My experience & opinion as to costs of reloading now days.

[Dave Haynes]

With the way that ammunition companies are bought and sold, combined etc. The ammunition situation isn't going to change for the better. Try and find ammo for a 25-35 or whatever, none out there and no more will be made. The government will buy up all production and steer it toward what they need and want. Control ammunition, you control guns. Bush 2 closed all of the domestic lead production. The availability of powder and primers is next. Simply move lead up into the danger scale of plutonium (which they've already done) and it is gone. Look at what happened to .22s a few years back, now we are using Mexican .22, stop that import and problem solved. Foreign companies are moving here to produce what we used to. There is a fine line between scarce and gone.

 

[SSBiggun]

My .02 Ive been reloading since 1987. First it was .45 ACP on a Herters angled single stage. I then bought an RCBS Partner kit and started doing 5.56mm. Then 30-06 and so on. Later upgrade to a Rock Chucker and then a Dillon 550C. Currently have 17 tool heads and an AMMO-Master set up for .50 BMG. Supplies will ebb and flow but rolling your own is as much a part of my hobby as the collecting & Shooting.. As I type this I have 500 10mms tumbling and 500 >357's ready when the 10's are done. Still worthwhile to do even though the cost savings are diminished.

 

[fofoguy]

I started probably 25 years ago or so with a RCBS Rock chucker kit. Like a few mentioned earlier, it was to run .44 mags, 357 mags, and .38 specials. Occasional 30-30s and for my Japanese Arrisaka. During Covid, I rolled about 1500 rounds of .38 Specials. I’m finding as I age, I don’t hit the range very often. That and some of my shooting buddies passing away. Looking at my ammo supply, I doubt I’ll be able to go through it all due to the infrequency of my range visits.
Over the years, I know I’ve saved money. Watching the price increases of components, I doubt that if I started today, I’d save much money. I’m glad I was able to stock up on primers and powder to be able to have continued. I haven’t done any reloading since Covid.

 

[BabaBlueJay]

Really appreciate the advice Chief! Every now and again I think about reloading for my 686, then I talk myself out of it. This really cements it for me, especially the final point on people with kids. I have a 4 & 2 year old who require most of my time and attention after work until they are put to bed. I don't want to be reloading at 9-10PM when I wake up at 5:30.

 

[Casual Smith Nut]

Chief38, good write-up.

Bababluejay, before you decide against reloading whilst with young kids, consider this: this is borderline too early, maybe not, but you have the opportunity to get them interested in reloading at a young age. You’ll be able to share the hobby with them as they grow up. I have 4 little ones so far. The 3yr old is the most interested out of them. “Daddy wets we-woad” and “we doing heavy woads or wittle ones?” he says and loves to hang out and ask nonsense questions while handing me the empty cases at the various stages of single-stage press reloading.

8-9yr ago I got into it initially to save money and started out with 38 spl and an old corrections surplus mod 10-6. I soon realized I enjoyed reloading as an extension of the entire shooting experience. Within a couple years I got into casting and powder coating and scrounging wheel weights and range scrap. As someone else remarked it’s more of a sickness now than a hobby. For me it’s tons of fun which hopefully will be shared with my kids as they grow up. The cost savings and self-sufficiency is just icing on the cake. How else are we going to have fun with big bore calibers and still afford it?

 

[Always Faithful Holsters]

I’m still using primers I bought in 2008 & 2011. $13.50/1000. I bought a lot of surplus powder from GI Brass back then too. Most of it under $10/lb in 6lb jugs. I have 400lbs + of smelted wheel weights and bough molds from MP-Moulds too. So, I’m still handloading at 2008-2011 prices. I think I figured back then that with free bullets, free brass (already had them), low cost primers and powders, I could load 50, 158gr LSWC bullets for around 50¢. That being said, I haven’t loaded or shot 38Spl since then either! lol But, I do load 9mm/40S&W/357Sig/45ACP/44Mag/45 Colt. I also load some rifle rounds but unfortunately, my rifle primers from that time are all gone and so is my surplus rifle powder. For them, I buy jacketed bullets from Everglades Ammo, so, those costs are up but I shoot very few of them.
p.s. I load on Dillon presses. I have 3 Square Deal B’s, an RL450 that’s been upgraded with powder measure and primer units, 2 XL650’s. I have an old Herter’s single stage press I use to load my wild cat 358WSSM rifle loads and a Lee Classic Turret Press with 4 hole turret heads.
I’ve been handloading since 1985 or so.

 

[Hal H.]

Here in California we are paying $90 per thousand for primers. Are you folks in the other states paying that much?

 

[TXBryan]

I stay in the game because it has, and does presently, allow me to shoot either oddball calibers, which I have a special affinity for, and .38 Special 'cause ammo was virtually not available. Some others I like that have always been on the expensive side like .45 Colt and .375 Winchester as well.

Started 55 years ago with a Lee Loader and 12 gauge shotshells. Agree with others that find it therapeutic. And probably the number one reason to reload is you can have ammo like you like it. You want a 3000+ fps 140 grain premium bullet exiting your .264Win Mag? Good luck, unless you hand load. Wanna crack 3000 fps with a 24 inch barrel .257 Roberts and 100 grain bullets? Not unless you hand load. Wanna .45 Colt load that will come very close to duplicating .44 Mag from Buffalo Bore? Can do if you hand load. Wanna switch to a lighter hammer spring so your double action shooting improves? Softer primers make the revolver go bang every time even with relatively lighter hammer strikes and if you hand load you know which ones those are.

Had a friend that claimed the accuracy of his "new" .22 Hornet rifle was simply unsatisfactory. I asked him if he'd like to try some different loads as he'd exhausted most all the available factory fodder. We gave it a try and his rifle was, in fact, a tack driver with the "right" ammo - which did not happen to be available as a factory round. That's the real fun of hand loading.

Bryan

 

[GypsmJim]

Lots of naysayers here. But only true gun people know the real answer.

Many negative comments. The usual poopoos are: I don't have time, its too much work, factory ammo is cheaper, etc., etc.

If you have followed the issues over the past 10-15 years, and if you were smart enough to stock up when prices were cheap, reloading now is a SIGNIFICANT savings. If you were not prepared and didn't stock up, then today its almost a wash. If you cast your own bullets, then there is no question that handloading is the way to go.

Yeah, yeah, 9mm and .223 is cheap today.....yeah right. Handloading may not make a significant savings, but it certainly is cheaper. I charge $300 an hour in my Consulting business, so you could say I'm losing money if I'm not working, but spending time on my press may not make me money but it relieves all the stress from when I am working.

I like .41 Magnum as well as a few oddballs, so if I don't reload I don't shoot. I live in NY, so if I don't reload I have to report ammo purchases to the guberment and that's not gonna happen. (although that's yet another story). When the next crisis happens (not if but when) I'll still be shooting even thought the LGS ammo shelfs are bare.

Bottom line is that there are many reasons TO reload, and the main reason not to is "I don't want to".

 

[orionengnr]

I only got into reloading about 20 years ago, thanks to a lifelong friend (RIP, Bob).
Started with .45acp, then .38SPL. Lots of other chamberings have come and gone--.41 Mag and 10mm were perfect reloader cartridges.
The two most recent chamberings I have adopted are .32 H&R Mag and .32acp.
Don't quote me, but including dies, Dillon caliber conversions, cases, projectiles, powder, primers, etc., my first 100 rounds of each were stratospheric, but every 100 from there came down rapidly.
I think my break-even point is about 500 rounds--from there on, I am saving money.
I will grant you that these are not your average 9mm/5.56/x39 rounds, but they are the guns that I choose to buy and shoot.
Today I went to the range and took a bunch of my handloads--50 rds each of 9mm, .32acp, and .45LC. Could have taken .32H&R, .38/.357, .44 Spl/Mag, .45acp/LC and others.
I save a fair bit of money on most of these chamberings.
More to the point, I have ammo for all of them, any time I care to shoot them. Being able to laugh at "ammo shortages" is priceless.

 

[SASFixer]

Here in California we are paying $90 per thousand for primers. Are you folks in the other states paying that much?

yes and no. Shotgun yes $90, price of small and large pistol/rifle $60-80. Check out Midsouth Shooters
Supply prices. Best to buy a case at a time because of the Haz Mat fee. Get together with your friends to spread the cost of shipping and haz mat.

 

[SASFixer]

I always recommend that an avid shooter have a working stock of components and at least a one year reserve. BTW, there is nothing cheap about the popular rifle calibers anymore. The cost of a box of 3030, 3006, etc. will blind you.

 

[lrrifleman]

This is not intended to be a political statement or a conspiracy theory, but a thought provoking argument for why we should consider reloading.

Has anyone thought about why the 9mm and 223 are the popular rounds today? Consider that (for lack of a better word) "over run" ammo from Lake City is forcing competitors to keep their prices on 9mm and 223 low. Any of the other calibers/cartridges that we choose to shoot are facing sky high prices. Potentially, how many shooters that are buying into the 9mm and 223 Kool Aid will be desperate and stop shooting when Lake City stops releasing "over run" ammo to the public? In a sense, our ammunition producers are imposing an early phase of gun control by restricting the availability of reasonably priced ammo to one or two cartridges, and letting other cartridges fade away. In a sense, the government (knowingly?) and our ammunition manufacturers (unknowingly?) may be artificially modifying market demand that influences production decisions that could make our cherished firearms paperweights!

 

[glowe]

I started the hobby by reloading antique calibers many years ago and find no way to stop if I want to shoot these guns. Anything from 32 S&W, 38 S&W, 45-70, 45-90, 45-75 Winchester, 38-44 S&W Target, 577 Snider, 11mm Beaumont, 11mm Vetterli Vitali, and the list goes on. These calibers are not only unusual, but rarely found for sale. For instance, currently there is a 45-75 custom loaded for sale at $75 for 20 rounds and I will always be able to reload for less than that. During Covid things really went to pot and I was glad that I had the equipment and die sets were cheap so now continue to reload most all my calibers.

THe other reason why I reload is because I can develop a perfect load for a particular rifle of target revolver that is not possible with most commercial ammo. So I guess I have never reloaded to save money, but rather to shoot unusual calibers and load custom ammo for accuracy.

 

[AlHunt]

Someone above said "you have the opportunity to get them interested in reloading at a young age", meaning children getting started young.

It reminded me that I started hanging around the reloading bench at single digits years old. I thought everyone went shooting, policed their brass and reloaded it for the next time. I was quite surprised to find that people just kept buying more ammo!

 

[Eddie Southgate]

Still cheaper for me to load ammo than it is to buy it but I still have powder and primers bought back when they were available and reasonably priced. I still have plenty of both bought in the late 60's and 70's. I make most of my bullets which helps a bunch. As far as the Equipment , all of mine was stolen in 1990 but I have finally replaced everything I lost. Unfortunately that wasn't cheap since my equipment now has a cult/ collector following . Truth told I reload because I enjoy it . I even make my own bullet lubes and some case lubes.

 

[XP10035Rem]

I got started reloading in 1980 I reload for many calibers. I have 3 rifles in 222 cal. they al like a slightly different load to get the best group. 2 in 223 that like diff. loads and bullet weights. The rest I load for are only 1 gun of each caliber. During the covid lockdown I got real bored so I got out my load notebook and loaded 100's upon 100's of rounds. I also loaded over 25+ flats of 12ga trap loads.

 

[rwsmith]

I'm really glad that I got into reloading 45 years ago.

 

[David Sinko]

I started reloading shotshell over 40 years ago. I was about 14 years old when I convinced my mom I needed that MEC 600 Jr. The rest is history. Nowadays I can go to Cabela's and not find a single box of .300 Savage (at one time the most popular deer cartridge) on the shelves. And when it is available it's $60 a box. What to do? Make .300 Savage brass from .308 Winchester and load for a few dollars using 20 year old components. Another favorite is 7.62X39. In the not too distant past everybody laughed at me for reloading that when all the cheap Russian ammo was readily available. Now Russian ammo is neither cheap nor readily available. I could go on and on.

 

[Always Faithful Holsters]

Another reason to handload is to have ammo with the ballistics of days gone by. Skeeter’s 38spl, Linebaugh’s 45Colt, Elmer’s 44spl and, Speer #8 38spl loads. I know many today that Pooh-pooh those types of loads, but, I only shoot them in modern, good condition, heavy for caliber revolvers.