Economy Of Reloading.

[orygun]

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 bought reloading equipment because of the 41 Mag. I haven't owned a gun in that cartridge for several years, but it's one of my favorites.

 

[thorborg]

There was a time.
Much lamented, at least by me.
But now, "economy" is a tough fit within the reloading vernacular .
Best you be satisfied with the many other good reasons for reloading.

 

[oremike]

I bought reloading equipment because of the 41 Mag. I haven't owned a gun in that cartridge for several years, but it's one of my favorites.

I started in 1980 with 45 Colt. Other than those first 2 boxes of factory ammo I bought with the gun I don't think I've ever shot any other than my own ammo in that caliber unless somebody gave me a half a box or something. I thought about casting but my space back then was whatever I could do in my room as living in rentals and with roommates. I found I could get good 255gr SWC's from Liberty Bullets out of Hillsboro so no need to reinvent the wheel so to speak. I have a 6" 41 Mag as well. Handy for a woods walkabout gun, not as big as the 45 Colt or 44 Mag but bigger and hits harder than the 4" 357. It's good to have choices.

 

[ThePants]

What Guns and Calibers Should I Handload For? - Midsouth Shot Report

I’ve heard too often from people that they handload absolutely every caliber they own. I’m not opposed to this and think it’s a great skill to have. Sometimes the cost vs time benefit doesn’t appear to add up. Spending time to save a few cents on each round may only require spending an...

midsouthshotreport.com

 

[bentoncity]

I don't give a rat if you can buy ammo on the cheap or not. I reload for relaxation and it's MY AMMO I reloaded.
I'm happy to hold EVERY ROUND that I fire or will fire. So there..thbbtttt!

Dan

 

[Lumberfish]

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 reload on my progresive press 9mm, 10mm, .308 and .223 and use single stage press for .300wm, 6mm ARC, and 22 ARC essentially all my bolt actions I use my single stag press to reload where I can be more precise with every stage of the reloading process.

 

[aaron_l]

And here i thought "saving $ by reloading" was just an excuse you tell your wife so you can buy more reloading gear. At least thats what i did .

 

[BMGMAN]

And here i thought "saving $ by reloading" was just an excuse you tell your wife so you can buy more reloading gear. At least thats what i did .

A man's gotta do what a man's gotta do!

 

[357 MAX]

30 30 in lever action, bolt action and single shot. 256 win. 7mm tcu, 7mm BR. 30 herrett, 357 max, and many more. that's why I reload.

 

[orygun]

And here i thought "saving $ by reloading" was just an excuse you tell your wife so you can buy more reloading gear. At least thats what i did .

It's what I told my first wife, all those years ago. She only complained when I bought all of the 41 Magnum ammo PayLess was selling at a discounted price when they got out of firearms. "But, Honey. This brass is really hard to come by."

I've been married to a different lady for over 25 years now. Many years ago she bought a Dillon RL550 for me. I guess she doesn't mind.

 

[64MercurysRule]

It's what cave dwellers do

 

[Mikej]

I got into it for the economy of it back in November of 2011. Never was a gun guy until my Dad gave me his old guns. He was only a gun guy for a short time when he got out of Navy in '47, as far as I know. The guns just hung on our mantles and in cabinets in the basement. I realized after a short time that we could go through $40.00 worth of ammo in and hour and a half at the private club we joined. Not many people loaded 9mm so tons of brass was available everywhere people shot. So was most other common hand gun calibers. If a person started loading, and collecting components, back then, you're certainly saving money, per shot, on ammo at this point. I love the fact that when I look at, or drool, over a cool old gun that buying ammo for it doesn't occur to me. Finding brass for it is an exciting thought though!
My first cartridge was .45ACP. Loaded with a set of used dies purchased from a good member here. At this time I can load....
45ACP
.45 Long Colt
9mm
40 S&W
.38-,357mag
.223
.30 Carbine
.30-30
.30-06
6.5 X 55 Swedish Mauser
Two cartridges I have guns for I don't load. Only because ammo was cheap, stocked up on it and don't shoot them much..303 British and 7.62 X 39.

It's certainly economical now, considering the amount of components that I've stock piled over the, reasonably, good years since Sandy hook.

 

[aaron_l]

Personally, i reload to remove as many variables as i can so that the group size is a reflection of my skills and not from what ammo box i bought. I enjoy taking my time and making as perfect a round as i can almost more than i like shooting at times...almost

 

[pinne65]

I like my 10mm spec++ and also shoot .454 and 45-70. There's economy to be had there for sure even with today's prices of components. Back in early Covid I had had shoulder operation and couldn't shoot. Sportsmans was selling CCI bricks for $24.50 with a 1 limit per day, but I worked just a mile a way so I went there at lunch every day that summer. I picked 9mm brass at the range and bought coated Missouri bullets and loaded min loads for plinking. The cost per round came to around 10 cents. I ended up loading 57 pounds of 9mm and still have some left. I tell my wifey - honey, see how much money I'm saving on reloading
Besides it's relaxing - I go out in the garage, put on KMHD, get into the grove and crank out one or two hundred every once in a while, enough to sustain the weekend shooting for me and my friends.

 

[Capn Jack]

A lesson to be learned if you own and shoot cross platforms.

I took my Dad out shooting and let him use my M1 Carbine. The next day I had to spend several hours with my RCBS Jr. sizing and reloading what he had shot up in about 15 min.
The next time we went out shooting, I taught him how to load a couple of my BP muzzle loading rifles.
He had just as much fun and the clean up later was about 30 minutes.

 

[Capn Jack]

Re: Reloading

Saving Money By Making My Own Bullets:
I decided to try and beat the cost of copper gas checks, (aprox. $35.00k) for my cast bullets and bought a gas check cutter. $100.00

Right away, I found it was very difficult to make the cutter work in my RCBS Jr. press so I bought a 1 ton Arbor press from Harbor Freight for $50.00

The Arbor press worked great, but the cutter kept falling over, so I had to cut a seat in the anvil. To cut the seat, I had to buy some oversized drills and bore a socket in the anvil to hold the cutter. $25.00

Now for material: My local Sears has .014 aluminum flashing 50'x6". You have to special order it from their supplier, for $40.00 a roll. Cut into 3/4" wide strips, that's approximately 800 strips per roll.

By being careful, I can punch 8 Gas Checks per strip, for a total of 6,400 gas checks per roll. That's a savings of almost $5.00.

At this rate I'll only have to shoot about 6,400 .459 caliber, 350 gr. bullets (275lbs of lead) to amortize the cost of making my own gas checks.

After that, THEY'RE FREE !!!

Now, I've been thinking about saving even more money by buying a.....

Oh! Can't forget the cost of Kevlar gloves and a box of Band Aids for handling the cutout scrap material. That stuff is like Razor Wire.

There's also the saving I made by buying a .22lr adapter for my wife's pistol. ($250.00) Now, I can save a lot on the cost of 9mm....which I don't "buy" anyway....
I use, "Range Brass" and cast those bullets too.

 

[arakboss]

Re: Reloading

Saving Money By Making My Own Bullets:
I decided to try and beat the cost of copper gas checks, (aprox. $35.00k) for my cast bullets and bought a gas check cutter. $100.00

Right away, I found it was very difficult to make the cutter work in my RCBS Jr. press so I bought a 1 ton Arbor press from Harbor Freight for $50.00

The Arbor press worked great, but the cutter kept falling over, so I had to cut a seat in the anvil. To cut the seat, I had to buy some oversized drills and bore a socket in the anvil to hold the cutter. $25.00

Now for material: My local Sears has .014 aluminum flashing 50'x6". You have to special order it from their supplier, for $40.00 a roll. Cut into 3/4" wide strips, that's approximately 800 strips per roll.

By being careful, I can punch 8 Gas Checks per strip, for a total of 6,400 gas checks per roll. That's a savings of almost $5.00.

At this rate I'll only have to shoot about 6,400 .459 caliber, 350 gr. bullets (275lbs of lead) to amortize the cost of making my own gas checks.

After that, THEY'RE FREE !!!

Now, I've been thinking about saving even more money by buying a.....

Oh! Can't forget the cost of Kevlar gloves and a box of Band Aids for handling the cutout scrap material. That stuff is like Razor Wire.

There's also the saving I made by buying a .22lr adapter for my wife's pistol. ($250.00) Now, I can save a lot on the cost of 9mm....which I don't "buy" anyway....
I use, "Range Brass" and cast those bullets too.

I bought a bunch of cast bullets yesterday for about 33 cents a pound. I'm pretty sure I couldn't cast them myself for that price.

 

[RVTECH]

I bought a bunch of cast bullets yesterday for about 33 cents a pound.

Was this part of the 300 lbs you previously posted about?

How did you manage to get them so cheaply and what calibers?

And no, you could not cast them that cheap. Even if the lead was free!

 

[arakboss]

Was this part of the 300 lbs you previously posted about?

How did you manage to get them so cheaply and what calibers?

And no, you could not cast them that cheap. Even if the lead was free!

Yes.

Because I was lucky.

Mostly 30cal rifle and various 45cal and 44cal pistol bullets. There were some 38cal as well.

 

[Mikej]

Re: Reloading

Saving Money By Making My Own Bullets:
I decided to try and beat the cost of copper gas checks, (aprox. $35.00k) for my cast bullets and bought a gas check cutter. $100.00

Right away, I found it was very difficult to make the cutter work in my RCBS Jr. press so I bought a 1 ton Arbor press from Harbor Freight for $50.00

The Arbor press worked great, but the cutter kept falling over, so I had to cut a seat in the anvil. To cut the seat, I had to buy some oversized drills and bore a socket in the anvil to hold the cutter. $25.00

Now for material: My local Sears has .014 aluminum flashing 50'x6". You have to special order it from their supplier, for $40.00 a roll. Cut into 3/4" wide strips, that's approximately 800 strips per roll.

By being careful, I can punch 8 Gas Checks per strip, for a total of 6,400 gas checks per roll. That's a savings of almost $5.00.

At this rate I'll only have to shoot about 6,400 .459 caliber, 350 gr. bullets (275lbs of lead) to amortize the cost of making my own gas checks.

After that, THEY'RE FREE !!!

Now, I've been thinking about saving even more money by buying a.....

Oh! Can't forget the cost of Kevlar gloves and a box of Band Aids for handling the cutout scrap material. That stuff is like Razor Wire.

There's also the saving I made by buying a .22lr adapter for my wife's pistol. ($250.00) Now, I can save a lot on the cost of 9mm....which I don't "buy" anyway....
I use, "Range Brass" and cast those bullets too.

I started chuckling at "$100 Gas Check cutter." I.ve lived/heard the story before.