For the amt that I shoot ...30-50 rounds a week...to reload or not is not much of a factor. I can afford a box of 9mm but 357 every week would be a little to much. I load my own..I cast my own and I really like the time alone. I've paid for my single stage Lee I don't know how many times over. If you are shooting lots by all means it is really in your best interests and pocket book to reload. If like me it's not the money but the enjoyment and that is priceless.

My last bit of help is that even if you buy a Lee kit and a set of dies and decide you don't care for the hobby then you know for darn sure all that stuff will move quick to get most of your money back out of it. Try a cheap entry like the Lee Challenger kit.

I got a 5gal bucket from Sears and another from Discount Tire. The mgr said the Co. doesn't like to do it for EPA reasons or some nonsense like that but I convinced him I would use gloves and a dust mask and give him an empty 5 gal bucket in return. The empty bucket was what sealed the deal.

The hard part is sorting out all the junk weights

One other aspect, other than saving $, is the social factor. I shoot with a friend and we started reloading together. At his home he resizes his brass, flairs and primes. I do the same. He comes over and we reload hundreds of rounds together, checking each others work, using my press, PM, scales, powder and bullets. We sit in the 3 seasons porch and visit while we do this. We could each reload separately but then we'd miss each others company. I suggest that if you look at reloading as a "chore" to save $ you'll soon get bored and quit. It will be like taking out the trash, something that's got to be done but not to be enjoyed.

Like to know when you can buy used equipment cheap on FeeBay?? People are paying almost as much for used equipment as they could buying retail. See RCBS RockChucker presses going for $80 - $90+ routinely then add $15 to $20 for shipping and it comes to $100, and they are $135 at Cabelas new. I have seen used Forster Coax presses bring $225+. The best place to buy used equipment is locally, search local for sale ads, sometimes there are deals to be found on Craigslist. You can find a lot of people getting out of the hobby because they don't shoot any more, and they generally have a lot more equipment than what comes in a kit, and it usually a lot cheaper than you could buy it new. My reloading setup started with a garage sale find of a new in box RCBS Rockchucker 2, 5-0-5 scale, Uniflow Powder measure, funnel, deburring tool, set of dies and a couple boxes of bullets, for $125.



Buying and selling some stuff locally and my bench now looks like this, and I now have a second bench with casting equipment and my case cleaning equipment: tumbler, media etc.


I am also fortunate enough to live near a Cabelas. With their points program for their Visa card, I am able to reload for a really low cost-per-round, by using their card to purchase a lot of my everyday items, and paying off each month. The only thing that I really have to buy for components now are some bullets for come of the calibers I am not set up to cast for.

Given the startup costs, ongoing maintance and your time you will not save any money. At best you break even. What reloading does do is it allows you to custom load a round for each weapon you load for and by doing so your weapon reaches max performance providing you do your part.

When I started reloading 30 years ago I shot up whatever savings I made by rolling my own.But now, I shoot far less often and I'm still using that original equipment.I'm pretty sure I'm saving money .

LadyT is correct, if you equate reloading to a job, and you count your time--it doesn't save you any money. If you consider it a hobby, then most don't factor in their time.

Do you people count your time when you play golf? I have NEVER counted my time as money while involved in any hobby, never. Do you? If so, maybe you should get a job doing your hobby!

Smh!

impatience + lack of attention to detail + reloading = KaBOOM!

If I were you, I'd be looking long and hard at 22LR. Even with all my reloading, I use the 22LR to stretch my shooting-entertainment dollars.

YES! Did my time, paroled myself, quit and never looked back!

What else are you going to do with your gun hobby...........once you have collected, bought/sold, re-blued, factory lettered, sighted in, shot, modified, cleaned, dry fired at very other villan on the TV, photographed, researched, cussed and discussed the ins and outs of each model until you have become an expert, on some level, on that model and put away in the safe your favorite S&Ws?

Well, for me, the answer was and is to: RELOAD!

Just when I had hit the wall after doing all the above I found a whole new world, a counter culture, I mean that in a positive way, if you will, to the gun world.
This hobby is the absolute best adjunct to the hobby of 'guns' that ever was.

Great price on cast bullets. i am looking for a good source, would you mind letting me know where you get your's?
Thanks,
Frank

I roughly est. my cost for a .38 Special at about 17 1/2 cents per round, including .05 for brass. If you don't count your brass, a lot don't as you can reload it dozens of times, it's 12 1/2 cents paying retail for bullets, powder & primers. That's $6.25 per box of 50. I don't know what a box costs now as I haven't bought any factory ammo for over 25 years. I load for everything I own except .22RF and .380. I just don't shoot enough .380 to justify buying the dies. You figure it out, $6.25 per box compared to what you are paying, and it won't take long to recover all the equipment and then you can shoot twice as much.

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H Richard
SWCA1967 SWHF244

The financial answer is that it pays when you have shot enough to break even $ on the equipment and components used to that point. After that your savings begin.

I could say that I can reload for .07 a round but I would be figuring with primers that cost $10/k power that cost $15 and bullets that cost $10 because I bought a lot back when those were the prices.

Current prices seem to be $30-$40/k primers, $25+ powder and bullets range from $16 to $30 or more so it's hard to start out from scratch and see any real savings for a while

Assuming brass costs you nothing and you buy jacketed or plated bullets...
Rough estimates for pistol are 3.5 cents for a primer, 16 to 20 cents for bullet and 2 cents for powder so .21 to .24 each for .40 or 9mm is an average reload cost that is currently very close to what you can buy a case of range ammo at. Sure you can pare that cost down some to about .16 each but then you have to buy components in bulk or find a deal which means hundreds out at one time.

If you cast your own bullets, even then it isn't free because you have fuel/elec costs for the melting pot, gas to go collect the WW, lube cost and maybe a few other items so they do cost something. Then there is all the time you spend doing it... but time is free unless you are giving up a paying gig to do it.

My real world costs as I got into reloading earlier this year and load 38 for target (PPC).

I bought brass, 1200 for $50 - cleaned, inspected, deprimed. They should last a very very long time. You need a lot of brass so you're not cleaning/reloading every week/time you want to shoot.
I got 1000 148 lead wadcutters for $60.
A lb of bullseye for around $20 and load 2.8gr so a lb will do 2500 rounds.
1000 win primers for $30.
So one assembled round costs me about 10c. Not much more than quality 22LR ammo!

So a 'box' of 50 is $5.
A box of 50 store bought is what, $20? 25? Say 40c each.
You save 35c on every round.
I got a loadmaster press, tumbler, elec scale, book..about $350 - 400 should get you loading progressively.

So you're break even point is $400/35cents saved or 1150 rounds.
At 200 a week thats what, a month and a half?

With my loadmaster I get a real 300-350 rounds per hour out of it, inspected and ready to shoot. So if you have 1000 cases you can reload for 3 hours ish and shoot for 5 weeks.

I am pretty much in the same boat as OP. I've finally decided to pull the plug and start reloading even though I won't be having a "stationary" bench, that's the compromise I could talk my wife into I just keep my press mounted to the board clamp it to a table and move it to storage when not in use. I've decided to go with progressive press, so my initial investments are high, but I keep telling myself that this is an investment. I did some calculations yesterday and my box of 50 of .357 should be around $9.90 (I have brass saved, so only bullet powder & primer goes into price). Next best price I can find is about $23 per 50 in Wallmart so it gives me "savings" of $13 per box and it will only take me to produce 70 boxes to break even

I started reloading when my new 30-06 wasn't accurate with store bought ammo. Then i started loading for all my calibers rifle and handgun. At the time the rcbs rockchucker kit with the accessorie kits was only $59 each. The 45acp rounds cost me $0.05 per round in the '70's. I'm so far ahead i still have reloaded ammo i loaded in the 70's.

Now i have upgraded to the LEE Pro 1000 progressive presses and the LEE master reloader. There way faster in reloading ammo than the single presses if you load a lot of plan on reloading a lot. We save many $$$ and the only loss is our time. Using the progressive presses saves time and lots of time too.

I ran about 8k of 308win ammo in the LEE RGB 308win dies that cost me $8 new without a problem. Any caliber i add now is with lee dies for sure. I like to shoot all summer and reload all winter.

With my 338win mag ammo hitting $70 a box of 20 brand new i'm glad i can reload for it now.

I been reloading since the early 70's and i saved lots of $$$ over buying new ammo. It depends on how much we shoot too. I was shooting 3 to 4 times a week back then. Most of my other time was spent on reloading. Switching from the single press to the progressive press was a real time saver. Plus the quality of the ammo is much better too. Its in a controlled enviroment completely managed by us.

Been reloading long time, never saved one thin dime. I do shoot a LOT more for the same money though. As others have said, DO save that brass, can be sold, or traded. Went to more than a few gun shows with no money, just some bags of spent brass. Always had a good time trying to deal for powder, primers, bullets, or something else I needed or could use.

I haven't even been a member of this forum for 6 months and I don't know how many times I've seen Skip's pictures. Skip, I think you got me this time. [CAST MY OWN BULLETS] Those bullets look like art to me now. I may not start casting right away but I am going to start scrounging for lead. Heck, someone mentioned scuba diver weights, I've got quite a bit of them and I know where some more are (about 35-50 ft deep).

Joe, if you don't start reloading come back and visit - some great guys here!!

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I'd like to agree with you BUT

My hobby is fun and rewarding. Take tonight for instance. You could not have done what I did tonight without reloading, impossible!

I went deer hunting with my wife of almost 35 years and she was carrying the rifle in our Indiana Deer legal wildcat cartridge. They do not sell ammo for that commercially and one of the guys that puts the guns together locally charges $4 per round.

I have the cost down to just a bit over a buck a round because I have used brass now, powder is minimal and I am using Wolf primers. The 200gr Accubonds are the killers at $1/each!

Of course, I HAD to take my Marlin 1894 loaded with those cast bullets in the third picture....Haven't harvested anything with them yet but....when I do.....the satisfaction of that one prize will be worth all of the effort and cost to this point......

Some people reload so they can shoot more.

Others shoot so they can reload more!

I tend to be one of the latter. Reloading is just plain fun! Usually!

Don't think about it. Just do it.

Assuming you save your brass and go with an inexpensive single stage press and lead bullets;

You'll break even in less than 1,000 rounds of .38 special.

I know I did.

Now I shoot 2X to 4X, let all my friends wail away, and still save a ton of cash.

It's a no-brainer.

Oh, and I cannot say "thanks!" enough to all the help I've gotten off this forum! THANKS!

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But then, what do I know?

At first i was purchasing the carolina lead cast bullets but i don't see them anymore. I buy the lead cast from Cast Bullets Home He offers good quality stuff.

As far as leadcasting the furnance uses a lot of power to melt the lead.

I enjoy reloading its very relaxing after a day at work. Plus I,m a target shooter. So shooting 300-500 rds per week I need to save money plus tailor my loads to serval guns and calibers. From 22k hornet 45 colt - 30/06

I am less then 6 months away from 70, I have been reloading since the early 70's. Equipt has already been paid for.

I just loaded up and shot some .308 match loads. Those 50 rounds cost me less then $.40 a round. A box of Federal match would have cost me around $32-34 for 20 rounds. My handload are as accuracte or maybe more so then the Federal Match, in my gun.

A box of 50-- .45 ACP rds, since I cast my own bullets, cost me less then $3.00 a box.
I am at the local range at least twice a week.

So no wild women, no late nights at the bar getting rowdy, got bored watching daytime TV. So I shoot and have been for the last 50 years.
More so since I retired.

Reloading helps me keep the cost down so I can.

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Semper FI

COnsider you can reload 357mag for little more than 39sp, & you are going to shoot mor ethan 500rds/m, I would say you can NOT afford to NOT reload. DO the math; at $30/100 for really cheap factory, you can load either w/ a good cast 158grLSWC for less than $10/100. So you are saving $20/100, $100/m, $1200/yr. FOr $1200, you can get a really high end progressive machine if you like & have it payed for in 1yr. A no brainer IMO.

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NRA Cert. Inst. IDPA CSO

I doubt I have saved any money by reloading, I just shoot more.

I got started into reloading because I wanted to make ammo that I couldn't buy at the store for any price. I like target shooting, and a few years back I bought a .357. I got tired of the tedious cleanup after shooting .38s in it. So I started loading light target ammo in my .357 brass. Kind of went downhill from there...

It has been so long since I've bought any center fire ammo, now I am shocked at the prices. The last time I bought .45 auto, it was about $12/box for the Remington UMC.

At what point does it pay? As far as money, I have no idea. After 30 years of reloading I won't even try to count pennys. As far as satisfaction, the first trigger pull...

Another thing to consider is reloaders are not dependant on what ammo the local store sells or doesn't sell. You make what you need. If bad things happen , I went through Katrina...power outages...lawlessness...no stores to buy anything. If you can reload you can keep yourself armed.

gary