What caliber do you use that you've never bought commercially?

[Abflyboy]

.44 Magnum, .357 Magnum, .38 Special, .30-06, .308 Winchester, 6.5 Creedmoor, 6 Creedmoor, .243 Winchester, .300 Winchester Magnum, .340 Weatherby Magnum, .270 Winchester, .458 SOCOM, .50 BMG, .300 Whisper are some calibers that come to mind that I have reloaded and shot but never purchased ammunition for.

Some of them are self explanatory as to why ...

 

[Big Cholla]

After I graduated college, I became mostly interested in wildcat rifle cartridges. The following is a list of wildcats that I never purchased any retail ammo for because there wasn't any:30 Newton Walt Iler Improved, 338-06, 6.5-06, 416 Taylor, 240 Page Super Pooper, 250 Sav. Ackley Improved, 22 K. Hornet, 6x45mm, 6 PPC, 22 Waldog.

I am not including the several Ackley Improved cartridges that could be made by just firing the base OEM cartridge in an improved chamber.

 

[Qc Pistolero]

32acp
.357Mag
9mm
41 Mag
.45 Co;t
.223 Rem
22-250
30-30Win
.308Win
32-40
38-55
45-70
Add 30-06 if you don't take into account the single box of Remington 55gr with sabot bullet I bought to see if I could make a duplicate.
And please don't you never ever torture my mind with such tough question.At my age it can be deadlier than that Covwhatever 19!

 

[bluetopper]

6mm TCU
7mm TCU
6mm BR
357 Max

 

[Skeet 028]

25-06 and 44 sp. Literally wore out a hundred pound keg of 4831 Surplus loading for 7 different 25-06s...44 special and Russian have never shot a round of factory..Shot them all in my Old Ruger 1st year Flattop and 3 screw SBH...Oh also the 357 Rem Max...never shot a factory round of it either...But a fellow gave me 21 rounds a few months back

 

[max]

I can't say never, however I can say almost never. Any time I have bought a new caliber handgun I have bought some ammo to get it home. I have a few boxes of factory with 0, 6 or 15 rounds missing. I bought a box of 20 WW Silver Tips when I got my 25-5. They are all still left.

 

[Just another 22 shooter]

After almost 60 years of shooting, i think I've bought at least one box of ammo for all the calibers I have reloaded for....except one. I can honestly say I've only shot hand loaded ammo in my Sako L461 221 FireBall. I had the burnt out 223 barrel replaced in '88 with a 22" Shilen stainless barrel. Have used up a bunch of RL7 and AA1680.

 

[Nemo288]

I can't remember ever buying a box of 44 magnum ammo as I took up
handloading before I got my first handgun (a Ruger redhawk).
I know I have never shot any commercial 445 supermag.
Not sure I have ever even seen any.

 

[jtcarm]

.44 Special & .45 Colt.

 

[Twoboxer]

Never bought 6mmAR factory ammo because it's not made.

Only the first box shot from my 223 Sako (FGMM), 308 (FGMM) and 338LM (Lapua) were factory match ammo to test functionality and set a base for precision.

Of course I have several 9mm pistols that have never seen factory ammo, but sure have bought factory ammo in that caliber for earlier pistols.

 

[Protocall_Design]

I built a 44 Auto Mag revolver many years ago. As far as I know, it's the only one. The Ammo was over $1 a round if you could even find any. No brass available. I made the brass by cutting off and reaming out .308 rifle brass. I used 45 ACP moon clips, but they were just a bit too small for the .308 to clip into, so I slit 100 of them 6 places between where the case fit to make them springy enough to work.

Shot a lot of bowling pin matches with that one! With 300 gr. bullets, it clears the table with authority. It will take off 2 laying down together in one shot. Still have it, don't shoot it much now.

 

[Moe Mentum]

32.20
.380 auto
.38 spl
9mm
.357 magnum
.223 rem
.308 win
12 ga shotshells (trap loads)

My guns don't know what a factory round is....

 

[gwrench]

I bought a box of 25-06 to try out a borrowed rifle. Also buy rimfire. That's it for ammo. Buying components is a whole nother question....

Calibers I've loaded for:

222 Rem
22-250
224 Durham Jet
6 BR
243
260
270
30 BR
30-06
338-06
45-70
32 H&R
38 special
357 magnum
44 mag
45 colt

 

[Troystat]

357 mag, I usually shoot 38 specials in my model 27 but I have picked up enough 357 brass so I have never needed to buy the ammo.

 

[Safestuffer]

.308
.50AE
.375 H&H

 

[Nemo288]

.50AE
.375 H&H

Aye Caramba!
At $2 and $4 a round, I can see why one would want to reload these calibers (besides all the other benefits).
I won't even mention the .50BMG or the 600NE

 

[Kurusu]

That would be .45 Colt for me too.

Next close thing would be .44-40. But I bought 2 boxes of it in the very begining.

 

[Fishslayer]

.454 Casull

 

[H Richard]

Hmmmm, I have very seldom ever bought factory ammo for anything I shoot other than .22RF. I do buy occasionally .25acp and .32 acp, but the only factory handgun ammo I have shot otherwise I got free. I load for .32 Long, 32 H&R Mag, 9mm, .380, 38 Special, .357 Mag, 44 Special, 44 Mag, 45 acp, .222 Rem, 22-250, .308, 30-06, 7x30 Waters, 7 TCU. I do reload for .223, but have bought 500 rounds factory for it as it is a SHTF rifle just sitting there with a stack of loaded mags for someday "if needed". I don't particularly like "tactical" rifles.

 

[andy52]

Every gun I own with the exception of rim fires, I've been reloading for almost 50 years.

 

[Richard Simmons]

8x50R Lebel. When I first started shooting it there was basically only surplus, (not easy to find, not necessarily cheap and duds and or hangfires were pretty much a given) and reloading. It's available now as new production but I'll just stick to reloading my own.

 

[Erich]

.32 H&R Magnum
.45 Colt
.45 Cowboy
.45 AR

 

[Eddie Southgate]

Only thing I shoot store bought is .22 rimfire .

 

[Rosco Shooter]

40 Smith and Wesson
270 Winchester

 

[Peak53]

I thought I was going to add a couple calibers to this thread, but they have been amply covered. The accumulated knowledge of handloading on this forum is nothing short of amazing! My hat is off to you fella's. If you want to learn something about loading virtually anything that goes bang, this is the first place to look. The knowledge especially of off-the-wall. obsolete, or wild cat stuff is there for the asking.

 

[df06]

I load about 25 metallic cartridges and four gauges of shotgun. I bought several cases of 16 ga shot shells about five years ago, to get the empty hulls. And I've bought a couple cases of 410 shells. Other than that, I've bought no loaded ammo for any of these cartridges.

 

[pasote]

Well

It just occurred to me, in the midst of my social distancing / Ground Hog's Day boredom, that I have never shot factory 45 Colt ammunition. I've shot thousands of rounds of it, and each one came off my 650. I thought that was kinda cool. Is there a caliber(s) you use that you've never supplied with commercially loaded ammo?

Well I have never bought .38 special, .357 magnum, .44 magnum, and .223 rem. I have always used reloads for those calibers.

 

[walnutred]

I once owned a 7mm Ackley Improved for which I never bought factory ammo. I have also successfully reloaded 32 Rim Fire Long, though I used factory ammo as a brass supply. 8mm Lebel Revolver and 50 US Carbine. Technically I was never supplied LOADED factory ammo for 105mm or 155mm, but I doubt that counts. One of the first calibers I formed was 8x56 Rimmed. At the time even surplus ammo was a collectors item and we made cases and loaded our own, treasuring the one clip I managed to find because those straight pulls are clumsy single shots without the clip.

 

[rich5674]

45 Auto Rim

45 Auto Rim for my 625. Never saw a box of that ammo on the shelf. Hand loaded to make some hunting loads with 200-250 grain bullets

 

[Frank237]

.45 Colt, .41 mag, .357 sig, 10mm, immediately come to mind.

Just RECENTLY I bought my first .45 acp, .44 mag, 9mm factory ammo, only because it was a bargain , on closeout at Wally world.

After my current batch of 10 yr old MT Gold 9mm bullets are exhausted I'm dome loading nines. Quicker, and about as cheap to buy in bulk than reload anymore. Especially with where component prices are now.