Cost Averaging Reloads

[Model19man]

All this talk about prices of components for reloading and not one post about the cost of the equipment required to do the task of reloading! May I suggest that each of the posters here look at their reloading bench and add up the cost of the equipment they have accumulated over the years! That would also include the equipment you have bought, used for a period, and replaced for some particular reason! In my case the list is long! I presently have 2 Herters 6 hole turret presses, 2 Herters single station presses, 1 C-H 3 station press, and a Dillon 550 w/13 blocks(including dies). A Hornady bullet puller w/collets, a Forester case trimmer, 3 scales, and many little tools and accessories. Most of these items I have owned and used for many years! If you amortize the cost of this equipment from when you bought the equipment until today the figure would be very low. However, for the average shooter looking at buying this equipment today he is by far better off buying factory rounds. If you are going to try to calculate the cost of your shooting habit, you must consider the above mentioned cost!
jcelect

Right! I bought a couple Lee 1000 presses, new for $79.00 each at a gun show in 1982. That adds a lot to my total. I stocked up on primers and powder when it looked like there would likely be a President Dukakis. Thankfully that never happened!

Lately I have bought some dies for the revolvers I own. They are 41 Long Colt and 38 Long Colt. Want to know what a box of ammo costs?

 

[SGT ROCK 11B]

All this talk about prices of components for reloading and not one post about the cost of the equipment required to do the task of reloading! May I suggest ...

If you are going to try to calculate the cost of your shooting habit, you must consider the above mentioned cost!

I don't think we talk about the cost of Reloading Equipment for the same reason we don't talk about owning thirty six (36) revolvers all in .38 Special. Don't get me started on the other calibers too.

 

[GypsmJim]

All this talk about prices of components for reloading and not one post about the cost of the equipment required to do the task of reloading! May I suggest that each of the posters here look at their reloading bench and add up the cost of the equipment they have accumulated over the years! That would also include the equipment you have bought, used for a period, and replaced for some particular reason! In my case the list is long! I presently have 2 Herters 6 hole turret presses, 2 Herters single station presses, 1 C-H 3 station press, and a Dillon 550 w/13 blocks(including dies). A Hornady bullet puller w/collets, a Forester case trimmer, 3 scales, and many little tools and accessories. Most of these items I have owned and used for many years! If you amortize the cost of this equipment from when you bought the equipment until today the figure would be very low. However, for the average shooter looking at buying this equipment today he is by far better off buying factory rounds. If you are going to try to calculate the cost of your shooting habit, you must consider the above mentioned cost!
jcelect

As we get older and have more time and money, surely us gun nut reloaders have spent megabucks on equipment. Sometimes it involved making the tasks easier and sometimes faster, but we NEVER spent a dime to make the ammo BETTER.

My initiation into reloading was a .38 Spl Lee Loader that cost me nine dollars and ninety five cents. It was followed by a 30-06 whack-a-mole and a .45 Colt, etc, etc. I used them for some 20 years before I bought a press. My home brew stuff was not equal to factory ammo, it was better.

Same goes today. If you need to save money and don't mind spending a little extra time, your equipment will amortize in the first box produced.

Nevertheless, regardless of cost, the hobby is simply priceless.

Don't get me started on castin boolits. Now ammo gets REAL cheep.

 

[AJ]

I am a piker, I own two Lyman turret presses (each head hold six dies or two calibers), one press is a spare, There are six heads loaded with dies on the shelf. I have a Rockchucker for other things, a couple of Lyman Luber-Sizers a couple of bench mount priming tools and other assorted loading paraphernalia. Had progressive presses by Dillion, but not my cup of tea, so sold them. May Daughter will hate me when she has to get rid of it all some day.

 

[pasound]

I always looked at the tools - the presses, dies, powder measures, others, as capital expenses on assets. Investments. It's my training in business. In over 30 years of loading, I've owned four presses - three Lee turrets and one Lyman turret. Sold one Lee and the Lyman. Kept all dies that were carbide, bought a few more. The machinery in the workshop is not part of the cost of each round, it's the cost of being in a business that otherwise has no profit, but less loss than the expense of retail.

 

[weatherby]

I haven't cost averaged in many years.
There comes a point when enough is enough.
I saw the writing on the wall and did what was necessary.

 

[AJ]

I bought all new stuff when I was younger. As I got older my Father gave me some stuff that made me realize that "old stuff" still worked well. Over the years I have purchased from estate sales, yard sale, and a small bit from gun shows. Keeps the cost down.

 

[Skeet 028]

Add up allthe tools tooling presses die molds etc etc etc over the years...and I am on the plus side having sold much more moneywise than I have bought...and if I wanted to sell it all now I would be way farther in the black. In point of fact I am taking a lot of stuff I have nothing to speak of invested in to an auction tomorrow. I have sold more than a ton of lead I paaid 10 cents a pound for at 1.30 a pound 90 pounds of free brass acquired at a range for free...used to reload a fair number of times sold for 2.40 a pound. It isn't always costing you if you look to the future. 250 pounds of 7.62 /308 brass fired in a GE gatling given to me and a friend that we really couldn't get sized well enough to use so we sold it...2.40 a pound. Where there is a will there is always a way to reduce costs of most things. Heck when I guided hunters I could write off the cost of a new gun every year...If I sold one I had to claim income on it of course

 

[rwsmith]

It's a little different for...

Our interests vary. I've never done any cost averaging in almost sixty years of handloading, perhaps because it never interested me and because it's work that would take away from enjoyment. I'm not a spendthrift and I doubt cost would ever have an effect on my handloading and shooting as long as I could afford it.

It's a little different for me. I've been on a budget since I retired on disability in 2002. Reloading keeps me shooting as much as I like. I've never had to count pennies but the higher prices and low availability has caused me to step back and take a look at how I'm going to be operating in the future.

I know that I've got plenty of powder and brass. I can use about any type of bullet so I don't anticipate problems there. Primers, however, may pose a problem.

 

[Moo Moo]

Here in Australia, reloading centre fire cartridges has always been a necessity for most shooters given the inflated costs of factory ammo.

 

[BRL40]

I bought this simple setup in 1980 and it has saved me so much money over buying factory ammo for so many calibers for so many years that I don't even consider it a factor anymore.
It has more than paid for itself and still continues to do that to this day.

 

[Model19man]

It was the cost of factory loaded ammo that made me buy my first reloading press in 1981. Back then a box of (50) 357 Magnum 125 grain JHP's was around $19. That was highway robbery back then!

Now the price of everything is nuts - and I am living in the early 1990's.

Do yourself a favor - buy all the components and tools you think you will use for a lifetime now.

 

[AlHunt]

Cost averaging is a fallacy we see here all the time. Components are worth whatever the replacement cost today would be. Even if you have a lifetime supply you bought 30 years ago, it's still worth the current replacement cost.

 

[Model19man]

Cost averaging is a fallacy we see here all the time. Components are worth whatever the replacement cost today would be. Even if you have a lifetime supply you bought 30 years ago, it's still worth the current replacement cost.

Maybe they are to you. To me, if I don't run out of stuff until I die or get tired of reloading it is like I don't have to worry about buying anything - I have enough. You might want to go to my estate sale.

 

[AJ]

Cost averaging is a fallacy we see here all the time. Components are worth whatever the replacement cost today would be. Even if you have a lifetime supply you bought 30 years ago, it's still worth the current replacement cost.

I was taught cost averaging about 40 years ago buy a couple of dealers in gold & Silver. They figured the value of what their holding were by the cost per ounce of the precious metal. They would buy an ounce at $10.00 one week and maybe in two weeks it was down to $5.00 so now what they had was valued at $7.50 per ounce. Their values rose and fell as the markets did. These guys were in it for the long run (kind of like most of us). One still has his holdings that started at $5.00 an ounce for silver. With silver at $27.92 an ounce he has made a dollar or two. Lord, knows what his gold holdings are worth(gold is $2473.00 an ounce). So for those who want to sell their components, they will made a fair sum of money. For us that keep reloading (and buying) our costs will always be, below the current market value.

 

[Patrick L]

I have not calculated my costs in years. I'm still saving money, at least that's what I tell my wife...

Here are my three primary factors

1. Regardless of actual cost, it's more the idea that I'm master of my ammo supply. I feel that I have unlimited ammo. Of course that's not true, but looking at my ammo stash, if it were just boxes of factory that I bought for the same outlay of $$ it would definitely be less.

2. I load stuff I can't buy. Light cast bullet rifle loads, powderpuff cast bullet pistol loads. In shotgun, 3/4 oz 12 and 20 gauge skeet loads, 16 gauge target loads. The list goes on.

3. I may be odd, but I actually enjoy reloading and bullet casting. It's relaxing and therapeutic. I initially reloaded so I could shoot, sometimes I think now I shoot so I can reload. I never subscribed to that "well you need to factor in the cost of your time" mentality. I chose to spend my time reloading instead of watching TV, etc.

That's just my take on it.

 

[mtgianni]

A far as equipment. I still have my first $89 press and scale combo. I bought a $950 estate from someone who was glad to have it gone after it sat for $1000 for a month. I kept what I wanted, gave some to my brother and sold most of the rest for $1600 within a month.

 

[glenwolde]

I was taught cost averaging about 40 years ago buy a couple of dealers in gold & Silver. They figured the value of what their holding were by the cost per ounce of the precious metal. They would buy an ounce at $10.00 one week and maybe in two weeks it was down to $5.00 so now what they had was valued at $7.50 per ounce. Their values rose and fell as the markets did. These guys were in it for the long run (kind of like most of us). One still has his holdings that started at $5.00 and ounce for silver. With silver at $27.92 an ounce he has made a dollar or two. Lord, knows what his gold holdings are worth(gold is $2473.00 an ounce). So for those who want to sell their components, they will made a fair sum of money. For us that keep reloading (and buying) our costs will always be, below the current market value.

There's a huge difference. They do it that way because it's a business to them, and there's a need to calculate profit. It's completely different with consumables.

Let's say your gold & silver dealer dumped his hoard into an active volcano. Did he lose his average cost? Or current market value?

 

[6string]

Recently, I looked at "Ammoseek" to check the prices being charged for 9mm ammo.
To be clear, I don't use that site for purchase, nor is 9mm a cartridge of particular interest to me. But, I checked using both the site and cartridge as a reference to popular tastes.

What I found was, a "per cartridge" cost as low as 14.5 cents per round for Blazer 9mm.
Compare that to what's being charged for components. Primers have been as high as 10 cent a piece, although that has come down to as low as 7 or 8 cents for the good stuff (domestic primers).
But, add to that the cost of powder. If a pound of powder is going for $50-70, then a 7 grain charge for cartridge adds 5 to 7 cents to each round loaded.
Then, there's the cost of bullets. Do you cast, or do you load manufactured bullets (jacketed, plain lead, plated, whatever)? If you buy commercial, you're probably pay a lot, like 10 cents or more per cartridge.
So, that's 22 to 25 cents per cartridge, not counting the brass case.
There's no justifiable reason why the sum cost of components should exceed a manufactured product using those same components.

Personally, I think companies like Vista Outdoors are trying to do away with handloading by disincentivizing it in terms of cost and component availability. They'd like nothing better than turning us into just another group of overly dependent consumer-slaves.

Nonetheless, I really enjoy reloading. The process and results are very gratifying to me. I started with a Lee Loader and a Lee Auto Prime tool to load .44 Magnum and 44 Special. A 50 round box of ammo took me a couple hours to load. I loved every minute of it!

The only factory ammo I buy is rimfire 22 LR.

 

[Model19man]

Can you imagine what Ammoseek would want for 38 Long Colt or 41 Long Colt?

LOL!