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Posted: 12/14/2013 2:41:46 PM EDT
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I'm starting to put some very serious consideration into getting into reloading. Main rounds I will be looking to reload will be 223, 9mm, 40 S&W, 308 Win (probably only limited on this), 300 Blkout. The Blackout is in anticipation of finishing a build within a few months, and also one of the main reasons why im looking into reloading. I've looked around and it seems to be an expensive round to purchase from manufactures.
My biggest questions with getting started is if you take out the cost of the equipment how much will I really save in reloading? I've herd some say they save about 1/2 price and others say its basically a wash in price it mainly comes down to enjoying doing it. Where does everyone go online to order supplies, who has the best prices around. How hard is it to convert 223 brass to 300blackout And openly any guidance someone can give me of what to look at or what route I should go down please let me know |
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Start here. http://www.ar15.com/forums/t_6_42/263380_Everything_You_Wanted_to_Know_About_Reloading_But_Was_Afraid_to_Ask.html Then read the info at the top of the page. In Reloading Tools and Equipment, first post has required equipment. First thing to do is set a budget and post that. Then we can suggest equipment. The thing to remember is low price will get you by, but the better quality tools are built to last and will be easier to load with. Best book for the new reloader. About $20. Explains the Tools, all the components, and how to reload.
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Per previous post, reloading requires some research and self training, with help from others. The average person can do it, if they are precise, pay attention to detail, and cautious.
You can save money by reloading, but there will be start up costs. It helps if you enjoy reloading as a hobby. If you add in the time spent it could be tough to pay for itself, maybe. Loaded ammo in those calibers, especially the rifle, is very expensive these days. |
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.223 and 9mm I'd expect to save the least on out of the listed calibers.
You learn to buy in bulk, or locally (and still in bulk, if discounts apply) to counter the Hazmat fees + shipping. Current .223 rounds with good quality 55gr FMJ-BT and decent non-surplus powder run me around 19cents per round, 19-23c/rd or so is in the reasonable range, depending on components. 9mm I'm loading 124gr JHP for 14-16c/rd. This equates to $190 for a case of 1k .223, or ~$150 for a 1k case of 9mm..$7.50 a box of 50. 'Around half' is fairly accurate. .308, including buying some once fired and allowing for a few reloads, should be loadable for around 40c/rd or so...I may be off on this one, as don't reload .308/7.62 as of yet. |
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I'll pass this little gem on to you as I experienced it today. This was my first time tumbling the brass I had and either no one covered it here or I missed it. Separate your brass or you'll spend extra time pulling them apart. The 9mm got stuck in all of my .45. You are welcome.  |
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Quoted: I'll pass this little gem on to you as I experienced it today. This was my first time tumbling the brass I had and either no one covered it here or I missed it. Separate your brass or you'll spend extra time pulling them apart. The 9mm got stuck in all of my .45. You are welcome.  You won't do it again.
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Quoted: Lol, everyone does that the first time. Quoted: Quoted: I'll pass this little gem on to you as I experienced it today. This was my first time tumbling the brass I had and either no one covered it here or I missed it. Separate your brass or you'll spend extra time pulling them apart. The 9mm got stuck in all of my .45. You are welcome. You won't do it again. I spent the afternoon separating all of my brass.  |
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You can get a reloading kit (LEE) and dies for under $150. They'll work just fine. You will be able to load new brass (.223) for around 50 cents a round and reloads should end up being around 20 cents a round (at current prices). So, yes, you can save money.
You could also buy a much better press and better consumables and end up spending more. It all depends on what you do. I would only buy a press if it's something that you will enjoy doing. It adds a whole new dimension to the sport but only if you're the personality type that would enjoy doing it. If you're just trying to save money, I would stick to Tula ammo or 22LR. You can save tons of money and won't have to do any work reloading. |
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I have not done this in a while, so accountants & economists go easy. So lets say you buy 1000 .223, the cheapest I am seeing is $350 before shipping. so say.37 or .38 per round.
Then you want to keep shooting, so you reload them. 1. Powder Varget (assume you buy local) $26.00 per pound at 7000 gr per lb, .38 cents per grain x 26 gr = 9.9 cents per load (price purposes only, do not use this load w/o checking!) 2. Bullet 55gr FMJ, Bartlett (GI Brass) has them for 12.5 cents a copy nice and new not pull down, plus shipping lets say 13.5 cents per bullet, 1000 bullets 3. Primers 3.8 cents per primer for 1000 (again bought locally no Hazmat fee) So for materials thats 27.2 cents per round, assuming brass is sunk cost as you already took your enjoyment from them shooting up the factory ammo. Note that one lb of powder will load 269 rounds + or - so it will take 3 jars of powder to load 1000 rounds (with some powder left over) Now if loaded ammo price keeps going down, so might components so the proportion might be similar not sure. This does not include reloading equipment nor time spent. Lets write that off to enjoyment in another hobby 
I am hoping this will elicit responses on how you can get the stuff cheaper, I just used Midway USA prices for powder and primer to simulate retail w/o shipping, and GI Brass sells bullets pretty cheap normally. |
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When I wanted to get into it, the thought was to save money. I set a budget of $500 all in for my first 1,000 rounds of 38 spl and turret press kit. That soon turned into "break even because I will be likely to shoot more". Now it is just another line item in the budget...like the light bill. And it is something I really enjoy...in a "peaceful, where did the last two hours go?" sort of way. I would say if you love to shoot and do it often, and have time to kill, reloading might be for you. If you would rather make your own drink coasters than buy them at Walmart, reloading might be for you. If your kids ever say stuff like "Dad, you are soooo picky!", reloading might be for you. If you find yourself saying "why do I watch so much TV?" reloading might be for you. Yeah, you'll save money per round, but it is so dang fun and peaceful that is a non-issue. |
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I got my rock chucker kit about 2 weeks ago. After some odd and end parts and tools I loaded first last week and shot them yesterday. I started with .308. I have a Rem 700 5r that likes the 175SMKs and 178Amax. After 6 months and $1.50 to $2.00 per round, I had to start loading. The loads I shot yesterday need tweaking, but most of my groups were 1MOA or better.
A good friend helped me get into it. I went to his place and worked a few loads with him a few months back. During the last few months, I also did a lot of research into just about everything reloading. At this point reloading does not seem difficult. Most of the research is needed for safety. Once you know the limits of your loads, the steps are not hard. Loading is a great time filler when there is nothing to do. All that and I will save about $1.00 per round. I think I made a good decision. I am into it for about $500. I should recoup my investment within a year, easily. I will add new calibers after I have learned the current caliber. |
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Depending on what level of equipment you buy the costs can add up very quickly so first only consider the must haves.
The best reasons are: 1) Not relying on stores to have ammo in stock, once you have a stash of components you aren't worried about market swings that affect your ability to shoot 2) Price, you can shoot for easily half the cost of store bought if buying in bulk or you look at as shooting twice as much for the same cost 3) Making your own ammo, loading them up mild to wild and enjoying better accuracy |
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This is a nifty calculator..
http://www.reloaderhub.com/calculator.cfm Link made hot. AeroE |
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Quoted:
I have not done this in a while, so accountants & economists go easy. So lets say you buy 1000 .223, the cheapest I am seeing is $350 before shipping. so say.37 or .38 per round. Then you want to keep shooting, so you reload them. 1. Powder Varget (assume you buy local) $26.00 per pound at 7000 gr per lb, .38 cents per grain x 26 gr = 9.9 cents per load (price purposes only, do not use this load w/o checking!) 2. Bullet 55gr FMJ, Bartlett (GI Brass) has them for 12.5 cents a copy nice and new not pull down, plus shipping lets say 13.5 cents per bullet, 1000 bullets 3. Primers 3.8 cents per primer for 1000 (again bought locally no Hazmat fee) So for materials thats 27.2 cents per round, assuming brass is sunk cost as you already took your enjoyment from them shooting up the factory ammo. Note that one lb of powder will load 269 rounds + or - so it will take 3 jars of powder to load 1000 rounds (with some powder left over) Now if loaded ammo price keeps going down, so might components so the proportion might be similar not sure. This does not include reloading equipment nor time spent. Lets write that off to enjoyment in another hobby
I am hoping this will elicit responses on how you can get the stuff cheaper, I just used Midway USA prices for powder and primer to simulate retail w/o shipping, and GI Brass sells bullets pretty cheap normally. Buy in bulk, and on sales. I recently picked up a few thousand Xtreme 55gr FMJ-BT, very similar profile to the Hornady 55gr FMJ-BTs, 8.5c each shipped. Buy the Hornady 55gr FMJ-BT or SPs in 6k packs when it's at a decent price, again, ~8.3c/rd or so shipped. Buy powder in bulk. An 8lb-er of Varget runs $152 at PV, and is only enough for 270-300 projectiles per pound. Ideally, buy at least 8#-ers locally or 24-48# of total powder (and primers) online. Cost drops to ~6.5c per round or less, shipped and incl Hazmat. While buying that powder, buy primers at the same time, negating Hazmat, and dropping primer cost per round somewhat, depending on where you buy and type of primer. Let's say you're using PV, CCI 450s, that bought with the powder cost/Hazmat, is 3c/rd and negligible change in shipping cost. Now we're down to 18c/rd + your brass cost if purchasing brass. 80/k once fired shipped is "OK' right now, and assuming not loading max loads or over-working brass, you should get 4 reloads out of them minimum (or more), so effective cost of 2c/round. ~ 20c/rd total. |
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Saving money would be last on the list as a reason to get into reloading. I did the a mid/low budget method and the only thing that helped me save was getting all range brass and resisting upgrading everything. But the one thing that ruins it all, is the more you want to reload you, you either need a lot of spare time, or you have to upgrade to components that will allow you make it pay off. Progressives, and electro this and that and before you know it you'll need to reload 10k+ rounds just to break even. So if you don't spend a pile, it's just a lot more time hand trimming and swaging and what not. Then you get a little tired and a progressive or a decent trimmer or a SS tumbler and ......., well it's fun, but not a big money saver. Free brass sure helps, and obviously the cheaper the better. Just an example, I can get 9mm at walmart for 10.47--right now. (Another good reason to reload, because most the time you cant)
We'll just say .25, well lets go federal and make it .30 My cost is cheap bullets .09 Brass is free Primer is .04-.05 Powder.03-.04 That's about half, but add a dime for brass and you'd have to load 15K bullets to break even--but it's better than watching TV or any other worthless endeavor you may find your idle hands doing. But I still tell my wife I'm saving money 
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Quoted:
Saving money would be last on the list as a reason to get into reloading. I did the a mid/low budget method and the only thing that helped me save was getting all range brass and resisting upgrading everything. But the one thing that ruins it all, is the more you want to reload you, you either need a lot of spare time, or you have to upgrade to components that will allow you make it pay off. Progressives, and electro this and that and before you know it you'll need to reload 10k+ rounds just to break even. So if you don't spend a pile, it's just a lot more time hand trimming and swaging and what not. Then you get a little tired and a progressive or a decent trimmer or a SS tumbler and ......., well it's fun, but not a big money saver. Free brass sure helps, and obviously the cheaper the better. Just an example, I can get 9mm at walmart for 10.47--right now. (Another good reason to reload, because most the time you cant) We'll just say .25, well lets go federal and make it .30 My cost is cheap bullets .09 Brass is free Primer is .04-.05 Powder.03-.04 That's about half, but add a dime for brass and you'd have to load 15K bullets to break even--but it's better than watching TV or any other worthless endeavor you may find your idle hands doing. But I still tell my wife I'm saving money Quoted:
Saving money would be last on the list as a reason to get into reloading. I did the a mid/low budget method and the only thing that helped me save was getting all range brass and resisting upgrading everything. But the one thing that ruins it all, is the more you want to reload you, you either need a lot of spare time, or you have to upgrade to components that will allow you make it pay off. Progressives, and electro this and that and before you know it you'll need to reload 10k+ rounds just to break even. So if you don't spend a pile, it's just a lot more time hand trimming and swaging and what not. Then you get a little tired and a progressive or a decent trimmer or a SS tumbler and ......., well it's fun, but not a big money saver. Free brass sure helps, and obviously the cheaper the better. Just an example, I can get 9mm at walmart for 10.47--right now. (Another good reason to reload, because most the time you cant) We'll just say .25, well lets go federal and make it .30 My cost is cheap bullets .09 Brass is free Primer is .04-.05 Powder.03-.04 That's about half, but add a dime for brass and you'd have to load 15K bullets to break even--but it's better than watching TV or any other worthless endeavor you may find your idle hands doing. But I still tell my wife I'm saving money What are your numbers for? 9mm? Even paying $35/# for powder, you shouldn't be at more than 2.5c/rd, while for .223, short of milsurp or powder bought some time back, I'm not seeing < ~6c/rd for powder.. ? If having to buy brass, you should be getting more than one firing out of it... It's definitely an ongoing process of considering 'upgrades,' not to mention buying in bulk for the best deals isn't always convenient financially. Most reloading gear will last a lifetime, though, so once it's 'paid for' once, you're done with it. If someone is a low frequency shooter and wants to 'pay off all equipment fast,' for whatever reason, should really consider a single stage or maybe a Lee Classic Turret, as it's not hard on the wallet, and can still be 'paid for in savings' in a reasonably short time. I shoot around 5k of 9mm a year, and 2k of .223. My 'savings' over the past year even if we use right now prices, which we know are the lowest they've been in the past nearly 12 months..it would run me $1200 (I only shoot brass, but cheaper 9mm on gunboat + shipping allowance, 30c/rd) in 9mm, and $760 for .223/5.5.6, allowing 38c/rd w/shipping (only brass). It cost me in components ~$800 in 9mm and $400 for .223, including buying some brass, a 'savings' of $760. In reality, we know many people had also picked up some .223/5.56 at 75c/rd or even more, and similar for 9mm, so in my eyes, I've already hit 'break even' on a progressive press, dies, and a few tools in one year. YMMV, and of course, no one will disagree with this one.. :D Quoted:
But I still tell my wife I'm saving money
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Quoted:
I'll pass this little gem on to you as I experienced it today. This was my first time tumbling the brass I had and either no one covered it here or I missed it. Separate your brass or you'll spend extra time pulling them apart. The 9mm got stuck in all of my .45. You are welcome. I've had 'em nested from .32 ACP through .45 ACP; .32 ACP > .380 Auto or 9mm Luger > .40 S&W > .45 ACP. I guess I was lucky there wasn't a .25 ACP, too. |
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watch the EE.
There are a lot of people that bought reloading equipment over the past year because of the shortages, and now a lot of presses and good deals will be plenty. I'm reloading 9mm at a 50% savings because I pick up and save my brass and buy primers, powder, and bullets in bulk. You don't have to buy 10,000 at a time, but if you try to only do a couple hundred here and there, it's not really worth it. I reload because I like it, it's interesting to me, and I like saving money. Plus, my ammo is just as good if not better than the bulk of the plinking ammo on the market. Start with the 9mm or 40. They are easier to learn and require a lot less prep work and expertise to reload. Plus, rifle reloads require extra tools and the upfront cost is higher - if that's a consideration. Just do 1 caliber, learn it well, then get another, then another, etc... |
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To me, the bottom line is that you can make TOP quality ammo for the price of the super cheap stuff on sale.
Making your own rounds that shoot better than factory is by-god awesome. Killing a deer with a round you researched, worked up, tested and fired is very rewarding, (IMO). It's a damn sickness. Turn back now. |
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Here's a few I load for:
338 lapua: Factory match ammo $6-$7/ea | Hand loads < $1.50 ea assuming I get 10 loads out of my brass (I anneal and shoot a mild load, so I will) 223 Rem: Factory match ammo $.90-$1.25/ea | Hand loads $0.35c ea with LC brass, varget, BR4 primers and 77 smks 308 Win: Factory match ammo $1.00-$1.50/ea | Hand loads $0.50c ea with LC brass, 4064, BR2 primers and 175 smks (Closer to 55c each with Lapua brass) 260 Rem: Factory match ammo (not available) | Hand loads $0.55c ea with Lapua brass, H414, BR2 primers and 140 Amax 6mm AR Turbo 40: Factory match ammo (not available) | Hand loads $0.70c ea with Alexander Arms Brass, varget, BR4 primers and 105 berger vlds The cheapest you can go for 223 is about 18-19c including the cost of brass amortized out over 7-8 loadings. LC brass, hornady 55gr (6000ct for $500), cheap ball powder like Win 748 (8lb for $140-150), and tula / wolf primers. I reload because I can tune my own loads for each gun to squeeze out the most performance possible, but also because "match" ammo is expensive and I can save 50%-60% at minimum. Plus with a couple of my calibers, no one even makes ammo for it because they are wildcats. In that case I'm forced to load my own. If all you want to do is shoot plinking ammo, like bulk russian stuff, then just buy that and be done. Reloading isn't worth it when you are only saving 3-5c per round. if you plan on shooting a bunch of high end ammo, or shoot at the local matches, then reloading is 100% necessary for both cost and accuracy. |
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Well the biggest reason why I would like to get started is to save some money, which from what everyone is saying is a possibility to do if I purchase things right. Having that load that is tailored for a rifle will be a much added bonus Some of the ammunition I load would be flat unaffordable in the volumes I shoot, especially .308 Win ammunition, I can shoot 150 rounds in one trip to the range without much effort. |
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Quoted: What are some good sights to look at for deals?On supplies? So instead go up to Links for the venders, and the tacked "Where to find thread". Both are at the top of the page for your browsing pleasure.
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"Where to find threads" get locked. Don't change topics to this. So instead go up to Links for the venders, and the tacked "Where to find thread". Both are at the top of the page for your browsing pleasure. Quoted:
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What are some good sights to look at for deals?On supplies? So instead go up to Links for the venders, and the tacked "Where to find thread". Both are at the top of the page for your browsing pleasure. I'm not trying to change the topic I'm trying to become informed of where to look to get into this process of reloading. Thank you for letting me know where to look |
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