Who needs factory ammo?

[brucev]

It's convenient. It's pretty. It's a good source of brass. But, it's expensive. It seldom is available with the types of bullets one might prefer. And very often just isn't available period. I do not dislike the producers of ammunition either domestic or otherwise. I wish the all the best.

But the truth is I've about given up on finding reasonably priced centerfire handgun ammunition. I find it obscene for simple low tech 130 gr. FJM .38 Specials to be priced at $21.99/50 rds. And, the lead RN .38 Specials are $23.99/50 rds.!!! Oddly the same shop has .44 Special 240 gr. RNL ammo for $28/50 rds. Given the price of brass, it is not unreasonable to buy the factory ammo, shoot it and save the brass.

Over the last few evenings I've loaded up 500 nice .38 Special's. Net cost for this handloaded ammo is $72. If I can find bullets for a little less money, I can get the cost down lower. My cow... who'd have ever thought they'd see the day that 100 .38 Specials loaded full power would be just about cheaper and more available than the once common .22 LR cartridge?

 

[arjay]

It's amazing ,isn't it? My 38s and 45s are running 5-6 cents a round with my older stock of supplies,which is what I'm paying for bulk 22s lol.

 

[Jboutfishn]

The only ammo I have purchased in 55 years is .22 rimfire and one box of .357,.40, and .45 for my carry guns. While it certainly saves a few $$, I consider reloading my own to be part of the shooting sport.

The savings really shows up when shooting some of the big bore rifles where ammo can run $10/round.

 

[rwsmith]

This shortage sure has.....

This shortage sure given reloading a shot in the arm.

 

[MichiganScott]

Even at today's prices I can't force myself to load 9mm Parabellum practice ammunition. My wife and I will go through 200 rounds each time we go to the range.

Although I save a tremendous amount of money handloading for the WSM's and H&H mags, the real advantage is that I can load ammunition that is not commercially available like 120gr TTSX in the 7mm-08 or low velocity loads for beginning shooters. However, my wife and I could not afford to shoot high power competitions all summer long if I couldn't load .223 match ammo for less than the cost of imported Herters.

 

[Murdock]

With rare exceptions, the only commercial ammo I have purchased in many years is .22LR and premium self defense stuff for my carry gun. Otherwise it's .45 200-grain lead SWC over Bullseye all the way.

And no, I'm not interested in buying .22LR at panic prices from scalpers.

 

[snowman]

Bruce,

The prices you mentioned for .38s would actually be a bargain in my neck of the woods. I trained some new shooters several months ago, and bought a box of FMJs for them to use. The price was $26.99. They wanted another box with which to practice, so I stopped at a different store, where it cost $27.99. It's possible it has come down a little recently, but I haven't checked, so I don't know. I doubt if it is down 5 or 6 dollars per 50 though.

Reloading is definitely the way to go.

Regards,
Andy

 

[stavman11]

I started Loading .357/38s for the Fun after I originaly started loading .223 becouse i shot so Much

But once i couldnt get 9mm I started loading it as well... and havent looked Back

with my lee Pro 1000... Bullet and Case feeder, i can bust out 120 in about 15min........

All my rounds Range from .12$ to .21$ depending on the Bullet used... the Higher $$ is mainly .357 and some Special .223 Bullets most avg about .12-.15 max

I can Find most factory Now, but why pay that $$$

 

[blujax01]

With rare exceptions, the only commercial ammo I have purchased in many years is .22LR and premium self defense stuff for my carry gun. ...

You may want to be mindful of that "Premium Self Defense Stuff". I had a protracted debate with Mr. Massad Ayoob and his reasoning for not using hand loads was that there is not an exemplar kept of each lot for forensic testing in the event it is needed.

A poster in the thread contacted Buffalo Bore who said they do not keep such exemplars.

Following Ayoob's logic, this makes Buffalo Bore (and other boutique brand that is similar) nothing more than a really, really expensive plinking round!

 

[chief38]

For target shooting, plinking and hunting I agree - reloaded ammo works great, will save you a fortune and a lot of hassle getting it. For self defense & carry purposes I use Buffalo Bore because it's the best and I can NOT duplicate it.

 

[brucev]

Bruce,

The prices you mentioned for .38s would actually be a bargain in my neck of the woods. I trained some new shooters several months ago, and bought a box of FMJs for them to use. The price was $26.99. They wanted another box with which to practice, so I stopped at a different store, where it cost $27.99. It's possible it has come down a little recently, but I haven't checked, so I don't know. I doubt if it is down 5 or 6 dollars per 50 though.

Reloading is definitely the way to go

Regards,
Andy

My heart goes out to you! The other day I was at a Wal-Mart. There was in the case a single 100 rd. value pack of Winchester 230 gr. FMJ .45 ACP... at $54/box. In the case was a single 100 rd. value pack of Winchester 110 gr. JHP .357 Magnum at $66/box. At another WM almost 60 miles away, I found a couple of boxes of .38 Special 158 gr. RNL ammo at $24.99/box. That was truly an oddity as it was the first time I've seen anything other than the 130 gr. FMJ .38 Special ammo at WM.

About 30 miles away is a LGS that has all sorts of ammo (other than .22 LR) available. He has not gotten crazy with his prices, but before the panic his prices were always a bit higher, so now his prices are just normal. However, he has ammo in stock. He is slightly cheaper than WM. How weird is that? Much earlier this year I bought 10 boxes of RWS 230 gr. FMJ .45 ACP from him at $19/box. High? Yes. But, at the time I had no way to set up and load anything. And at present I still have not been able to find .45 ACP dies. I have .44 Special and .45 ACP dies on backorder at Midway. When they get here, I'll be setting pretty!

Not to be a smart alack, but if you can swing it, buy yourself a reloading outfit. Even buying components at the LGS, it is possible to produce ammunition at less than half the price of commercial stuff. And, at least with the .38's that I've been making, on target results are superior to what I've been able to obtain using the 130 gr. FMJ commercial loads.

 

[rwsmith]

If I shot a lot.....

If I shot a lot of rounds, I'd surely spring for a progressive press.

 

[Clovishound]

Even at today's prices I can't force myself to load 9mm Parabellum practice ammunition. My wife and I will go through 200 rounds each time we go to the range.

I load 9mm for about $7.50 a hundred. I could reduce that by about $2, if I were able to scrounge free lead alloy.

Even using commercially available hard cast bullets, I could load a hundred for under $13.

If you would rather spend the money than the time, I understand that. There is, however, a real money saving on 9mm these days.

 

[Jboutfishn]

If I shot a lot of rounds, I'd surely spring for a progressive press.

Yup, 'bout 100 rounds/hour without pushing things.

 

[M3Stuart]

Answer: Not Me!

If I were even thinking of going into a new caliber, and I'm not, the first thing I would do is locate a pile of brass for it. Without the brass, fuhgeddaboutit.

 

[Engineer1911]

As the Monkees said

I'm a believer ! ! Now just let me go load some more cheap ammo with my own cast bullets.

.22 LR is just too expensive to shoot!!

 

[elm_creek_smith]

Can't carry handloads on duty, so I'm issued factory ammo for my service revolver (yes, revolver), and I buy approved factory ammo for my backup. Don't want to give an over-zealous prosecutor any ammo (yeah, I know) in the event that I have an off-duty shoot or my wife has to defend herself, so our defensive ammo is factory as well. In the event of a SHTF scenario, it won't matter, but I have several thousand rounds of steel-cased 5.56X45mm NATO ammo to run through my Mini-14 and several hundred rounds each of .38/.357 before I get to handloads. There's also a 440-round can of 7.62X54R Bulgarian ammo and NO handloads for the Moisin-Nagant Model 38.

ECS

 

[blujax01]

Answer: Not Me!

If I were even thinking of going into a new caliber, and I'm not, the first thing I would do is locate a pile of brass for it. Without the brass, fuhgeddaboutit.

If you check the classifieds, there are a few Forum folks who regularly sell brass - cheap, too I might add.

 

[jubela#4]

I haven't bought factory loaded handgun ammo in over 30 years. Been loading .357 mag, .41 mag, .44 mag and .45 Colt on my Dillon SDB since the 1980's.
I did see some boxes of .41 mag, Remington manufacture I believe, in the local Cabelas a couple months ago for $52.00 for 50 rounds. I don't see how anyone could shoot very much for that price.

 

[S&W HE]

Many impressive cost per round quotes.

I guess I'm doing it all wrong. My 200gr copper plated .45 ACP rounds run $21.45/100. Here's the breakdown...

Primers/100 = $3.70
Powder/100 = $1.75
Brass/100 = $4.00
Bullets/100 = $12.00