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Thread: Figuring costs of reloading

  1. #21
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    My only wish is that one day I will be able to say factory ammo is cheaper then reloading. But then everything here at the south of Africa is expensive.

    Quick calculations......... I reload 9mm and 40 for around $0.16 per round and factory 9mm is around $0.40 and 40 around $0.50 per round.

    You guys in the States buys South African ammo, mil surp and other South African components cheaper then what we can get them this side.

    Jokingly we want to import South African Ammo from the States back into South Africa, we might still score that way.

    Sent from my SM-J530F using Tapatalk

  2. #22
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    I think this is a really dependent on what you are shooting. I only shoot 9mm and have found brass case 9 mm stuff as low as $.14/round, and steel case in the $.12/round range. I will continue to insist that is really hard to beat, even shooting cheap components like plated bullets.

    Now other calibers (like you 40 S&W), or specialized loads - totally agree that is a different story. And pistol ammo sees the biggest gains from optimization. I also love shooting powder puff pistol loads... like you I have some soft gun game loads that barely dribble out of the ejection port...

  3. #23
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    The savings per shot for my boomers (45-70, 44 Mag, 45 Colt) makes reloading for them a no brainer. I also don't shoot them nearly as much as I do 5.56, so reloading them is not a burden on my time. I do reload 5.56 and have probably reloaded as much of it as I have .38 spl/.357, 44, 44 ACP, 45 Colt, 30-30, 30-06, 8mm and 45-70 combined.

    Andy
    Last edited by AndyLate; 07-05-19 at 13:16.

  4. #24
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    I reload for knowledge of Ballistics, and to get more accurate shots.


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  5. #25
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    What everybody else said.

    But buy in bulk to drive down costs. I have not bought any components or powder in a long time because when I bought, I bought multiple (in some cases big multiples) kegs of all sorts of powders, and huge numbers of 55 and 62 grain bullets and primers by the 5000 or more. That drives the per round cost down. And buy when stuff is on sale. Like for powder, when you get free Hazmat and a sale price on the powder. etc.

    And you will still have components and ammo when the next big problem happens and ammo prices skyrocket, as Markm said.
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  6. #26
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    Update on cost of reloading .223 for AR.

    I bought CCI #41 primers today at a gun show. $50 / 1000. You can get them cheaper online, but then you have to pay shipping and hazmat. So now my costs are:

    Bullet. 7 cents
    Powder. 10 cents
    Primer. 5 cents

    Each round now costs 22 cents. I can get Federal or Winchester NATO for about 30 cents shipped in case quantities. (Price has gone up about 3 cents lately).

    So every round I load, I save 8 cents. Not much savings, is there?

    But I think some have a point. If there's another panic, I'll be shooting. (I just recently laid in 24# of powder, another 6000 bullets, 5000 primers).
    Last edited by Uni-Vibe; 06-30-19 at 00:14.

  7. #27
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    Quote Originally Posted by Uni-Vibe View Post

    But I think some have a point. If there's another panic, I'll be shooting. (I just recently laid in 24# of powder, another 6000 bullets, 5000 primers).
    It works both ways. If you buy the ammo you'll just keep shooting as well. In either case you can only shoot what you bought

  8. #28
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    Quote Originally Posted by Uni-Vibe View Post
    So every round I load, I save 8 cents. Not much savings, is there?
    Thoughts:

    1. If you're only saving 8˘/round, and you're reloading to save money, then it ain't worth it.

    Even if you're doing 100-150rnds/hour, you're only "paying yourself" $8 or $12/hour. Even tax-free, my time's worth more than that (and I hope yours is, too).


    2. You're comparing apples and oranges... You buy loaded ammo online, in bulk, but you're buying reloading components locally?

    NB: "in bulk" is a different scale for loaded ammo vs. reloading components. I buy loaded ammo "in bulk," by the case of 1,000 (sometimes several at once). I buy reloading components by the 10,000, especially primers and powder. (Enough powder to load 10,000 rounds.)


    3. If you're just doing this to save money, then don't bother. If you don't think reloading is fun, or you don't want to load something special, then it's just not worth it.

    Upgrade your bullet from a 7˘ M193-whatever to a 15˘ match bullet, and then you're loading match ammo for the price of bulk blasting ammo: That makes economic sense.

  9. #29
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    It's well said that reloading here in USA is not saving much if any money. I've been a "reloader" off and on for 30 years. I got to shoot a lot more and was another hobby. When I lived in Germany I saved a crap load of money by reloading. Now it's a time thing vs $. In the winter months cold n wet outside, I'll reload a few thousand in fact a few "New Year's eve back I cranked out 2 k of 9mm. For most part I don't reload 223/5.56, 9mm to much (now adding 308 to that list) but will 300 WM 30.06 still. But I do save my brass and do some on rare occasions. I'll probably try reloading some 300 B.O. 5.7, 7.62x25 and 9mm MAC in future. Now I need a longer range to shoot more than 50 m.
    NRA Life Member.

  10. #30
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    Quote Originally Posted by Bimmer View Post
    Thoughts:

    1. If you're only saving 8˘/round, and you're reloading to save money, then it ain't worth it.

    Even if you're doing 100-150rnds/hour, you're only "paying yourself" $8 or $12/hour. Even tax-free, my time's worth more than that (and I hope yours is, too).


    2. You're comparing apples and oranges... You buy loaded ammo online, in bulk, but you're buying reloading components locally?

    NB: "in bulk" is a different scale for loaded ammo vs. reloading components. I buy loaded ammo "in bulk," by the case of 1,000 (sometimes several at once). I buy reloading components by the 10,000, especially primers and powder. (Enough powder to load 10,000 rounds.)


    3. If you're just doing this to save money, then don't bother. If you don't think reloading is fun, or you don't want to load something special, then it's just not worth it.

    Upgrade your bullet from a 7˘ M193-whatever to a 15˘ match bullet, and then you're loading match ammo for the price of bulk blasting ammo: That makes economic sense.
    I agree with this, especially the last paragraph. I like being able to shoot 1-2MOA targets with match bullets at the price of plinking.

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