The main thing people forget when they compare the cost of cheap factory ammo and quality reloads, is that those are NOT apples-to-apples. My reloads are consistently better than the cheap, white box stuff guys use for comparison, when looking at the cost of loading your own.
Go out and find QUALITY factory ammo and compare to the cost of loading quality rounds yourself. You'll quickly realize that you do save a good bit of money, even on the common 9mm, 223, 308 rounds. Take a step into reloading for wildcats or obsolete rounds, and you save a BUNDLE!
This is a great point. OUR ammo is as good as if not better than anything anyone makes in a factory. Why? Because the factory is bad? No. Because the guy that made that ammo was coming off of a 3 day binge, fought with his wife/significant other all morning before going to work and he is trying to figure out the meaning of life and is only hoping beer thirty comes quick today? No.
It is because it is a factory. They make their munitions to fit everyone's firearm. You have the ability to make custom ammo for YOUR firearms! The most accurate load, the most accurate bullet, the most accurate brass, the best powder, the perfect OAL and on and on it can go.
THAT'S THE REASON!
Now, another case in point is that there is NOTHING in shooting sports/hunting than doing everything yourself, as much as practical, and coming out on top. If that is the PPC or ISPA or the blah blah blah competition down the street or the successful deer hunting trip, NOTHING does it like shooting your firearm with your boutique ammo.