How can you reload for 3 or 4 cents a round?

[rosewood]

The biggest thing I see. Even when folks couldn't find 38 special, 30-30, 35 rem, 7 mag or a whole host of other calibers, I could assemble whatever I needed at will. I have enough primers to keep me afloat for awhile if I budget my consumption. Folks buying factory fodder are at the mercy of the market.

Rosewood

 

[mtgianni]

Cheap reloads? I got a call from a friend scrapping out a house to swing by. I removed an ammo box full of rifle primers and several boxes of bullets and was told "Thanks".

 

[ArchAngelCD]

Cheap reloads? I got a call from a friend scrapping out a house to swing by. I removed an ammo box full of rifle primers and several boxes of bullets and was told "Thanks".

Now that's a really good friend to have... Does he need another friend?

 

[lppd4]

I picked some reloading stuff in similar fashion bought a bunch of stuff cheap and I am given stuff frequently by folks who have no need for it. I recently picked up a goody box that contained 14 100 ct boxes of 140 grain 7mm Nosler Ballistic tips. Also got a couple hundred .30 caliber boxes and some .224 made for a good day

 

[Engineer1911]

3¢ Ammo is real [old]

My current inventory of loaded ammo exceeds my consumption of ammo for several years. My primer and powder supplies are sufficient for 5+ years. I may be living when I run out of ammo and components, but I won't be capable of more shooting or reloading. I do have my lifetime supply.

Primer bricks @ $140 per K and powder @ $40 per pound are simply a fantasy, never to become a nightmare or reality.

EDIT: Powder @ $20/# , primers @ $17/ 1K, range brass $0, and range scrap lead bullets $0 equates to $1.49 per 50 rounds. Yes, the primers are from 1990 and the powder from 1996. Bill Clinton trained me on reloading. When prices are low, buy everything on the shelf. I went to gun store sales, gun shows, and a few yard sales buying "discounted" components.

 

[nksmfamjp]

I get:
Primer -$150
Case - pickup
Powder - $35
Bullet - $80

So, $265 per 1000 or 0.27 per round.

Historically, I bought most of my stuff for:
Primer -$40
Case - pickup
Powder - $25
Bullet - $70

So, $135 per 1000 or 0.14 per round.

This is 9mm which runs currently $0.50 or historically $0.22 per round.

I’m calling bs on the number o 3-4 cents a round because primers and powder haven’t been that cheap since the 80’s as far as I remember….and I’m old!

 

[mtgianni]

My last large purchase from 2019. 10 K primers $95 per 5 K shipping & hazmat total $205. 205/20000 + $0.01025 per primer. Magpool primer from Graff and sons. 100 rd cost $1.03.
Red Dot 8 lb keg $146, Scheels Billings MT. $18.25 per lb, 7000 gr per lb , 3 gr load =$0.00782 per charge. 100 rd cost $0.70.
Lead cost has dropped to $0.80 per lb on the international market. I will use 2019 costs of $1. 7000 gr per lb, 125 gr bullets =56 bullets per lb. $100 rd cost $0.90.
Bullet cost without lube or powdercoating $0.90
Powder cost $0.70
Primer cost $1.03
total cost per 100 rounds $3.63
Not figuring in cost of equipment, time or boxes.

 

[1sailor]

So from reading all this the answer seems to be, it can't be done unless you are using components you got for free and bought everything else years ago. For the last dozen years or so I generally shoot about 800 to 1000 rounds per month. I can only assume that if you're still using components you bought years ago you must shoot considerably less than that. If I was still shooting with components purchased 10 years ago I would have to have bought about 100,000 primers back then.

 

[venomballistics]

At present, a 3cent per round objective is only obtainable with someone else's components

 

[Patrick L]

I never thought of it as reloading for less, but rather WAY more ammo per cash outlay.

Or, basically an unlimited ammo supply.

But you pay for it for sure.

 

[Tu_S]

So from reading all this the answer seems to be, it can't be done unless you are using components you got for free and bought everything else years ago. For the last dozen years or so I generally shoot about 800 to 1000 rounds per month. I can only assume that if you're still using components you bought years ago you must shoot considerably less than that. If I was still shooting with components purchased 10 years ago I would have to have bought about 100,000 primers back then.

Yep, there are some of us who like having stuff on the shelf. Haven't been able to do it since 2019, but I would put in my once a year order for ~15k primers and associated components in November and have around 30k total. Just something my Dad started doing during the shortages during in the 80's, I picked up on in the 90's, and it's what kept me going in 2020 and 2021.

Here's what I currently have, where at the rate I'm shooting would be enough for a year to 18 months if I don't just accept current prices and restock. Most of it is newer, but there are still some "vintage" ones that got misplaced ad rediscovered in there. I'm guessing the stuff in the old yellow CCI boxes were just under 1 cent each. There's also some old Winchester stuff in there somewhere from around the same time as the old blue CCI stuff.

 

[Green Frog]

At 73 years of age, what I have loaded right now will probably cover all but my Schuetzen and North-South skirmish activities until Fall. I may have to load a few hundred 9mm and 38 Spl, but that won’t make much of a dent in my stash of components. Next year I foresee using up about 10-15% of my stash, and so on. I also have quite a few friends who reload, so possibly I can swap some components as others run short. With what I have in house, I should have ammo until my early eighties. At that point, my grands can pay to feed my guns that they will have started pre-inheriting well before that.

At this point, I don’t plan on buying more than a minimal mount of loading components for the rest of my shooting “career”. Maybe getting old isn’t so bad after all… I don’t have to worry about the cost of components and ammo!

Froggie

 

[ME94]

I was given a few thousand primers, a few jugs of powder, bullets and brass. Also the old Herters press. So those first few thousand were probably the cheapest I will ever reload. Not going to calculate the cost ever again; do not care.

 

[Narragansett]

I shoot 22 for 1.79 cents per round. I still have boxes of 100 for $1.79each. Loved the Navy Base

Have 10 cases of 12ga trap loads for 4.00 a box

 

[cracker57]

The real question is "what would it cost you to replace those rounds today?'"
if I had gas saved from 1970 and put it in my car would I say I can fill my tank for 18 bucks.

 

[dogdoc]

If shoot in volume, especially today, you will absolutely save money with handloading . You amortize your equipment over a few years. I loaded about 500 rounds last week in 357 max and 44 magnum. That would at least 500 dollars or more with factory ammo if you could find it. What is 1000 38 specials these days? Or 357 magnum? Even load 9mm at at least 1/2 of factory adds up

 

[__steve__]

Almost impossible when the primer actually costs more. And casting, there’s also hidden costs that add up for Pb exposure prevention measures. Have to filter out the extreme claims out there used for meaningless internet ego points

 

[Model19man]

It costs me around $10 these days to load 50 45 Colt rounds. If I went to the store and bought similar ammo the cost would be about $65 for the same 50 rounds.

 

[scooter123]

One primary principle in Retail is that you sell at the REPLACEMENT cost for an item. Because what you sell has to be replaced with what you earned AFTER the price went up. Selling at original purchase cost is an excellent method to become bankrupt.

Here is a very simple example. You own a gas station and you just filled your 10,000 gallon tank at 90 cents per gallon. The day after that tank fill you hear that the next delivery will cost you 1.00 dollar a gallon. So, you decide your going to show everyone what a good guy you are and sell that tank at 90 cents per gallon. So what happens the next time you have to fill that 10,000 gallon tank. Well shucks, you only have 9000 dollars to fill that tank, so your really can't fill that tank up full, you'll have to stop at 9000 gallons. It's pretty obvious if you continue down that path it won't be long before you have nothing to sell because the tank is bone dry.

So when it comes to calculating reloading costs I will ALWAYS use the current market price. So, if you have to pay 100.00 per 1000 primers you primer cost for each cartridge is 10 cents. Kind of blows up those claims of reloading 9mm for 3 or 4 cents per round.

 

[BE Mike]

It ain't happenin' with today's prices. It costs more than that to shoot .22 LR cartridges. Either quit shooting or take a deep breath and jump into the cold water! It ain't gettin' better!