Im always surprised when someone tells me what a staggering good deal on ammo they got and the price, to me, seems rather high. The reason for this is because I do alot of reloading on my own and Im amazed more poeple don’t. Yeah, theres a time element involved (which is mitigated if youre willing to pop a few hundred bucks for a top notch progressive press like the Dillon) but alot of times the savings are worth it.
Lets crunch some numbers…
Constants:
Powder is $18.00/# which comes out to $0.0025714 per grain
Primers are $17.50/1000, or $0.0175 each
We’ll assume you have been saving your fired brass
9mm 115 gr. FMJ:
Bullets – $47.25/1000 or $0.04725 per bullet. We’ll use 5.0 gr. of powder, or .$0.0128 worth.
Total cost for a cartridge: $0.07755, or $3.88 per 50 rounds.
Not bad, but 9mm is cheap enough to buy that you may as well not bother reloading for it (unless youre after some sort of exotic velocity or bullet).
.45 ACP, on the other hand, is never cheap…
Bullets – $85.80 or $0.0858 per 230 gr. FMJ bullet. We’ll use 7.6 grains of powder, or $0.0195 worth.
Total cost for a cartridge: $0.1228, or $6.14 per 50 rounds.
The real savings is in the high end stuff…take, for example, a .30-06
Bullets – $98.70 for some 150 gr. Rem. soft points. $0.0987 per bullet. We’ll use 52.5 grains of powder, or $0.1349 worth.
Total cost for a cartridge: $0.2511, or $5.02 per 20 rounds.
ANd, if youre one of the belted magnum guys, the .300 Win. Mag.:
Same bullet as the .30-06. 60 grains of powder, or $0.1542 worth.
Total cost for a cartridge: $0.2704 or $5.41 per 20 rounds.
.357 Magnum? (158 gr JHP)
Bullets – $64.45 or $0.06445 per bullet. We’ll use 14 grains of powder, or $0.0385 worth.
Total cost for a cartridge: $0.1204 or $6.02 per 50 rounds.
“But Commander”, I hear you cry, “Who has the several hundred dollars necessary to buy the gear to get started?”
Fool! Only the weak and liberal democrats pay more than they have to!
You can get a decent setup from the folks at Lee for less than a hundred bucks. Not the best gear in the world, but it would load pistol ammo for you all day long on a single stage press. If you shoot .45 ACP at normally $10.99 a box you could pay for the setup within 21 boxes (1050 rounds)
If you dont mind spending a bunch more, RCBS makes a very good setup for about $300~.
Finally, the Dillon 550B or even the Square Deal are great for churning out lotsa ammo in a hurry.
Reloading is like any other hobby, you have to learn a few things but if youre worried about blowing yourself up you’ve got a very melodramatic idea of whats involved. If you can follow a recipe, you can reload. Guys alot stupider than you, and with worse equipment, have done it for years.
However, Im of the mind that you still need factory ammo. Why? Couple reasons. First of all, no matter how much experience I have and no matter how good I am at reloading, I’m going to feel a bit more comfortable with quality commercially loaded ammo (and that means Win., Rem., Fed., etc….not Texas Discount Reloads). Secondly, if, for whatever reason, I have to use ammo for trading I am going to be far more likely to take quality ‘name-brand’ commercial ammo than suspect reloads…and that works both ways – a fella is more likely to take a sealed box of factory ammo from me in trade than a drawstring bag filled with mixed-headstamp .223 reloads. Really, its a perception thing.
One other aspect to reloading thats worth considering if you dont already reload is the versatility. For example,
- you can reload subsonic ammo for your supressed toys.
- You can reload ammo in a configuration that is not normally served by the factories (example, you have a 98 Mauser in 8mm but want to shoot a subsonic lead roundball for whacking squirrels).
- You can make armour piercing or tracer ammo in a non-standard caliber (somewhat illegal, mind you. However, you’d have the ability to pull the bullet from a perfectly legal round of .30-06 M2 AP ammo and reload that bullet into your .300 Ultramag whcih would give you some hideously nasty penetrative power. Seen it done with a .300 H&H…drilled a hole through about 1″ of steel plate.) This will also work with pulling steelcored bullets from .223 SS109 and dropping them in your .22-250 or [shudder] .220 Swift.
- One more thing to think about, and this is for all of us tinfoil-beanie crowd… when they change the laws to require you to sign for ammo, or tax it to the point of unaffordability, or regulate the caliber/bullet you can use (which is already done in some places), or make it unavailable at all (as done in CA during the LA riots) you will be able to churn out whatever ammo you need free from intrusive .gov snooping.
Suggestions:
Lee Anniversary Kit – $100~
RCBS Rock Chucker Supreme Reloading Kit – <$300~ (My pick if you want to start off with gear you'll use forever)
RCBS Partner Press Kit - $160 (Okay for pistol and small rifle calibers)
Dillon RL1050 - $1300~ but worth every penny. You can load 50 rounds in two and a half minutes. Easily loads 1000 rounds an hour.
There’s a reason I don’t reload. Any money I save on ammo, I’d lose on replacing guns or medical bills. Trust me on this.
Thanks – suggestions saved.
you forgot one of the all time greatest reloading setups ever made, the thirteen dollar lee loader. it can pay for itself after loading about 2 boxes of anything.
once you get going you can probably load just about as fast as you can with single stage press only no setup time.
the ammo is of remarkable quality for such a simple setup and it’ll fit in your back pack.
I tried reloading way back when with a very simple setup, .45ACP. The trouble is that I didn’t have the space, the time, or the burning desire to overcome the learning curve. And that was back when I shot more and was less busy.
Is it a useful survival skill? Yes. Is it for everyone? No.
I specifically left out the Lee Loader because no one who uses it as their first reloading tool is going to want to reload after they get evicted fromt he neighbors complaining about all the hammering.
HOWEVER, I do keep a Lee Loader for all the calibers I shoot. Just in case.
I should also mention that the Lee Loader does not full length size cases. Very important depending on the type of action your gun is.
Just how automatic is that 1050? My 550b is nice, but it just doesn’t seem that fast, with case loading and slug loading by hand each cycle.
Back in my husband’s anti-gun days, I didn’t reload because he was strongly opposed to having gun powder in the house and refused to believe it could be safe. I’m proud to report that he finally saw the error of his ways, and now he’s added to my reloading equipment and spends more time reloading than I do.
You may wish to note that if you order primers and powder in bulk you can get them at a discount. (I’m sure you already know this, but for the masses…) My 9mm reloads are closer to 0.068/round, and I can’t find any factory ammo for that cheap. Mind you that if there were an Academy close by, they have CCI/Blazer in 9mm for 0.077/round, right about what you spec. Of course I prefer 147gr subsonic for my practice and competition loads, and finding those at any price is problematic.
Bottom line, I’m glad I started reloading. Despite the slight price differential between 9mm reloads and 9mm factory, I’ll have paid for my press with this next batch of bullets I ordered.
What inherent quality makes you prefer 147 subsonic for practice and comp?
How about sharing some sources?
For example, my best price on 1K Remington 9mm 115Gr FMJ is $55.40 (41.93 + 13.47 shipping from Midway). Locally twice that, and the gas for a trip to Missoula to buy them from Western Bullet would quadruple that easily (if the’re even stocked, the website seems to have gone pear shaped).
And the 30-06? A case of LC69 from CMP runs 0.24 per round delivered.
I’m in full agreement on the non-economic reasons to reload. If you shoot NRA highpower matches it even gives you the ability to crank out match grade ammo at surplus grade prices. But while I still have my 20 year old Lyman turret press, I haven’t found it worth my while to reload “just shootin” ammo for quite some time now.
All prices for bullets and brass were from Black Hills Shooters Supply ( http://www.bhshooters.com/ ). All prices included shipping. Extremely good outfit to deal with.
as long as your not in an apartment its not a big deal. besides i think the occasional popped primer you get while reloading with one of those is more of a concern than the hammering 😉
147gr subsonic 9mm loads are quieter, have less muzzle flash, and less perceived recoil. (For the same power factor as an equivalent 115gr or 124gr loading.) So if you shoot in quantity, they just don’t beat up you or the gun as quickly. Which isn’t to say that 9mm is a punishing load at all, but over the course of 1000 round weeks, I’ll take the 147s, thanks. 🙂
What recipe do you use? In that range I’ve only ever used bullseye and plated raniers.
Berry’s plated 147gr rn is my typical bullet, 3.3gr Titegroup, CCI primer, 1.130″ OAL, mixed brass, although I prefer Winchester brass.
Alternately if you want something more “serious,” sub in Hornady XTP 147gr, 1.107 OAL, everything else same as above. I shot that load at the IDPA Nats this past year, made PF handily, was STUPID accurate. (Think muzzle velocity was around 950fps avg., out of a Glock 34.)
Thank you for this post, it came well-timed for me. I only recently got seriously into shooting (beyond archery, and the occasional trip to the range with a friend). Since I now shoot .45 ACP, and am shopping around for a .308 rifle, I’m already seeing how expensive this can get with factory ammo alone. The price breakdown and recommendations are greatly appreciated!
I’m curious about one thing, though; generally speaking from your experience, how many times can saved brass be safely reloaded?
Do you have recommnedation for starters as far as books to use to get started. I have loaded ammo once in my life and am still intrigued enough to want to do it again, butI have questions that probably could be answered by a good textbook type instruction manual. The guy that help me load the first time is either wide open or stop, no in between so I’ll have to find another instructor, but reading good material would be helpful as well.
Thanks. Might have to try that for my next batch.
From what I can tell, the Dillon 650 seems to be a better deal in terms of speed and cost than the 1050, but I don’t have experience with either.
Precision Delta has the cheapest prices I’ve seen on FMJ bullets for most common cartridges.
I should scale back my expenses on welding supplies and actually drop the cash on a reloading setup. Dammit, I want a plasma cutter and a reloading setup.
Disagrees. The RL1050 is the speed queen.
however, the RL1050 also does one little thing that the 650 doesnt which is important – it’ll swage primer pockets. Very important if youre using surplus .223, .308 and 9m mbrass.
Lyman Reloading Manual (I think theyre on the 48th edition now) is a good one. All major reloading manuals (Speer, Hornady, etc) usually have a chapter or two telling you how to do it, but if you can learn from a buddy thats best.
Brass wears from being stretched (when fired, the case swells and expands) and swaged back down (the resizing process). It work hardens the metal. If you shoot mid-range/mild loads you can probably get at least a dozen firings out of any .45 ACP case or .308 case (although you might need to trim the cases every so often). If you shoot high power stuff like belted mags or whatnot you might not get as many as six loadings. Also, alot depends on the condition of the gun…excessive headspace problems will shortne the life of a case quite a bit.
Seat bullet, pull lever, repeat.
Case feed is auto, indexing is auto, powder checking is auto, primer swaging is auto.
Its the same motions as putting a quarter in a slot machine and pulling the lever.
My average was 50 rounds of pistol ammo in a little less than 2 and a half minutes. I could easily load 1000 rounds an hour if loaded all my primer tubes first.
I have no doubt that the 1050 is faster, but it’s 2-3 times the price of the 650 and as I understand it, is not 2-3 times as fast. I’m leaning towards the 650 mainly because I don’t need to reload that much ammo, don’t want to spend that much money, and caliber changes are cheaper and easier on the 650. Experience with both would probably give me a better understanding of the true benefits of the 1050, though. I do know that there’s a bullet feeder in development for the 650 that might speed it up.
I’m sure you know that primer pockets can be swaged on any single-stage press, though I suppose that would be a pain for significant quantities of ammo. Again, I suspect it’s just a matter of how much ammo one wants to turn out in a given time.
While browsing different primer pocket swaging methods, I came across this single-stage press I want.
Have you ever considered selling loaded ammo for the .455/577 Martini Henry? Now that IMA has imported a bunch of rifles, there’s guys crying for the ammo. Old Western Scrounger discontinued their loading. Apparently, the problem is getting dies and brass. Good load data is available though. For brass, the choices are converted brass shotgun shells or $5 a pop custom brass. There’s a market, if you can find a way to bring the cost and prices down.
If you are interested, go to http://www.gunboards.com and check out the Martini Henry forum there. There is a lot of great info on reloading for the M H.
The Dillon presses usually have the ‘capacity per hour’ as part of their nomenclature. The RL1050 can, according to Dillon, do 1050 rounds per hour. The RL550 can do half that. (Yeah, you wont see that printed in the literature but it used to be listed in the ‘cyclic rate’ charts in the old Blue Presses.)
Depending on what cartridge youre reloading, it may make more sense to simply get two or three Square Deals and leave them set up..one ofr 9mm, one for .357, etc, etc.
The 650 is okay, it gets great reviews…it sort of between the RL550 and the RL1050 in terms of price and versatility.
Primer pockets can indeed be swaged on a single-stage press. However, on the RL1050 it gets done without any conscious effort by the operator and without adding any steps…a nice plus. Admittedly, if your loading, say, .40 S&W and 7.62×39 crimped primer pockets may not be a problem.
Just personal pref….I’ve had the RL1050 and a couple RL550 and been quite pleased.
Liability issues, requirement for a ‘7’ FFL (manuf. ammo), excise tax liability.
Too much headache.