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Reloading cost vs. factory bought, handgun and rifle

A

AABigRick

Operator
Hello all, It has been a good ten years since I have reloaded. Lately I have been debating on starting up again primarily as a hobby, but I was wondering if it is still cost effective? If I reload again, it will be primarily 9mm, .357 sig, and a small amount of .270 The loads will be primarily just plinking ammo so no high end components.
I have been out of the game for awhile and wanted everyone's quick take from a cost efficiency point. The only die I will need is 9mm, but I have the rest of the equipment albeit the reloader is an old-school single stage rcbs.
 
I reload all 3 and cost per round (primer, powder and bullet) for 9 and sig is about 15-18 cents for 9mm and 2-3 cents more for the sig. Just the extra cents for powder on the sig. 270win, I'm guessing? 45-90 cents/round. No fmj in the 27 cal that I can find? Possibly 35-50 cents depending on where you live/buy at? I've reloaded 270win for 30+ years and 9mm/357sig for 4-6 years.
 
I only reload handgun cartridge's but find that reloading .40's and .45's saves money but the cost of 9mm is so close to the cost of reloading not worth it for me. I usually figure my cost for a box of 50 and for me $8-$9 for .40 / .45 is about right. I can usually purchase 9mm for around $9 -$10 a box. Now especially when shooting in competition with .40 and ,45 and you want to mitigate recoil while still making major reloading is really important.
 
SCfromNY said:
I only reload handgun cartridge's but find that reloading .40's and .45's saves money but the cost of 9mm is so close to the cost of reloading not worth it for me. I usually figure my cost for a box of 50 and for me $8-$9 for .40 / .45 is about right. I can usually purchase 9mm for around $9 -$10 a box. Now especially when shooting in competition with .40 and ,45 and you want to mitigate recoil while still making major reloading is really important.
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Got it, cheap as i can get 9mm is about $15 for a box of 50 junk range ammo
 
I've been thinking about doing this for a long time. I'd like to reload ammo just for plinking. But I couldn't decide if it's worth it or not. I also don't get a lot of range time either. Maybe a couple trips a month. About 200-500rdns for my .40 and 200rnds for .308/7.62x51.

Would it still be worth to reload my own ammo?
 
Many responses are apples and oranges.

If you are looking to reload to save money, then you need to just keep buying your cheap, junk ammo. The amortization of the necessary equipment to load reliable ammo runs into the thousands of rounds. It'll likely happen in your lifetime, but the upfront cost will prove insurmountable if you're buying junk range ammo at $9 to $15 a box.

There are many reasons to load your own ammo --- saving money on junk range ammo is not one of them.

Nonetheless, after 2 weeks of searching I found a stash of newly stocked 9mm 115gr ammo...ARMSCOR brand. It's not terrible ammo, but posts on reloading forums are filled with folk that through away any A USA headstamp (Armscor) brass they pick up, and if they shoot it, they sure don't bother recovering the brass.

Two weeks to find the only stocked ammo within 30 miles of my home to be ammo I buy out of desperation. By the way...this unquestionably junk ammo was $13.99 a box.

Instead, I went into my room and made up 100 rounds of 9mm with a high quality powder, a high quality projectile, a high quality primer, and a good quality case that I'm using for the 4th time. Each one is individually gauged, plunk tested, and sized to within .002" of each other...at a total cost (my time is donated out of love for the sport) of $13.53 / 100.
 
markr6754 said:
Many responses are apples and oranges.

If you are looking to reload to save money, then you need to just keep buying your cheap, junk ammo. The amortization of the necessary equipment to load reliable ammo runs into the thousands of rounds. It'll likely happen in your lifetime, but the upfront cost will prove insurmountable if you're buying junk range ammo at $9 to $15 a box.

There are many reasons to load your own ammo --- saving money on junk range ammo is not one of them.

Nonetheless, after 2 weeks of searching I found a stash of newly stocked 9mm 115gr ammo...ARMSCOR brand. It's not terrible ammo, but posts on reloading forums are filled with folk that through away any A USA headstamp (Armscor) brass they pick up, and if they shoot it, they sure don't bother recovering the brass.

Two weeks to find the only stocked ammo within 30 miles of my home to be ammo I buy out of desperation. By the way...this unquestionably junk ammo was $13.99 a box.

Instead, I went into my room and made up 100 rounds of 9mm with a high quality powder, a high quality projectile, a high quality primer, and a good quality case that I'm using for the 4th time. Each one is individually gauged, plunk tested, and sized to within .002" of each other...at a total cost (my time is donated out of love for the sport) of $13.53 / 100.
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Got it, i see your point, i would like to have everything on hand i think to load what i need if the ammo crisis gets any worse. I dont competition shoot so generally cheaper ammo is ok for me. Heck when ive shot a good thousand rounds of cheap Ultramax .357 sig with excellent accuracy at 20 yards, i think one stovepipe. Though that caliber through my xd tac seems to never have any issues with any ammo.

Thanks for the thoughts
 
300-500 dollars for a start on equipment. $500 divided by 10,000 rounds=5 cents just for thoughts and that's just 1 caliber. If all you're needing is additional dies then that's not much, especially when it come to 308 based and up cartridges. 300bo and 556 are fairly cheap, but getting higher! I can reload 556 for 20 cents/round. 300bo for 25 cents. Even the single stage is worth the money! You already have 1, so that's a start.
 
If you reload enough it could be cost effective. If you don’t have equipment, that will and can be an expensive setup, depending on what you go with, initially. I wouldn’t look or compare my setup cost towards ammo cost, two different things. Buy your equipment. Get your powder, brass and bullets. Once you reload figure out what it was to load 50 rounds, 100 rounds and 500 rounds based on bullets brass powder and primers. That is what makes up a bullet. If it is just to load a box here or there I don’t see it being cost effective. If you shoot professionally, pistol or rifle it is definitely a big plus.
 
You can still find OK range ammo and the price will eventually go back down. Since I don't reload 9mm I recently bought a 1000 round case from Natchez of Blazer 115 gr which I consider good range ammo for $247. 8 weeks ago it was $177. Unless you are going to shoot a lot it is not really IMO worth getting a reloader. But, I have a Dillon and if anything breaks I just call them and they send a new part no charge. I am the second owner and they don't care. A great company.
 
SCfromNY said:
You can still find OK range ammo and the price will eventually go back down. Since I don't reload 9mm I recently bought a 1000 round case from Natchez of Blazer 115 gr which I consider good range ammo for $247. 8 weeks ago it was $177. Unless you are going to shoot a lot it is not really IMO worth getting a reloader. But, I have a Dillon and if anything breaks I just call them and they send a new part no charge. I am the second owner and they don't care. A great company.
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9mm can be iffy on if it’s worth it...right now, you can save money if you had the components already...but for the past couple of years when you could get it as low as $.16/rd delivered, it was hardly worth the time.

In calibers like .45, .38, .357, .44...it’s definitely money saving.

Rifle calibers May or may not save money, but you can tailor loads for your rifle...which makes it worth it, in my way of thinking.
 
SCfromNY said:
You can still find OK range ammo and the price will eventually go back down. Since I don't reload 9mm I recently bought a 1000 round case from Natchez of Blazer 115 gr which I consider good range ammo for $247. 8 weeks ago it was $177. Unless you are going to shoot a lot it is not really IMO worth getting a reloader. But, I have a Dillon and if anything breaks I just call them and they send a new part no charge. I am the second owner and they don't care. A great company.
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I almost placed the same order two days ago, decided to order it the next day and they sold out lol
 
I hand load for two primary reasons and many less significant reasons. I load for handguns because I'm able to reduce recoil and handgun stress. It doesn't take a lot of velocity to punch holes in paper. Kids enjoy shooting reduced velocity loads.

I load all of my big game ammo. It's infinitely more accurate and consistent than factory ammo. My big game loads print very tiny groups.

For a big game hunter who's satisfied with factory ammo and with a box of 20 lasting several seasons, hand loading wouldn't make economic sense.
 
SATRP said:
I hand load for two primary reasons and many less significant reasons. I load for handguns because I'm able to reduce recoil and handgun stress. It doesn't take a lot of velocity to punch holes in paper. Kids enjoy shooting reduced velocity loads.

I load all of my big game ammo. It's infinitely more accurate and consistent than factory ammo. My big game loads print very tiny groups.

For a big game hunter who's satisfied with factory ammo and with a box of 20 lasting several seasons, hand loading wouldn't make economic sense.
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Your statement about loading for big game and game plus accuracy is why I do it. It is not for the mere fact of saving money but rather I can roll my own and get a more accurate round. Even on paper, not that I don’t shoot off the shelf ammo more, because I do.
 
BangBang said:
If you reload enough it could be cost effective. If you don’t have equipment, that will and can be an expensive setup, depending on what you go with, initially. I wouldn’t look or compare my setup cost towards ammo cost, two different things. Buy your equipment. Get your powder, brass and bullets. Once you reload figure out what it was to load 50 rounds, 100 rounds and 500 rounds based on bullets brass powder and primers. That is what makes up a bullet. If it is just to load a box here or there I don’t see it being cost effective. If you shoot professionally, pistol or rifle it is definitely a big plus.
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I have a number of reloading apps on my iPad, but my favorite is probably Reloading Assistant. It has a handy calculator set up to calculate reloading costs for you. Enter the variables (bullets, primers, powder, charge weight, cases) and it spits out cost per quantity. Next it has fields to enter factory loaded ammo to generate a comparison cost.

Besides the handy calculator it has thousands of recipes, most of them from the major public sources.

Very versatile for a free program.
 
SATRP said:
I hand load for two primary reasons and many less significant reasons. I load for handguns because I'm able to reduce recoil and handgun stress. It doesn't take a lot of velocity to punch holes in paper. Kids enjoy shooting reduced velocity loads.

I load all of my big game ammo. It's infinitely more accurate and consistent than factory ammo. My big game loads print very tiny groups.

For a big game hunter who's satisfied with factory ammo and with a box of 20 lasting several seasons, hand loading wouldn't make economic sense.
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Stress is a major factor in my reloading decision. It is a tremendous stress reliever. Grandkids making too much noise...got to your (reloading) room. Covid-19 lockdown got you anxious...go to your room. Can't find any good ammo anywhere...go to your room.

I started out handguns only (9mm primarily), which morphed into .380ACP, .40S&W, .45ACP, .38 Spl/.357Mag, which then led me to build a few AR pistols so I could load for them...only .300AAC Blackout, but I have the dies and some factory ammo to start 458 Socom some day. All just for fun.

I used to say this was my vice in the absence of smoking or drinking...but I think I'd have saved money by taking on the traditional vices.
 
markr6754 said:
I have a number of reloading apps on my iPad, but my favorite is probably Reloading Assistant. It has a handy calculator set up to calculate reloading costs for you. Enter the variables (bullets, primers, powder, charge weight, cases) and it spits out cost per quantity. Next it has fields to enter factory loaded ammo to generate a comparison cost.

Besides the handy calculator it has thousands of recipes, most of them from the major public sources.

Very versatile for a free program.
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a Reloading app, wow thats cool. Thanks
 
I don't save a penny by reloading, but I get to shoot 4-5 times as much for the same money. Reloading 9mm is definitely cheaper if you do it right. Free range pick up brass, primers by the 5,000 case, 8# jugs of powder, HiTek coated bullets by the case from SNS casting. My last bulk load of 9mm worked out to $4.80 a box, and higher quality than any factory ammo.
 
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