OP
mnshutterbug
Member
I love your reasoning. It does make sense. I don't exercise so reloading could be a substitute.
Are the savings worth it?
- Thread starter mnshutterbug
- Start date
I love your reasoning. It does make sense. I don't exercise so reloading could be a substitute.
amazingflapjack
US Veteran
It would be a long time before I ran out, and I taylor the ammo to a specific gun. As to 9 MM, they snickered at me for picking up 9 MM brass until the last "shortage" when the snickerers were lined up at Wally world at 7 AM trying to get a box.
You said you hadn't reloaded for years, but do you still have your reloading gear? Press? Scale? Calipers? A place to set up?
If you do, it is probably worthwhile, because most of the startup costs will be the supplies.
If you have to spend a couple of hundred or more on reloading gear, then at $10-$20 a month savings it's going to take a while for it to pay for itself.
If you do, it is probably worthwhile, because most of the startup costs will be the supplies.
If you have to spend a couple of hundred or more on reloading gear, then at $10-$20 a month savings it's going to take a while for it to pay for itself.
kbm6893
Member
After Newtown, ammo was scarce, and when you could find it, was nearly
Double the price. 50 rounds of 9MM at Walmart was like 17 bucks. Yeah, it's cheaper NOW, but there will always be another shortage. Even if there's not, I can reload 9MM for less than 14 bucks for 100 rounds. Store bought target loads will cost me nearly 20 bucks for 100 rounds. That's a 35% savings.
And forget about .38 special. Nearly 50 bucks for store bought target vs 14 bucks for reloads. Not even a choice.
At 100 rounds a month and $6 savings, that's $72 a year saved. Your equipment would be paid for in a few years. And you won't be a slave to the next panic.
As for shooting more it you reload, that's not always true. I don't shoot a whole lot more now than before I reloaded. But I sure like seeing a full GI ammo can of ammo waiting for when I feel like shooting.
Double the price. 50 rounds of 9MM at Walmart was like 17 bucks. Yeah, it's cheaper NOW, but there will always be another shortage. Even if there's not, I can reload 9MM for less than 14 bucks for 100 rounds. Store bought target loads will cost me nearly 20 bucks for 100 rounds. That's a 35% savings.
And forget about .38 special. Nearly 50 bucks for store bought target vs 14 bucks for reloads. Not even a choice.
At 100 rounds a month and $6 savings, that's $72 a year saved. Your equipment would be paid for in a few years. And you won't be a slave to the next panic.
As for shooting more it you reload, that's not always true. I don't shoot a whole lot more now than before I reloaded. But I sure like seeing a full GI ammo can of ammo waiting for when I feel like shooting.
Saving $$$ reloading
If you shoot 300 rounds per month, and if you have a source for bullet lead (wheel weights, spent bullets mined from dirt berm, or recovered bullets from indoor range), and if you have equipment to melt and recover clean lead, then your cost for bullets drops to 25¢ per hundred or less.
Additional one-time expenses are bullet moulds, melting pot, bullet sizing and lubing equipment, and your time. In the early 1980's I bought a 4 cavity Lyman 38 Special wadcutter mould for $50. Gun show cast bullets were ~ $20 per thousand. That mould was "paid for" in 3 months and I still use it to cast bullets today.
Yes, there are additional costs for electricity, propane gas, and vehicle gasoline. Electricity is insignificant when compared to full size refrigerator in the kitchen, a compact frig in the garage and on the deck, and whole house air conditioning. I'm going to the range to shoot, arrive early, mine bullets for an hour (140 pounds), then shoot and go home.
The value of my time is $0.00 per hour. I'm retired, overweight, and have an appetite control problem. If I am involved in shooting related activities, I can't eat, don't see food commercials on tv, and am getting some minimum exercise (I'm not sitting on my butt).
During the latest ammo shortage, there was at least a 1,000 rounds EACH of 9 MM, 38 spl, 357 mag, 40 S&W, 44 mag, and 45 acp sitting on the shelves. There was 4,000 rounds of 223 varmint ammo ready for the June prairie dog trip.
Because I bought components on sale, have been bullet casting since 1975 (college student using GI Bill and part time job), and slowly upgrading to better equipment as needed or money was available, I do save money on 50 count boxes of loaded ammo. Unfortunately, I take 3 or 4 guns and 200 rounds of ammo for each caliber when I go to the outdoor range. I just blew the $20 per month Wal Mart ammo budget. And I bought my newest Lee 6-cavity mould 3 weeks ago.
EDIT: On Saturday afternoon some reclaimed bullets were cast into two coffee cans full of 45 ACP SWC bullets ready for lubing and sizing. Looks like the Dillon 550 will get a workout. I missed 5 hours of continuous live updates from the Weather channel. Using a cost of $25 per pound for powder, $25 per thousand for primers, free range pickup brass, and "free" cast bullets (I don't buy factory ammo), my target reloads cost $2.00 per 50 rounds, 44 magnum is $3.75 more or less depending on powder charge for 50 rounds.
If you shoot 300 rounds per month, and if you have a source for bullet lead (wheel weights, spent bullets mined from dirt berm, or recovered bullets from indoor range), and if you have equipment to melt and recover clean lead, then your cost for bullets drops to 25¢ per hundred or less.
Additional one-time expenses are bullet moulds, melting pot, bullet sizing and lubing equipment, and your time. In the early 1980's I bought a 4 cavity Lyman 38 Special wadcutter mould for $50. Gun show cast bullets were ~ $20 per thousand. That mould was "paid for" in 3 months and I still use it to cast bullets today.
Yes, there are additional costs for electricity, propane gas, and vehicle gasoline. Electricity is insignificant when compared to full size refrigerator in the kitchen, a compact frig in the garage and on the deck, and whole house air conditioning. I'm going to the range to shoot, arrive early, mine bullets for an hour (140 pounds), then shoot and go home.
The value of my time is $0.00 per hour. I'm retired, overweight, and have an appetite control problem. If I am involved in shooting related activities, I can't eat, don't see food commercials on tv, and am getting some minimum exercise (I'm not sitting on my butt).
During the latest ammo shortage, there was at least a 1,000 rounds EACH of 9 MM, 38 spl, 357 mag, 40 S&W, 44 mag, and 45 acp sitting on the shelves. There was 4,000 rounds of 223 varmint ammo ready for the June prairie dog trip.
Because I bought components on sale, have been bullet casting since 1975 (college student using GI Bill and part time job), and slowly upgrading to better equipment as needed or money was available, I do save money on 50 count boxes of loaded ammo. Unfortunately, I take 3 or 4 guns and 200 rounds of ammo for each caliber when I go to the outdoor range. I just blew the $20 per month Wal Mart ammo budget. And I bought my newest Lee 6-cavity mould 3 weeks ago.
EDIT: On Saturday afternoon some reclaimed bullets were cast into two coffee cans full of 45 ACP SWC bullets ready for lubing and sizing. Looks like the Dillon 550 will get a workout. I missed 5 hours of continuous live updates from the Weather channel. Using a cost of $25 per pound for powder, $25 per thousand for primers, free range pickup brass, and "free" cast bullets (I don't buy factory ammo), my target reloads cost $2.00 per 50 rounds, 44 magnum is $3.75 more or less depending on powder charge for 50 rounds.
Last edited:
Oh, it's a lot more than just watching for and taking advantage of sales.
I keep my eyes open for $$$-off coupons & emails and I buy discounted gift cards to both Cabela's and BP on-line in order to keep my ammo costs silly low. I have other excellent low cost options as well, but that approach has been most successful to date. 
I might feel differently about it if:
- First and foremost, I had enough unused space in my house for a reloading room
- I had the money to upgrade all my old mothballed reloading equipment to current "state-of-the-art" so that reloading wasn't going to take me forever
- I had access to free or very low cost wheel weights or other cheap scrap lead
- I had a need to make custom ammo for myself because commercial ammo wasn't working well in my guns
- I felt totally secure in my skills and diligence such that I would never once in a lifetime produce an over-pressure load that would damage one of my guns or me or a member of my family
- I valued my time at $0.00 per hour and I had enough spare time leftover after all obligations and interests to devote time to a brand new hobby
- Most importantly, I was in a situation where I could realistically consume all that ammo I was going to produce in order to have a net savings of money
Unfortunately, not one of them is true... so I think I'll stick with new commercial ammo. 
Brought this subject up in another thread
...Mainly for hunting though.. The preponderance of people reload for their hunting. Handgun stuff?? I think this way about easily found ammo..like 9mm. I still reload blow away smmo but at the same time if I see it on the cheap...I still buy a box or two. I recently bought 17 boxes(IIRC) of Federal 9mm 115 HP and 147 gr HP. It was a couple or more years old but the price was 7 dollars a box. If the next big crunch comes along I can either shoot it or sell some at a great profit...but I am still shooting my reloads at about 6 bucks a box. Maybe less as I shoot cast bullets that cost me time and power to heat the lead(the lead was free...all 2 thousand pounds of it). Don't normally find GOOD ammo that cheap but buy a box or so a month and reload the ones you shoot. If you have the gear to load...use it. It seems the most expensive commodity these days is TIME... The older we get the less we seem to have. I gotta cut wood for the winter today. LOL
...Mainly for hunting though.. The preponderance of people reload for their hunting. Handgun stuff?? I think this way about easily found ammo..like 9mm. I still reload blow away smmo but at the same time if I see it on the cheap...I still buy a box or two. I recently bought 17 boxes(IIRC) of Federal 9mm 115 HP and 147 gr HP. It was a couple or more years old but the price was 7 dollars a box. If the next big crunch comes along I can either shoot it or sell some at a great profit...but I am still shooting my reloads at about 6 bucks a box. Maybe less as I shoot cast bullets that cost me time and power to heat the lead(the lead was free...all 2 thousand pounds of it). Don't normally find GOOD ammo that cheap but buy a box or so a month and reload the ones you shoot. If you have the gear to load...use it. It seems the most expensive commodity these days is TIME... The older we get the less we seem to have. I gotta cut wood for the winter today. LOL
Man, ain't that the truth.
Nope.....Retired from Gov. nuke industry......My car/tire repair shop gives them to me...Been "gitten em" from him for years. Also have accumilated a lifetime supply of 9mm/40/223 brass......BTW they are my least shot calibers......Most shot 45LC....2nd.....38 spl........3rd....44 spl.......and so on.......ALL reloads with cast bullets.
Last edited:
EugeneNine
Member
Cost per round I can reload my 9mm for 50% of the price of factory. Now not shooting much that isn't much but I also only invested maybe $300 in tools with the cabelas cleaner, lee hand press, lee scale, etc so my tools paid for themselves quickly.
Time I don't count because of the hand press, I can sit on the couch and do most of the work while watching tv with my wife.
So savings isn't a lot but time also isn't a lot. But I have gained knowledge, that is worth it to me.
I'm working on now using target hollow point plated bullets so I'm getting a very close simulation of true SD ammo but of much less price.
Time I don't count because of the hand press, I can sit on the couch and do most of the work while watching tv with my wife.
So savings isn't a lot but time also isn't a lot. But I have gained knowledge, that is worth it to me.
I'm working on now using target hollow point plated bullets so I'm getting a very close simulation of true SD ammo but of much less price.
Last edited:
Clovishound
Member
Well, everyone's situation is different. Clovispup and I will easily go through 100 rounds each of .38 and .357 in one of our weekly range trips. That 200 rounds costs me between $25 and $30. If I were to buy commercial for that, I'd be looking at quite a bit more. I can afford $30. $70 + puts too big a dent in the wallet.
I don't love reloading time, but I don't mind it. I do love being able to watch my daughter have a great time at the range, and be able to let her shoot as many .357s through my Henry rifle as she wants.
I don't love reloading time, but I don't mind it. I do love being able to watch my daughter have a great time at the range, and be able to let her shoot as many .357s through my Henry rifle as she wants.
fredj338
Member
I wouldnt start reloading for 100rds a month in 9mm, but if you already have the gear, buying dies cost about 150rds of ammo. For that, i can beat factory for right at 50%. I have dies for stuff i shoot 100rds a year.
I reload everything except range 9 mm. I shoot one or two boxes of 9 a month so it's not worth the time for me to save 6 cents a round. Factory ammo doesn't foul the gun nearly as much as cast reloads so I consider less frequent, easier gun cleaning another saving of time and material.
At 100 rounds per month, I couldn't justify reloading just for the savings.
At today's 9mm prices, I would purchase at least several years of ammo.
Prices won't be going down from today's levels, but availability and increased price risks are very real...
At today's 9mm prices, I would purchase at least several years of ammo.
Prices won't be going down from today's levels, but availability and increased price risks are very real...
Qc Pistolero
Member
Doing it just for saving money at 100rds a month;nah!it'll take too much time to recoup the investment.But shooting is my 1st hobby;reloading my second and casting bullets my third.With the amount invested in all this,I still save $$(I shoot between 10K and 15K/year).
But if I wouldn't be doing all this,I know I'd end up spending more at some other hobby like say golf!So all in all,if you shoot more than a couple K/year,yes it's worth the investment.But be warned,it is catchy!
Qc
But if I wouldn't be doing all this,I know I'd end up spending more at some other hobby like say golf!So all in all,if you shoot more than a couple K/year,yes it's worth the investment.But be warned,it is catchy!
Qc
Nothing like the satisfaction of killing a deer or other large critter with a bullet you made in a cartridge you assembled......or getting that magical 1 MOA with a rifle in a cartridge you reloaded to match your rifle.......As to 9mm/40/45 I set up the Dillon and run off a 30 cal. ammo can full of each caliber....That'll usually hold me for the summer shooting months.
