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

[rosewood]

Replacing is irrelevant if you don't need to replace what you have. If you have enough supply to last you the rest of your life and the supplies you have only cost you a few cents per round, then the statement is absolutely true.

Now, if you need or plan on replacing what you use, then all of the arguments above are valid.

Rosewood

 

[scott1970]

Saturday, I finished loading 5,000 rounds of 200 gr. SWC .45 acp. I have just under $100 in the primers, just under $100 in the powder. I doubt I have a buck fifty in the powder coat. The lead I cast was free, and so was all the brass. That's 5,000 rounds of .45 acp ammo for just under $200.

 

[AJ]

It seems that whenever the subject of reloading costs comes up someone will claim that because they cast their own bullets they can reload for about 3 or 4 cents per round (usually in reference to pistol ammo). That's really great but, how? Even if I was given my bullets for free and I was only doing 9mm I can't come close to that. If you got your lead for free and were given your molds, sizing press and dies, lube etc. Powder and primers (even at the prices of a couple years ago) are going to cost more than a nickel per round. Not saying it can't be done, I would just like to know how. Obviously, after a period of time your equipment will have paid for itself but what about the rest?

I am using primers that a friend & I bought from an estate a few years ago. We paid $10.00/brick and bought 70K primers. Since we are into the primers at $0.01 a primer and I use Bullseye for .38 Special and on use 2.8 grains. This works out to $0.012 for powder per case. We cast our own bullets and paid less then a $1.00 per pound. We are somewhat south of $0.05 a round...........

 

[LostintheOzone]

I don't think most of us who reload care about the cost savings because it's negligible. I reload everything I shoot and have for 20 years.

It's the same story with fishermen. I can eat cheap fish If I own a boat and the gear. By the time you factor everything in you're upside down.

It's a recreational pursuit. Nothing more. Who cares?

 

[LostintheOzone]

Saturday, I finished loading 5,000 rounds of 200 gr. SWC .45 acp. I have just under $100 in the primers, just under $100 in the powder. I doubt I have a buck fifty in the powder coat. The lead I cast was free, and so was all the brass. That's 5,000 rounds of .45 acp ammo for just under $200.

But how much did your gear cost?

 

[GypsmJim]

Replacing is irrelevant if you don't need to replace what you have. If you have enough supply to last you the rest of your life and the supplies you have only cost you a few cents per round, then the statement is absolutely true.

Now, if you need or plan on replacing what you use, then all of the arguments above are valid.

Rosewood

That's the key.

I bought my equipment between 20 and 40 years ago. With tens of thousands of rounds loaded, it's certainly amortized by now.

When they said lead wheel weights were to be outlawed, for the cost of a few pizzas the young guys in my local tire shops gave me a ton of lead.

We all knew what happens based on previous government officials took office, so we all should have known to be prepared.
When the 6:00 news uttered the word "pandemic", I looked online and found powder and primers ON SALE. OMG, I had an order placed straight away. They were all out of stock 2 days later.

OK, OK, I had to use up an entire Social Security check, but it was worth it. YES, now I'm loading all my handgun rounds for 4-5 cents a round.

Good luck - maybe. Good planning - probably. Curtailing my shooting times - Never. Whining about prices - heck no.

 

[Farmer17]

Speer reuseable .38 or .44 caliber plastic bullets and cases. The only thing you have to buy is a primer. I wish they could figure out how to get better accuracy out of them and I would shoot them a whole lot more. It shouldn't be that hard.

 

[Bugkiller99]

I’ve not been reloading for as long as most here. But I quickly figured out that popular rounds like 9mm and .223/556 are better purchased. I use my limited funds for other less popular, more expensive rounds. Would rather get more bang for my reloading buck.

 

[rockquarry]

Speer reuseable .38 or .44 caliber plastic bullets and cases. The only thing you have to buy is a primer. I wish they could figure out how to get better accuracy out of them and I would shoot them a whole lot more. It shouldn't be that hard.

I still have these in .38 and .44. I'll bet I haven't shot any in forty years. As I recall, accuracy was pretty good, but I was only shooting at about 15' to 20' in my garage and everything should be accurate that close.

 

[max503]

Dig up lead from the backstop and make free boolits out of it. This sample has bits of bowling pin material in it.

 

[AJ]

Speer reuseable .38 or .44 caliber plastic bullets and cases. The only thing you have to buy is a primer. I wish they could figure out how to get better accuracy out of them and I would shoot them a whole lot more. It shouldn't be that hard.

I have several boxes of those in my collection. Do they still make them? Maybe some day I will open them.

 

[AJ]

Dig up lead from the backstop and make free boolits out of it. This sample has bits of bowling pin material in it.

Have done just that in the past. Our local range has the butts mined every few years.

 

[GypsmJim]

I’ve not been reloading for as long as most here. But I quickly figured out that popular rounds like 9mm and .223/556 are better purchased. I use my limited funds for other less popular, more expensive rounds. Would rather get more bang for my reloading buck.

Better purchased? Why?

What does a box of 50 9mm cost today? 25 bucks? 20 bucks? ten bucks?

My nines cost $2.00 a box. My 5.56 is about $2.50.

At current elevated powder and primer costs, it would jump to about 7 bucks a box.

Looks like better reloaded to me...

 

[BC38]

Most of my components were purchased 4-5 years ago before the current nonsense started.
I've picked up bucketfuls of range brass - free for the taking.
I've got a ton of bullets that I bought 4-5 cents each
I've got pounds and pounds of powder bought for $15-$16 a pound
I've got thousands of primers I got for $20-$25 per thousand
On that basis I can load pretty much any pistol cartridge for less than 10 cents a round.
But 3-4 cents each isn't possible for me.

 

[pasound]

I started reloading in the early 80's, so I remember 38's, 357's and .44's for less than 6-9 cents each. Nowadays not so cheap, but I can still keep it under the .25 cents that the cost of 9mm seems to be, and well under the .45-.60 cents that .38 seems to be.

 

[scott1970]

But how much did your gear cost?

When I first began loading seventeen years ago, I kept up with everything down to the penny just to get an idea of the possibilities of any financial advantage to this new hobby.

The amount of savings from my first batch of 2,000 rounds of 180 gr. FMJ .40 cal, compared to buying it off the shelf, paid for my first Dillon 550. I stopped counting rounds on that press years and years ago when I hit 50,000 rounds. All that gear has paid for itself many times over.

For me, though, it's not about saving money which I believe absolutely occurs when casting is included. I had a group of guys who would come to my range and shoot with me every Saturday. This was in '07. As the ammo shortage of '08 began to develop, I watched my group of shooting friends disappear one by one, because they couldn't find ammo and wanted to hold onto what they had on hand. The only exception was one guy who also reloaded. We kept meeting up and kept having fun.

For me, it's about the availability of ammo and not being at the mercy of elections, worldwide supply chain problems, pandemics, inflated ammo prices, etc.

 

[buz0044]

My father taught me casting and reloading. I enjoy it for lots of reasons and during shortages I get to keep shooting a large spectrum of cartridges. I'm convinced the cost is less than commercial ammo and I can tailor a load for most any purpose from targets to hunting. For the last couple of years most shops ammo shelves looked like the toilet paper aisle in a Venezuelan supermarket. Even today when has anyone seen reasonably priced ammo for anything other than 9MM or .223? Has anyone even seen a box of .32 long, .32-20, .38 ACP, .44 Special, .44-40, 16 ga, .25-20, .250 Savage or .257 Roberts? I surprised the people in a local gun shop recently when I told them that except for rimfire most of my guns have never seen a round of factory ammo. It's not how I was brought up.

 

[rosewood]

Better purchased? Why?

What does a box of 50 9mm cost today? 25 bucks? 20 bucks? ten bucks?

My nines cost $2.00 a box. My 5.56 is about $2.50.

At current elevated powder and primer costs, it would jump to about 7 bucks a box.

Looks like better reloaded to me...

Primers are still very difficult to find around here. Can only find SRP now and haven't seen SP in a long time. Therefore I have decided to not load 9mm until primers are easier to get and use my primers for the more expensive rounds. 9mm rounds are readily on the shelves at about $20 per 50.

Rosewood

 

[Skeet 028]

I recently used the last of the primers I got on closeout at K mart that were 47 cents per hundred. I am using primers that were priced at 5 dollars per 1000 right now. Most expensive primes I have in my stash are17.50 per 1000 other than a 1000 LRP I got from a fellow recently for 60 dollars a 1000 cause his wife bought the wrong size...but I gave him a deal on some 25 cal bullets. I really don't need the LRPs as I load so very few. Powder?? The powder I use right now is mostly in the 4-5 dollar a ound range. I have some that was free andothers that were 1-2 dollars a pound or les for surplus And of course I cast with mostly free or next to free lead. I sold a ton recently for a buck a pound at the scrap yard. I may have had 10 cents a lb in it mostly for cost of melting and making ingots. If you really look even today you can find lead for under 35 cents a lb. The cost of primers will eventually catch up to me but with a couple hundred lbs of powder mostly shotgun/handgun ...I'm good

 

[rosewood]

For me, it's about the availability of ammo and not being at the mercy of elections, worldwide supply chain problems, pandemics, inflated ammo prices, etc.

^This Exactly^!!

I remember the Sandy Hook?? shortage, we were well into the shortage before I knew there was one. Friend called and asked if I had any .380 ammo, he had bought a new gun and couldn't find any. I thought he was crazy until I started looking and couldn't find any either. I could make all I needed.

30-30, 35 rem, 357 sig and a whole host of other calibers that have been almost extinct during this current panic, if I need any, just setup the press, check the pet loads spreadsheet and crank away.

Recently bought a Marlin 93 in 38-55 (circa about 1921). Ammo almost extinct and or ridiculously priced. Ordered dies and Lee mold. Resized 30-30 brass, cast some boolits and I am now shooting 1" groups at 50 yards with it with iron sights. Quite pleased. I have probably shot maybe 2 boxes worth of ammo which more than covered the cost of the dies and mold at this point.

Rosewood