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Somewhere along the line, I tried a turret press and a coaxial press, didn't care for those either.
Never felt the need for a progressive but I WAS thinking several years ago about looking into a turret press but about that time is was given a bunch of reloading stuff and along with it was an early Bonanza Co-Ax press and after giving it a good clean up and some minor adjustments I forgot about a turret.

The Co-Ax gave me more versatility and speed over my Rock Chucker, but still a single stage.
 
I have started dipping my toes back into reloading and have been reminded of what a time suck it is. I enjoy it for small batch test loads but can't imagine doing 500 or 1000ct batches of the same recipe.

Because of space constraints, cost involved and a short attention span, I am sticking with non-progressive presses and small batches.

Do you factor in your time when deciding whether loading a particular cartridge is worth it or not? If so at what rate per hour do you value your time?
I can reload 50 BMG API rounds for about 2.25 each with supplies on hand. Not a huge savings but I know with 100% certainty it's going to function well in my rifle. Where it really saves me is loading 750gr amax precision rounds! I can reload those for around 4.75. Most places don't have either off the shelf
 
I have started dipping my toes back into reloading and have been reminded of what a time suck it is. I enjoy it for small batch test loads but can't imagine doing 500 or 1000ct batches of the same recipe.

Because of space constraints, cost involved and a short attention span, I am sticking with non-progressive presses and small batches.

Do you factor in your time when deciding whether loading a particular cartridge is worth it or not? If so at what rate per hour do you value your time?
Long reply. Written to help someone thinking about getting into the handloading / reloading hobby.

Generally speaking, users of Rare cartridges or volume shooters will find value quickly.

How do you measure the value of time spent being self-sufficient, not impacted by retail ammo shortages, satisfaction of your own craftsmanship, setting your own goals then seeing your improvement over time?

Hourly rate for reloading is not going to equate to a day job, so it is not practical to value it the same way as labor or service you provided to others when reloading or handloading is providing labor and service to yourself.

I view reloading as a commission or fee you pay to yourself from the cost savings (cost of components) Vs retail ammo price for like components in the same caliber.

Time:
Depending on equipment used, your level of organization, your experience level with the cartridge when applied to assembly, the time spent will vary; perhaps greatly.

Become a master at a single cartridge you use often and the hobby will stick with you. That experience will translate to other calibers / cartridges. Trying too many different cartridges early on in your reloading journey means there is a pandemic or even worse: you're retired.

Shopping:
How you acquire the components will also impact the net savings. Holiday discounts, rebates, coupon codes, bulk orders are all great ways to maximize the savings.
Many of you likely receive daily emails from component suppliers but are waiting for a big sale or a supplier to restock your missing component before making a purchase. Try signing up for emails in order to save a few % on your order and see what happens.

At the moment, Smokeless Powder is still climbing in cost. Finding "cheap" smokless powder is becoming difficult. Is Pulldown powder starting to look interesting? Anyone?

Thanks to primers from South America, Bosnia, European manufacturers, Primers have peaked and started to become more common with lower prices from domestic manufacturers.

New brass is expensive. Some calibers such as 9mm do not save money or have razor thin savings over retail ammo if you're buying brass. If you load magnum handgun and rifle cartridges, it is much easier to justify buying new brass, especially if it is a caliber you use often.

For me, spending time reloading starts by picking up brass at the range.

if your range doesn't have a good amount of brass to pickup, consider buying a few boxes or case of retail ammo, training with it, then reload it.

Best case, bring your retired friends to the range, help them shoot their ammo and have them pickup the brass for you. Everyone wins. All you had to do was drive.

Projos:
Find the right projo for your application. Shop around for a good deal or atleast the best deal available. Remember to compare it to the cost of the same projo in retail ammo when calculating your price per round.

Relative savings can be found in these classifieds on NWFA if you know what retail prices are. Some sellers are open to offers, some are not. If you don't ask, you don't get.

Where is your no-go zone for reloading? @arakboss

Red-heads and Rimfire is where I draw the line for my no-go zone. Both are hazardous and not worth the effort. Life is better this way, and I can still pass a background check. More power to you if you are retired and have time to go there.

Do you include the time spent on NWFA shopping classifieds as a part of your reloading time? If anyone should, it would be @arakboss 😉. Such a well known member of the community.
With much respect 🙏

Arakboss has sent referrals my way, especially when looking for rare components and it is appreciated 👏!

Thank you for reading.
 
Long reply. Written to help someone thinking about getting into the handloading / reloading hobby.

Generally speaking, users of Rare cartridges or volume shooters will find value quickly.

How do you measure the value of time spent being self-sufficient, not impacted by retail ammo shortages, satisfaction of your own craftsmanship, setting your own goals then seeing your improvement over time?

Hourly rate for reloading is not going to equate to a day job, so it is not practical to value it the same way as labor or service you provided to others when reloading or handloading is providing labor and service to yourself.

I view reloading as a commission or fee you pay to yourself from the cost savings (cost of components) Vs retail ammo price for like components in the same caliber.

Time:
Depending on equipment used, your level of organization, your experience level with the cartridge when applied to assembly, the time spent will vary; perhaps greatly.

Become a master at a single cartridge you use often and the hobby will stick with you. That experience will translate to other calibers / cartridges. Trying too many different cartridges early on in your reloading journey means there is a pandemic or even worse: you're retired.

Shopping:
How you acquire the components will also impact the net savings. Holiday discounts, rebates, coupon codes, bulk orders are all great ways to maximize the savings.
Many of you likely receive daily emails from component suppliers but are waiting for a big sale or a supplier to restock your missing component before making a purchase. Try signing up for emails in order to save a few % on your order and see what happens.

At the moment, Smokeless Powder is still climbing in cost. Finding "cheap" smokless powder is becoming difficult. Is Pulldown powder starting to look interesting? Anyone?

Thanks to primers from South America, Bosnia, European manufacturers, Primers have peaked and started to become more common with lower prices from domestic manufacturers.

New brass is expensive. Some calibers such as 9mm do not save money or have razor thin savings over retail ammo if you're buying brass. If you load magnum handgun and rifle cartridges, it is much easier to justify buying new brass, especially if it is a caliber you use often.

For me, spending time reloading starts by picking up brass at the range.

if your range doesn't have a good amount of brass to pickup, consider buying a few boxes or case of retail ammo, training with it, then reload it.

Best case, bring your retired friends to the range, help them shoot their ammo and have them pickup the brass for you. Everyone wins. All you had to do was drive.

Projos:
Find the right projo for your application. Shop around for a good deal or atleast the best deal available. Remember to compare it to the cost of the same projo in retail ammo when calculating your price per round.

Relative savings can be found in these classifieds on NWFA if you know what retail prices are. Some sellers are open to offers, some are not. If you don't ask, you don't get.

Where is your no-go zone for reloading? @arakboss

Red-heads and Rimfire is where I draw the line for my no-go zone. Both are hazardous and not worth the effort. Life is better this way, and I can still pass a background check. More power to you if you are retired and have time to go there.

Do you include the time spent on NWFA shopping classifieds as a part of your reloading time? If anyone should, it would be @arakboss 😉. Such a well known member of the community.
With much respect 🙏

Arakboss has sent referrals my way, especially when looking for rare components and it is appreciated 👏!

Thank you for reading.
If you enjoy reloading it's relaxing therapy.
If you don't it's work.
It's just not for everyone.
I enjoy it and consider my time as enjoyment.
Some guys like to golf or watch baseball ⚾️ or whatever.
I would rather be reloading.
 
I think the question of valuing your time spent reloading would come into play if you did not enjoy it. Think about doing your own auto repair and maintenance. If people don't enjoy working on their cars and the cost savings isn't much different, than most would probably take their's into a shop.

If you have the opportunity to put in more hours at your job you enjoy or make more money at your business then it may make sense to buy ammo instead of reloading it.

I like to shop and find deals. Reloading gives me an excuse to do more shopping and find more deals. Reloading doesn't save me money, in fact it cost me a lot of money. But what else am I going to shop for and find deals on.
 
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OIP (56).jpg

OIP (57).jpg

Burma-Shave...
 
myself and one of my sons shoot 41 mag on a weekly basis. i load on a 750 in thousand round batches. this economy should be obvious to anyone who has ever bought a box of 41.
(i'm retired)
 
I don't particularly enjoy it, but I use my progressive when I'd otherwise be sitting in my chair with my wife's TV shows blaring, or dawdling on the computer.

I'll load 200 or so, and quit when I'm bored. Brass processing for rifles I tend to knuckle down and get that misery finished ASAP, then have a stash of ready brass to load as I feel like it or need it. Case gauging/chamber checking I do when I have about 500 rds and blow thru that process in 20-30 minutes. When I do 2-4 sessions per week I'll have about 1K finished, and I'll keep going until out of components.

It is nice at times to gloat over the piles of finished ammo, but when you shoot a few competitions per month it seems to go quick. The real benefit is making accurate rifle ammo for your particular barrel, well below cost of buying.
 
Gary took a deep dive into the well of reloading economy. My wife might appreciate this part of the article:

"Finally, I attached no monetary value to the time spent reloading. This is because I view reloading as an interesting leisure activity. Reloading is much more productive than some other pass-times, such as watching reality shows on TV."

My wife loves "reality" TV, not some of but all of it.


It's funny what he says about brass. He calculates savings based on buying new brass, even in 9mm, and cautions against brass from unknown sources: "Stay away from off brand cases and never use scrounged cases that may have been fired more than once."

I had to chuckle at that. I know some reloaders are overly cautious about their brass, and to each their own, but I always examine my brass for any damage or defects no matter where it came from or how many times fired. I don't really care if it's twice-fired instead of once-fired. As long as it's good brass, I'll use it.
 
myself and one of my sons shoot 41 mag on a weekly basis. i load on a 750 in thousand round batches. this economy should be obvious to anyone who has ever bought a box of 41.
(i'm retired)
Love that cartridge! Never have bought a factory box. Even in the late 90s it was $50/box!
 
I love to reload almost as much as shooting..almost. I Competition shoot with the 9,45 ACP and 223 (i'm no good at it, but I like to do it and I'm around like-minded people)so I loaded those up in bulk numbers on my 650. my hunting rounds all done on my single stage press typically I do anywhere between 25 to 100 rounds for Hunting loads.
Processing brass is part of the game of Reloading . I don't mind it too much. It's my least favorite part of Reloading.
Am I saving money by Reloading ? I don't think so. It does allow me to do what I love to do and not break bank.
 
The economy of reloading is very subjective. If you have a high income and like to shoot, but don't enjoy reloading, then it's certainly not for you. There's just no economy there, as your time is better spent doing something else that you do enjoy. If you're retired, on a fixed income, and enjoy reloading, then reloading is your game.

When I was young and broke, I liked to shoot but couldn't afford to buy factory ammo, at least not in any quantity, and I did enjoy reloading. It seemed like there was great economy in it for me. BUT, on looking back, I sure wish I had spent a lot of that spare time learning a trade or improving myself somehow instead, investing in the future, so maybe the economy wasn't quite what I thought either. Life is pretty subjective isn't it? We all make our choices.

I agree about the oddball calibers being the best reason to reload. If all I ever shot was ball ammo in rounds like 9mm and 5.56, like a lot of guys here, reloading probably wouldn't be worth it for me. I shoot stuff like .38 S&W, .45 Colt, .45-70, .43 Spanish, and a bunch of others. I even cast bullets, but that's a whole 'nother can of worms, as far as economy goes. I've got a whole drawer full of molds and probably a half ton of alloy, but have been thinking of giving giving it up for a while now. I'm just not sure it's worth it to me anymore.
 
The economy of reloading is very subjective. If you have a high income and like to shoot, but don't enjoy reloading, then it's certainly not for you. There's just no economy there, as your time is better spent doing something else that you do enjoy. If you're retired, on a fixed income, and enjoy reloading, then reloading is your game.

When I was young and broke, I liked to shoot but couldn't afford to buy factory ammo, at least not in any quantity, and I did enjoy reloading. It seemed like there was great economy in it for me. BUT, on looking back, I sure wish I had spent a lot of that spare time learning a trade or improving myself somehow instead, investing in the future, so maybe the economy wasn't quite what I thought either. Life is pretty subjective isn't it? We all make our choices.

I agree about the oddball calibers being the best reason to reload. If all I ever shot was ball ammo in rounds like 9mm and 5.56, like a lot of guys here, reloading probably wouldn't be worth it for me. I shoot stuff like .38 S&W, .45 Colt, .45-70, .43 Spanish, and a bunch of others. I even cast bullets, but that's a whole 'nother can of worms, as far as economy goes. I've got a whole drawer full of molds and probably a half ton of alloy, but have been thinking of giving giving it up for a while now. I'm just not sure it's worth it to me anymore.
Say it ain't so!
 

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