[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Reloading cost question. (Page 1 of 2)
Posted: 3/12/2014 6:41:27 AM EDT
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Seeing as how time is money, counting the time spent reloading your $.25 5.56, how much does it really cost?
Just curious |
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Seeing as how time is money, counting the time spent reloading your $.25 5.56, how much does it really cost? Just curious Reloading is a hobby for most people. I load for fun and accuracy, not necessarily to save money. I dont count my time doing something I enjoy. But to answer your question, I load 50 bmg for $1.50/rd and 338 lapua for about the same. That saves me roughly $1500/1000 of 50 bmg, and about $4000/1000 of 338 lapua. For 223 I save about 40-50c round for match ammo. |
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I view it as free therapy time. When I can't get to the range, I'll load up ammo.
I tend to do things in stages - I'll spend a day prepping cases, cleaning sorting, etc. Then another day I may grab an ammo can or two and my hand priming tool and prime a bunch of rounds. Then, on yet another day, I'll sit down and crank out rounds. this keeps it relaxing, almost peaceful, and there's no rush to do a bunch of rounds in a short time. if I'm doing hunting ammo, I'll hand weigh each powder charge. If it's bulk ammo or plinking rounds, I'll use the powder measure and spot check every 30 ends or so. |
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I view it as free therapy time. When I can't get to the range, I'll load up ammo. I tend to do things in stages - I'll spend a day prepping cases, cleaning sorting, etc. Then another day I may grab an ammo can or two and my hand priming tool and prime a bunch of rounds. Then, on yet another day, I'll sit down and crank out rounds. this keeps it relaxing, almost peaceful, and there's no rush to do a bunch of rounds in a short time. if I'm doing hunting ammo, I'll hand weigh each powder charge. If it's bulk ammo or plinking rounds, I'll use the powder measure and spot check every 30 ends or so. This. You have to enjoy it or it won't be worth your time. Making premium quality ammo at a discount is nice too. |
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I don' t count my time as reloading is an enjoyable hobby. BTW, I'm still able to reload .223 for about 10¢/ rd. Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile That's the way I view it also. I can go in the back and relax for a while and accomplish something. I feel like I'm saving money, but in reality, I'm just able to shoot more for the same amount of money. Unless someone is making an insane salary, you still save money reloading. Handgun reloading is relatively cheap once you get the tools you need. |
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Unlike most here I don't really enjoy it for its own sake. So I set everything up and work maybe 10 min/day. That's an hour a week. So even with case prep etc., you're cranking out 300-500 rounds per week. That's 10-15,000 rounds a year. If you save $.20 a round......... Not to mention if you compare it to the high-falutin' "Personal Defense" stuff. |
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If you dont take into count the case prep it is pretty cheap. Plus I can get handloads to shoot better than most factory ammo. You can tweek the load to your gun. If you want to get precision loads then I highly suggest getting a single stage for rifle with a competition seat die. Not so much for the accuracy but the convience of being able to drop the bullet into the window, this way you dont have to hold the bullet when seating.
Pistol ammo is pretty fast and cheap to load. I have a dillion SDB for pistol and you can crank out 350-400rds an hour. I have a Dillion 550 for .223 and you can crank out 400-450 pretty easy. This is AFTER all the case prep work for rifle cases. |
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Trimming cases is bullshit. Any that exceed 1.760" get chopped off to make .300 Blackout. Quoted:
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With a Dillion 650 you can do say 700-1000 an hour of 5.56. Do you trim cases? Trimming cases is bullshit. Any that exceed 1.760" get chopped off to make .300 Blackout. I'm thinking I can swage, size and trim 1000 pc of brass much quicker then you can measure them |
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I'm thinking I can size and trim 1000 pc of brass much quicker then you can measure them Quoted:
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With a Dillion 650 you can do say 700-1000 an hour of 5.56. Do you trim cases? Trimming cases is bullshit. Any that exceed 1.760" get chopped off to make .300 Blackout. I'm thinking I can size and trim 1000 pc of brass much quicker then you can measure them Perhaps. I don't have the gear to facilitate that pace. |
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I'm thinking I can swage, size and trim 1000 pc of brass much quicker then you can measure them Quoted:
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With a Dillion 650 you can do say 700-1000 an hour of 5.56. Do you trim cases? Trimming cases is bullshit. Any that exceed 1.760" get chopped off to make .300 Blackout. I'm thinking I can swage, size and trim 1000 pc of brass much quicker then you can measure them LOL, someone else got the Dillon power trimmer 
but its an extra step that I can do without. 
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Not easy to earn back money on training ammo for 9mm or 5.56
Big money comes in when you get to High power rifle, or less common rounds. Reloading for .45 colt meant that reloading at .25 per for what would be a .65 cartridge if bought... Over the course of a couple thousand rounds means big money. |
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I just began reloading .45 on a Dillon 550. Start up costs are high so get advice from friends that reload on what powder, bullets, primers to buy so you cut down on waste. That being said, it IS VERY relaxing and that was a surprise to me. Relaxing? Relaxing? I can never keep up.  
My tumbler is going as we speak
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we size deprime- swage- trim to length in one tool head.one hundred rounds in about 8 minutes then neck expand-powder,prime=bullet drop-seat- crimp in another tool head.
loading unloading the tumbler is very quick also. for every two pulls of the handle on a dillon 650 gets a loaded round, we are loading .223 for under twelve cents a round. |
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Seeing as how time is money, counting the time spent reloading your $.25 5.56, how much does it really cost? Just curious it takes me 3 hours to make a case of 9mm on my 550b. double that on a lee classic turret press. a case of 9mm is $300+ dollars and I can make it for $150. i dunno $25-50 an hour isn't too bad. |
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Quoted: If you are doing it for savings then it's not going to add up (of course unless if you get into precision stuff). If you are doing it as a hobby or something therapeutic... then it all makes sense.  |
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Seeing as how time is money, counting the time spent reloading your $.25 5.56, how much does it really cost? Just curious Really depends - can you work overtime and get paid for it or even would you if OT was available. or would you use the time for some other hobby, surf ARFcom, or watch grown men play children's games on TV? If you're just going to use the time sitting on your ass watching a game or trolling Pleny-O-Whales then perhaps you could use the time more productively by loading your own ammo. In effect you would be earning money (penny saved is a penny earned) by reloading. |
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Quoted: Not to mention that you can crank out much more reliable and accurate ammo than what you can buy at the store too. Quoted: Quoted: If you are doing it for savings then it's not going to add up (of course unless if you get into precision stuff). If you are doing it as a hobby or something therapeutic... then it all makes sense. The cost savings are a long term return, if at all. It can be done on very minimalist set ups to ensure a quicker return but realistically, it will probably go like every other hobby. You will end up investing far more than you initially intended. And I mean that with time and money. Reloading isn't the place to try and maximize time vs output. It can be sped up with Progressive presses, but you still need to pay attention to everything that is happening during the process. Like TacticalHeater stated, it's almost a therapeutic process. You also get the advantage of fine tuning loads to your firearm, which is time consuming, but the performance benefits outweigh the time spent doing it.
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Quoted: The cost savings are a long term return, if at all. It can be done on very minimalist set ups to ensure a quicker return but realistically, it will probably go like every other hobby. You will end up investing far more than you initially intended. And I mean that with time and money. Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: If you are doing it for savings then it's not going to add up (of course unless if you get into precision stuff). If you are doing it as a hobby or something therapeutic... then it all makes sense. The cost savings are a long term return, if at all. It can be done on very minimalist set ups to ensure a quicker return but realistically, it will probably go like every other hobby. You will end up investing far more than you initially intended. And I mean that with time and money. Reloading isn't the place to try and maximize time vs output. It can be sped up with Progressive presses, but you still need to pay attention to everything that is happening during the process. Like TacticalHeater stated, it's almost a therapeutic process. You also get the advantage of fine tuning loads to your firearm, which is time consuming, but the performance benefits outweigh the time spent doing it. |
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try this: reloading article - with costs
I did not get into reloading to save money on common stuff like FMJ 5.56. You can save some, but not tons. If you shoot odd calibers, or you shoot premium ammo, then reloading can save a bunch in a big hurry. While you can save a couple bucks on 55gr FMJ 5.56, you'll save a whole lot when you get into something like a 60 gr Nosler Partition load for that same rifle. Ditto for something like a Barnes TTSX in 270 or 300 Win. And if you shoot truly hard to fin calibers (.218 Bee, .32 Win, .375 Win, .356 etc) then you can save $25/30 a box or more. Fro |
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Quoted: I'm thinking I can swage, size and trim 1000 pc of brass much quicker then you can measure them Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: With a Dillion 650 you can do say 700-1000 an hour of 5.56. Do you trim cases? Trimming cases is bullshit. Any that exceed 1.760" get chopped off to make .300 Blackout. I'm thinking I can swage, size and trim 1000 pc of brass much quicker then you can measure them |
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Reloading is not about saving money most of the time. If you want to really save money, it will be in cast bullets and scrounged lead. That said in the good old days (say 2001), I could buy cast bullets and reload a box of 50 44/40 for about $5 (half of that or more was the bullets). I suspect now that is $15, but still cheaper than store bought and probably easier to find. Lets see - powder for 1k rounds of handgun will be about $20. Primers about the same. Cast bullets - don't know, but will wag at $100 (price from Missouri Bullet Company) plus shilpping ? $20. OkSo that is 1000/$160 - so about $8/box and a little less than 40lbs of lead. If I can buy my lead at $1/lb - I just changed that to $4 a box. |
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I think trimming is overblown... at most I do it once per brass piece for rounds like 5.56. I don't shoot hot loads and can shoot them quite a few times.
Removing crimps though Definitely my least favorite step.
Cast bullets in pistol rounds are massive, massive savings. Lead can still be found for free for the price of hauling it away... I got about 80 lbs of wheel weights yesterday just for asking. That will probably translate into about 65 pounds of lead, which in turn makes about 2200 200 gr .45s. At that point, it's about 3.5 cents for a primer, and only a few cents for powder (which obviously varies widely and powder costs are kind of inflated at the moment.) I also think casting is really fun, so there's that. |
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All rifle is for me...............compaired to pistols anyway. LUBE Quoted:
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.223 is a PITA and hard on the fingers. I don't mind loading .308 sized rounds. All rifle is for me...............compaired to pistols anyway. LUBE Collet dies FTW. Also, if one buys components retail, you're not going to save money. In fact you'll probably have more in the ammo than just purchasing ammo. You have to ferret out the deals. |
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I reload for the cost, here are the calculations I use for 5.56:
Bullet: $0.10 Powder: $0.11 Primer: $0.04 Other stuff: $0.01 = $0.26 cents per round Bulk ammo costs $375 per 1000, so $0.375 cents per round Reload 200 rounds/hour x $0.125 = $25 per hour My wages are $33 per hour, I divide in half for free time = $16.50/hour So for bulk ammo, it is worth it for me. For match ammo, it's quite a bit slower, maybe 100 rounds per hour but I save about $60/hour due to higher cost of ammunition. |
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Collet dies FTW. Also, if one buys components retail, you're not going to save money. In fact you'll probably have more in the ammo than just purchasing ammo. You have to ferret out the deals. Quoted:
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.223 is a PITA and hard on the fingers. I don't mind loading .308 sized rounds. All rifle is for me...............compaired to pistols anyway. LUBE Collet dies FTW. Also, if one buys components retail, you're not going to save money. In fact you'll probably have more in the ammo than just purchasing ammo. You have to ferret out the deals. Maybe if you compare bulk stuff to nice components, perhaps. Go try and buy some real high end bullets in larger cartridges and you'll be putting out $3 a round easily for factory. |
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All rifle is for me...............compaired to pistols anyway. LUBE Quoted:
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.223 is a PITA and hard on the fingers. I don't mind loading .308 sized rounds. All rifle is for me...............compaired to pistols anyway. LUBE I've been using synthetic oil for a while now for my rifle cases. its so much faster than lubing them - the only downside is you need to give the cases a bath and wait for them to dry before you proceed. I just put a drop on the neck of a case and the oil that stays on my fingers from that is enough to quickly lube the next 5-7 cases. I only reload with a single stage press though, so I cant comment on lubing techniques with progressive presses. |