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Posted: 8/18/2010 9:20:24 AM EDT
| I'm thinking about buying reloading equipment but am wondering approximately how much a bullet does it cost (excluding labor)? What is the reliability of reloading, more susceptible to problems? What is a good manufacturer for reloading equipment? I'm sure this has probably been asked many times, if so just direct me to the existing links. |
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Just as reliable if you do good QC, more accurate as a rule without having to put
in to much effort. The more you work at it the more accurate you can get it. Makes of equipment are many , price point would help. I got my favorites as many others do but most makers have good products. Read much, ABC's of Reloading, Lyman, most reloading books have instruction on steps and order how to do them. Good Luck- Good Shooting. sdshooter........... |
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The cost to get started can be anywhere from $100 to infinity.
Hornady, Dillon Precision, and RCBS are brands that I have had good success with. Lee will be your cheapest and you will see why, not to bash them, they are a decent entry level press. Typically my reloads are more accurate than factory loads and cost me about half. I can reload 5.56 practice ammo for about $150 per thousand and 45ACP lead ammo for less than $100 per thousand. |
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Large learning curve; however if you shoot enough, or can't bring yourself to buy .45 and 6.8 SPC (I have 3 of these babies to feed), you'll learn fairly quickly.
People here are of great experience and wisdom; they are always willing to help. I started on a borrowed RCBC, so initial investment was $0 there Bought some 6.8 bullets before I even had a press $73 Bought a Lee 3 Hole Turret for $100 off EE Converted it to a 4 turret and got some extra parts - $75 So now I get .40 and .45 bullets (had been saving brass) for like $150 (500 of each caliber) Down to Bass Pro and bought primers + Powder - say $100. BAM - I made 1,000 rounds of ammo. Then the sickness began . . . No way in hell am I trimming 2K cases of saved .223 or 500 cases of 6.8 Enter Giraud Trimmer, exit $450 
Had a issue with an uncharged case - BAM RCBS ChargeMaster $279 (less than the cost of the pistol or my finger(s) or my eye(s) . . . .) Bottom line for me is this: 6.8 is $1 a round - that's expensive when I can make them in my garage for about .35 cents. Decent .45 - I run 185 g JHP - is freaking expensive - what is a case of that going for? I loaded 500 rounds for maybe $110 tops I am guessing. I left out a lot I added to make loading easier for me - no super expensive stuff - and then a few sets of dies here and there. Once you overcome the learning curve and make your first X amount of ammo to recover the cost of your hardware (Press, dies, etc), it's att produced at cost. Better ammo, cheaper. Dooes consume time though. |
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I'm mainly thinking .223 That's kinda the gravy round. If you're not sure and you want to get in cheat to start, a Lee challenger lock press kit or an anniversary kit is a good place to start. Its a single stage and will help you learn how everything works and what it does. As stated before, you need to buy a few books before you jump in. "Metallic Cartridge Reloading 3rd Edition" bt M.L. McPherson is one of the best places to start, However, its been out of print for years and when you find it it will cost you 3 to 4 times the cover price for a copy in good shape. Next is "Lee Modern Reloading Manual - 2nd Edition" great info, or "The ABC's of Reloading 8th Edition" Also good to go, Lyman's Reloading Handbook is great for the amount of load data it has in it as well. Just remember, before you LOAD, LOAD, LOAD, first, READ, READ, READ!!! If you like reloading but are on a budget, you can upgrade to a Lee loadmaster I have one and its a pretty decent machine, will load about 600 .223 an hour. If you want to go even faster or increase your reliability somewhat, you can look at the Dillon 650. Big leap in price, Big leap in performance. Just remember, you'll learn more faster if you start on a sinlge stage, and you'll always have it to use even if you upgrade to a turret or progressive. I still use mine for case swaging, resizing, and priming, its just easier to do so with some rounds. |
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Reloading is super easy. It will never save you money. You will shoot more, and the ammo will be much better.
I am a competitive shooter (lots of disciplines). Reloading is the only way I can do it. I haven't had to buy ammo since about 2005. I shoot 10,000 rounds or so of practice and matches each year. The reloaded ammo costs less and shoots better. For me, it is like shooting Federal Gold Medal Match for the price of Wolf or Winchester White Box. Learning to reload with .223 is more difficult than .308 or .45. But, you can certainly do it. The only cases I ever stick are .223 cases. We really need to know more about what you want to do with the ammo to help you. |
| thanks for the info guys, to be honest I never knew this forum existed. I posted this in the ammunition forum because I never knew where to look for reloading. There is a ton of info here that answers most of my questions. I was mostly interested in .223 but also have 12ga,410, 308, 40 S&W (glock so can't relaod), and am planing on getting a big bore for my AR which I hear as super expensive to shoot. Thanks for the help. |
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I was mostly interested in .223 but also have 12ga,410, 308, 40 S&W (glock so can't relaod), and am planing on getting a big bore for my AR which I hear as super expensive to shoot. Thanks for the help. That's another myth. You can reload for .40 in the Glock...many here do often. Reloading shotgun is a different animal and different equipment is needed. Honestly, with shotgun ammo as cheap as it is there's little reason to load it if you don't already have the tools. |
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thanks for the info guys, to be honest I never knew this forum existed. I posted this in the ammunition forum because I never knew where to look for reloading. There is a ton of info here that answers most of my questions. I was mostly interested in .223 but also have 12ga,410, 308, 40 S&W (glock so can't relaod), and am planing on getting a big bore for my AR which I hear as super expensive to shoot. Thanks for the help. It's a big place and takes some time to find your way around. |
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I was mostly interested in .223 but also have 12ga,410, 308, 40 S&W (glock so can't relaod), and am planing on getting a big bore for my AR which I hear as super expensive to shoot. Thanks for the help. That's another myth. You can reload for .40 in the Glock...many here do often. Reloading shotgun is a different animal and different equipment is needed. Honestly, with shotgun ammo as cheap as it is there's little reason to load it if you don't already have the tools. Yup - and SG isn't my fav HD weapon, so I hardly even shoot it. I have plenty in reserve. |
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I reload for 45acp,223,and 30-06. I will shortly be reloading for 30-30,44 mag,9mm,38/357,45-70 and 30 carbine. It will take some time depending on how much you shoot to get back your initial investment. Look at it as you will spend the same amount of money but shoot more. The technical things you will learn reloading are well worth the cost. To give you an example of savings is difficult but almost all my calibers will average out to 50% of store cost . I will be able to reload Hornady Leverevolution 30-30 for about $8 a box, it $21 or so in the store,My cost for 223 will be about $180 per 1k. I haven't reloaded a round yet that didn't shoot more consistantly than factory rounds due to more consistent powder charges, seating depths and brass length. Reloading is a very fun and educational hobby regardless of savings, I enjoy it as much as shooting and one hobby feeds the other. |
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Funny how I was just thinking about this. I probably have $1,000 in reloading equipment so depending on how much your saving (which depends on what you're reloading) and what quantity you're shooting you can eventually save some money. However, I hope you'd enjoy doing this as a hobby because it will take quite a bit of your time. And it may take reloading for several years for you to recoup your money, depending on what ammo and what quantity your reloading. I first started reloading in 1980 then quit for years due to the availability of cheap surplus ammo. Why spend the time? However, due to recent events I'm back into it full scale. Mainly so that I don't have to worry about empty selves.
If your not shooting regularly and shooting a lot AND you mainly want to do it to save money then I probably wouldn't recommend it. I've had no problems reloading 5.56 and can do it for about 50% off the bulk online sale price; even more compared to retail prices. If you shoot 1500 rounds, or more, per year then you should have recouped your initial investment within about 3 years, not including your time. Good luck on your decision. |
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I reload for 45acp,223,and 30-06. I will shortly be reloading for 30-30,44 mag,9mm,38/357,45-70 and 30 carbine. It will take some time depending on how much you shoot to get back your initial investment. Look at it as you will spend the same amount of money but shoot more. The technical things you will learn reloading are well worth the cost. To give you an example of savings is difficult but almost all my calibers will average out to 50% of store cost . I will be able to reload Hornady Leverevolution 30-30 for about $8 a box, it $21 or so in the store,My cost for 223 will be about $180 per 1k. I haven't reloaded a round yet that didn't shoot more consistantly than factory rounds due to more consistent powder charges, seating depths and brass length. Reloading is a very fun and educational hobby regardless of savings, I enjoy it as much as shooting and one hobby feeds the other. Borrowing my sig line? 
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..................... Then the sickness began . . . No way in hell am I trimming 2K cases of saved .223 or 500 cases of 6.8 Enter Giraud Trimmer, exit $450
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After sticker shock a year ago I'm now contemplating a Giraud Your hands will thank you. No way I am trimming 5K cases or whatever. It would really take the fun out of loading for me. But then again I am an old, arthritic-handed, lazy SOB when it come to drudge work. ETA: I loaded 500 or so 6.8, so now I don't have to cringe every time I pull the trigger. $1 a round certainly limited my willingness to shoot up my 800 accumulated rounds. Now I shoot 100-200 rounds each week of 6.8 and enjoy the hell out of it - yes loading JUST that round has saved me money. Same with my .45s - I like quality ammo, so I load up 500 JHP and don't have to worry about the replacement cost of the ammo. It's very liberating to be able to shoot without worring so much about what it's costing and the cost of getting more ammo. Besides that I have a SandStorm can and what good is all the do-dads if you can't use them? |
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Just to throw numbers out there (keep in mind I'm JUST starting as well) I can throw .45 together for this:
1k Missouri Bullet company 200gr SWC- ~$80 shipped 1lb of Unique- $20 (for easy math, figure 7gr per round=1,000rds loaded per pound) 1k of LP primers- $35 1k of range pickup brass- $45 (but this cost will halve every time I reload them) So right there, I have 1k of 200gr SWC for $180. WWB is currently sitting on the shelves for $32.99 (although I saw it back home in IL for $34.99 2 weeks ago). $180 vs. $360 after tax. I'll have my reloading stuff paid for within 3,000rds because I'm getting into it for as cheap as reasonably possible while still not buying crap parts. I'm not sure of the economics of .223, but I don't want to deal with trimming so I'm going to avoid it, at least for now. Another thing to consider, if you get another barrel for your Glock that you can shoot lead in, it would pay for itself quickly (roughly 1,000rds) over buying FMJ/plated bullets. The only thing that really adds up is time. If that doesn't bother you, welcome to the club! Posted Via AR15.Com Mobile |
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Dang .45 is expensive! So much for thinking about getting a .45, I'll stick with 9mm. I'm not sure how you got to the $360 per 1k of Winchester but Natchez does have Remington for $18.99 a box. $18.99 is only for 50 rounds. 100 round box of Rem UMC FMU is $36.99+shipping Around here 100 rounds of Win white box .45acp FMJ's are $38.99+tax. To buy 1K of them would easily be over $400 (for me, locally) |
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Dang .45 is expensive! So much for thinking about getting a .45, I'll stick with 9mm. I'm not sure how you got to the $360 per 1k of Winchester but Natchez does have Remington for $18.99 a box. Yes it is and part of the reason I started reloading - that and 6.8 make it cost effective. I had a case of .45 on BO for months. I made my own case. |
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Dang .45 is expensive! So much for thinking about getting a .45, I'll stick with 9mm. I'm not sure how you got to the $360 per 1k of Winchester but Natchez does have Remington for $18.99 a box. $18.99 is only for 50 rounds. 100 round box of Rem UMC FMU is $36.99+shipping Around here 100 rounds of Win white box .45acp FMJ's are $38.99+tax. To buy 1K of them would easily be over $400 (for me, locally) I am guesing I loaded 500 for $80-$110 or so, not counting the time it to remove the squib stuck in the pistol on my first try at .45 
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thanks for the info guys, to be honest I never knew this forum existed. I posted this in the ammunition forum because I never knew where to look for reloading. There is a ton of info here that answers most of my questions. I was mostly interested in .223 but also have 12ga,410, 308, 40 S&W (glock so can't relaod), and am planing on getting a big bore for my AR which I hear as super expensive to shoot. Thanks for the help. Man I wish some one had told me you can't reload for a Glock 50K rounds ago. As long as you don't confuse a 40 with a 357 sig. you will be fine. 40 should be loaded up to medium power with medium powder. The people who KB them overload with a fast powder. I have 40 brass that I have reloaded over 10 times. As to presss's you can never go wrong with blue. If you reload much your press will pay for itself fast. My 550 payed for itself in 4 months. |
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Dang .45 is expensive! So much for thinking about getting a .45, I'll stick with 9mm. I'm not sure how you got to the $360 per 1k of Winchester but Natchez does have Remington for $18.99 a box. $18.99 is only for 50 rounds. 100 round box of Rem UMC FMU is $36.99+shipping Around here 100 rounds of Win white box .45acp FMJ's are $38.99+tax. To buy 1K of them would easily be over $400 (for me, locally) Obviously I didn't know that your Winchester was a box of 100; I assumed it was 50. Yeah, I know what that means. |
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