Hand loading just doesn't pencil out...

[Alexx1401]

We see the evidence throughout this thread as people continually mention CTD as a source of ammo as if they are the cheapest source and the kind of business we should be supporting. In a year or two I suppose we'll be sending people to Dick's for their firearms purchases.

I "try" not to beat that dead horse but I will never buy from CTD if they are 50% lower than everyone else. They do a lot of advertising of course and it does work. I have to assume many were just not around to see some of the crap they pulled in the past. I still get catalogs from CTD and it has been many years since they saw any of my money. I do look through the catalogs but only to see if there is something I want. If there is I then look for the item at other sellers.

 

[bbbass]

I "try" not to beat that dead horse but I will never buy from CTD if they are 50% lower than everyone else. They do a lot of advertising of course and it does work. I have to assume many were just not around to see some of the crap they pulled in the past. I still get catalogs from CTD and it has been many years since they saw any of my money. I do look through the catalogs but only to see if there is something I want. If there is I then look for the item at other sellers.

Are they associated with Sportsmen's Guide?

 

[Alexx1401]

Are they associated with Sportsmen's Guide?

Not that I have ever heard.

 

[Capn Jack]

The only brass I've purchased over the years has been .458 SoCom and some 7.62x39. My majority is range brass I've picked up and my lead is old SCUBA weights from my younger days. I use the same 145gr.HP mold for both 9mm and .38Spl. and I cast a 325gr.GC FN for my .458. A LEE bottom drop lead pot, RCBS powder scale and an RCBS Jr. press, bought in 1963 rounds out my basics. Really a budget set up.
I haven't shot any of my brass 7.62x39 yet as I'm still working on a case of Wolf HP I bought during the 1st. O'Bummer.

 

[deadeye]

I started rolling back when the common folk could not mail order ammo and you still had to fill out a log to buy hand gun ammo. Much of it was hard to find what you wanted. Rolling your own of course was great. When they let us start buying ammo by mail I stopped rolling near as much. No longer worth my time for stuff like 9mm. I did set aside 5 gal buckets of brass in every caliber I shoot. along with bricks of primers and pounds of powder. Humans have a short memory and nothing seems to fix this ever. I have seen "shortages" before and learned. Most do not. When something sets off a panic they scream. Has to be some kind of conspiracy. <shrug>. This last one when .22 ammo took years to come back was one of the best I have seen yet. Took my Wife a year or two to even find out it was happening. When she did she got all in a panic. I told her do you seen a shortage here when you grab some to go to the range? The answer was no. I made sure of it. Now that it's over most will soon go back to waiting till they are out to buy more. When the next panic hits they will scream conspiracy again as they can't find any <shrug>

Yep this is exactly how it has been for at least 19 yrs. The Y2K hub bub, 9-11, Obama,Sandy hook, Hillary, etc.. Never had an issue getting by on my supplies.

 

[P7M13]

Like many here, reloading is a hobby in itself for me. The justification itself is relaxation. Considering that two of the cartridges I shoot cannot be purchased OTS, it is also a necessity. IMO, it has already paid for itself many times over.
Getting into casting, and expect that will pay for itself pretty quickly too.
The notion of cost savings is absurd -- you get to shoot more.

Thanks for all the responses, guys, some I was aware of, some I hadn't thought about. I guess my biggest issue is time, taking care of a disabled wife tends to make scheduling a joke . Thanks for your input.
Dave

I travel a lot, and it's sometimes a hectic schedule. Reloading is one of those things that I do when I cannot sleep or I'm very stressed. Very relaxing, a lot more rewarding than watching movies or TV, and certainly waayy better than alcohol.

Perhaps the most valuable thing about reloading is watching the facial expressions from my incredibly "anti" 2a relatives and inlaws when they walk in my shop. Sometimes their eyeballs melt right out of their head LOL.

I think only three people have seen my cave. I love the facial expression when I list for people all the different cartridges I shoot.

 

[etrain16]

I got into reloading for a few reasons and, for now, none of them is to save money. My main reasons:

1. Seeing the long drought of common ammo - plinking, defense, etc. after Sandy Hook showed me you simply can't count on the market to have what you want, when you want it, and, if available, at a decent price. Sure you can stock up, but how many folks actually do (I know some here do). I want to be prepared to roll my own the next time - and there will be a next time, count on it.

2. Learn more about shooting, specifically about ammo and how slight variations on a load can improve accuracy.

3. Eventually load for long range shooting, where I can have full control over the results, and assure they are repeatable for each rifle and caliber.

I just figured the time to get what I need to reload is now, because during the drought of ammo, powder, primers, bullets all eventually dried up too. Short of a Dillon progressive, I've got everything I need to load several calibers, save for rifle calibers - for that, I'll start with .308 and .223

Later, when I'm retired, it will be a fun hobby when I've got more time to do it - for now, it's a hobby in the works, getting ready for the time I really need it or when I have time to really dig into it.

 

[tac]

Here in yUK I reload -

Two different .308Win

Two different 7.5x55

Two different 7x57

Two different 6.5x55

Three different .45-70

and two different .357Mag/.38Spec.

I also cast round ball and Miniés.

If I didn't reload [or cast], I just couldn't shoot anything like the amount I do, even though, by your standards, the cost of components over here is verging on the ludicrous.

Add to that that we can only buy ammunition here face-to-face, as it all has to be entered into your Firearms Certificate [FAC]. We also have to produce our FAC to buy primers and propellant, and license to buy BP. There are a lot more dealers than you might imagine, but the nearest to me that sells Nosler brand bullets is almost 60 miles each way. No big deal if you live in Nebraska, as you could probably see the store from your house, but a big deal here with $8/gallon gas. GP11 is a couple of hundred miles away, and a buck and twelve cents a shot...reloading is therefore a must, but at $66/100 for 168gr SMK, it's catching up. And please don't ask about the price of propellant.

BTW, bulk purchase of ammunition at cheap rates is not done over here, old bean. We all have a limit to the amount of ammunition we can hold at any one time. Breaking the limit on the occasional spot check is a non-negotiable act of criminality that will cost you your FAC, your guns, and your freedom. Only shotgun shooters can have almost limitless amounts of ammunition - up to 26,000 cartridges at a time, based on the weight of propellant contained within them, in this case 25kg.

tac

 

[PenTurner]

This is an interesting thread, it has been fun reading the thoughts of others. I agree with most of the posts, for me it is definitely another hobby. I don't see it as saving any money, but as having more ammo to shot. I just loaded up 1000 38 Specials for my wife to shoot and 1000 9mm for me. I have been using the 50 round plastic ammo boxes (from Cabelas), they fit nicely in our Range bag when we go out to shot and make it convenient to know I have retrieved all of my brass when we leave. I can also see when I get low on ammo by how many of the full boxes I have available.

It is also nice to hand select the components for the ammo. For my 9mm, I have tried a number of powders, and have settled on CFE Pistol. The gun seems to be cleaner (not as dirty) after shooting, and the smoke doesn't bother my eyes like some powders do. I had been using berry's round nose 115gr bullets. Thought I would try the 124 grain, and picked up some flat nosed hollow base 124gr bullets. Found them to be more consistent (landing where I was aiming), and will be using those going forward. I enjoy "fine-tuning" my ammo, deciding on how much powder I use, and the type of bullets that works best for me.

I enjoy the reloading as much as I do shooting. My wife likes that I keep her supplied with ammo

Ron

 

[Certaindeaf]

Long term insulation/security is a recurring theme here.
If you spend $1000 for 9mm ammo, you might get what, 5,000 rounds of plinker? I don't know.
Take that same $1000 and buy a mould, press, dies etc.. (probably $1oo) and the remaining to primers and powder (8lbs of Promo @$90?,primers $20/1000?), you magically "have" close to 40,000 rounds. And if you don't shoot/"use" those components, golly, they don't depreciate should you decide to liquidate that "huge" investment.
It's like the difference between big huge sacks of pinto beans vs a few cans of refrieds kinda. whatever

 

[Ura-Ki]

The main reasons i got into reloading were a pair of Rifles that were expensive as hell to shoot ( one is cheap now) and a couple of Wildcats, so no availability! The .300 win mag was the first one, factory ammo was around $2.50+ and quality was so-so. The second is .375 Weatherby magnum, ( Holland&Holland blown out to Weatherby shoulder and zero case taper) which was $140. A box for Norma P.H. or Orex! For the .300, I could get my costs down to about $.70 a round, and the .375 I could load using fireformed brass for about $1.15 round!
The other issue is load quality. While the .375 is top shelf stuff, the .300 was mostly lawyer spec, ok at best. So hand loading for quality and consistency were a huge benefit! For the .375 it became as much a factor of quality as it was about variety of loads, once I had every thing to load for it, the horizons opend up in a major Way! I don't own the .300 any more, and I have been loading a few others these days, mostly due to costs, as well as availability, try to find .500 Jefferies any where! I can still beat the factories in pretty much every thing I do load, so that's a very important factor, plus, it's super fun, and a way to work with my OCD in a good way!

 

[bbbass]

Yeah, I never had any luck with factory 300 Win Mag ammo. I borrowed a friends for elk season and couldn't get a decent group before my shoulder started aching so bad I had to quit.3-5" at 100yds is not so good in my book. I was using Winchester 220gr Silvertip. Spendy stuff. Went back to my .308 and still killed elk at the yardage I normally shoot, which is 200yds and under... I don't really need to be shooting across a canyon because then I would have to go across and fetch it up!

 

[2ndtimer]

Here in yUK I reload -

Two different .308Win

Two different 7.5x55

Two different 7x57

Two different 6.5x55

Three different .45-70

and two different .357Mag/.38Spec.

I also cast round ball and Miniés.

If I didn't reload [or cast], I just couldn't shoot anything like the amount I do, even though, by your standards, the cost of components over here is verging on the ludicrous.

Add to that that we can only buy ammunition here face-to-face, as it all has to be entered into your Firearms Certificate [FAC]. We also have to produce our FAC to buy primers and propellant, and license to buy BP. There are a lot more dealers than you might imagine, but the nearest to me that sells Nosler brand bullets is almost 60 miles each way. No big deal if you live in Nebraska, as you could probably see the store from your house, but a big deal here with $8/gallon gas. GP11 is a couple of hundred miles away, and a buck and twelve cents a shot...reloading is therefore a must, but at $66/100 for 168gr SMK, it's catching up. And please don't ask about the price of propellant.

BTW, bulk purchase of ammunition at cheap rates is not done over here, old bean. We all have a limit to the amount of ammunition we can hold at any one time. Breaking the limit on the occasional spot check is a non-negotiable act of criminality that will cost you your FAC, your guns, and your freedom. Only shotgun shooters can have almost limitless amounts of ammunition - up to 26,000 cartridges at a time, based on the weight of propellant contained within them, in this case 25kg.

tac

Wow, TAC! I am surprised we don't have more people streaming across our southern border with British accents! We should all be thankful we live in the USA, and do all we can to preserve the freedom we enjoy. Some day, we may need to also secure the southern border of Oregon to prevent the undesirable immigration of Californians to infiltrate our formerly free states. I firmly believe Californiaitis is a threat to our way of life in the Pacific Northwest. Some day I may be forced to seek political asylum in Idaho, Montana or Wyoming.

 

[bbbass]

political asylum in Idaho, Montana or Wyoming

Montana isn't what it used to be. Neither is Boise. You might want to make sure you stay out in the wilder areas.

 

[elsie]

Reloading is like knitting. I like knitting boolets (aka cartridges).


elsie

 

[Papercidal]

I cast and coat my own bullets so I'm around .05 to .07 per round for 9mm depending on the cost of primers the best I've found factory ammo for is around 190 per 1000 so even on 9mm it's worth the time I have into it. Last time I bought jacketed bullets I was at about 110 per 1000 and with a habit that runs to 10-15,000 a year the 650 with a bullet feeder payed for itself pretty fast.

 

[tac]

Wow, TAC! I am surprised we don't have more people streaming across our southern border with British accents! We should all be thankful we live in the USA, and do all we can to preserve the freedom we enjoy. Some day, we may need to also secure the southern border of Oregon to prevent the undesirable immigration of Californians to infiltrate our formerly free states. I firmly believe Californiaitis is a threat to our way of life in the Pacific Northwest. Some day I may be forced to seek political asylum in Idaho, Montana or Wyoming.

I don't have a 'British' accent. My day-to-day accent is a kind of mish-mash of English/Southern Irish/Canadian.

And please, 'tac', not 'TAC'. I'm an abbreviation, not an acronym.

tac

 

[Goosebrown]

BTW, bulk purchase of ammunition at cheap rates is not done over here, old bean. We all have a limit to the amount of ammunition we can hold at any one time. Breaking the limit on the occasional spot check is a non-negotiable act of criminality that will cost you your FAC, your guns, and your freedom. Only shotgun shooters can have almost limitless amounts of ammunition - up to 26,000 cartridges at a time, based on the weight of propellant contained within them, in this case 25kg.

tac

I read about this thing you guys used to have called Magna Carta. It seems like a pretty good idea. I'm terribly sorry you lost it.

Perhaps you can clean out parliament one day and see if you can't find it again.

 

[Mark W.]

All depends on what you are shooting. For 30-40 Krag which is very very hard to find factory (they only make it like every other year at $40+ per 20 I can save like $1.25 per round even using expensive bullets. Since it can be loaded for the same as .308 using the same bullets and approx powder charge.

 

[Greenbug]

Penciled out the cost of my long range 6.5 CM ammo...
Brass was free and will continue to be for several loadings.
Bullet- 140 Hornady ELD-M $34.99/100 = .35 each.
Primer- CCI BR-2 4.99/100 = .05 each.
Powder-RL 17 $29.99/LB = .1735 per round.

.5735 cents per round, that is $11.40 for a 20 round box that my rifle shoots better than anything available off the shelf in the $27-$35 per 20 round box price range.

Am I saving money, well I could be... Mainly I just shoot 2-3 times as much as I would have spending money on factory ammo for the same price.