What do the cost savings have to be for you to reload a round?

[owejia]

If you reload odd ball calibers, cost is signifant over factory loads. I have an old 41 Colt and the only way to shoot is to load for it. Small calibers .32 and .380 are also two that are cheaper to reload than factory ammo. I also cast and load in the pistol calibers .357 mag,.38special, 38 s&w,9 mm., 32, 380,45 colt,45 acp,44 mag,. revolver. With powder coating and hi-tek coatings cast bullets are as good as jacketed bullets. My advice , if you are young and want to have a lifetime of shooting and plinking, start collecting brass,lead, primers powder. My .22 's and .17 HMR are the only guns I have to buy ammo for.I buy jacketed bullets for my .223 and 7mm mag rifle, but you can cast and shoot lead in just about any caliber if you want too. Most straight walled brass will last a very long time if you take care of it and don't over flare and over crimp. Annealing makes rifle brass long lasting also. You can also use black powder in a lot of straight walled pistol and rifle brass.You can make your own black powder if it becomes necessary. Unless you are independentally wealthy, most folks have to work to earn money to support their shooting habits, Any time spent casting and reloading is more enjoyable to me than working to buy ammo. Your lifestyle may not be suited to do this, but this fits my lifestyle very well.

[Omega]

I have a bunch of reloading equipment, its mostly Lee though I have a smattering of RCBS, Hornady etc.  I started reloading in the mid 80's, then it was cheaper to reload for me because I shot my 9mm and .40 almost every weekday 1 box ea at lunchtime and more on weekends, .  I have dies for every caliber I shoot, and since I started trading and upgrading I have a few duplicates.  So far, 9mm and 5.56 has been the only calibers that I could honestly say I could not reload cheaper at times.  But those sales are far and few between, specially since I have collected a bunch of brass.  When I get a new to me caliber, I try and get all the reloading gear with it, currently it's the .277 Wolverine.  I got the dies, gauge and barrel in one order, and since it is almost the same process of the 300 Blackout, the saw and jig I used for that will probably work too.  There are two sources for loaded rounds, but I prefer to do my own due to cost and control over QC.

 

For trimming I have three ways, one is the Lee hand held, best cheapest way to do it.  Using a drill to chuck the universal 3 jaw chuck make trimming quite effortless, I also got two bench trimmers, a Lyman and a Forster.  The Lyman is setup for my rifle rounds, .270 and 30-06, .303 etc.  The Forster I just got to do neck turning to try and get a more precise case on my .308 and .277, maybe even use some of those "bad" headstamped 300 Blk cases to chamber well.

 

All this to say that once you start reloading, it becomes a hobby in its own right.  Right now I probably have more ammo and components than I will ever get to shoot and plan on doing more once I get my casting setup going again...yea, another hobby.

[owejia]

Made a set of dies to load the 45 acp shot shells with a few years ago, and also made a set to load my bee killer loads with,both in 45acp, 45 colt and 38 spl 357 mag so there are lot more postives about reloading than negatives. I also load brass shot shells for my double barrel shotguns. Just got a couple of rb molds in Monday so will be casting .360 and .457 dia rb tomorrow while it is too wet to do anything else. Like Omega , have more components than will use in my life time, but will probably make some reloaders happy when my estate is sold.

[Omega]

Here is a prime example of when to buy:
http://www.midsouthshooterssupply.com/item/00129XM193/5half6-mm-55-Grain-Boat-Tail-With-Lake-City-Headstamp-Brass-20-Rounds

[NeveSSL]

Eh... $0.38/rnd... I know this is good ammo, but that's still a bit expensive to me.  Is there something super special about the XM193 rounds that I'm missing?

Brandon

[Grunt67]

I don't reload to save money.  I reload to get more accurate ammo.  Unless you are shooting thousands of rounds a year, there is not really a payback.

 Same here. I don't think you can save much by reloading, especially if you have to start from scratch & figure in the costs of equipment.

I just like to know what is actually in the round, and you can get better accuracy if you experiment with different components with a particular gun. Not to mention the fun/satisfaction factor, which is high on the list for me.

[Omega]

Eh... $0.38/rnd... I know this is good ammo, but that's still a bit expensive to me.  Is there something super special about the XM193 rounds that I'm missing?

Brandon

Not really, but when I first started reloading 5.56, this type of sale got me some plinking rounds and some great brass to reload.  While some avoid MIL brass, I prefer it, LC is used enough to have a lot of information on it, thickness, longevity etc.  You can get cheaper, but usually in bulk so you have to make a larger investment.  So if you are starting from scratch, and want to keep expenditures low, these are not bad.  Oh, and no shipping if you are local, so all you have is the tax.

[NeveSSL]

That makes sense.  I have a friend who is selling Freedom reloads for $0.29/rnd for as many as I want.  I doubt they'll be the same quality brass as Lake City, but my local range also sells .223 for $2/lb, which is about 73 cases for $2.  Not too bad!

 

I'm planning on doing a Midsouth order when I get ready to load .223... Going to get primers, projectiles (1000 for $83 isn't bad!), dies, and maybe 2 or 3 different powders to try.  I'm looking forward to it.  :)

Brandon

[roverboy]

Man, this thread is hotter than a $3 dollar pistol. I usually can't afford to buy in bulk. But, .223 is a cheap load for me because I have a bunch of 55 gr. fmj that I bought years ago for super cheap. I've still got several hundred left. I bought a Maxwell House can that was almost full for $20.00.

[NeveSSL]

Nice!  Hope I run across something like that.  :)

Brandon