CAN you save money by reloading?

[Skip Sackett]

Okay, the age old question is CAN you save money by reloading.

All of us go into this proposition with a resounding YES only to find out later, we either hoard ammo or just shoot more.

The fact of the matter is this though: You CAN save money by reloading and even more if you cast your own projectiles.

Here is a case in point:

Our local mega pusher has CCI Blazer Brass Ammo on sale for $16.99/50. Using that as a cost, and listen, you folks that buy your own ammo KNOW that $17/50 is a mighty low price no matter what, let's see if it is feasible that money COULD be saved.

Go to handloads.com and use these numbers to calculate your reloading costs.

1lb. of powder=$17 (Bullseye by the pound. It goes to $12lb if you buy it by the 8lb jug.)
5gr powder charge
1000 primers = $15.50 (Powder Valley, Wolf Large Pistol Primers available now!)
1000 cases = Hopefully you have some already! 45ACP
1000 bullets= $160 (230gr 45 caliber SMS plated bullets purchased today @ Kempf)

Click the "Calculate" button and it comes to $9.38/50.

Buying the powder in the larger quantity brings that cost down to $9.20/50.

Wanna get freaked out? Take the cost for your bullets to $5/1000 and see what happens!

Here is what that cost represents, 230gr LRN that you cast out of a 130# 5gallon bucket of wheel weights that you paid $20 for. (I may have rounded a bit but still.....)

It comes out to $1.45/50 for those bullets! Bullets that you can have when you want in the quantity you want made to the exact length you want and that function in your firearm flawlessly.

What is the price for that? Custom ammo?

So, theoretically, you can save as little as $8/50 to $17/50 if you don't shoot any more than what you do now.


Listen, you CAN save money. What you will do is still spend the disposable income that you have. Maybe, you will buy the wifey something nice more often, that would be a good idea for some of you! Maybe you will make more trips to the range and shoot more. That is a plus as long as you aren't just practicing more wrong stuff! I have seen that done too.

Imagine though, saving $16/week by loading 100 rounds a week. $832/pyr. So, theoretically, if you can payback your capitol investment in less than a year, it puts it in the category of "Why didn't we do this before?"


Think about it!

Just to put the other option into perspective: Casting your own gives you almost $1800/pyr savings shooting the same 100 rounds/pwk.


Seriously, think about it!

 

[Frank V]

I think it depends a lot on how much you shoot. I figure I'll save from 1/3 to 1/2 on a box of ammo. I cast my own handgun bullets & that helps a bunch if you don't count your time for much.
Components are going up all the time. but I still think it's more economical to reload.
Do I save money??? NO, but I do shoot more for the same money. Plus my reloading equipment has paid for it'self many times over.

One thing often overlooked by those trying to squeeze the last penny out of a pound of powder is the fact that you can custom tailor a load for a given gun, whether it's trying to squeeze the last 1/1000th of an inch from a group or get more penetration, or you name it.
The satisfaction from taking game with a load you put together & tested in your gun can't be measured.
Good shooting.
Frank

 

[Skip Sackett]

Saving money is not a matter of how much you shoot. How much money you save is. That is where the ROI (Return On Investment) comes in.

With the figures above, you save those dollars as long as you shoot 50 rounds. Payback on $1000 is going to take a long, long time, if all you shoot is 50 rounds a year.

Whenever you do shoot those 50 rounds, if you reloaded them with the price of components mentioned above, you saved money, cash outlay for that ammo may be a better term.

How fast you recoup your investment is a different matter altogether.

 

[Frank V]

Skip, guess I should have been more specific. I was talking about someone who only might shoot 10 boxes a year. Does he really shoot enough to invest say $250 in reloading equipment? Maybe Maybe not.
I still think how much you save is tied to how much you shoot. If you shoot 10 boxes a year, your investment in reloading equipment might be better spent on ammo???
Everyone will have to decide for themselves. Not trying to start or continue an argument, but I've known people who invested in reloading equipment & didn't really get much benefit from it???
I'm not trying to discourage anyone from reloading as for me the satisfaction I get from it is about equal to the savings.
Frank

 

[BigJohn54]

I thought I was gonna save money! But I just shoot more!!!

 

[rburg]

So the real answer is "yes, you can save money" but then with a footnote that says "but no one to date ever has." Its not really an unpleasant outcome. What all of us do is end up shooting more, and stockpiling or squirreling even more ammo away. Not to mention the huge investment we have in components. The longer you reload, the more time you spend scrounging for ever more components.

Many of us could stop buying today and we'd still be reloading years into the future. I've still even got components my dad purchased back in the 1940s and 50s. I bring this up because it impacts the "savings" you might enjoy. Most of us never use up all them we acquire. There may be those who do, but I'd think those are the rare one caliber guys.

 

[427mach1]

you can custom tailor a load for a given gun, whether it's trying to squeeze the last 1/1000th of an inch from a group or get more penetration, or you name it.

That's one of the best reasons to reload right there. You can determine what loads give the best groupings; this can vary from gun-to-gun. You can make light loads for family members that are recoil-sensitive. You can make hot loads for hiking in bear country. The list goes on.....

 

[dcxplant]

...isn't "saving money" reducing the per-round count? To me that's what "saving money" means.

I bought a M29 a couple of weeks ago, and spent $75 bucks on ammo that lasted about fifteen minutes...

So the next day I got a reloading press and dies for the 44 and 40 (40 is my volume cartridge).

What I learned is that I have a new hobby. Reloading! I think I may be one of those that shoot to reload rather than reload to shoot

 

[Skip Sackett]

So the real answer is "yes, you can save money" but then with a footnote that says "but no one to date ever has."

My point exactly. You CAN, seldom is it realized BUT then your ROI changes as well. The more you shoot, the more you save so the more you shoot!

Circular reasoning, I know. I am just an observer of the cycle!

 

[venomballistics]

Im a realist ...
No, you cannot save money by reloading.
you can only shoot more.

 

[Skip Sackett]

Let's put some real numbers to our proposition.

A Lee Classic Cast Turret Press kit from Kempf comes with these items:

Pistol Caliber Kits Include:

Lee Classic Turret Press
Lee Deluxe 4-Die Set for the pistol caliber of your choice. (3 Die set in 380, 44/40 and 357 Sig)
Lee Auto Disk Powder Measure
Lee Safety Prime System (Large AND Small)
Lee Auto Disk Riser (Required for the Safety Prime System)
Six MTM 50 round Plastic Ammo Boxes
$199

You will need to add a scale. Let's pick one from Dillon:
Dillon's 'Eliminator' Scale $60

A manual: Lyman's #49
$25

Cheap set of calipers:
Harbor Freight: Pittsburgh 6" Digital Caliper $20

The components listed above will need to be purchased. So your original outlay will be $304 for tools. Now, you may want more, that can come later on.

Shooting 100 rounds/wk and saving that $8 per week, that means in 38 weeks you have paid for those original tools. You will shoot more and then you will spend more and then you will save some and then you will shoot more and then......

You get my drift.
p.s. 38 weeks is just a bit over 8 months. Ammo is NOT going to get cheaper, nor more available, period. Neither are components BUT as components move up so will ammo and that will keep things pretty much on an even keel.

 

[GJH77]

The components listed above will need to be purchased. So your original outlay will be $304 for tools. Now, you may want more, that can come later on.

Shooting 100 rounds/wk and saving that "$16 per week", that means in 38 weeks you have paid for those original tools. You will shoot more and then you will spend more and then you will save some and then you will shoot more and then......

You get my drift.
p.s. 38 weeks is just a bit over 8 months. Ammo is NOT going to get cheaper, nor more available, period. Neither are components BUT as components move up so will ammo and that will keep things pretty much on an even keel.

My calculation exactly except our costs are about $400 with tumbler,etc. included. I have been saving brass for a year anticipating starting to reload.
I think your original savings was $8/50, so you would recoup the initial investment in 17 weeks. And my brother and I are splitting the cost of the equipment so it will be recouped in half that time.

 

[Andy Griffith]

No, but you'll have a bunch of equipment.

 

[Skip Sackett]

My calculation exactly except our costs are about $400 with tumbler,etc. included. I have been saving brass for a year anticipating starting to reload.
I think your original savings was $8/50, so you would recoup the initial investment in 17 weeks. And my brother and I are splitting the cost of the equipment so it will be recouped in half that time.

Good point, sir and thanks for the correction. Of course, all of our realists are right but IN THEORY YOU CAN save money.

 

[Jellybean]

...
Lee Classic Turret Press
Lee Deluxe 4-Die Set for the pistol caliber of your choice. (3 Die set in 380, 44/40 and 357 Sig)
Lee Auto Disk Powder Measure
Lee Safety Prime System (Large AND Small)
Lee Auto Disk Riser (Required for the Safety Prime System)
Six MTM 50 round Plastic Ammo Boxes
$199

You will need to add a scale. Let's pick one from Dillon:
Dillon's 'Eliminator' Scale $60

A manual: Lyman's #49
$25

Cheap set of calipers:
Harbor Freight: Pittsburgh 6" Digital Caliper $20

The components listed above will need to be purchased. So your original outlay will be $304 for tools. Now, you may want more, that can come later on.

Not quite. I have loaded thousands of rounds with nothing but a Lee Hand or Reloader press, three die set and a ram prime. If you are only loading to save money this is enough and, since Lee products don't have any resale value, you can probably get them for under $15-$20 if you can find them used. Just make sure you get the shell holder, powder dipper and charge tables with the die set.

 

[Skip Sackett]

Not quite. I have loaded thousands of rounds with nothing but a Lee Hand or Reloader press, three die set and a ram prime. If you are only loading to save money this is enough and, since Lee products don't have any resale value, you can probably get them for under $15-$20 if you can find them used. Just make sure you get the shell holder, powder dipper and charge tables with the die set.

Jelly,
Are you off of your meds? You seriously aren't going to argue over a savings of $75, are you? How much is a Lee loader? How much is a Lee whatever press?

You just made my point even better, and thanks for it. Let's not squabble over the equipment chosen, it is just an illustration. Can you get into it cheaper? Sure. My other point is, you don't need to. My original illustration is nothing too rich for anyone, even the unemployed usually have income for cigarettes, candy and their cell phones so......... $304 is pretty reasonable. I was just trying to show that there is a kit that gets someone pretty far down the line towards reloading. (The dies are included in the kit too by the way.)


The COMPONENTS: Clarification .........Primers, Powder, Bullets, Cases. The other things are NOT listed as NEEDED, you will need some kind of tool. You pick!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[rburg]

Seeing that huge list of things you "need" to just get started is pretty funny. Over 40 years ago I didn't have that kind of money. Of course things weren't as expensive back then. All I could afford was a Lyman 310 tool and a set of Lee dippers. I'm sure the tool was under $10, and the dippers probably less than $5. I still have them.

And I can turn out passable ammo. If I had nothing but that tool, one of the dippers (my choice), and some of my components, I could reload for a long time. My oldest son has the Lyman set I bought at a flea market for, I think, $28. It had never been used and the seller told me it was a bottle capping kit. He was clueless, both about what it was and the kind of price he should have been asking. I have friends who've gone to estate sales and yard sales. Scoring big. Never pass one of those without looking.

Even if you've got a small set up, buy one when you see it. Often the widow or old guy who has given up the hobby will sell cheap. They'll even toss in their components, just to help someone getting started.

 

[Jellybean]

Skip, my post was in line with rburgs, and yes it does agree with your argument, and more. I'm not sure what Lee is getting for the items I listed now, but they were very cheap when I bought them. We're not talking $75 difference, more like $250. And I wasn't talking about the Lee Loader thingy that needs a hammer, those are actual presses.

For someone that is only getting into reloading for the sake of savings over factory ammo, he can do it with very little investment, much less than $300. However, I've never met anyone that got into the hobby to see how much money they could save before. Most of them do it to either stretch their ammo budget or for an improvement over factory ammo.

 

[AZ CHUCK]

Sir
Do not let these gentelmen mis-lead you, reloading leads to an addictionshooting more, then you get in to matches and that is more shooting & you become a shooting junkie.

 

[Az Rick]

I really don't think that "saving money" is a good reason to get into reloading. It can be done but you need to be careful not to buy every gizmo you see.
I loaded 800 rounds of .38 and some .357 over the weekend, prepped another 500 cases, so all they need is powder and boolits. I cast my own.
It was time consuming,... I enjoyed every minute of it. The last I figured I was loading .38's for around $3.75 a box. I have lots of time in smelting, casting lead and sizing, lubing. I enjoy it, it's a hobby for sure
What reloading does and it's good, is makes you a student of ballistics, bullet fitment and the appreciation of making something which very often exceeds what you can buy.

Best Rick