Is reloading dying?

[LeeMax]

Not sure how it works for Gander, but I'm pretty sure I can order anything I want from Cablas, have it delivered to the local store for pickup, and not pay any shipping or hazmat fees.

Couple months back, Cabelas ran an online special on primers. I went to order a few thousand, and since I drive by the store in Hamburg, PA regularly, I thought having them shipped to the store would save me the HAZMAT fee.

....When I went to complete the the order, a message came up saying they the couldn't ship primers to the store..........

Yeah, ....I thought the same thing.

If you're anywhere near Myerstown, you might want to check out Enck's Gun Barn. They're right on Main Ave and always have plenty of powder and primers whenever I stop in. They also have a pretty good selection of bullets, brass and reloading equipment.

 

[Jeff423]

Arik, if all you shoot is 9mm, I can see why the math doesn't work for you. Many of us began reloading because we were shooting 38 super IPSC loads, or 9mm loads for steel challenge type competition that are lighter than factory loads. Or, 41 magnum or 44 special, and today even 38 Special, which are very pricey and hard to find on the shelves. FWIW, I can buy 9mm ammo cheaper than I can load them with new brass, it's only after I fire the brass that I save money loading 9mm. We don't load to save money, but to shoot more for the same money, so disposable income isn't usually a factor. That said, I enjoy reloading almost as much as I enjoy shooting. Cheers.

I shoot (among others) .41 mag and a S&W 500. I probably wouldn't have bought the 500 if I had to buy factory ammo. My light loads run about $0.55 per round - not including brass. The dies and brass were $67.00 - just a little more than 20 rounds of most "factory" ammo.

Jeff

 

[DocB]

I have a few friends who reload heavily. I used to reload some. At this point, I am out of room to store any more ammo and don't shoot so much that I can't afford to buy all the factory ammo I need. The exception would be unavailable ammo, like the 44 Russian, that can't be bought; but, I've reloaded as much of it as I will ever need.

 

[lrrifleman]

I don't believe that reloading is dying, as much as some of the competitive shooting sports are dying.

There are two things working against reloading today: the high start up cost, and the impatience of today's youth that demands immediate gratification (no offense intended towards the youthful shooters here). I am using most of the reloading equipment my father and I purchased back in the mid 70s, I haven't purchased anything but dies since maybe 1995.

Yes, I do load first for accuracy, and second for functional reliability. Because I do load my own, and I know what goes into making accurate ammo, I have never gone to the range to just "burn up" a few hundred rounds! Before my children squeeze the trigger, they will have to assemble the ammunition they will shoot under my supervision, so they can appreciate what they are shooting and not waste ammo. Patience is a demanding trait in the shooting sports!

Concerning reloading supplies, sources vary. The shop near me that use to supply the local trap and skeet shooters, and had the greatest variety of powders, closed its doors about 15 years ago, because insurance coverage went beyond skyrocketing ... from a few hundred dollars a year to over five thousand dollars a year. Aside from online purchases, I have four sources available: the Bass Pro (Atlantic City) sells powder and primers for about 30% more than Cabela's (Christiana), a semi local gun shop whose picture is in the dictionary with the term "price gouging", or my club's preferred gunsmith/member that does an occasional club order. When I was at Cabela's Christiana last night, they were stocking the shelves with 31 cases of powder, but there was nothing to be seen from Alliant. While bullet and powder selection were good at Cabela's, the primer supply was plentiful but limited. At Bass Pro, they won't carry OTM bullets, or hollow points, and powder and primers are (IMHO) way overpriced.

For me, I have to purchase my rifle bullets, but I am equipped and prepared to cast my own handgun bullets. I am currently able to reload: 12ga shotshells, 223, 243, 25-35, 270, 7mm Remington Magnum, 308, 30-06, 35 Remington, 40-65 Winchester, 45-70, 38 Special, 357 Magnum, 9mm Luger, 41 Magnum, and 45 ACP. For me, reloading won't die until I can't get components. If I had kept track of the cost of the above equipment, it would have been on the short side of a grand spent over 30 years. If I had to start from scratch today, I am afraid that this equipment would cost close to three grand. Many shooters today just don't have this kind of discretionary cash, and even the prices on eBay aren't very kind.

 

[gwpercle]

Not around my neck of the woods. It's booming.
In 1967 , when I started , there were two gun shops that sold reloading supplies. Today, there are six places I can go to and get supplies. Pistol powder and primers were in short supply for a while but things seem to be back on the dealers shelves....and they go off the shelf pretty quickly too. Prior to this last election I bought powder and primers whenever it was on a shelf.
I believe things will get a lot better now !
Gary,
Unrepentant Deplorable

 

[Trooperdan]

I just returned from the West Palm Beach fairgrounds gunshow. There were two sellers of powder, one of which only had a few cans of three types. I got a bottle (9 oz) of Trail Boss for $25... technically $35 if you count the entrance fee. I saw no one selling reloading tools. The gun shops in my area don't carry components or powder. I expected to see more component sellers due to the haz mat fees on powder & primers.

 

[fredj338]

I believe that DOT regulations limit the amount of smokeless powder in a truck load to 50 pounds. That's on top of HAZMAT designations. For obvious reasons, you can't ship powder and primers in the same container.

This just isnt true. I get primer & powder in the same box all the time from the major online places. Only Midway separates them, my undersanding is because they ship direct from the manuf.

 

[fredj338]

I shoot (among others) .41 mag and a S&W 500. I probably wouldn't have bought the 500 if I had to buy factory ammo. My light loads run about $0.55 per round - not including brass. The dies and brass were $67.00 - just a little more than 20 rounds of most "factory" ammo.
Jeff

Magnums & semi exotic stuff is where you really save money. If loading for say 44mag, adding 9mm dies & shell plate/holder can be had for the cost of a couple boxes of factory. Rifle ammo is also a real savings, again, especially for exotic stuff. I woud not have bought a 404jeffery if i didnt reload for it. Hell i wouldnt have a 45-70 if i didnt reload for it.

 

[BC38]

I believe that DOT regulations limit the amount of smokeless powder in a truck load to 50 pounds. That's on top of HAZMAT designations. For obvious reasons, you can't ship powder and primers in the same container...

This just isnt true. I get primer & powder in the same box all the time from the major online places. Only Midway separates them, my undersanding is because they ship direct from the manuf.

I'm not sure whether the part about powder and primers being allowed in the same box is correct or incorrect. They are different classes of hazmat - primers are Explosive 1.4s, and powder is Explosive 1.1c. I don't *think* that the DOT allows two different classes of hazmat to be in one box, but I'm not 100% sure. If shippers are combining them in one box they may be bending (or even breaking) the rules to save on the hazmat fees.

I do know that there are rules prohibiting more than 50 pounds of smokeless powder in one vehicle. I work for a major shipping company and see boxes of powder from Hodgdon sitting in our holding area overnight waiting to be sent out in the next load - because the current outbound load has reached it's maximum shipping weight limit.

 

[fredj338]

I doubt every supplier in the usa is defying hm rules. I have always added primers to a powder order. Except for Midway, its always come in one box, been like that for the last 25yrs at least.

 

[gman51]

I used up all my small primers so I went to the LGS to buy a couple thousand more. LGS had quite a few 1000 round boxes but the limit was 3 boxes of 100. He said they can't get anymore small pistol primers right now so they have the limit.
I didn't buy any and will have to go hunting now for 1500 primers for my 1500 bullets waiting to be used up.

 

[fredj338]

If i only had 1500 primers i would be panicing. Things should settle down now that the Hilldabeast has been slane. Still, be vigiliant, keep your component supplies up.

 

[Fishslayer]

If i only had 150 primers i would be panicing. Things should settle dosn now that the Hilldabeast has been slane. Still, be vigiliant, keep your component supplies up.

Still stockpiling in California. Our state critters out here make the beast look like Ted Nugent.

 

[johngalt]

This just isnt true. I get primer & powder in the same box all the time from the major online places. Only Midway separates them, my undersanding is because they ship direct from the manuf.

Powder and primers can be shipped in the same container.

I did read about a new limit a couple years ago on the quantity of powder that is allowed to be shipped in 1 truck. Supposedly that was one of reasons for the shortages - product couldn't be shipped in large quantities.

 

[SMSgt]

I don't know about your particular powder, but Bass Pro in Port St. Lucie, FL, and Lotus Gunworks n Jensen Beach have shelves full of reloading gear and supplies.

 

[fredj338]

Still stockpiling in California. Our state critters out here make the beast look like Ted Nugent.

Amen brother. I see you ate down in SD, I was out at pala shooting idpa yesterday.

 

[fredj338]

Powder and primers can be shipped in the same container.

I did read about a new limit a couple years ago on the quantity of powder that is allowed to be shipped in 1 truck. Supposedly that was one of reasons for the shortages - product couldn't be shipped in large quantities.

Which is what I keep saying. The 50# limit may result in slower delivery, but has no affect on availability. That is just people waking up to the new world order. You have to keep a min 2 year min reserve, whatever that is to you. For some of us, that is well over 10k primers & 8# of powder.

 

[Ben_hutcherson]

I'm not stopping any time soon.

Initially I started out of an interest in saving money, but I pretty quickly realized that for common calibers in plentiful supply the savings isn't that dramatic.

With that said, I don't want to give up the control that it gives me over the entire process.

Sure, I can buy 38 special anywhere, but I can't get wadcutters just anywhere and good ones ARE expensive. 357 Magnum is easy to find, but I like being able to load everything from a little hotter than 38 special to "holy ****." I like that I can load bullets that are expensive to find commercially loaded, like 168gr Keith-type bullets.

The same is true of 44 Mag, except that it's actually fairly expensive. 45 Colt and 44 special are in that same category.

Two of my other favorite calibers are effectively what I consider reload-only calibers. 32-20 is expensive when you can find it, with the only thing I ever find being the crummy 115 Remington. I like shooting "real" 38 Super, and not expensive 9mm loaded in a bigger case.

I don't load much 327 Magnum, and the factory ammo out there is pretty good. With that said, there's not much variety.

 

[Hrbster]

I'll chime in a little bit here. As to primers and powder being shipped together, I just had some shipped this past week. They were in the same box cover, but in two different boxes in that box.

Back to reloading, I think it's still pretty popular. I reload A. To allow myself to shoot more. B. Not to have to rely on going to the store to get ammo.

That being said, I had a lot of the tools for loading given to me from my dad. So my start up cost was pretty minimal.

 

[daniel lawecki]

Reloading isn't dying going strong as ever. Casting bullets may take a dive as the evil lead dries up. After all the tree huggers and the government has shut the industry down. Just like the lumber, coal, and fishing industry. Young women and men are getting into reloading as well. They lean towards plated or jacketed bullets.