Want to reload, maybe!

[semperfi71]

engine18,

Look around [gunshows, classifieds, ebay, gun-auctions] for used but good reloading equipment. No need to buy new unless you are loading for an arcane caliber.

Also, if you are only going to shoot a couple of boxes a session and are never going to get into serious competition, consider a single-stage press instead of a progressive. They are easy to use and learn on.

If you do go single-stage make sure its an "o" frame and not a "c". The difference being an "o" frame is a circle so to speak of steel and is stout for any reloading job. An example is an RCBS Rockchucker.

Good luck.

 

[ENGINE18]

Wow, I'm getting excited just thinking about it! I doubt I shoot 250 rounds per month and mostly WCs at that. It sounds like I may save some $$ at least in the beginning. (I wonder if I'll still have time to fish? And the beat goes on. Thanks everyone!

 

[Model29Lover]

The square Deal press is good if you never see yourself reloading rifle rounds, but 10 bucks more (if you buy it new) and you can get a 550B, and have the option of loading rifle rounds too!!!!

 

[mkk41]

The more ya shoot , the more ya reload , the more ya save , so the more ya can shoot , yada , yada , yada!

For some , reloading is about nothing more but saving money. That's part of it. Do ya really need to be throwing premium jacketed hollow points at paper targets? Can ya afford to? I shoot thousands of quality hard cast lead bullets per year. When ya find the right load , they can be more accurate than most jacketed bullets.

There's also great satisfaction in shooting small groups or good scores with ammo ya made yerself.

Reloading has become a hobby in itself for me. An addictive hobby. I have a room full of reloading equipment and several presses. I also have a fairly large gun collection and shoot quite a few pistols and rifles for which ammo is hard to find or just not available. I also load for friends who have guns in obsolete calibers.

A friend of mine shoots thousands of .38 Special and .45 Auto match rounds a year. He has 2 Dillon Square Deals set up , 1 in each caliber , for almost 20 years. Probably hasn't had to readjust either in years. He even lets his kids (under his supervision) use them to make ammo for him.

 

[jwr0201]

Reloading

1. Is it really cheaper to reload? If so how much?
2. Are conponents easy to find? Seems like they are a bit
scarce.

There a lot of things that will affect your cost. First, there is the start up cost of loading tools & equipment. After that, your two most costly elements are the brass and bullets. You are ahead of the game here, since you saved your brass. Bullets - if you buy in small quantities, they are higher in cost. When you start buying in 500's or more, the unit cost goes way down. Primers and powder are only pennies. I figure that I save about half on the cost of reloading 38 & 357 mag. This is with jacketed premium Hornady bullets. you can also save a lot more by going with other brands, lead bullets, or casting your own.
As far as cost of presses, there is a wide variety and price points. Brands are whloe 'nother discussion - everyone has their favorite! Some like Chevy, some like Toyota!
Good luck & jump into it!
RR

 

[FrankD45]

All good information here. If you are interested in figuring your cost and pay back, I have an Excel spreadsheet that does it all for you. You plug in the variables, like powder cost and bullets and such, and it does all of the calculations for you. It also has some preset loading labels that are very useful. Send me a request by email and I will reply with a copy of teh sheet. All you need to view it is MS Office or a stand alone copy of Excel.

I hope that helps,

Frank

 

[brokenprism]

I'm piggybacking on the thread because I didn't want you guys answering the same questions twice. I plan to reload for a .44 mag and maybe .45 ACP. I took the first advice -- bought Lyman #48. Had to go looking for it, because of some things I read about the 49, but I digress.

I have my eye on a single-stage Rockchucker, and I'll let the Lyman book fill in the many blanks in my knowledge when it gets here.

I read about so many different .44 loads -- everything from different powders to primers, etc. -- and I'll try not to let my head spin for now. I'll be back for advice, though, about clean mid-range loads.

 

[caribouhunter]

I think that equating reloading into a financial decision is a wrong approach. Reload because you like to shoot. Reload because you enjoy having another hobby. Reload so you can get more into your shooting hobby. Reload so when the next "ammo crisis" hits you have powder, bullets, primers, cases in your inventory so the crisis does not exist.

I figure at least a 3 to 5 year payback when you are honest with ALL the additional purchases (ammo cans, reloading bench, tumbler, etc) Remember year 1 and 2 will cost you more since everything you buy will be an upfront cost. The more you buy, the cheaper things are (per unit cost) BUT you will spend more money to get the cost savings by buying in bulk.

The nice bonus of reloading is that I was able to get hit with the .41 mag bug and since I was already reloading 9mm, .45acp, 38 specials, the additional cost to go over to the 41 mag is minimal. So as your shooting desires change over the years, the reloading can adapt to them.

Living in Michigan I use winters to replenish to stock pile. No trips to Wallmart hoping they have something in stock so I can shoot. I always have ammo, so I shoot when I want any time of the year.

On the other hand if you get easily distracted, can not focus, have no sense of safety - stay away from the reloading bench. Even one bad load could cause damages and costs that could take away from any savings possibilities.

 

[ENGINE18]

I sure like this place!

 

[2hawk]

Not much to add to the excellent replies, but...

I'd thought I'd cast another vote for the Dillon 550. I started my reloading career with one back in 1990, and have since loaded 10's of thousands of rounds. My breakeven, iirc, was at about the 2000 round mark.

Just started reloading for my AR's a few years ago, and was so thankful for having the 550- it is a very versatile maching. Progressives can be run one round at a time if you are concerned/learning about process, and I did not have any difficulty at all learning on one. No mentor either, just RTFM and figure out how it all works together.

The thing that really surprised me when I started was how much better quality my home-rolled ammo was compared to the factory fodder I had been buying. That was the point of no return for me, and as long as shooting is my hobby, reloading will be too.

 

[blastfact]

Shooting and reloading go hand in hand.

 

[Roadranger]

I've been reloading since 1967 and love it. I've helped several folks get started over the years. I've used just about everything ever made, including single stage, turret, and progressive. The 2 calibers you mentioned are as good as it gets for reloading, particularly the 44 special. I would suggest without reservation, to start with the Dillon 550. I know it's costly, but you're going to wind up there anyway if you really get into it. I have 3 of them, one has close to 200,000 rounds on it. I can load 100 rds of 44 special in about 9 minutes, ot you can atke your time and load one round at a time. The good news is that primers may be fixing to return. My distributor(sales Guy) called to today and offered me 20,000 WW pistol primers at wholesale. I said send them. I must warn you though, reloading is addictive and the Blue Press is the pusher. Bob!!

 

[matsu]

Don't do it's a horrible hobby full of frustration and will cause you to spend more money then ever before always broke trying to scrape up a few more dollars to buy more bullets ,primer and powder been at it since '69

 

[michael thornton]

What you waiting on? and go ahead and get you some casting stuff too, i enjoy it alot!

 

[semperfi71]

caribouhunter is deadon.

Reload because it interests you not to save money because you won't.

I equate my reloading to fly-tying. Each revolver has a certain bullet that I shoot out of it. I add a powder combination that will provide the accuracy and velocity that I want. I may not hunt with my revolvers but some are loaded with hunting loads, others with self-defense loads, and others with target/plinking loads.

I enjoy concocting the most accurate and the most powerful loads for each gun. I may not ever use them except to target or plink but they are ready for what they were intended for.

So I customize my loads as one ties flies to customize his/her fishing potential.

 

[ArchAngelCD]

ArchAngel: See my previous post. Your assertion is true only for some. How do you know it is true for the original poster?

Andy

Andy,
I know a lot of shooters who reload and they all end up shooting more for the money they spend instead of actually saving money no matter what they originally intended on doing. Every one of them thought they would save money but they ended up shooting 4X or 5X as much for the same price. I don't understand why you seemed to take offense at what I said? I'm sure most of the shooters here who reload will agree with what I said, of course not all, but those are the exception to the rule.

 

[Skip Sackett]

Difficult to answer in totality.

1. Is it really cheaper to reload? If so how much?

This really depends on your shooting habits and personal money handling "trends". If you shoot once a month now and after reloading still only shoot once a month, yes, you will save money. If you are like the rest of us when we started reloading our trips to the range increased dramatically. Say I have $100 a month of disposable income that currently goes to store bought ammo, once I start reloading, that doesn't stop, I just spend it on reloading ammo instead of purchased stuff. So the answer to this question is: Yes and No! (Hope this helps!)

2. Are conponents easy to find? Seems like they are a bit
scarce.

Currently, its getting better. Can you say its good yet? No. Take some advice in this area. 2 things. One, get into casting too. After you purchase lead or wheel weights you will always have bullets regardless of what the supply chain does. Secondly, purchase in quantities. Store up or stockpile when there is an abundance of components. When to do this depends on a little foresight. Like what I did for example. About January of 2008 it dawned on my that there was going to be an election in November. I did a little political information gathering and came up with it wouldn't be a gun friendly administration that would be getting elected, probably. I thought, hum, how will I get components to reload if they ban them? Now, there wasn't any shortage at that time and my primers cost me $17.90/1000 and I bought 20,000. Still got a bunch of them left.

3. Anything else you would care to add.

Thanks in advance

Start today. Don't wait another second to start getting the things you need to reload ammo. Soon the cost and taxes on factory bought ammo is going to be so high that only millionaires (exaggeration) will be able to buy it. Nothing is getting cheaper and our pay is not going up. Plus, we may need it for real should we be invaded. Which is already happening across our southern border!

 

[walnutred]

But then you are looking a 38 Special, which is supposedly easier to find than other ammo. Right now the pistol calibers I reload for include: 32 ACP, 32 S&W, 32 S&W Long, 32 WCF, 8mm Lebel Ordinance, 38 S&W, 38 Special, 9x18, 9x19, 38 Super, 45 ACP and 45 Colt. When you start throwing any caliber the big box stores don't sell into the mix the Return on Investment is a lot more favorable.

Then you get into the question of availability. Let's say that Saturday morning I woke up at 7am and decided I wanted to take any of those calibers to the range, but discovered I had no ammo available. I could easily load up enough ammo to be at the range when it opened at 9AM and not miss breakfast. If I was dependent on store bought I could not say that. The one change I made in my reloading is I used to buy primers in individual trays of 100. Then I went to buying bricks of 500. Finally I started buying in sleeves of 5000. It's not that my reloading has increased that much, I just got tired of not finding primers when I wanted them.

 

[ENGINE18]

You people are awesome! Will be modifying the "spare" room very soon. I sure would like to see some of your reloading set-ups; benches rooms, areas, whatever. I'm thinking of something on the compact side just to get started. Thanks again!

 

[PDL]

You people are awesome! Will be modifying the "spare" room very soon. I sure would like to see some of your reloading set-ups; benches rooms, areas, whatever. I'm thinking of something on the compact side just to get started. Thanks again!

You don't have to go nuts with a reloading area, epecially at first. You need to have a stable, solid platform for your press. A clear un-obstucted work area. Level surface to insure your scales read correctly. Decent lighting. Safe storage for your components. The main thing is to keep distractions to a minimum. Don't put the reloading gear in the TV room in other words.