I was thinking about stocking brass for a potential loading setup in the future. My question is, should I make any considerations on storage before I start stacking boxes of used cartridges in the garage? Hoping to collect brass from the local indoor range since I am a range whore and go about 2-3 times a week.

Thanks for the input!
S

quote:

Originally posted by Siggity:
I was thinking about stocking brass for a potential loading setup in the future. My question is, should I make any considerations on storage before I start stacking boxes of used cartridges in the garage? Hoping to collect brass from the local indoor range since I am a range whore and go about 2-3 times a week.

Thanks for the input!
S

What calibers do you shoot? 5 gallon buckets work pretty well, if you're talking about large quantities. Home Depot/Lowes or paint store, as long as it has a lid. If and when you get started, I recommend sorting the brass, especially 45ACP, as some now come with small primers.

And yes, hoard as much as you can, especially if it's free! Oh, and I'll take any .357SIG that you don't want off your hands.

quote:

Originally posted by blueiron:
It cost me too much in the way of time.

Sorting brass, cleaning brass, inspecting brass, load development for particular guns and applications, setting up the press, actually reloading the ammo, chrono testing of the ammo, evaluation of the results, etc.

For a few calibers, it isn't bad.

For a bunch of calibers, it was a pain in the rear and I quit doing it.

I wish I had kept all my stuff now that I am retired and have more time.

Maybe it's your technique that needs evaluation. Collecting brass can take as little as 5min for 200rds, sorting, why? My tumbler cleans my brass, there is maybe 5min total time to load & unload the tumbler. Brass inspection is done as I reload.
Load workups can be as involved & complicated as you want them. I know many guys that just do one series & call it good, never change components after that. If you shoot a lot, there is no denying that reloading your own ammo saves you a lot of money. Time spent reloading can be as little or as much as you like. A good progressive & orderly approach to reloading can all be done quite quickly. I can pop into the garage & dot off 100rds on my 650 from go to finished in 10min. That is loading the primer tube, checking the powder charge & go. If everything is setup, the time needed to reload is quite small compared to other things we waste time doing.

I just finished loading 1400 rounds of 45apc,lead cost me nothing,brass cost me nothing,powder was from 4# jug=$64.00.
Primers from powder valley well that was about
$ 824.00.
Bottom line I shoot cheep.Real damn Cheap.
Now I know I got time in this,hell I need something to do,and I don't charge my self for a fricken hobby.
Do what you desire,my choice is to keep keeping doing as I damn well please.

quote:

Originally posted by 45 Cal:
I just finished loading 1400 rounds of 45apc,lead cost me nothing,brass cost me nothing,powder was from 4# jug=$64.00.
Primers from powder valley well that was about
$ 824.00.
Bottom line I shoot cheep.Real damn Cheap.
Now I know I got time in this,hell I need something to do,and I don't charge my self for a fricken hobby.
Do what you desire,my choice is to keep keeping doing as I damn well please.

Ralph, the guys that say it's not worth their time really have no idea how little time it takes. So unless you make about $300/hr, you will always save money reloading, EVEN considering the time.
I can easily do 500rds/hr on my 650, 650 if I am well organized & nothing happens. I load 45acp for 1/2 the cost of WWB from WAlly (I hate going to Wally). So I save a min of $170 reloading my own 45acp. I would have to make $300 to net $170 in todays tax climate. I personnaly know very few people that make $280/hr or $580K/yr. Reloading your own ammo is almost like being paid to shoot.

These are 2 very handy calculators:
Handgun Calculator (50/box)
Rifle Calculator (20/box)

If you wanted to go all out, shop around and you could pick up a Hornady LNL progressive, bullet feeder, case feeder (with all plate types), shell plates and dies (with extra LNL bushings for every die) for 9mm/.40/.45/.223/7.62x39/.308, an RCBS lockup die a tumbler and a scale for under $2k. Seems like a big investment but that will have you set for all the most common reloading people do (yes, I left a few calibers out but the dies and shell plates are only ~$40 for each extra size). If you go in with a few people (like my buddies and I are doing), it mitigates some of the startup cost and helps with ROI because you will chew through ammo faster. 4 guys will shoot considerably more than 1 especially if ammo is readily available. If you load it, they will shoot.

The best baseline I've found is loading only 230gr FMJ .45's, using picked up brass, you can pay for a Hornady LNL w/ .45 dies/plates, an RCBS lockup die, a tumbler and good digital scale in roughly 4-5k rounds. Not too bad really.

quote:

Originally posted by tlbailey1:

quote:

Originally posted by Siggity:
I was thinking about stocking brass for a potential loading setup in the future. My question is, should I make any considerations on storage before I start stacking boxes of used cartridges in the garage? Hoping to collect brass from the local indoor range since I am a range whore and go about 2-3 times a week.

Thanks for the input!
S

What calibers do you shoot? 5 gallon buckets work pretty well, if you're talking about large quantities. Home Depot/Lowes or paint store, as long as it has a lid. If and when you get started, I recommend sorting the brass, especially 45ACP, as some now come with small primers.

And yes, hoard as much as you can, especially if it's free! Oh, and I'll take any .357SIG that you don't want off your hands.

Thanks for the input. 5gal buckets are cheap so that will work for me.

I'll probably hang on the .357 sig. Been saving the factory-reloads i shoot (if that make sense--ultramax does an amazing job in my sig p226 at 20 yards, dirty flecks but accurate).

I may do a karma give-away on some of the other brass I probably will not use. I am pretty much restricted to my lane area now since they are tightening up the range policy. I usually sweep in what the last shooter left too.

quote:

Originally posted by Siggity:

quote:

Originally posted by tlbailey1:

quote:

Originally posted by Siggity:
I was thinking about stocking brass for a potential loading setup in the future. My question is, should I make any considerations on storage before I start stacking boxes of used cartridges in the garage? Hoping to collect brass from the local indoor range since I am a range whore and go about 2-3 times a week.

Thanks for the input!
S

What calibers do you shoot? 5 gallon buckets work pretty well, if you're talking about large quantities. Home Depot/Lowes or paint store, as long as it has a lid. If and when you get started, I recommend sorting the brass, especially 45ACP, as some now come with small primers.

And yes, hoard as much as you can, especially if it's free! Oh, and I'll take any .357SIG that you don't want off your hands.

Thanks for the input. 5gal buckets are cheap so that will work for me.

I'll probably hang on the .357 sig. Been saving the factory-reloads i shoot (if that make sense--ultramax does an amazing job in my sig p226 at 20 yards, dirty flecks but accurate).

I may do a karma give-away on some of the other brass I probably will not use. I am pretty much restricted to my lane area now since they are tightening up the range policy. I usually sweep in what the last shooter left too.

I hit a mother-load on reloading equipment and have listed some supplies and equipment in the classifieds. Like everyone said its silly not to do it. Reloading is like discovering you can walk on two legs instead of hopping on one just shooting. I have really enjoyed my new hobby!

S

So where in Kentucky are you?

I load 9 mm for about .20 per round...that's about .15 for 9 mm FMJ bullets, .035 for the Winchester Sm Pistol Primer and about .02 for the Win 231 powder charge. .... Walmart had them recently for $22.97 per hundred. So it's about .03 per shot....not a lot and I'm not counting the cost of the equipment...it's not as economically feasible as it once was. If you cast your own..you can cut the cost of the bullet to .02, if you don't count the cost of the equipment. ROd

quote:

Originally posted by Rodfac:
I load 9 mm for about .20 per round...that's about .15 for 9 mm FMJ bullets, .035 for the Winchester Sm Pistol Primer and about .02 for the Win 231 powder charge. .... Walmart had them recently for $22.97 per hundred. So it's about .03 per shot....not a lot and I'm not counting the cost of the equipment...it's not as economically feasible as it once was. If you cast your own..you can cut the cost of the bullet to .02, if you don't count the cost of the equipment. ROd

You are spending far too much on bullets, shop better. Precision Delta, MontanaGold, TJCon for plated, all are under $90/10000 delivered. There, just saved you 6c min/rd.

Montana gold 9 mm bullets are about 7.5 cents each when you buy a 4000 round case of them. That price is for 115 grain jacketed bullet. The others do cost more.

2.5 to 3 cents per primer is the price of primers from Powder Valley. It does depend on the brand and how many you get at once to off set the HAZ-Mat fees.

Powder is less than 1.5 cents per load. Again add the powder to the primer order to help off set those fees.

It comes out to about 11.5 cents a round in 9 mm. It is just under 6 dollars a box of 50.

I prefer a heavier bullet so my cost is a bit higher. I can't buy ammo at Wal-Mart even in 9 mm for that price.

My brass comes from factory ammo I have shot and from friends that are still shooting factory ammo. Brass cost to me is zero. I don't know how much the cost is for electricity to clean the brass. Media is cheap and I have not used the 40 pound of corncob yet to even try to figure that cost. It can't be much.

It still comes out to well under $10 a box of 50. Using plated or lead bullets will drop the price even more.

I wonder what is the cost of factory ammo tuned to the pistol you shoot the most in 9 mm will cost? Once you know that price you can figure the savings you are getting. Since it works out for me to be less than the cheapest factory ammo I can find, I must be doing alright.

Can you legally sell any "surplus"? I don't imagine there is a big market for no name hand loaded .357Sig rounds, but it might offset the setup cost and bulk purchases.

Maybe unokubi wants a new best friend.

quote:

Originally posted by SigPuppy:
Can you legally sell any "surplus"? I don't imagine there is a big market for no name hand loaded .357Sig rounds, but it might offset the setup cost and bulk purchases.

Legally no, you need a lic to manuf & manuf is selling. Three is also the KB factor. If someone wants to sue you for KBing their gun, then w/o insurance, even ewith, you are spending a lot of money to make very little.

I would have bought someone the equip to load with because I don't trust myself to not kill my own gun. But, I am planning to learn to hand load. Future warning: don't buy any gun in .357 from SigPuppy once he has claimed his first home made round.

Savings and satisfaction go along ways in reloading. Can I strech my shooting dollars reloading? If yes then reloading is for you. Still get the willies every time I reload for a new caliber.

When I first started reloading, it was all about how little I could spend per round. Now, it's all about the satisfaction of knowing that as long as I have mass quantities of the components on hand, I can load my own and never have to go to Wally World for ammo again.

Well, now that I'm actually reloading, I guess I'll add to this thread.

My initial start-up costs for just hard equipment was a little under $1400 set up to reload .40 and 9mm. I went with a Dillon RL550B, an RCBS RangeMaster 750 scale, and a dry media tumber.

With my current stock, reloading costs me:

.40 S&W: brass was free (range), powder (WST) is a penny, primers are 2.5 cents, and bullets (PrecisionDelta) are 12.5 cents = box of 50 for $8, or box of 250 for $40 (a 56% savings over the current cost of even a UMC megapack!)

9mm: brass was free (range), powder (WST) is a penny, primers are 2.5 cents, and bullets (PrecisionDelta) are 10.5 cents = box of 50 for $7, or a box of 250 for $35 (a 36% savings over the BLACK FRIDAY price of a UMC megapack! Or, still a 42% savings over the current cost of 100 rounds of WWB at WalMart)

So yes, there's money to be saved. Plus, I take great comfort in knowing that I have components on hand to have 5000 rounds of whatever I want to shoot, whenever I feel like assembling them. If SHTF, I like having that comfort.

The age old question...For me I know there is savings to be had, especially when I shoot off 1000's of rounds a month...However, the initial investment for my Hornady set-up and all the paraphenalia set me back a pretty penny..

Bottom line for me, is like the previous post said, "I know what I'm loading and there's a comfort there" However, the best part is the fun of reloading...It's very cathartic and a nice break from the chaos of work...