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Posted: 2/15/2015 6:05:41 PM EDT
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After the equipment, Whats the avg, non panic time cost, to make rounds?
1- 223/5.56 plinking stuff not match quality 2- 9m 3- 40cal thank you |
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for easy math lets say half to a third of the cost of factory ammo.
Over the years you can accumulate thousands of dollars of equipment. You invest more money trying to either increase production rates or the degree of precision. In the end you might not save any money at all, but you will shoot more and enjoy the process a lot. One day you might own a gun that has never fired a factory round.... |
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Quoted: After the equipment, Whats the avg, non panic time cost, to make rounds? 1- 223/5.56 plinking stuff not match quality 2- 9m 3- 40cal thank you A definitive answer to your question is impossible to give with the limited data you provide. Look at just the press; I have a Dillon XL650 w/casefeeder, Dillon trimmer, and Dillon Swager with caliber conversions and quick change setups to do 16 different calibers. My press, bought over the last 12 years is worth well over $4K today but you could buy a Lee hand held reloader POS for about $100. Actually, the largest variable is the volume of components you want to buy at a time and this is dictated by the amount you shoot per year. Do you shoot 400rds per year per caliber? Do you shoot 15,000rds per year per caliber? Can you bundle the purchases so that you can take advantage of discounts? Can you buy in bulk locally, thus avoiding shipping and hazmat or do you have to buy on line and pay shipping and hazmat? Next is the type and weight of the bullets you want to use. Your bullets are by far the most expensive component of the 4 used to reload. Common, light for caliber bullets cost less each while heavy for caliber and odd calibers cost much more. Plain lead bullets usually cost less than plated bullets which cost less than FMJ bullets which cost less than custom HP bullets. Your listed calibers are all common, however, you don't say what bullet weight and type you want. The decision on how much you buy at a time has a large effect on the cost per round so if you're talking buying at the rate of a 1lb can of powder, 100 bullets, and 100 primers, all bought on-line with shipping and hazmat, then you're talking expensive, really expensive. If, on the other hand, you're talking 4ea, 8lb kegs of powder, sleeves (5K per ea) of primers, and 5-6K bullets bought from a local supplier or with negotiated savings from an on-line supplier, then you're talking about significant savings. Without knowing what you want to buy, what kind of quantities, what bullet weights and types, what type of press, whether or not you have bulk suppliers available locally, etc., etc., an authoritative estimate of the cost of your calibers is impossible. |
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I agree w/COSteve's comments about quantity of component purchases, and generally buy at least 16-24# of powder per order, adding in various primers on the same purchase to eat away/distribute HazMat fees across online component purchases.
Aside from initial testing purposes, I also buy bullets in at least 1K quantities, more often in case quantities. Overall cost per round for .223 and 9mm is ~half of current retail prices for buying in quantity, which more or less gives me match-appropriate ammo at ~1/2 bulk blaster ammo prices. For .308, I'm more focused on match type ammo, so even with buying some once fired brass, I'm at less than 1/2, closer to 1/3rd of match ammo prices. This is all on today's pricing - much more 'savings' when prices were spiked upwards into insanity, or if/when the next 'panic' hits.. |
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After the equipment, Whats the avg, non panic time cost, to make rounds? 1- 223/5.56 plinking stuff not match quality Uisng 55gr FMJBT as an example, Hornady Bullets ($0.09), CCI 41 Primer ($0.037*), and 25gr H335 ($0.086*) = $0.213** per round with your brass which will reload 5 to 15 times depending on the brand and powder charge. These prices are today's, and can be beaten depending on components actually used, source, and purchase volume. * Hazmat included in powder cost. ** Shipping and sales tax excluded. 2- 9m 115gr PRN shipped cost same as 223 above; assume powder costs same whenit should cost far less but 1/5 the quantity; primers cost 0.01 less . . . under $0.13 per round. 3- 40cal No experience, go price bullets, powder, primers thank you |
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For me, loading more "match" quality ammo is what makes it worth it. Instead of $1.00-$1.50 per round I'm making the same if not better for $0.50-.60 a round. (308).
It's hard for me to buy factory 9mm at today's prices,socially since I can make 1k for around $120-140 |
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I'm sitting on a lot of 55 pulls I got for < $.07 each delivered,
Wolf primers that were $16 per thousand, and wc844 that was $85 for 8lbs (with hazmat maybe $100?). All of that was bought between Zeros election and Newtown. Will it ever get that cheap again? Who knows but that's why you stock up when it's cheap. I wouldn't be buying anything in bulk in this market. Everything goes in cycles and this one is on the downside. |
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Quoted: After the equipment, Whats the avg, non panic time cost, to make rounds? 1- 223/5.56 plinking stuff not match quality 2- 9m 3- 40cal thank you About 1/3 to half the cost, and no ammo shortages after you stock up. |
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Quoted: All depends if you buy in bulk or small quantity's, and if you shopped around for the best price.. About 1/3 to half the cost, and no ammo shortages after you stock up. Long story short, dryflash3 has it. You should be able to reliably be able to buy components to assemble quality ammo for 1/2 or better the cost. Add the reloading tools (dies, caliber conversions, etc. and you'll increase it for the first 1K or so but even then, you'll do well. I've got components I bought in very large quantities years ago that allow me to still handload 55grn 5.56 ammo for 8.1¢ per round ($81/k) which is a steal today. I've also go components for 45 Colt that I bought only last year when it was hard to get everything that allow me to load 255grn lead for 17½¢ per round ($8.75/box) and 255grn plated for 19¢ per round ($9.50/box). It depends upon how hard you look, how you buy, and how lucky you are finding stuff. |
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Quoted: for easy math lets say half to a third of the cost of factory ammo. Over the years you can accumulate thousands of dollars of equipment. You invest more money trying to either increase production rates or the degree of precision. In the end you might not save any money at all, but you will shoot more and enjoy the process a lot. One day you might own a gun that has never fired a factory round.... 223:
9mm:
40 S&W:
300BLK is my pricey round with 208A-Max and 220 SMK running 30-40cents ea. In the end you actually don't save any money - you just shoot a hell of a lot more than everyone else. You'll find that when you buy in bulk you stop counting dollars as you throw lead down-range and just have fun which ends up eating up any savings you might have expected. -Millbarge |
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If you cast your own bullets and use pull-down powders; 9mm, .45acp sub .10c w/ pull-down bullets and powder .223 rem sub14c .308 about 21-34c a rnd depending on bullet
I bought HEAVILY before zero was elected so have mega-stash but buy components when deals are available. |
| It's neither super fast or super cheap to reload. It's a world of tradeoffs and the quicker you load, the more it's going to cost. It is sort of cheaper, but I figure 6-7K rounds to reach the break even point. Free range brass is the only way to get there quicker. It's in the math, at a .10 a round savings and a minimum of $600 in equipment to do it slow and it's a long haul just to break even. Even if you extra cheap it out, and $400 for everything, it's still many a hundreds to buy bullets primers and powder. And if you want that to be cheaper you have to buy 6K bullets and primers and 8lbs of powder which is another $1K out of your pocket to try and save money. Then you'll break, spill, wear things out, buy manuals and more dies and tumblers and now you'll never really break even, but who cares as it's own fun. |
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You really see savings when you start reloading with premium bullets. Hunting ammo, precision 223 and 308 ammo is much cheaper when you load your own. For example, I can reload for my 416 Rigby for about 1.70 per round. Retail for the same bullet in a factory round is about $7 each. My .308 FGMM clones are less than 1/3 of the factory stuff. And reloading is a hobby in and of itself.  And yet the only one folks seem to 'demand' it pay for itself.  If I really wanted to save money, I would sell all my guns.  |
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For me, loading more "match" quality ammo is what makes it worth it. Instead of $1.00-$1.50 per round I'm making the same if not better for $0.50-.60 a round. (308). It's hard for me to buy factory 9mm at today's prices,socially since I can make 1k for around $120-140 Sir, plus 1 for when loading match quality ammo. Most of what I reload is match quality ammo and I'm quite meticulous about consistency. Shooting .223 Rem and .308 Win. with quality hand loads is one thing, at least there's something to compare costs such as BHA or FGMM. While I haven't priced either of those two factory cartridges for some time there is no question in my mind that I can reload cartridges that are at least as accurate if not more so than what I can buy. Reloading also offers me the option to moly my bullets. Have you ever seen factory match ammo with moly coated bullets for sale? Since I also shoot 260 Rem in competition there is literally no such thing as factory match ammo available in this cartridge. Reloading gives me a range of options in my choice of cartridge that there is simply no factory ammo available. On the other hand I also cast my bullets that I use for .38spl, .357mag, 40S&W, 45ACP, 9mm, and .45-70. I get most of my casting material from a local garage that will let me take a coffee can full of wheel weights when ever I want so my material costs are negligible for bullets. That leaves primers and bullets since I literally have buckets full of range brass that was mostly given to me. Primers run about $30.00/1K these days and the powders I use I can generally buy at local shops for between $25.00-$30.00/lb. Therefore my cost/round for any of the above pistol cartridges is about $.06. The .45-70 cartridges cost a bit more because I use gas checks on the bullets and about 4X as much powder/round. Like COSteve said it really depends on how much you're willing to shop around and what kind of deals you make. I took a trip to OKC last year to shoot in the CMP matches there and during the drive to and from I probably stopped at two dozen or more different gun stores. My wife was looking them up on her laptop as we traveled. I ended up buying a variety of bullets, powder, and primers that were selling for excellent prices and when I finally got home I had spent well over $500.00 but I really had a lot of each of the various components that are often not to be found around where I live. HTH, 7zero1 |
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This... I can't believe some of the crap I read in these threads. Some of you must be buying components at Sportsmans warehouse. Quoted:
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$0.17 per round .223 $0.12 per round 9mm $0.13 per round .45 This... I can't believe some of the crap I read in these threads. Some of you must be buying components at Sportsmans warehouse. I buy Hornady 55gr fmj or SP in the 6,000 pc box when they're on sale. I take full advantage of Xtreme Bullet's Brass Credit program (get a LOT of range pickups) and only pay cost of shipping brass to them. Also buy primers in large quantity (min 10,000) and "quality" (Hornady XTP) bullets in large quantity when on sale. Buy in bulk, load high round counts per session, not too hard to get quality ammo at super cheap out of pocket costs. |
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.223 with 55gr Hornady fmjbt or SP-0.16/rd. 9mm with any bullet- 0.06/rd. 45ACP with any bullet-0.07/rd. How much do I save? Absolutely nothing, I just get to shoot 2-4 times as much with higher quality ammo. Quoted:
.223 with 55gr Hornady fmjbt or SP-0.16/rd. 9mm with any bullet- 0.06/rd. 45ACP with any bullet-0.07/rd. How much do I save? Absolutely nothing, I just get to shoot 2-4 times as much with higher quality ammo. Casting your own? .06/rd is the cheapest I've ever gotten any .45 bullet. Quoted:
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$0.17 per round .223 $0.12 per round 9mm $0.13 per round .45 This... I can't believe some of the crap I read in these threads. Some of you must be buying components at Sportsmans warehouse. I remember when a buddy of mine was excited about his score of TAC for $280/ 8lbs |
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9mm
Powder-$30 lb need 4.5 Brass-25k need 7 Primers -30/k need 7 Bullets 480/7000 black bullets So in a 7,000 round batch you spent a grand or 142 per k or 14.2 cents per round Figure this is 120 per k cheaper than any 124 grain commercial. You just saved 840 on ammo in 7k rounds |
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Why look at as in cost.. Look at it as ammo whenever you want it, without driving all over town. thats pretty much the way I look at it anymore.. also, most people forget to factor in the cost of equipment. Once you have spent $200.00 or more on equipment, it's going to take a lot of reloading for that investment to pay off...at least Im assuming thats the case, Im too lazy to do that calculation. Another thing to consider is the time it involved in reloading. I actually went many, many years without touching any of my reloading stuff because I just didn't want to spend the time doing it....of course factory ammo and other surplus was cheap and plentiful during that time frame. Im now going in the other direction, loading and shooting my own instead of factory ammo. |
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You will hear this many times because it is typically true- I started reloading to save money and I ended up shooting twice as much.
Most of my plinking 9mm and 223 ammo costs about half of buying it at the store. Is it worth my time? I think so, especially when my ammo is twice as accurate as the cheap ammo. |
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One thing I always encourage potential new reloaders to do is try to find someone locally that does it. See if they will let you make some ammo on their equipment with their supervision. That should absolutely tell you if the hobby is for you or not.
I got started when I was 16/17 when a police officer friend showed me how to make my own 45ACP ammo on his press. As soon as I made my first round I was instantly hooked. |
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Just remember the hidden cost, I've been doing case prep for the last two weeks now on a batch of 223 but how many rounds is your batch? How many hours total? My only ar15 is a 24" precision build. I buy brass already processed for it. Yes it raises my cpr but it saves tons of time. I like loading. I don't like brass prep |
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Here's my short treatise on the economics of reloading:
80% of the cost of reloading is the cost of the projectile. You can't move the cost of powder much, and its a minor % of the total. Likewise, you cant move the cost of primers much, and its a small % of the total. Cases are essentially free and last a long time, unless you are a lousy scrounger and have no friends who shoot. So I ignore that cost. If you want to reduce the cost per round, look at reducing the cost per projectile. Buy cheaper bullets, buy in larger quantities, or get into casting your own. |
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but how many rounds is your batch? How many hours total? My only ar15 is a 24" precision build. I buy brass already processed for it. Yes it raises my cpr but it saves tons of time. I like loading. I don't like brass prep Quoted:
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Just remember the hidden cost, I've been doing case prep for the last two weeks now on a batch of 223 but how many rounds is your batch? How many hours total? My only ar15 is a 24" precision build. I buy brass already processed for it. Yes it raises my cpr but it saves tons of time. I like loading. I don't like brass prep 3/4 of a ice cream bucket full
Probably 800-900 or so pieces, doing the prep between homework assignments just me and my rock chucker so it takes a while. I don't normally count until I add primers as I seem to cull through all of the case prep process. |
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