Posted: 1/3/2009 8:59:11 AM EDT
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I have some work to do... |
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I was running some rough figures when trying to figure out whats the best route to take. I found that reloading isn't really saving a whole lot of money. Just curious if you have figured it out since I see you have bought quite a bit. That will cost me around $112/k. If you can find factory or reloaded ammo for cheaper than that, by all means - share... |
| Getting ready to load up a couple of K worth of ammo as well. I load for 12 different calibers. Round for round you should be able to produce ammo depending on caliber and purpose for 20 to 60 percent off of "shelf price". Since I have more time than money and all of the equipment it works for me. |
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I was running some rough figures when trying to figure out whats the best route to take. I found that reloading isn't really saving a whole lot of money. Just curious if you have figured it out since I see you have bought quite a bit. It depends on what you buy to reload with, and how much of it you buy at a time. If you're buying a pound of powder and a pack of primers at a time you won't save $$$. Also you can't include what your time is worth. It might take a few hours to reload, but if it's a hobby like it is to me, it's worth it and not really work. 
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I just finished 5k Mk262Mod0 rounds for a local gun shop. I have a Type6 FFL(ammo mfg) and do it as a side line. Make some decent extra money. Not a lot but enough to pay the mortgage, makes the wife really happy.
Have to load 10-15 1k round cases for the shop next. Now if people will quit hoarding the new Winchester brass I'll be happy. Been thinking of a 50BMG set up. Used to load a lot of .50 when I worked at Barrett. |
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I just finished 5k Mk262Mod0 rounds for a local gun shop. I have a Type6 FFL(ammo mfg) and do it as a side line. Make some decent extra money. Not a lot but enough to pay the mortgage, makes the wife really happy. Have to load 10-15 1k round cases for the shop next. Now if people will quit hoarding the new Winchester brass I'll be happy. Been thinking of a 50BMG set up. Used to load a lot of .50 when I worked at Barrett. How much does it cost to do become Type 6 FFL? What do you load on? |
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I was running some rough figures when trying to figure out whats the best route to take. I found that reloading isn't really saving a whole lot of money. Just curious if you have figured it out since I see you have bought quite a bit. Just chiming in, 50 rounds of .45 acp reloads costs me about $6/box and has less recoil and better accuracy in my gun than factory loads. That cost would be a lot less for someone who casts their own bullets. A box of winchester white box runs for about $20-25 a box around here. Blazer was around $15 last I checked. The $20 lee dies paid for themselves real quick. Granted .45 isn't 5.56, I'm still accumulating brass for that. |
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its like 30 dollar application sort of deal. Paper work. All 9 yards.
I honestly must of been looking at the wrong sites. They wanted 1k brass for 250 ish, 1k bullets for 200 ish, primer for 20 and 8lb of powder for about 130. Those prices are deterring me from going down the reloading path. I have PLENTY of time on my hands and I wouldn't mind doing it one bit. Just the up front costs are a bit steep for an cash strained person as myself. Of course those were prolly high quality parts. Hornady Brass, Lapua bullets. ETC |
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HK_Shooter_03,
The license itself isn't much. $30 for 6 years I believe it is. Had to go through the local zoning board for the okay to do it in my home. Insurance. Prepare to pay about $2k minimum per year for $2.5 million in insurance. Depends on who you go through. Interview process with ATF. Really easy part of it. Actually the easiest part. I use a Dillon Super 1050 for loading all the 5.56 and 7.62x51 for reselling. I have a Dillon XL650 for everything else. I don't sell pistol stuff because it isn't worth it. Pistol ammo is pretty cheap and plentiful. |
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Getting ready to load up a couple of K worth of ammo as well. I load for 12 different calibers. Round for round you should be able to produce ammo depending on caliber and purpose for 20 to 60 percent off of "shelf price". Since I have more time than money and all of the equipment it works for me. I'm the opposite. I have more money than time. So, for me, it's actually not worth reloading. All is not lost: I give all my brass to a friend who is a voracious reloader. 
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its like 30 dollar application sort of deal. Paper work. All 9 yards. I honestly must of been looking at the wrong sites. They wanted 1k brass for 250 ish, 1k bullets for 200 ish, primer for 20 and 8lb of powder for about 130. Those prices are deterring me from going down the reloading path. I have PLENTY of time on my hands and I wouldn't mind doing it one bit. Just the up front costs are a bit steep for an cash strained person as myself. Of course those were prolly high quality parts. Hornady Brass, Lapua bullets. ETC You must have been looking at new brass for that price. Not sure what everything else is costing now (I stocked up about 2 years ago, but supplies are now getting low) brassman is generally a decent price on brass. |
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I shoot 6.8, so it's damn near mandatory to reload, or you don't shoot much. Costs me 70% less to reload.
range-quality 5.56 is probably a 20-30% discount over comparable quality commercial ammo "special" loads are where you really make up the difference. powder, primer and brass cost the same, regardless of what bullet you drop in it, and really nice bullets are not a whole lot more than "plinking" bullets. For example, I bought moly coated silvertips like used in $25/box Winchester ammo, and loaded 250 of them for about .30/rd. MASSIVE savings there, same with the 6.8SPC I loaded with Barnes TSX... first off, that loading doesn't even EXIST commercially, and I still loaded it cheaper than any commercially loaded 6.8 on the market |
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Could you give us a evaluation on the Wolf primers when you get done? They are starting to show up in the shops around here and are quickly becoming the only brand in town. I test my rounds before loading them in quantity. I loaded 30 FMJ and 30 tracer and mixed them together using 748 and 844. Here is how they functioned with Wolf primers: My Range Video 
Fine. They are very heavy though. My Beretta Elite had a lot of trouble punching them but I have a soft hammer spring in it. |
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HK_Shooter_03, The license itself isn't much. $30 for 6 years I believe it is. Had to go through the local zoning board for the okay to do it in my home. Insurance. Prepare to pay about $2k minimum per year for $2.5 million in insurance. Depends on who you go through. Interview process with ATF. Really easy part of it. Actually the easiest part. I use a Dillon Super 1050 for loading all the 5.56 and 7.62x51 for reselling. I have a Dillon XL650 for everything else. I don't sell pistol stuff because it isn't worth it. Pistol ammo is pretty cheap and plentiful. Thanks for the info. You make it seem a lot more reasonable than a lot of folks here. I'll pass. Between a school, job, and ROTC - there is no time to do that plus I'd have to get over that 2k hurdle fairly quickly given my status as a poor college student. Maybe someday... |
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Doing the same thing right now. I'm using a Dillon 550 with a rapid trim on it to get through the first stage (resize, deprime, reprime, trim), then I tumble again, switch toolheads, and load 'em up.
I'm going to an entire 5 gallon bucket full of 55gr. loads, and another few hundred 69gr. Sierra MatchKing loads. |
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I was running some rough figures when trying to figure out whats the best route to take. I found that reloading isn't really saving a whole lot of money. Just curious if you have figured it out since I see you have bought quite a bit. That will cost me around $112/k. If you can find factory or reloaded ammo for cheaper than that, by all means - share... What about when you factor in the cost of the press and the die? |
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I was running some rough figures when trying to figure out whats the best route to take. I found that reloading isn't really saving a whole lot of money. Just curious if you have figured it out since I see you have bought quite a bit. That will cost me around $112/k. If you can find factory or reloaded ammo for cheaper than that, by all means - share... What about when you factor in the cost of the press and the die? at that kind of volume, the cost of the press and die get divided up pretty quickly. my press, dies, bench and every other bit of startup investment paid for itself after about 3000rds loaded, and I was doing fairly small runs. |
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Getting ready to load up a couple of K worth of ammo as well. I load for 12 different calibers. Round for round you should be able to produce ammo depending on caliber and purpose for 20 to 60 percent off of "shelf price". Since I have more time than money and all of the equipment it works for me. I'm the opposite. I have more money than time. So, for me, it's actually not worth reloading. All is not lost: I give all my brass to a friend who is a voracious reloader. I'm in the same boat. I don't have the time to do it. I'd like to, and I've been saving my brass just in case I do ever decide to do it, but right now, my time is more worth doing something else. YMMV |
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I was running some rough figures when trying to figure out whats the best route to take. I found that reloading isn't really saving a whole lot of money. Just curious if you have figured it out since I see you have bought quite a bit. That will cost me around $112/k. If you can find factory or reloaded ammo for cheaper than that, by all means - share... What about when you factor in the cost of the press and the die? $400 for the press $50 for the dies. Divide $450 into the tens of thousands of rounds I've loaded and it doesn't add too much more... |
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I was running some rough figures when trying to figure out whats the best route to take. I found that reloading isn't really saving a whole lot of money. Just curious if you have figured it out since I see you have bought quite a bit. That will cost me around $112/k. If you can find factory or reloaded ammo for cheaper than that, by all means - share... What about when you factor in the cost of the press and the die? $400 for the press $50 for the dies. Divide $450 into the tens of thousands of rounds I've loaded and it doesn't add too much more... Where'd you get a Dillon 650 with a casefeeder for $400!?!?!? |
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I'm looking at getting into reloading.
Looking at a kit-this one. Hornady lock n load What else would I need? |
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I'm looking at getting into reloading. Looking at a kit-this one. Hornady lock n load What else would I need? what kind of volume are you looking to reload? that kind of setup will take you a month to load what a typical arfcommer goes through in one trip to the range. |
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I'm looking at getting into reloading. Looking at a kit-this one. Hornady lock n load What else would I need? what kind of volume are you looking to reload? that kind of setup will take you a month to load what a typical arfcommer goes through in one trip to the range. Get a Dillon 550. Your wallet will hate you forever if you buy that press. |
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I'm looking at getting into reloading. Looking at a kit-this one. Hornady lock n load What else would I need? what kind of volume are you looking to reload? that kind of setup will take you a month to load what a typical arfcommer goes through in one trip to the range. Get a Dillon 550. Your wallet will hate you forever if you buy that press. agreed 100%. I considered "starting small and working my way into it" to save $ on the initial outlay, but decided against it and instead shelled out the higher initial cost for the 550. It was well worth the investment, as my current reloading capacity far exceeds my ability to empty cases, which is the right side of the curve to be on IMO. |
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here is the press i have
LINK i can pump out a serious amount of rounds with it. hornady also has excellent customer service. if you have a problem call them up and they will ship a part out to you asap. very nice people. |
I see a swage tool there, you are in for SOOOOME fun if you have to remove the crimp on the primer pocket. I have shown my son how to work my dillon swage tool and keep it and a pile of brass out so he can do it at his leisure  I also see you have a Giraud tool, you obviously hate brass prep as much as I do  . I have a separate toolhead just for my carbide resizer. I just resize the whole batch in one step, then run the entire batch through the Giraud tool, then swap tool head for prime, charge, seat, and crimp. dillon and giraud take the pain out of reloading |
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Could you give us a evaluation on the Wolf primers when you get done? They are starting to show up in the shops around here and are quickly becoming the only brand in town. I test my rounds before loading them in quantity. I loaded 30 FMJ and 30 tracer and mixed them together using 748 and 844. Here is how they functioned with Wolf primers: My Range Video  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9MgfTDV67cU
Fine. They are very heavy though. My Beretta Elite had a lot of trouble punching them but I have a soft hammer spring in it. Just curious: I thought you're supposed to have the scope covers open down so they are less of an obstruction? |
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here is the press i have LINK i can pump out a serious amount of rounds with it. hornady also has excellent customer service. if you have a problem call them up and they will ship a part out to you asap. very nice people. I am a Lock-n-Load AP user too, but I haven't shelled out for the case feeder. It really wouldn't add enough speed to be worth it. The part that slows me down is having to refill the primer tube, not putting in brass. |
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I'm looking at getting into reloading. Looking at a kit-this one. Hornady lock n load What else would I need? what kind of volume are you looking to reload? that kind of setup will take you a month to load what a typical arfcommer goes through in one trip to the range. Get a Dillon 550. Your wallet will hate you forever if you buy that press. Well, the 550 is nice, but then you'll enjoy a 650 even more 
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