Ammunition

[Lnk]

Yes, that was a little lesson I learned the hard way a long time ago when I went to a gun shop and announced I need some reloading tools so that I could save some money. The older gentleman behind the counter just laughed at me, and advises "son you ain't gonna save ANY money, you can shoot more though".

I don't shoot any competitions, though I used to shoot NRA smallbore pistol. But living in the peoples republic of MA, makes it difficult to save money. My club can make bulk reloading purchases for powder and primers, so I try to take advantage of that. Otherwise I have to pay local retail as we can't purchase powder and primers through the mail. Soon to be corrected in 15 months.

I have looked at Dillon, Hornady and RCBS. They are a quality press that will last multiple lifetimes, which is not the case for Lee presses. My lee presses are like some Harbor freight tools. They do the job, but you wouldn't make a living using them.

 

[k0ua]

I don't shoot any competitions, though I used to shoot NRA smallbore pistol. But living in the peoples republic of MA, makes it difficult to save money. My club can make bulk reloading purchases for powder and primers, so I try to take advantage of that. Otherwise I have to pay local retail as we can't purchase powder and primers through the mail. Soon to be corrected in 15 months.

I have looked at Dillon, Hornady and RCBS. They are a quality press that will last multiple lifetimes, which is not the case for Lee presses. My lee presses are like some Harbor freight tools. They do the job, but you wouldn't make a living using them.

I of course started with Lee presses, but I went along the Dillon path. I still have and use some of the Lee dies in my Dillon toolheads for some of the calibers I don't load a lot of. (example 44 magnum) They worked OK, so I just kept them when I went to the Dillon platform.

 

[Lnk]

I of course started with Lee presses, but I went along the Dillon path. I still have and use some of the Lee dies in my Dillon toolheads for some of the calibers I don't load a lot of. (example 44 magnum) They worked OK, so I just kept them when I went to the Dillon platform.

I like the Lee dies more than the RCBS dies. The RCBS Decappers seem really fragile. I have just recently setup a buddy's Hornady dies for 45 LC and didn't like the flaring die at all. Goes from no flare to too much flare with little adjustment. I will upgrade when my lee becomes too worn out. Probably another 20K rounds.

 

[Oldpath05]

LEE PRECISION LOAD MASTER .45 COLT, < This what I bought 4 year's ago, my son does the reloading, it's holding up so far, he cast our bullets so we save $$ there, in fact what little we shoot we got our money back and then some, so when someone says you cant save any money reloading, there off their caliber.

Next we're gonna invest in a Mec 20 ga. re loader.

 

[k0ua]

LEE PRECISION LOAD MASTER .45 COLT, < This what I bought 4 year's ago, my son does the reloading, it's holding up so far, he cast our bullets so we save $$ there, in fact what little we shoot we got our money back and then some, so when someone says you cant save any money reloading, there off their caliber.

Next we're gonna invest in a Mec 20 ga. re loader.

Well, you must have a lot more discipline than most to actually save money. My personality is such that when I crank out a few hundred of those beautiful shiny rounds, I have a tendency to go stuff them in a firearm and shoot them out the barrell. And then when faced with all of those dirty cartridge cased, I clean them up and reload them again. And repeat.. I wind up shooting a whole lot more, but saving money? Not so you would notice.:laughing:

 

[Oldpath05]

Well, you must have a lot more discipline than most to actually save money. My personality is such that when I crank out a few hundred of those beautiful shiny rounds, I have a tendency to go stuff them in a firearm and shoot them out the barrell. And then when faced with all of those dirty cartridge cased, I clean them up and reload them again. And repeat.. I wind up shooting a whole lot more, but saving money? Not so you would notice.:laughing:

"so when someone says you cant save any money reloading, there off their caliber." < That might of come out the wrong way on your screen .

Me and my older son mostly shoot 45 LC target loads in revolvers. Cost is shot in half by cheap lead, powder in bulk, brass by the bag, primers on sale= around $.20-$.25/round. Sometimes most of the time I like shiny brass, got a brass cleaner, works good, fill it, set it, hour or so later, shiny brass.

I priced some ammo at Cabelas, $37.99/50, at 2000 rounds that starts to add up. But your right about some ammo and guns, it's cheaper to buy it, like my younger son, he has a semi ....point someting somthing something, he gets ammo by the case, a few weeks ago he was up here and rat a tat tat tat att tat tat..... 200 rounds gone in a matter of minutes, don't know what he hit but the ground is dead, so if I had a gun like that it's not worth reloading.

http://www.cabelas.com/product/shoo..._SEQ_104372280?WTz_st=GuidedNav&WTz_stype=GNU

 

[k0ua]

My point was of course you can save money vs. buying factory ammo. But as far as saving money, I can't say I ever saved any of that, because I just shot a lot more ammo.

 

[Soundguy]

Not to mention equipment outlay. When you see people say they can reload 'x' cartridge for 'xx' cents, I imagine they don't amortize out the cost of the gear, press, trimmers, dies, scales, throwers, orep and cleaning tools.

My first box of 30-06 I reloaded probably cost me 50$ per cartridge.

Years later now and yeah,bits down in the 'cents' range.

 

[Lnk]

Not to mention equipment outlay. When you see people say they can reload 'x' cartridge for 'xx' cents, I imagine they don't amortize out the cost of the gear, press, trimmers, dies, scales, throwers, orep and cleaning tools.

My first box of 30-06 I reloaded probably cost me 50$ per cartridge.

Years later now and yeah,bits down in the 'cents' range.

Being that I have been reloading for 20 years+, I stopped amortizing the equipment price a long, long time ago. Point is well taken. The most important thing for me is always having ammo if I keep powder and primers in stock. After that CT thing, the shelves everywhere went bare. Nothing changed at my house. I would see guys go to the range and fire 10 shots and pack it in. You can get inexpensive equipment for the cost of 10 boxes of your favorite caliber. Or you can spend big dollars (will someday). I will try to find my spreadsheet of my cost of all the calibers I reload. 1/150th of the cost of a pound of powder is my most expensive, 5 cents per is my least. Of course, that is shooting lead. Let's not talk powder coating....

 

[Gunny]

I think I save money AND shoot a lot more because I reload. I only reload during winter months and do darn little shooting during those same months. There's been many a cold snowy, blowy or rainy day that I'd spend the entire day sitting at the reload bench. Right now I've got at least 4000 rounds of .223 ready to go, about the same in 9mm, probably 2000 rounds of .38 Special and a goodly number of .44 mags. As a result of this last loading cycle, I've only got enough primers, powders and bullets left to load maybe 1000/1500 of the 223 and 38, quite a bit less for 38 and 44.
Now I've got all spring, summer and winter to stock back up at the best prices I can find since I don't necessarily have to pay what the LGS prices when I'm ready to start reloading again.