Does reloading save you money if you can't pick up your brass?

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Deleted member 67409

Title says it all.

I'm shooting my third 3-gun match this Sunday. Guys don't normally pick up their own brass and instead junk them in the bucket at these matches. Exception to this is if you show up with something weird and novel like AAs or shiny gold Remington Nitro Sporting Clay loads, then people love to pick them up and poke fun [laugh]

So for 12/20 gauge, 9x19, and .223/.308, is there significant financial savings by reloading if you can't/don't pick up your brass, or do you save money by buying bulk ammo online?
 
When ammo is plentiful buying bulk is easier. However, when you can't find ammo reloading is the way to go. You don't save money reloading....because you shoot more, IMO. Also, and more important, you can control your loads when you reload. No doing that when you toll the aisles at your local gun store!
 
I suppose you could look at reloading in the same way as you look at fishing. Does catching your own save money?
Reloading is a hobby in itself, to me, not to mention it is also therapeutic. I enjoy creating obscure calibers and loading different bullet profiles that may not be otherwise available.
Since I also enjoy handgunning, rifle shooting and trap (I don't reload shot shell and I don't really do enough shotgunning to go down that road), reloading augments this hobby as well.
As has been said many times before, reloading 9x19mm or .308 Winchester with 115g FMJ and 147g FMJ bullets respectively, it's hard to beat Tula at Walmart or 34¢ Ethiopian 7.62x51mm, even $10 .308 from TSUSA.
I still haven't found 130g LRN loads in 7.61x51mm or 22LR Sabots at any gun shop.
 

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Not being able to save brass kind of kills it.
I typically buy factory ammo, save the brass, and load it. Since the brass is the most expensive part, typically, it's where you save the most by keeping it. Conversely, my MA range allows you to take whatever brass is left behind by other shooters so long as you reload it. Taking it for recycling or selling is forbidden. In this manner, I have accrued several large coffee cans of 30-06 and 308 brass for free.

The more popular the caliber, the less you tend to save. My biggest savers are 8mm Mauser and 303 British.
I still save on things like .223 and 9mm if you discount the brass, but the margins are thinner. I don't factor the brass into costs since it's going in the recycle bucket if I don't keep, or it was free to begin with.

As others have mentioned, I really started reloading because a.) I got M1-itis and wanted to make sure I'd have a near limitless supply of M1-suitable ammo, b.) I enjoy milsurp rifles and some of the obscure calibers (like 7.7 Japanese) are near unobtainium, or expensive c.) it's pretty fun...I like making things, and looking a case of stuff you made yourself is rewarding.
 
I seem to remember that brass is the single biggest cost in the reloading equation...so, if you are not able to take advantage of reusing your brass (or someone else brass) then the answer to your question is clearly no.

That being said....should you reload your own ammo...HELL YES !!!
 
Are you not allowed to pick up your brass?

Match rules are that everyone pitches in to cleanup and for resetting stages. If there's brass or hulls on the stage, they get thrown in the dump barrel in between shooters to keep the stage clean. Once everyone shoots, you go to the next stage. There isn't enough time to gather up brass or hulls in between shooters as you're supposed to be helping out with stage reset or cleanup.

I haven't seen anyone raid the dump barrels after the match is over for brass or hulls.
 
You can’t beat StarLine Brass.
You don’t save money but you can’t deny
that Christmas morning feeling when you open
that box of super shiny brand new brass. Just
that makes reloading a great hobby. Not to
mention it’s a great SHTF skill.

I like their .45acp HD cases. They’re made with
heavy wall brass and can be reloaded more times
than a factory case. Only down side is you can’t
jam as much powder in them. Normal loads are fine.
It’s the +P+ stuff you might have trouble getting at.
 
I can't imagine buying brass for the "normal" calibers. Every time I go to the range I leave with more than I came with. As far as lost brass matches, use up the stuff you don't want back...small primer .45's , whatever's at the end of it's life cycle.....oddly enough the stuff that requires "special" brass, I tend to use the new in practice sessions and rotate to match duty after it's cost has been spread out a little.

One of my pals marks his brass with distinctive colors. He tells me it's amazing how often some one comes up and hands him some of it. I of course tell him how I much enjoy finding his brass, and then using it.
 
If I see a brass bunny with a piece of my marked
brass I make it known it’s not to happen again. I
always tell the people I’m shooting with what color
I’m using. There’s no reason someone should have
a piece of my marked brass unless they’re steeling it.
 
I shoot a decent amount of 9mm in USPSA/IDPA and honestly the last thing on my mind during and after the match is to pick up brass - especially random unknown brass.
Lately over the last couple years I’ve just been buying once fired brass. At 2-3 cents each it’s worth it if I don’t have to spend time picking it up and tumbling it clean. YMMV.

As for every other caliber I reload, I make sure to pick up the brass.
 
Yes, because even if you discard at matches you're only discarding a small % of it compared to what you practice with....
This, too. I don't pick up 9mm brass at Steel Challenge/USPSA. It's so copious either from range leave behinds or my own practice trips that even eating a loss of 150-250 match rounds isn't a big deal.

I've seen people snag brass during matches. I guess if you shot something like 45 acp or 38 super or something it might be worth it. But esp. at a match where people might be loading 9mm Major, I wouldn't bother.

Plus, if you get the reloading bug you might end up getting into other calibers you shoot for fun in a non-match setting. I now load every caliber I own except 7.62x39 (at 18 cents for steel case, totally not worth it) and 380 (one pocket carry gun that I run a box of commercial ammo through from time to time).
 
I guess if you shot something like 45 acp or 38 super or something it might be worth it.
45 ACP once fired goes for about $80/k. 38 super or supercome goes for $145/k from Starline.

I have mixed feelings about Starline - great product, but I sent in a gift cert for 1K of brass I won at a match and never heard from them (though in fairness, I did not follow up so it is hard to fully blame them).
 
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I don’t typically pick up my brass at a match. I’m too busy doing other tasks — checking my scores, picking up my mags, filling my mags, taping, etc. I’ve still got more brass than I know what to do with — at least 8 gallons of 9mm brass, similar for 45 acp, etc.
 
$80/k for 45. You want expensive? Try feeding a Lahti; Gyrojet or Serbu Typhon.

Or a Webley.

I got into reloading because I wanted to shoot an obsolete caliber. I still pick up my brass, but I do a lot less reloading now (life demands). So my reloading now is limited to high-cost ammo: .455 Webley, 9mm Browning Long, plus SD ammo in .45ACP and 9mm para. I've never bought a box of hollowpoints. I enjoy the "tailoring the load" aspect in various calibers, but now that I've got my loads dialed in it's just following a recipe.

So, more to the OP's point, if I'm just out blowing off a bunch of .45 or 9mm from carry pieces, I pick up what's easy to pick up and ignore the rest. Rifle reloading I never got into.
 
I don’t typically pick up my brass at a match. I’m too busy doing other tasks — checking my scores, picking up my mags, filling my mags, taping, etc. I’ve still got more brass than I know what to do with — at least 8 gallons of 9mm brass, similar for 45 acp, etc.
Yep
 
supercome
I like guns and all, but I don't know if I've ever enjoyed shooting one that much ;).
giggity-20055816.png
 
I had to stop picking up my 9mm once I filled 2x 5 gallon pails. Just too much, leave it for the next reloader. I find that .38 and .357 are the best for reloading and not as common as 9mm or .40 at the range.
 
I had to stop picking up my 9mm once I filled 2x 5 gallon pails. Just too much, leave it for the next reloader. I find that .38 and .357 are the best for reloading and not as common as 9mm or .40 at the range.
Revolvers rock because you just empty the cylinder into a ziploc bag if you are not on the clock.
 
I started reloading in the early 90s. When I started, scrounging brass was like an addiction, and in the first year I scrounged enough to last me a lifetime of shooting. It was fortunate that I had access to a law enforcement range and thousands of once-fired brass was there for the taking.
Like most other hobbies of mine I jumped in with both feet and I was on a crusade to get as many components as I could as cheaply as I could.
I bought powder and primers like a hoarder buys toilet paper. Then when I got into bullet casting I would come home with enough wheel weights, linotype, and roof flashing to squash the suspension in my 3/4 ton truck.
So in my case reloading is WAY cheaper than factory ammo. I remember figuring out that a box of 50, 38 special, 158 grain SWC, cast bullet reloads cost me something like $2.00 or less to produce. Of course that's with powder and primers that I bought from long gone shops like Perry White's and Hembrow's.
But even at today's prices I can't see how reloading isn't cheaper than store bought ammo. As far as scrounging brass, if you can't do it where you compete you should be able to find plenty at other ranges.
 
Yes, because even if you discard at matches you're only discarding a small % of it compared to what you practice with....
This is the clear answer. If You made the reloads with spent factory brass your still saving money by not keeping the brass at one event.

I'm surprised that some on this thread said reloading doesn't save money. I absolutely feel it does. I saved 38 357 45acp factory brass for many years before I started reloading. The brass is therefore.....free. for 38 special using 125 grain cast projos buseye powder and Winchester primers I'm loading it for under $7 a box. 38 special lead is selling for $16 to $18 a box anywhere I see it.

357 mag I'm loading HOT 125 grain loads with Speer 125 grain hollow points a healthy dose of h110 a and Winchester mag primers for $15 a box. Closest hot 357 factory I can compare it to is Remy 125 grain lswc at $26 a box.

It does save a shit ton of money.
 
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