quote:

Originally posted by exx1976:
By the way - now is a Shitty time to get into it since powder is very scarce. Between the hoarders, import/export problems at foreign ports, and fires at manufacturing plants, it's the perfect storm for screwing availability.

Define hoarder. I hear this a lot, I'm not sure most knw what a hoarder is. I have lots of primers & powders. I am always. Buyer @ a good price. Because of this, I hav not missed a weekend shooting since the great shortge started.

quote:

Originally posted by fredj338:

Define hoarder. I hear this a lot, I'm not sure most knw what a hoarder is. I have lots of primers & powders. I am always. Buyer @ a good price. Because of this, I hav not missed a weekend shooting since the great shortge started.

Hoarder=someone who had enough common sense to see the shortages coming before they actually happened and stocked up in advance to weather the shortages.

I'm guilty as charged.

Whenever this topic comes up (usually people that are thinking about reloading for the first time), I tell them, "it depends..."

Questions that come up in my mind starts with the usage of the ammo FIRST:

1) How many rounds do you expect to shoot per day?
2) What kind of shooting are you planning on doing: defensive classes, 3 gun, silhouette, punching paper only, accuracy shooting?

3) What did you consider in terms of cost for equipment, and then, the cost of components?

To me, shooting is analogous to wanting to buy a computer It comes back to "what are you going to do with it?". THEN, we can talk about what your options are.

But if you want the quick answer, YES, you will save money over boxed ammo from a store or even the internet. The more involved answer is, add in all the starting costs, and it'll take quite awhile to recoupe.

My situation, my original RCBS, which I still have mounted on the bench, I still use to this day and I bought that back around 1978 or 79, loading primarily .38spl and .357magnum and some .44 magnum around 1980-83. I stopped reloading after around 1991 but resumed in 2010. By 2012, the Hornandy LNL entered the picture. But, today, and I mean by July of this year, it's paid for itself along with all the accessories I attached to the basic progressive, thanks in part to all of the gouging that drove up .223 ammo to nearly a $1 a round when I was reloading it for about $0.18.

Just for the record, I do divide things out as accurately as I can, based on a 7,000 gr. per pound of powder (I'm not going to actually measure a full 1 lb. to see if that's true). I add in the cost of shipping and hazmat as well. Today, I reload 9mm at $0.15 per round at current costs, and 45ACP at $0.18 per round. To date, I've probably reloaded nearly 10,000 rounds between 9mm, .45ACP, .38spl, .357, and .223. with an average savings of 50% over boxed ammo at any given time.

Everyone on any forum can come in below my costs but sometimes, living in CA means higher taxes so I'm screwed but I'm still saving.

Reminds me of when I bought my Steyr M95 in 8X56R. I had the stuff to reload it before I even got the gun. It has never fired one round of the old surplus corrosive ammo'ed stuff since I've had it.

reloading is worth it to me. If you shoot 2-3xs a year and don't care about the quality and type of ammo you feed your sig, maybe it doesn't pay. I have learned a tremendous amount & find the ammo I make is about 50-60% less then if I had bought it retail.

Where I live 50 rnd factory 9 mm costs at least usd 35.00
Reloading usd 12.00 per 50 shoots.
If you shoot ipsc at least $ 140.00 with factory ammo vs $48,00 each match. Make it 10 times a year for a championship.... add training, plinking and so on, add revolvers and rifles.... In my case U spare over 1400 dollars a year.
And the reloaded ammo is most of the fimes far better than factory.

I have found that it's typically half give or take of what store bought is if you compare the components apples to apples. This is for pistol, I have not started rifle as of yet.

I also only load for fun while stockpiling.. If I don't use it all I'm not worried, but my stash grows weekly.

The payback, excluding benefits such as customization and accuracy, really depends on what you are shooting.

Lately I've been shooting 416 Rigby. The cheapest factory ammo is $5 a round, and it ranges up to $12 a squeeze for Kynoch ammo. After you have the brass, my costs are about $1.50 each, maybe $2.00 if I'm using fancy bullets like Woodleighs. The payback for the whole setup in that situation is less than 100 rounds.

We're getting some unusually good answers. It comes down to there being no really good comparisons. Keep in mind the idea of shortages and not being able to find the same components. Also, remember that factory ammo supplies empty cases to use in the future. The time factor is also or could be an issue. I enjoy it, so I don't figure in any time cost.

An above poster mentioned your intended use. No reason to include expensive self defense bullets, or not after you test their point of impact against other projectiles. If you plan on using your reloads for self defense, well, OK.

Sure, the number of rounds reloaded will vary between posters here. Just 9mm, my primary caliber, I have 8,000 rounds in ammo cans. Those are the one's I haven't fired yet. My experiences vary between calibers, .38, .357, .44 special and 44 magnum as the primary ones.

I'd suggest you not bother with .25 ACP just because its such a pain. Or its a waste of primers.. I speak from experience. It can be done, but its painful on the fingers.

Some calibers present problems. I've been on a .32-20 kick of recent times. Those have weak easy to crumple cases. I've ruined more of those cases than all other calibers combined.

Be a hoarder. There is a good possibility you won't bee able to find the components you want when you want them. I can because for the last 50+ years I've been stockpiling. Call it hoarding if you want. Do it.

Too many replies to read so if some else has already said this so be it, but I read somewhere that reloading doesn’t really save you money, it just lets you shoot more…