Cast bullets cut costs significantly. When i was a poor college student I would slave over a lead pot during spring break to make enough bullets to support my shooting habit for the year.
Back in those days my club with an indoor range allowed you to take as much back stop lead as you wanted, we never bothered with things like brinell testing or figuring out alloys ( they were bullets before , they are bullets again was our attitude) so other than the initial cost of molds and a sizer ( much of which was bought used on the cheap from old timers) and the few dollars spent on a stick of lube, bullets were essentially zero cost.
Buying powder by the 8 pound jug, primers per sleeve of 5000 when price is right, a good quality cast bullet reload is pretty easy ( even buying rather than casting bullets) to get to 10 cents per shot