cost savings?

B

brew3x

Joined
Feb 16, 2009
Messages
259
Likes
59
Feedback: 0 / 0 / 0
I've been thinking of starting to reload and was just wondering if there where significant cost savings over factory loads.
 
brew3x said:
Ok i got it, it pays to reload. Thanx
Click to expand...

It's really not that simple.

If you shoot a lot, it does make sense. If you shoot 100 rounds of 9mm per week when the weather's nice, it doesn't. However, if you shoot 100 rounds per week of S&W .460 Magnum when the weather's nice, it's definitely worth it.
 
You won't save any money by reloading, but you will do a lot more shooting!




.
 
EddieCoyle said:
It's really not that simple.

If you shoot a lot, it does make sense. If you shoot 100 rounds of 9mm per week when the weather's nice, it doesn't. However, if you shoot 100 rounds per week of S&W .460 Magnum when the weather's nice, it's definitely worth it.
Click to expand...

If your reloads heat the neighborhood like EC's do, it pays to reload. [wink]
 
Andy in NH said:
You won't save any money by reloading, but you will do a lot more shooting!

.
Click to expand...

Exactly what I would say.

I found that there always one more tool I wanted to make loading easier, and then I realized that everything is cheaper ordered by the thousand, and that powder is cheaper in big cans, and pretty soon I'm spending a lot of money on reloading - and shooting a lot of reloads.
 
I guess what i meant by cost savings was that if you figured out the cost of say a thousand rounds of factory versus a thousand rounds of reloaded ammo. I'm really not looking to spend less money just get more shooting out of the money i do spend.
 
Here is a calculator that will crunch the numbers for you regarding the cost of reloading. Here is a link to Cabela's reloading components section. Even if you don't buy there, it's useful to give you a general idea of prices so you can know what numbers to plug into the above mentioned calculator. Enjoy!
 
It depends on what calibers you load but here are a couple of examples. It cost's me 10 cents to load .45acp with a cast lead bullet and 25 cents to load .30/06 with a fmjbt.
 
gerrycaruso said:
It depends on what calibers you load but here are a couple of examples. It cost's me 10 cents to load .45acp with a cast lead bullet and 25 cents to load .30/06 with a fmjbt.
Click to expand...

Pretty good. I'm at .32/round for .30-06 as I had to buy the brass. Without the brass my
cost would still have been .30/round. This is with 48.0gr of 2520/147gr bullet/WLR primer/LC brass.
 
I have been kicking around the idea of reloading and like the OP I have been wondering about the cost savings. So just for $hits and giggles I went up on the Cabella's website and looked up their reloading components for .45. The price I came back with for 1000 rounds made me scratch my head. The cost was $438. That was buying Winchester brass and bullets and is way more than what I would pay for 1000 rounds at Wal-Mart. I think that last time I bought ammo at Wally's I paid $34 for a box of 100. WHAT GIVES?

Here is the breakdown:

Brass $209
Primers $30
Bullets $179
Powder $20

Total: $438
 
The idea is to reuse the brass, so pick some up at the range, and knock $209 off the price. That's why they call it REloading. [wink]


You should also be able to find bullets for less than that - maybe $120. Using those numbers, you're looking at about $170 for 1000 rounds.
 
It depends on the caliber. You can use .45 ACP brass until you lose it. Consider it free, since you can pick it up at almost every range.
 
Big_Red said:
How many times can the same brass be reused?
Click to expand...

I reload pistol brass until the case mouth splits or I lose it. The best way to save money is to buy in bulk. I always max out a hazmat order. That's 50,000 primers, 48 pounds of powder or 48 pounds of powder & primers mixed. Buying like that you should be able to load 9mm for half of WWB ammo. The larger calibers you will save even more. I can load 223 for 25% of what new cost.
Rusty
 
Big_Red said:
I have been kicking around the idea of reloading and like the OP I have been wondering about the cost savings. So just for $hits and giggles I went up on the Cabella's website and looked up their reloading components for .45. The price I came back with for 1000 rounds made me scratch my head. The cost was $438. That was buying Winchester brass and bullets and is way more than what I would pay for 1000 rounds at Wal-Mart. I think that last time I bought ammo at Wally's I paid $34 for a box of 100. WHAT GIVES?

Here is the breakdown:

Brass $209
Primers $30
Bullets $179
Powder $20

Total: $438
Click to expand...

I'm loading .45 ACP for about 120.00/1000.
As others have said, brass is free. My own once-shot and whatever else I pick up at the range. Here's a hint, you can get lots of brass by going to a public range and policing up the two or three lanes on either side of your position. I don't take it out of the buckets. When you do this, you end up with lots of mongrel brass that you don't use. I trade it for .45ACP or give it away.
Hard cast lead semi-wadcutters from Reload'N'More, ~$70.00/1000
CCI large pistol primers, ~$24.00/1000
Red Dot powder, ~18.00/lb. I use 3.8gr for soft target loads and 4.8gr for USPSA/IPSC Major PF.
 

Similar threads

Bullets to keep cost down on reloading 223?
Replies
18
Views
516
EddieCoyle
EddieCoyle
ammo cost
Replies
8
Views
647
mac1911
M
Cost to start reloading.
2 3
Replies
71
Views
8K
mac1911
M
The Costs of Reloading
2
Replies
50
Views
6K
shapiroeric
shapiroeric
Where to buy lead? What should it cost? What about quality?
Replies
8
Views
2K
mac1911
M
Back
Top Bottom