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Posted: 1/4/2014 5:58:12 PM EDT
| I am interested in reloading .308. I would like to get an idea how much it would cost, per round, to reload. Trying to decide if it would be worth it. |
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most reload for about .20 - .23 per round. what you have to ask yourself is how much do you shoot per year?
are you willing to sacrifice time to save money or money to save time? You can go a few hundred $$'s and take an entire day or two to produce 500-1k rounds or you can go up into the $3-4k range and take an hour or two to do it all. (deprime, military decrimp, clean primer pockets, primer pocket uniform, anneal, size, clean, trim, debur, prime, drop powder, bullet, crimp...ready to go). Rifle can be very time consuming. Of course you can skip some of the above steps, but then it becomes the question of....want accuracy or want to just throw a wall of lead downstream? (or both :-) ) |
| Cost me $8 per 20 rounds to load my 168 FGMM equivalent, store bought costs $25+ if you can even find it and it takes me about 2 hours to load 100 rounds not including the time to clean the brass. I use a Lee Challenger, a PH trimmer, Lee dies, Lyman trickler, a Lee safety scale, and a Hornady chamfer and deburring tools. |
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Cost me $8 per 20 rounds to load my 168 FGMM equivalent, store bought costs $25+ if you can even find it and it takes me about 2 hours to load 100 rounds not including the time to clean the brass. I use a Lee Challenger, a PH trimmer, Lee dies, Lyman trickler, a Lee safety scale, and a Hornady chamfer and deburring tools. I have similar results, but cost just a little more due to different components. I load 175 SMK's on 43.? grains of IMR 8208 XBR. I loaded 150 rounds last night in about 3 hours. Measuring every throw with a RCBS 10-10 beam scale. I use an RCBS single stage press that's much older than I am. |
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I have similar results, but cost just a little more due to different components. I load 175 SMK's on 43.? grains of IMR 8208 XBR. I loaded 150 rounds last night in about 3 hours. Measuring every throw with a RCBS 10-10 beam scale. I use an RCBS single stage press that's much older than I am. Quoted:
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Cost me $8 per 20 rounds to load my 168 FGMM equivalent, store bought costs $25+ if you can even find it and it takes me about 2 hours to load 100 rounds not including the time to clean the brass. I use a Lee Challenger, a PH trimmer, Lee dies, Lyman trickler, a Lee safety scale, and a Hornady chamfer and deburring tools. I have similar results, but cost just a little more due to different components. I load 175 SMK's on 43.? grains of IMR 8208 XBR. I loaded 150 rounds last night in about 3 hours. Measuring every throw with a RCBS 10-10 beam scale. I use an RCBS single stage press that's much older than I am. What this ? |
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I started reloading just because match .308 ammo was $30+ a box
I load 175 grain matchkings over 43 grains of varget, fed 210m primers my cost to reload match ammo is about half the cost it is to buy it in the store, and my groups are MUCH better. gold medal match was putting me around .5 or .6 moa, my handloads shoot groups I can cover with a dime at 100 yards |
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If you continue thinking in those terms just buy it off the shelf, really. Quoted:
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I am interested in reloading .308. I would like to get an idea how much it would cost, per round, to reload. Trying to decide if it would be worth it. If you continue thinking in those terms just buy it off the shelf, really. Please explain. |
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There's a lot more to it than many people think, time, money, never ending search for components.
You said you were interested, as in how? To blast dirt clods from 25 yards or shoot accurately further? If you're not that into it, and don't shoot a lot, it might be a waste of time, money and energy. |
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Quoted: Nobody is reloading .308 for .20 to .23 per round with components purchased recently. Bullets alone cost that much. Quoted: Quoted: most reload for about .20 - .23 per round. what you have to ask yourself is how much do you shoot per year? Nobody is reloading .308 for .20 to .23 per round with components purchased recently. Bullets alone cost that much.  The old school Hornady boxes of 150 gr .308 bullets were $10 at the 3-24-2012 funshow. I bought all the guy had.
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What this ? Quoted:
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Quoted:
Cost me $8 per 20 rounds to load my 168 FGMM equivalent, store bought costs $25+ if you can even find it and it takes me about 2 hours to load 100 rounds not including the time to clean the brass. I use a Lee Challenger, a PH trimmer, Lee dies, Lyman trickler, a Lee safety scale, and a Hornady chamfer and deburring tools. I have similar results, but cost just a little more due to different components. I load 175 SMK's on 43.? grains of IMR 8208 XBR. I loaded 150 rounds last night in about 3 hours. Measuring every throw with a RCBS 10-10 beam scale. I use an RCBS single stage press that's much older than I am. What this ? "?" = whatever decimal i'm trying this time. For instance, last night I loaded at 43.2 grains. |
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Rough Breakdown buying used Brass
Brass .16 ($160/1k LC brass from EE) Bullet .30 (175g SMK $150/500) Powder .157 (Varget 44g per load, 7000g per 1lb jug $25/lb) Primer .03 (LRP $30/1k) Total .647 per round (Federal Match Equivalent) Midway Federal Premium Gold Medal Ammunition 308 Winchester 175 Grain Sierra MatchKing (1/5/14) 200 rounds $318 ~ $1.59/rnd (midway) 20 rds $30.99 ~$1.55/rnd (Natchez) Note: Using existing brass $0.487/rnd Note 2: using bullets at .10/rnd, existing brass $0.287/rnd |
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New reloader here. I've been working up loads for my Savage .308 using 168 SMKs and either Varget or 4064. Purchasing components locally (more $$$), I'm loading for about $0.70 per round. Not great, but half or less the cost of factory match ammo. Like someone else said, it's also shrunk my group sizes noticeably.
Prepping the brass is pretty time consuming. I've been trickling each charge, too, which is tedious. But the time it takes is worth it IMO. OTOH, I have found reloading to be relaxing while being challenging at the same time. I also take pride knowing I made the ammo I shoot. Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile |
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New reloader here. I've been working up loads for my Savage .308 using 168 SMKs and either Varget or 4064. Purchasing components locally (more $$$), I'm loading for about $0.70 per round. Not great, but half or less the cost of factory match ammo. Like someone else said, it's also shrunk my group sizes noticeably. Prepping the brass is pretty time consuming. I've been trickling each charge, too, which is tedious. But the time it takes is worth it IMO. OTOH, I have found reloading to be relaxing while being challenging at the same time. I also take pride knowing I made the ammo I shoot. Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile You get it. |
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My costs are:
$0.30 per Lake City Match Brass $0.21 per 155 gr Nosler Custom Comp HPBT $0.12 per 44 gr Power Pro 2000MR $0.04 per Winchester LR Primer $0.67 per round with once-fired brass. I'm on the third reload with this brass using an RCBS X-die from my SCAR 17... Cost per round keeps going down with each reload. Not certain that I will reload more than 5 times as I do not anneal. I could cut some corners and use cheaper brass, bullets and powder, but accuracy suffers. Might as well buy $560 cases of 7.62x51mm PPU from SGAmmo |
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Nosler's 1000 bullet bulk pack comes with 155 or 168 grain match bullets and retails around $230.00+ shipping. These are very good bullets and are the best value compared to anything else on the market. When I started reloading a 100 bullet box 168grain SMK's were available for around $8.00 when purchased in quantity. Even then they were considered pricey. If your club can get several thousand dollars collected Sierra will drop ship bullets to your door. The last time I remember us doing this was over a decade ago. It seems we needed close to a $1500 purchase to make it happen.
I expect you would need close to $3000 to make it happen nowadays. As time passes prices go up, old stocks still on the loading room shelf may seem like cheap ammo, but inflation and lost investment had the money been put to work are not taken into consideration. There is a certain satisfaction knowing one is well stocked. That is priceless. |
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I know some folks that have bought components over the years for ridiculous prices when some big retailers get in a jam and just horde the stuff. You will have to have your ducks in a row when the opportunity comes around because most of the time you will have to spend at least 10k to get in on such a deal. You will more than likely have to drive half way across the country. You will need to have the proper equipment to move and unload the newly purchased components but it can be done!
People just don't take into account how much stuff weighs when you buy large volumes loading materials! People gripe and complain when people charge a premium for small quantities like 1k but how much is a persons investment worth who stick 20k in a project and has to sit on it for 2-3 years? In that time someone has to have space for said components electricity cost to keep proper temps for powder so on and so on! I hit a heck of a deal his past spring when no one had anything available, but I was at the right place at the right time. I bought 5k lbs of once fired .308 brass almost all LC after expenses for travel labor and time I have .047 in each piece yes that is right under .05 cents a piece. I started to sell some off but I figured I'd never be able to buy it at that price again! Yes I will use it too, I do not load to resell. I and a few friends use everything we buy. We go all over shooting and we are able to do so by rolling our own. You can really save money if you do it on a large scale! |
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My long range precision round with my best efforts cost me $0.51each with 5 loadings on the brass, match primers, $21/pound powder and Nosler CustomComps. $0.71 each if I use my 185gr Berger Juggernauts.
Those prices are considered with buying 5k primer at a time 32lbs or powder at a time and LC brass, A pound of powder here and a thousand primers there and new brass and you will really jack up the price with current costs if you can eve find the components if you can even find the components. |
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I agree with the majority of the posters here who have found a cost savings reloading their own ammo.
So, in addition to their reasons for reloading, for myself, the satisfaction of reloading lies in the fact that I can... ...wake up first thing in the a.m., make myself a cup o' joe, go to the reloading bench and reload my own customized rounds that I'll fire off about two or three hours later. And for that, I am psyched, Danny 
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Before X-mas, midway had 150 FMJ-BT for $17.85 a 100 shipped. They were blems but they sure looked like and weighed the same as the Hornady 150 grains that I bought from scheels that cost $22.95 + tax per 100. I recommend the 155 gr Nosler Custom Competition HPBTs. You can get these from Powder Valley for ~$27.74/100 or $231.67/1k. Far, far more accurate than 150 gr FMJ and some people actually hunt deer with them as they fragment well given the thin jacket. I can shoot under 1 MOA with them through my SCAR 17. YMMV |
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