You have to treat the cases like reloading tools- sort of a startup cost. The powder, bullets, and primers are expendibles, the cases not so much, as they should withstand many loadings. Plus as anyone who has done much reloading knows, your stockpile of brass seems to magically grow from pickups, gifts, garage sales, gun shows, etc. I am not exaggerating, I have in all likelihood several hundred pounds of fired brass in all calibers, most of which didn't really cost me anything - mainly range pickups and from various friends who do not reload giving their empty cases to me. Two weeks ago I got a large plastic bucket of .38 Special brass that way.