Reloading Math - yup its way lower cost

[Wombat of Doom]

I reload for the expensive rounds, and I have supplies for the others.

 

[Certaindeaf]

I have from time to time thought about reloading for my modern guns...
At the moment I do not have the funds to get started , the room to use and the time to devote to it.

In regards to time spent...
Your time , is your time to spend how you choose...
If you get enjoyment and value from how you choose to spend your time...then that is all that matters.
Andy

I started with a Lee Loader in 9mm. They cost about $20 new these days.

 

[Andy54Hawken]

I started with a Lee Loader in 9mm. They cost about $20 new these days.

I have used those a time or two and for my needs and budget ...that will be the way I go for a long while.
Andy

 

[BrandonQuixote]

Been reloading for about 6 years, after the first year I did the math to see when I'd break even on the equipment from the money I saved over buying at the local Walmart. Halfway through the math I realized I'm not really saving money, I'm shooting more. Never finished the math, doesn't matter.

 

[zenbreath]

Hey boss, can I have an extra hour and 45 minutes this week? I need ammo for an upcoming pistol competition.

Not two hours, only one hour and 45 minutes, I only need 150 rounds.

Oh, and could I split that time over two days?

I dunno, take the hours from Bill. He doesnt shoot.

 

[tac]

I reload for the expensive rounds, and I have supplies for the others.

Over here, Bro, it's ALL expensive.

 

[Certaindeaf]

In California they diddle yer bung when you buy factory loads. Priceless.

 

[BrandonQuixote]

In California they diddle yer bung when you buy factory loads. Priceless.

They weren't doing that when I lived there. I usually pay extra for that. Maybe I should move back?

 

[tac]

Lapua .308 Match ammunition -



yUK price £94-95/50 = $124.05/50 = $248.10/C

 

[Esam85]

Lapua .308 Match ammunition -



yUK price £94-95/50 = $124.05/50 = $248.10/C

This is what I shoot out of my Palma chambered gun when I don't load my own.

 

[Helocat]

Been reloading for about 6 years, after the first year I did the math to see when I'd break even on the equipment from the money I saved over buying at the local Walmart. Halfway through the math I realized I'm not really saving money, I'm shooting more. Never finished the math, doesn't matter.

Did you sell your equipment or keep it? If you sold it your ROI breakeven point changed. Reloading the common calibers in small quantities will never be a $ savings. But custom ammo, (Subsonic, precision long-range etc.) and uncommon calibers will.

I see all my reloading gear as having the cost only of only the deprecation of it being used, not the whole cost. I can sell quality used gear for hard cash. Have to go back 3yrs just to find a used Dillon 1050 in the classifieds here. No idea what it sold for but the asking was darn near MSRP. (of course). But using a simple 20% deprecation for all quality parts seams right for me. This is really the true cost of owning the gear. Yes, $$ is tied up in it and yes that $ has lost investment value in conventional investments. But overall the cost of owning gear really is just the difference of what you can sell it for. Heck, the guys that bought used on good deals that can flip their gear for what they have into it are the ones really killing it!

Example:
End of this last yr I bought a full-size Rollsizer. It was $1650 delivered. (one 9mm die and ordered a .40 set of dies for $139) Since they are made in Australia they are not commonly in stock in the US. Fast forward to today, they had a price hike in Jan to just over $1800. (DoubleAlpha, where I got mine from, is showing $1829) But out of stock. I am pretty comfortable knowing I can put this thing up for sale on the national market and easily get all my $ back on it, if not more. (anyone shooting competition or prepping allot of brass can use one, it gets rid of the bulge on the base of the brass a sizing die can not do) I think this will be the case for the yrs to come as well unless someone comes out with a better version. So my ROI on this is = brass that 100% case checks, always feeds always ejects. Ya $ tied up in it but that $ is still there when I want it back.

I will say it again - yup it's way lower cost reloading. For me, it's really something that I enjoy almost as much as shooting.

 

[Wombat of Doom]

Lapua .308 Match ammunition -

View attachment 650525

yUK price £94-95/50 = $124.05/50 = $248.10/C

Since I am unfamiliar with that ammo, it is roughly 2x-2.5x I think for that particular flavor. I have some well over a buck a round cartridges I like to shoot. .50 Beowulf can be up there as can .500 s&w magnum. (I shoot the latter out of a single shot rifle, and it will wake you up in the morning.)

But I reload some things just because I want subsonic ammo or some such nonsense.

 

[CLT65]

Helocat, you make a good point about equipment. You're into the game at a whole different level than I ever have been, but if I ever get out of reloading, I know I could sell all my gear for more than I ever paid. I've accumulated my tools over the course of decades and picked it up here and there for cheap, so my real investment has been negligible. Even my little Dillon 550 was part of a small estate purchase. I sold the other gear from that purchase so that the Dillon essentially cost me nothing.

I've never been into high volume shooting or competition. There are probably competitors who shoot more in a couple years than I've shot in my life.

 

[BrandonQuixote]

Did you sell your equipment or keep it?

I still have it all. I probably would have gone with a Dillon if i had to do it all over again, but my Hornady does just fine.

 

[Johnny Tremain]

Are you guys casting bullets

All my 45/70, 45ACP, 30WCF are all cast boolits.
I do 38/357 also, but a kid bought my six gun, and dont have one to reload for now.

The odd six rounds are jacketed pill. They go between 2660fps and 2880fps. Ive ran cast to 2700fps, jsut to say I had. That is the outer speed limit for cast with special lube and gas check.
The jacketed ones I bought 20 years ago. I breeched 10,000 before Barry ever set foot in the white house.

 

[Dwesson]

I do 38/357 also, but a kid bought my six gun, and dont have one to reload for now.

New Python time?

 

[zenbreath]

Up in the attic I have a Dillon 550 set up for 38 and 45acp. It was part of a swap where I got some things I really wanted. I've never set it up. I've had experiences that have made me OCD!!. I like my RCBS single stage.

If I ever get short on cash, it's an easy asset to sell.

 

[Helocat]

Numbers in post #1 posted 14 months ago are looking considerably better these days.

 

[tac]

Here in UK the cheapest centrefire ammunition comes from Prvi Partizan. Most of the more common calibres of what I'd call medium-level calibres like .308Win, 6.5x55, 7mm Mauser, .303 British, and so on are £85/C - right now that is $112.00/C.

Upper-crust stuff like Norma, Lapua, RWS and so on is just so expensive that it almost beggars belief, as I posted a while back by showing the cost of shooting the .338LM, now, incidentally, priced at £98.50/20 - $130 [$6.50] per bang.

 

[turbo_vanner]

if anyone is selling their house, I have some small pistol primers for trade.... say 1 primer per square foot? No lowballers, I know what I got.