 9mm, I still have never bothered loading for it (yet). No need to, as I have enough factory ammo to last me a very long time. I have been buying it for years (decades really). Only buy stuff when it is on sale in bulk when possible and can get free shipping, or whatnot.

I still have components for things like .45ACP and the brass lasts forever basically, so I can still load that stuff cheap because I haven't had to buy really any new components for this caliber (at today's prices) because most of it I bought 20-25 years ago. I still have reloads I haven't finished shooting up yet in .45ACP that I reloaded right before my son was born (he is 24 now). At that time a factory new box cost me around $7-8 at that time. Back then I was reloading at about half that price. Even factoring in the cost of primers now which are at least 3-4 times more expensive than they were 20-25 years ago, I can still save a lot loading these. I just don't shoot that caliber much anymore. Although that has changed somewhat since I got a couple of new 1911's and a M-1 Thompson factory-built SBR within the last couple of years.

These days, the costliest part of reloading for me is my TIME. Which, I have very little of, being single and trying to take care of a house and all the other associated stuff by myself and I still work full-time. Also, I have never had a progressive-type of reloading press. I started out using a turret press and then went to a single-stage but decided to go back to a turret press. I have also started dabbling in other things like casting shotgun slugs and buckshot. I do want to try to get back into a routine again of reloading more because I need to load up some more .380, .30 carbine, and some nice .38 special target loads. One of these days, perhaps

Honestly, despite how ridiculously expensive things like powder and primers have become, I still wouldn't let it discourage or deter you from trying to learn how to reload or get into reloading, because it is a great skill to have. Especially in these current times. Prices go up and down. If things go well this November, then maybe we will start seeing some prices go down again and inflation MAYBE start ticking down a bit.

Things will never be as "cheap" as they were back in the "good old days" of course, but that goes for everything from gas, food, and ammo. Is what it is. Our government is addicted to spending trillions more every year than they take in via taxes, printing billions and trillions in currency backed by nothing (hence the inflation) so we always run a budget deficit and a national debt. And we like giving away money to countries that hate us and letting everyone in the world now come across our borders to get free stuff from us. But I digress...

 

[rcurtner]

Mine is a very similar story ... I started back in the early to mid 70's when I first started shooting competition. It was mostly handgun stuff in the beginning (HP Silhouette- big bore), but later on got involved with long guns over and above just my hunting rifles. Late 70's and into the 80's, the wife decided she wanted to get involved. We traveled a good bit around the SE to various comps and between us we would sometimes shoot 1200-1500+/- rounds/mo. So as time went on it became more an economic requirement than as at first just striving for better performance in my ammo.

Never really did an actual cost analysis back then, didn't really care. Today I shoot so little it wouldn't matter a great deal either way, but I still reload for the pure enjoyment. I remember thinking back when things began to tighten up and components, especially primers began to be so scare, that it really wouldn't impact me much since I didn't shoot as much. But surprisingly as time went on it became more and more obvious to me just how much I did miss the reloading.

I started reloading in the early 70's. When I was into competition reloading was a must. Including practice rounds I was going through two to three thousand rounds a month. I don't compete now and only practice two or three times a month. I buy 50 round boxes of 9mm for a little over 13 bucks. Have close to three thousand rounds of my 45acp hand loads. Don't shoot much 45 anymore, what I have on hand will probably last longer than I will. I really enjoy reloading but I refuse to pay these ridiculous prices for components, primers and powder.

 

[Old_Me]

I started reloading in the early 70's. When I was into competition reloading was a must. Including practice rounds I was going through two to three thousand rounds a month. I don't compete now and only practice two or three times a month. I buy 50 round boxes of 9mm for a little over 13 bucks. Have close to three thousand rounds of my 45acp hand loads. Don't shoot much 45 anymore, what I have on hand will probably last longer than I will. I really enjoy reloading but I refuse to pay these ridiculous prices for components, primers and powder.

at my LGS, he has dropped the prices of primers quite a bit.

i did pay something like $69.99 for large/small, now they are even cheaper, but i don't have any spare change to stock up. so i grabbed them back then, on chance there would be another shortage

sale prices are now.......$49.99 for SPP, and $51.99 for LPP........ both Remington's.

 

[KH1]

at my LGS, he has dropped the prices of primers quite a bit.

i did pay something like $69.99 for large/small, now they are even cheaper, but i don't have any spare change to stock up. so i grabbed them back then, on chance there would be another shortage

sale prices are now.......$49.99 for SPP, and $51.99 for LPP........ both Remington's.

WOW...good prices for these days. I have noticed some drop in prices too, and I try to buy a K or two whenever I see them at a decent price. Especially if one of the online vendors does free shipping or covers the HAZMAT fees. I virtually never see primers sitting on the shelves anymore these days. I mostly try to buy CCI and Winchester. I miss the days when I could walk into an Academy Sports and Outdoors store and pick up a K of primers of any size for around $35 before tax. LOL. Before covid hit, it was still possible. Seems like eons ago but it wasn't that many years ago.

 

[rcurtner]

.

at my LGS, he has dropped the prices of primers quite a bit.

i did pay something like $69.99 for large/small, now they are even cheaper, but i don't have any spare change to stock up. so i grabbed them back then, on chance there would be another shortage

sale prices are now.......$49.99 for SPP, and $51.99 for LPP........ both Remington's.

Never shopped at LGS. Very good price for ww primers. They didn't have ww 231 powder or Hornady XTP 9mm 147's. Thanks for the info.

 

[dramey]

I have reloaded since the mid 70s. I never ran out of ammo during the ammo shortage and even during the reloading supplies shortage, I was still able to get the supplies I needed.

 

[Shibadog]

I'll rightfully admit to near total ignorance on the subject. As has been a monthly average for us, four hundred 9mm and one hundred fifty .38 special. All tolled, with equipment, material, time, etcetera, I've been lead to believe the savings would be slight.

9 mm is cheap to buy, so your savings are minimal. .38/.357 yea you can save some $$. .45 and .44, serious $$ saved. Most rifle calibers can be reloaded and save pretty big $ as well. Again, larger, or less common rounds, tend to be where the biggest savings are.