Posted: 5/16/2007 5:08:50 PM EDT
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I need advice from the ARFCOM Hive. Ammo prices being what they are....Should I consider getting in to reloading my own or get a .22LR conversion for one of my AR's?? I mostly shoot .223 and .45acp....and the occasional 9mm. I weighed out the cost for components, press, etc. and the biggest factor that I can't get past is.....time. I just don't feel like I have a ton of time to dedicate to reloading. I do love to shoot and would shoot weekly if I had a nice backlog of ammo. Thoughts????? Lex |
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Loading pistol cal stuff is fast & easy. I have several Dillon SDB's and can load 200 to 300 rounds in an hour. Rifle cartriges are another matter. I've done all my rifle reloading on a single stage press and it takes time. I have a Lee progressive that I need to drag out and set up for 223! One thing often overlooked is space for all this stuff. Do you live in an apartment or house with a garage or workshop area? All the brass cleaning & sorting can be a little dusty and it is nice to have the press mounted to a bench in a dedicated area of a shop or garage. I shoot alot of FA so reloading is the only way to go in my case. Shooting semi you can load enough ammo in a single afternoon for 3 trips to the range. |
| Reload, you'll need the initial investment of the equipment and dedicated space and devote some time to it, but if your time is valuable, which is a common complaint to taking up reloading, buy the higher end progressive presses. My last production run of 223 came to about $80/K, Wolf is now selling for $230/K from ammoman. I saved $600 already! |
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Reload!!! I got started a couple months ago....I mainly load 45acp and have been reloading with cast lead bullets and its been running me about $3.50 per 50 rounds!!! I have over 3000 rounds reloaded now and as someone commented in another post...that comes to $800.00 + worth of ammo if it was cheap factory ammo. heres how my supplies break down: 1#powder= $20.00 = 1300+ loads = .01 per load cast lead bullets= $20.00 per 500= .04 each ranier plated bullets = $80.00 per 1000= .08 each primers=$25 per 1000= .02 each cast lead= $3.50 per 50 FMJ= $5.50 per 50 as far as time goes....I am using a single stage press....usually I will deprime and size a couple hundred cases.....a day or so later reprime...and later load....it breaks the monotony of doing it all in one sitting. I have loaded about 800+/- rounds of clean, primed and sized brass in about 4-4 1/2 hours where if I did it all in one sitting it would have probabally taken a day and a half. If it wasnt for me reloading I would NEVER have 3000+ rounds of 45 acp sitting around. |
I thought the arfcom answer was get both  I have two DPMS dedicated .22LR uppers (a 16" and a 20") and they work pretty well. DPMS is "redesigning" them now, so they are hard or impossible to find now. I am curious to know what they are doing. I don't reload, but may go that route one day. For me, I have neither time, or space to do it (house with neither garage nor basement). |
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I am going to go .22 If only Kuehl Precision were still making uppers....  Somebody should email him about the M4 barrels and modified Ceiner Kits... I can make my own upper.... CXS |
