It looks like 9mm and 556 is not worth the money to load

[leroy]

1 hour ago, slickrick0999 said:

My brother taught me the basics of reloading somewhere around 20 years ago.

Since then, my shooting partner and I have tweaked our load development process for our PRS type rifles quite a bit.

We can develop a load for those rifles very quickly and get great results (6.5cm & 6cm) and do it "cheaper" than match ammo with better results. ...

Mista Rick just excellently articulated the reason for reloading in today's environment... Simply said; it's excellently performing ammo tailored to your specific rifle... You simply cannot buy custom tailored ammo optimized for your specific rifle...

Thank you, Brother, for explaining this clearly n completely.

leroy...

[srszczer]

On 11/28/2023 at 3:47 PM, gary_boom said:

I hate to offend anyone but I am still using components I bought at Wideners in Johnson City and picked up in person. 
powder 8 lb $130

Cci primers $76 per 5000

Hardcast bullets $36 per 1000

I have an old catalog from 1999/2000.

The $76 for 5000 primers hits hard considering today's market. You'll pay that much for a 1000 and that's a decent deal.

[srszczer]

Double post

Edited January 11 by srszczer
Double posted

[DeepSouth]

I'm reloading for free. Dad left me everything and I'm going through his records. The last primers he bought were $9.95 per 1,000. There are 12 of those 5 packs in a large box. Got lots of powder, most is in 8# jugs and 16# kegs. I went to an auction in April, different brands of primers, 100 per pack were selling for $15 to 22.

My 9mm and 38spl don't have a problem shooting cast bullets and I've got tons of lead. New problem, both my sons' 9mm don't like lead bullets. Looking online jacketed bullets are $16 to 22 per 100. Range USA has ammo for $15 per box. Need a source for cheap bullets in 115 or 125 gr range.

Edited January 22 by DeepSouth

[Darrell]

9 hours ago, DeepSouth said:

The last primers he bought were $9.95 per 1,000.

You might want to load a few of those primers into cases without any powder or bullets, and test them out in a firearm. I bought a bunch of old primers last summer and one case of them just fizzed, so I had to dispose of them. Better to find otu before loading the ammo.

Check out Berry's bullets for plinking rounds. 

Edited January 22 by Darrell

[DeepSouth]

All the SPM primers I've shot fired right.

You said, "one case of them just fizzed." 50,000 primers fizzed?

I found blems at American Reloading $56 per 1,000, no shipping just state tax. The 200 I loaded hit the paper at 10 and 15 yards.

 

[gun sane]

The wife sees me at the bench pulling the lever handle and believes I'm saving us money.  I don't want to confuse her with the facts.   

[gregintenn]

23 hours ago, gun sane said:

The wife sees me at the bench pulling the lever handle and believes I'm saving us money.  I don't want to confuse her with the facts.   

Mine learned better today. She went with me to Cabelas.

I tried to distract her while the lady rang up my total. It didn’t work.

[LangdoniousRex]

Seems 9mm and .223 keeps creeping down in price while 5.56 keeps creeping up slowly (go figure, NATO round).

9mm is in the very low 20s CPR and .223 is in the low 40s CPR while 5.56 is generally over 50 CPR.

I think the popular calibers are pretty much at the bottom so these prices will linger for some time then inevitably start going up. When this starts happening is anyone's guess but I would imagine summertime we'll start seeing some ammo market volatility. 

[DeepSouth]

RangeUSA had Magtect 9mm ammo for $14.99 on their Black Friday sale, back up to $19.99.

With my order of 115 gr bullets It's about $9.50 per 100 to reload.

 

The last new primers that dad got were when he helped Dennis at a Memphis gun show. Unload the trailer and set up displays Friday night, help with sales Saturday and Sunday, reload the trailer Sunday night. He got a sleeve of primers each day. Dennis pushed to many bottles of HP-38 on the display and 2 fell off the back. Dad put the lids back on, swept up the powder for the trash and brought the 2 half bottles home. Dennis was selling 223, 55 gr pulled bullets for 9 cents. Dad bought 500 for 5 cents.

[mxer]

I load everything I shoot, .22LR the obvious exception. 
For me it’s an essential part of shooting. 
Using someone else’s ammo (factory) is the same as using automatic transmissions. If you’re not deciding which gear to use, you’re letting some technology choose. Yes, my cars have three pedals. 
No judgement of what others choose. 

[DeepSouth]

I stopped at Avery's in Memphis Tuesday. A pretty good display of powders, $80 to 110 per bottle. Price on a jug was $199. A few primers @ $9 per pack. 100 box of bullets were about the price of 50 rds of the same caliber of pistol.

[deerslayer]

39 minutes ago, DeepSouth said:

I stopped at Avery's in Memphis Tuesday. A pretty good display of powders, $80 to 110 per bottle. Price on a jug was $199. A few primers @ $9 per pack. 100 box of bullets were about the price of 50 rds of the same caliber of pistol.

Check Sportsmans Warehouse in Southaven occasionally.  I recently bought primers there for $65/thousand. 

[Quavodus]

I reload both of them. I know there's sometimes cheap ammo in both calibers. But, cheap ammo usually doesn't come with much versatility. 

[DeepSouth]

American Reloading had 9mm 115 gr fmj blems $55 per thousand. I ordered 4,000. State tax, no shipping fee.

[DeepSouth]

Looking at the hunting section of a fishing website I saw a person in Horn Lake, MS with a case of Winchester 9mm ammo for $140. I made contact and went after it. I didn't look at the case until I got home. It was Winchester 40 S&W. Called him back. Yep, gave you the wrong case. I went back for the 9mm.

I posted the 40 S&W the same way as he posted a week later, this time for $400. Sold 20 minutes later.

[Rockmup]

Give it another month, ammo's going back up in price I'd think.

[Bad Habit]

You buy reloading components as a hedge against inflation and availability... and stealth. I am the only person who knows what I cast and load.  I am loading ammo with 20 year or more old components. Nobody is gonna beat that price. Haven't bought a pistol bullet in 30 years.