Cost of reloading.........?

[puma guy]

Puma, are you on another forum as ml----? If not, this guy has a matching story to yours, buying the Marlin 60SS, not being able to purchase ANY kind of ammo and being walked to the door by a manager who was carrying the rifle. This guy got his at a Walmart on I-10 near the Kay Mills Mall. Sound familiar?

Nope, but that's not me but it's an identical story. The manager has to do the sale, 4473 form (on computer), etc and walked me to out the door. Amazing coincidence. I am on another forum with the same id Older Charles Daly (Miroku)shotguns and discontinued CD pistols.

[Roland]

NcongruNt, great info........thank you.

Still looking for anyone familiar with the Hornady Lock N Load Auto-Progressive press. I have just about narrowed my choices between this machine and the Dillon 550. If anyone has reason(s) to pick one over the other or info pertinent to either, it would be much appreciated.

[92f-fan]

quick math shows that at $350 for gear which is cheap and a $0.10 a round savings you will need to reload 3500 rounds just to save the cost of the gear back ... Saying nothing about the value of your time or the warranty on your gun..

[UpTheIrons]

I just did some quick and dirty math on my first batch of reloads. This is .45 ACP with 230 gr. FMJ bullets bought at a retail premium because I just had to get started, as well as primers bought several months ago when they were somewhat scarce - not that that's improved, either.

Mine are 28.32 cents per round, or $14.16 for a box of 50, which saves me about $5/box at my Wal-Mart.
Powder: 1.4 cents/round
Primers: 4.2 cents/round
Bullets: 22.72 cents/round

FMJ in bulk should get that down to 20.11 cents, or $10.05/50, saving about $9/box.
Switching to lead would drop it to 13.41 cents, or $6.70/50, saving $13/box.

I spent about $170 on my press and accessories so far, and the bench only cost me $10 in hardware. Add $80 for components so far and it will take 52 boxes for me to 'break even' at my current cost. But, since I'm switching to a lower cost bullet, it should take 29 boxes to catch up. Lead would drop that to 'only' 20 boxes. That's not taking into account any price increases or replacement brass, but it should give you an idea. I'm looking at 18-20 months to recoup my costs, but after that, ahhhh!

Of course, I'm looking at adding some other accessories and calibers, so that window is likely stretched even farther. As to my time value, this is a way for me to mentally disconnect from the world for a while. I enjoy the process and the 'zone' that I go into when I grab the handle.

[Roland]

Dang, 'Irons! Your Walmart is waaaay different on prices than mine!! After you mentioned the price of .45's, I just had to go look at a recent receipt to make sure I wasn't dreaming. On March 18th, I purchased (what I thought was) 3 boxes of 9mm and 3 boxes of .45's (turns out they slipped a box of .40's in the bag, rrrrrrr).

I paid $9.67/50 rnds. of 9mm, 115 grn. Federal's and $11.97/50 rnds. of .45 cal, 230 grn. Federal's.......in other words, I'm buying them cheaper than you are making them. Probably too late to take the .40 cal.'s back......now I need to find someone that uses them.

I think I will enjoy reloading, but, if it costs more to reload than to buy new factory ammo, that would take the "f" out of fun!! Being retired and just working on motorcycles to provide my "mad money", reloading would be one of those strictly hobby things and like most hobbies, it may be expensive.

[UpTheIrons]

Yeah, WWB .45 (which is about all they have) has been running consistently close to $19/50 around here for several months. Academy isn't much better, when you can find it. I don't remember the last time I saw anything other than WWB at Wal-Mart.

Lead would be dang cheap, but I've got to get the hang of things with FMJ first, so I don't shave chunks off my bullets.

[quoheleth]

Here's a great calculator for figuring out your cost/round/box/etc.

http://www.handloads.com/calc/loadingCosts.asp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Shooting my cast lead bullets in .45ACP, I can build a box of 50 for about $6.

My .357 Magnums, depending on the bullet I shoot, are between $4.75 and $6.

Cast lead is not hard to shoot and shoot well. It takes a little time to tweak, but once you figure it out it's a piece of cake. And, relatively cheap!

Q

[UpTheIrons]

I forgot about that calculator. Bookmarked it for future reference. Thanks!

Now get yer sermon done, Q!

[Oldgringo]

I just did some quick and dirty math on my first batch of reloads. This is .45 ACP with 230 gr. FMJ bullets bought at a retail premium because I just had to get started, as well as primers bought several months ago when they were somewhat scarce - not that that's improved, either.

Mine are 28.32 cents per round, or $14.16 for a box of 50, which saves me about $5/box at my Wal-Mart.
Powder: 1.4 cents/round
Primers: 4.2 cents/round
Bullets: 22.72 cents/round

FMJ in bulk should get that down to 20.11 cents, or $10.05/50, saving about $9/box.
Switching to lead would drop it to 13.41 cents, or $6.70/50, saving $13/box.

I spent about $170 on my press and accessories so far, and the bench only cost me $10 in hardware. Add $80 for components so far and it will take 52 boxes for me to 'break even' at my current cost. But, since I'm switching to a lower cost bullet, it should take 29 boxes to catch up. Lead would drop that to 'only' 20 boxes. That's not taking into account any price increases or replacement brass, but it should give you an idea. I'm looking at 18-20 months to recoup my costs, but after that, ahhhh!

Of course, I'm looking at adding some other accessories and calibers, so that window is likely stretched even farther. As to my time value, this is a way for me to mentally disconnect from the world for a while. I enjoy the process and the 'zone' that I go into when I grab the handle.

Check out http://www.berrysmfg.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; for bullets. I think you'll like their products and I know you'll like their prices and service.

[Griz44]

I figure around 7C each or $7.00/hundred for my 45ACP
Range brass, bulk primers and powder, but I took a more consistent road and buy foundry lead instead of doing the scrap or wheel weight thing. I just had too many issues with consistency and accuracy using scrap.
I paid 1.00 a pound for the lead but I bought a bunch of it last time.

Loading is a big money saver, and let's you shoot a lot more for a lot less. I have several pistols and rifles that are several years old, and have never seen a factory round.

[fulano]

I know I'm a little late to the game for commenting but I just registered as a forum member.

For 9mm, my break-even cost happened after about 10,000 rounds. Doesn't include the labor. In fact, you could subtract the cost of blood pressure medication and break-even at 8500 rounds cause reloading is relaxing...

[Matt Fleming]

9mm is relatively low pressure and brass can be reused many times. Typically, it's the most expensive component.

2011 Pricing is approximately: Primer - $0.03, Powder $0.02, Bullet $0.10 - $0.20. Bullets tend to be the the variable most influencing cost because Berry FMJs are priced much different than Hornady JHPs.

On the low end, to handload (not counting labor), that's $7.50 a box. Buying bulk components can reduce this price further.

The nice thing about handloading is that you know exactly what components make up the cartridge. Typically, cheap factory ammo can have dirtier powder.

By controlling the powder charge, you get to custom fit your cartridge to your gun - that's a big advantage over factory ammo.

The most significant savings in handloading can be found in larger capacity and "exotic" cartridges - .357 Mag, .41 Mag, .44 Mag and .357 Sig cost much less to reload.

Handloading can be therapeutic - make 200 reloads and call me in the morning :-)