How many of you reload?

[elwoodward]

How do you do this and be cost effective with it? My original intent was to load to add to my inventory, but found it to be a higher cost than if I were to just buy factory loads.

Search for the lowest prices you can find including shipping and any taxes. here is a calculator Ive used to calculate how much ammo i would need to reload myself just to make my money back from the start up costs. i ended up saving around $7 per box of 50 for 180gr .40. So after making around 7000 rds ive saved about $980. Now to just bite the bullet buy everything and start making my SHTF stockpile and still have plenty to hit the range with.

 

[spencer rifle]

Just used the above mentioned calculator and my JHP rounds came in at 14.1 cents/round. Cheapest comparable (brass case, JHP) from Ammoseek was 28 cents. Almost 14 cents/round savings. If I reuse my cases it goes down to 11.6 cents/round. That's serious savings.

 

[teddy12b]

The benefit of reloading isn’t that it’s cheaper, it’s that the ammo is better:
If you want 9mm ammo to shoot target shoot with then you’re not going to save enough money to make it worth your time and efforts to start reloading for what 99% of the people out there are using it for. Right now at $10 per 50rds of brass cased ammo you could save money, but it’s not going to be worth the time or expense of the equipment in the big picture of things. Where you can benefit from reloading is in the quality of your ammo. For example it may cost you $10 per 50 for the cheapest 115gr FMJ that you can find, but you could reload your own 124gr JHP ammo for not much more. There two ways of looking at these costs. A.) you can say I have my quality ammo costs vs the cost of the cheapest stuff I can find on the market and see if that difference is enough to you to make it worth it, or B.) you can compare the costs of your quality ammo of 124gr JHP to comparable factory 124gr JHP ammo and you’ll see greater savings. That’s a mental decision that we all have to make with what we want out of reloading. As a SHTF prep you’re going to be better off with quality if you ever needed it. I don’t reload 9mm because at today’s prices it’s just not worth it. For the 9mm I’d recommend buying cheap and stacking deep. On the other hand, I do reload for my 223. There is factory 223 ammunition out there that is cheaper for me to shoot than the ammo that I choose to produce, but there’s a difference in the quality between the two. Cheap ammo made of 55gr FMJ isn’t a bad thing, but it’s going to be limited in the distance it can shoot accurately and it’s probably going to be much dirtier powder. Ask yourself, how far do you intend to shoot and at what size of a target. For example, I reload 69gr matchking bullets that shoot very tight groups at 100 yards and are accurate out to 700 yards in the rifle I have now. It doesn’t cost me much more than the cheapest stuff out there to reload ammo of incredible quality that shoots accurately and hits harder because of the bullets added weight. The ammo I make isn’t cheaper, it’s better. My 30-06 is another example because I reload my own 168gr & 200gr ammo using accurate matchking bullets over a powder charge that I’ve found that gives me ½” groups or better at 100 yards. I started with 168gr ammo because it’s a gold standard in .30 cal rifles, but I later realized that I could use 200gr bullets and almost double my impact energy at 1000 yards. The heavier bullet had less elevation to adjust for at that distance and the added weight helps it deflect the wind better than a lighter bullet. If I didn’t reload my own ammo I wouldn’t be able to take advantage of this in my 30-06. Again my ammo isn’t cheaper, but it doesn’t cost much more for some huge gains in it’s overall quality.

Reloading as a Prep:
Reloading as a prep makes sense to me on the front end of a SHTF situation. Once a disaster happens, I personally don’t plan on spending any time at the reloading bench as all my ammo with have already been produced and stored. Nobody knows when the S will HTF, but if you reload you can be better prepared for it with ammo better suited to your intended purposes. You will have produced a better quality round that will serve your needs better, should you need it. For example, I could stockpile a bunch of wolf 223 55gr FMJ ammo and think I’m all prepped up, but if I have to watch my family starve as a deer walks off at 500 yards, it’s going to be heartbreaking. Instead, I have my 69gr loads that are accurate out to that distance and I know that I can make a body shot on a target that size pretty easily. Maybe it’s not a deer, maybe it’s a ground hog, coyote, dog, rabbit or whatever. My intent is to be able to first make sure I can make the shot so I load all my ammo up geared towards accuracy. Other people may load up their ammo geared towards the most deadly hunting bullet made available to man. A personal example of that in my life is that I reload for my 44mag. I reload 240gr hornady XTP hollow points for about ¼ the price it would cost me to purchase the same ammo new from the factory. So for the cost of buying 100 factory rounds, I’ve got a little ammo can that hurts my back to pick up because it’s got hundreds of 240gr jhp 44mag loads that I know from experience will absolutely destroy a deer and put it down immediately if the shot is made correctly. That was a case where I saved loads of money when comparing my quality ammo to the factory equivalent ammo and for the same amount of money I have several times the quantity of ammo.

My history of reloading:
I started reloading back in 2002 when I bought a Remington 300RUM. I wanted to save money on those expensive rounds and with larger / less popular cartridges the margin for savings is greater than what you’ll find with standard calibers like 9mm, 45acp, 223, 308 etc. I started out using a RCBS rock chucker kit (youtube video [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjgHVwL1EUI"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LjgHVwL1EUI[/ame]) that has everything you need to start reloading at the cheapest & most time consuming level.
As time went by and I got tired of trickling grains of powder into a mechanical scale and waiting for it to balance just right, I bought an RCBS chargemaster combo 1500. This piece of equipment meters out powder within one tenth of a grain and does so in a matter of seconds rather than minutes. It’s an incredible piece of equipment and once you get one, you won’t go back to reloading without it on larger calibers. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwGrlzrVAC8"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwGrlzrVAC8[/ame]
Years later my next evolution was to purchase a Dillon 550B. This type of reloading equipment costs more up front, but the gains you make in productivity are light years ahead of where you’ll be with a single stage. Basically every time to pull the handle you are completing four stages of reloading instead of just one, so it is incredibly faster to make produce quality ammunition. I use my Dillon 550B to make rifle ammunition in 223 and 30-06 that’s capable of ½” or better groups at 100 yards. The 223 is good out to 700 yards and the 30-06 out to 1000 yards. [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzrvZ0MLkwI"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzrvZ0MLkwI[/ame]


This is a great video on the decision making process about what to buy for reloading:
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irC3NuIKDm4&feature=related"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irC3NuIKDm4&feature=related[/ame]

I realize that I’ve typed a novel and I will stop now, but I hope this has helped.

 

[Iroquois]

OK, let me simplify the process of deciding strictly by the $$. [all prices from Midway master cat. Sales will improve bottom line]
Lee 'Challenger' kit has the basics to start $117
Lee carbide pistol dies $30
Lee 'production pot $65'
Lee 'lube and size' $19
Lee 2 cavity mold $19
That's about $250 without sales...let's talk about components.
A pound of Winchester powder is $21
5 - 7 grains per shot, 7000 gr. to a pound[$.02 per shot]
primers are $30 - 40 a thousand...[$,04 per shot]
now comes the tricky part...bullets!
rem. fmjs are $101 per thousand...$.10 per shot
plated bullets are $95 per thousand $.095 per shot
Cast lead bullets are $80 per thousand $08 per shot
[ providing your gun will feed lead properly]
So even if you buy jacketed bullets...2+4+10= 16cents a round
50 9mm is at least $10 divide by 50=20cents a round
But... if you can scrounge up some lead there's 60 bullets in a pound
that you can make for the cost of electricity and lube... so you can probably
load for 10 cents a round or less...
I hope this helps, we need more re loaders.

 

[churchmouse]

Teddy12B and the others who have given info, A novel is what I need. Like I said, I need to get out more. This is not a move to save any money. Folks often use that as an excuse to do something and over time it may save you some. I am OK with that but my motivation is consistent, good reliable ammo.
I want the same action, reaction from round to round. This will also give me something to focus on as retirement looms ever closer. We sold the race cars and the Harley's and now I am a bit (a lot) bored. This intrigues me.
Thanks for all the info. I will put it to use.

 

[teddy12b]

Teddy12B and the others who have given info, A novel is what I need. Like I said, I need to get out more. This is not a move to save any money. Folks often use that as an excuse to do something and over time it may save you some. I am OK with that but my motivation is consistent, good reliable ammo.
I want the same action, reaction from round to round. This will also give me something to focus on as retirement looms ever closer. We sold the race cars and the Harley's and now I am a bit (a lot) bored. This intrigues me.
Thanks for all the info. I will put it to use.

If you're at or near retirement I would recommend getting into reloading as highly as I recommend anything in life. Reloading is all about time. Time to go to the range and test loads, time to reload your favorite pet load, time to enjoy shooting that load and seeing how it does at different distances. Time to read the reloading books and realize there's some other bullet you'd like to try and then start all over again. Reloading is a passion for people who like to tinker and fine tune their toys to the point where it's just right for them. There's very few things as satifying as the sound of a steel gong ringing over a half mile away because a bullet you loaded up to your own definition of perfection just made that shot. If I were retiring or about to, I know exactly where I'd go and what I'd be doing.

 

[churchmouse]

I am the tinkerers' tinkerer.....see avatar.

 

[teddy12b]

I am the tinkerers' tinkerer.....see avatar.

That's why I used that word. I figured it hit home with you. I think you'd be a perfect candidate to get into reloading.

 

[churchmouse]

That's why I used that word. I figured it hit home with you. I think you'd be a perfect candidate to get into reloading.

I am hooked on the idea, now we start looking for equipment.

 

[teddy12b]

Whatever equipment you are considering, do a youtube search on it. There's so much more information out there today than there was when I started.

 

[OkieGirl]

For a great source of info and supplies (according to IndyJohn who won't shut up and let me just read the dang post!) is this guy...

https://www.indianagunowners.com/forums/members/aszerigan.html

He is top notch and he's probably 10 minutes away from you.

 

[churchmouse]

For a great source of info and supplies (according to IndyJohn who won't shut up and let me just read the dang post!) is this guy...

INGunOwners - View Profile: Aszerigan

He is top notch and he's probably 10 minutes away from you.

Thanks. Now that you mention this I have heard of this place. Good place to start.

 

[88E30M50]

I started reloading to save money and sometimes I do, but often I just end up shooting more for the same money I would have spent. I began with a single stage press and worked with that for a year to two before moving up to a Dillon 550. The Dillon was a bit pricey, but it was worth every penny. I do .223, 9mm, .380, .45 and soon, 10mm on the Dillon. It lets me crank out about 100 rounds in 10 minutes when loading .45 acp. Even that is kind of at a slow pace.

For me, I am glad I started with a single stage press. There is a lot going on with the Dillon with each pull of the handle and it would be easy to screw something up while your attention is pulled to another of the operations. That first couple of years on a single stage gave me a bunch of experience with each part of the process being performed in isolation. I would work in 50 round batches for each process and was doing about 50 rounds an hour.

A progressive press is great, but you really have to pay attention to each step. I like to shine a desk lamp close in on the casing in a way that causes the shadow of the rim to fall at the top of the powder charge. It makes it easy to see short or double loads visually that way. Once you get into reloading, buying ammo seems unnatural.

BTW, I can see the idea behind posting this here. If you don't reload, you probably don't spend much time in the reloading forums.

 

[45Cat]

CM,

Sounds like you're heading down the road of getting into reloading. Good on you.

I just set up a friend to begin reloading. We went with almost all Lee equipment. It is very inexpensive and very serviceable.

I prefer RCBS but then all mine is progressive and I've been reloading since you were 20.

Reloading makes you more indepentant, less depentant, especially if you stock up.

Good luck.


Cat

 

[indyjohn]

CM,

Sounds like you're heading down the road of getting into reloading. Good on you.

I just set up a friend to begin reloading. We went with almost all Lee equipment. It is very inexpensive and very serviceable.

I prefer RCBS but then all mine is progressive and I've been reloading since you were 20.

Reloading makes you more indepentant, less depentant, especially if you stock up.

Good luck.

Cat

Yes Sir. You are correct.

 

[churchmouse]

Great info. This is why ingo is my choice. It is the good folks on here.
No, I have to get my learning curve up to some level of understanding before I make this leap. I have been looking in the reloading area a bit more recently.


I was 20 in 1970......been doing this a good while have you 45Cat.....

I have been looking at lee and dillon...Still doing some research. I want the independence.

 

[mike8170]

I was 20 in 1970......been doing this a good while have you 45Cat.....

I was born in 1970, and you are just now getting around to this hobby?

 

[shooter1054]

The otherside of reloading is accuracy. I started reloading for the savings, but that didn't last long. It's still true for my pistol ammo, but for my rifle ammo, it'a all about group size. I can get so much more accuracy out of my hand loads than I can out of factory. That said, I couldn't afford to shoot my 338 LM if I didn't reload and 300 wsm would be difficult. Reload and enjoy it. It is a hobby.

 

[SSGSAD]

Great info. This is why ingo is my choice. It is the good folks on here.
No, I have to get my learning curve up to some level of understanding before I make this leap. I have been looking in the reloading area a bit more recently.


I was 20 in 1970......been doing this a good while have you 45Cat.....

I have been looking at lee and dillon...Still doing some research. I want the independence.

Give me a holler, I'll help, in ANY way I can .... been reloading for almost 40 years ..... STILL a lot I don't know ha ha ha

 

[mike8170]

I only have 2 rifles I load for accuracy, both are Remmy 700's, 25-06 and .270. Everything else is SHTF ammo. I'm doing more 30-06 for the Garands right now.

But, that new Mossberg bolt rifle looks like it might be promising as a designated marksman rifle. That would cause me to try some 5.56 accuracy loads.