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Posted: 10/31/2008 9:42:59 PM EDT
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If i just wanted to get into reloading 5.56 .308 9mm and .40 how much would the initial cost be to get a decent set up? How much money do you save reloading. Ex. how many rounds would i have to reload to start to save money after the price of the equipment? What would you recommend as a decent setup? Thanks Ian
Sorry if this has been answered before i did use the search function but it could not find the answer i needed |
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Decide what gear you're going to use, e.g. single stage, turret, progressive press, see this list http://www.ar15.com/content/page.html?id=486 Then start pricing it from Midway, EE, wherever. A reloading kiit will have a lot of the stuff you'll need but not everything, like stuck case removers, calipers, tumbler. On average you can save about 50% on ammo, I can make 1K of .223 for about $120/K nowadays reusing my brass |
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I just started reloading this year and I decided on a single stage to save some cash. (In case I decided I did not liike reloading)
This is what I initially purchased. I might have saved money buying online, however, I have a job where I have to travel a lot and never know when, where or for how long, so I hate ordering things. I do not load .223 yet (still saving up my brass) I have added additional pistol die sets, but this got me loading .40. Hornady Classic Reloading kit $299.00 Hornady 3 die set .40 $ 39.99 Lee Universal Shell Holder Set $ 17.99 Frankfort Arsenal Digital Caliper $ 24.99 MTM shell holder boxe $ 3.99 Cabelas Case Tumbler Kit $ 56.99 Plastic collanders (brass sorting)$ 5.00 ($1.00 ea.- dollar store) Total: $447.95 + tax - initial equipment I need a bullet puller, but have not gotten around to getting one yet. I really like my Hornady. Once you get the dies adjusted, they just snap in and out and make changing calibers easy. The powder measure works great with ball powder and meters consistently. Takes me about an hour to load 100 rnds of .40, .38 special, 9mm or .45ACP. I do not know if this is fast or not on a single stage. ETA: The biggest cost per round is going to be the bullets themselves and it depends what you buy as to how much you save. Right now I am loading 9mm for about 13.7 cents/rnd. (13.70/100 vs. 19.95/100 win value pack at walmart) These are my results only and your results may vary. I did not shop around for the very best deals and I did all my purchasing locally or at gunshows. I did not buy used as I did not know if parts would be missing, bent, etc. |
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Here's a calculator that will help to tell you how much each round will cost you to produce (once you get your components priced out). As for how long it will take to recover your costs, it depends on how much you spend on your setup. Some presses (dillon progressive for example) could run you more than $800 for all the extras you can buy with it and all the tools needed. This would take thousands of reloaded rounds to recover your costs. I think I spent about $350 for my whole setup (minus a $15 tool or 2 that I still have to get). I estimate that it will take me about 2000-2500 rounds through reloading to recover my costs on the equipment. Then another 1000-1500 to put me ahead overall. But I'm only loading .223, so the other calibers will have a different impact on your totals.
Also to give you an idea... I'm looking at $.21-.24 per round on the .223, but it will be less in the future with the reuse of brass dropping the brass cost out of that per round cost. Thats quite a bit better than $.34-.38+ per round you find when ordering decent ammo online. ETA: Using the calculator in the post below, its actually only 1800 rounds to recover my costs on the equipment and I'm looking at a cost of about $.15-.16 per round... So even better 
Also: XDFireguy that was your first post even though you have been registered since 2003? I'd say thats amazing, but I actually saw someone make their first post litterally like 2 days ago even though they registered in 2001... |
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This page has three different calculators based on whether you are looking to load rifle, pistol, or shotgun. The nice thing it does is calculate the number of reloads necessary to break even on the cost of your equipment given what you pay for factory ammo. When I started looking into reloading I just ran the calculator for what I anticipate reloading the most of (.223) and figure when I meet that threshold it will have long since paid for itself as I am loading .308 and a few pistol loads as well, just not in the quantity that do for the AR's  |
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