I don’t believe reloading is economical, especially when talking about military ball ammo. When reloading vs. factory civilian ammo, sure, you can load down the powder and use cheaper lead cast slugs instead of pricier jacketed slugs. But bullets are a classic product of scale economy.
Yep, it has been a while since I shot .45 competitively (not pro), but I tailored my practice ammo for frugality. Used 200 grain cast bullets I made myself from free lead, used the cheapest suitable powder on the market (700X), and reloaded cases around 20x before trashing. Main cost was the primer, which is pretty much irreplaceable. Cost about $2 a box of 50 rounds for these, but was 20 years ago.
Depends. Possibly with current military production: 9mm, .223, maybe .45: you reload for accuracy and you will likely break even. Reloading 7.62x54R is more expensive, but the surplus is corrosive. But if I reload 7.5 Swiss, 8x56R, .303, etc. the savings are very possible as long as you can find brass. Apparently you can cut down .243 or something like that for 7.5.
It’s not all that simple a process to reload ammo, but some folks think it’s worth the effort. For folks who shoot off 500 rounds or more an outing or prefer a special load, it’s not that bad of an idea.
I just found myself wondering if, in relation to the ammunition shortage, there’s also a shortage of reloading supplies? If not, then whether it’s cheaper or not, reloading gets you more ammo when going to Cabela’s doesn’t.
Side note: reloading beer bottles is cheaper once you write off the cost of the equipment. I could make a batch for about $5 a six-pack that was the same quality I’d buy at a store for $9. The investment in time & space, however, is trickier to figure in; I stopped homebrewing when my favorite brewery started selling bock for $4 a six-pack.
Savings is part of it but especially now availability is a big part too. I shoot a fair amount of .30 Luger which is around $75 for 50 rounds if you can find it. And that is a big “if”. I’ve gotten/found about 8 boxes this year. So I reload at about a cost of 20 cents a round and I know I got enough to make it through league nights for the coming season.
I have some other odd calibers too (ones where you basically have to form your own brass) so --------- guess I’ll be doing this a while.
Two guys told me that reloading is fun, and I take them at their word.
I also talked to a fella who reloaded target rounds for his revolver. He was test-firing hand-loaded rounds through a high tech device that measured the speed in feet per second. I gathered that the slower rounds, with less recoil, or kick, are easier to shoot accurately, and I could be wrong about that.
The competition rules have a minimum round speed, so they had to be at least that fast. He was tailoring his powder load to strike that balance.
I work with scales and balances (for weighing) and speak to a number of reloader hobbyists. The ones I talk to are overwhelmingly interested in the performance aspects to making their own rounds. They weigh the charge as well as the lead for consistency.
If there is a cost benefit, it hasn’t come up in our conversations.
I’m told that the basic reload setup uses a volumetric method of dispensing the charge powder. Once you achieve a certain level of accuracy, you can see measurable differences/errors in this volume of charge and they move on to gravimetric dispensing.
Most loads are primarily measured in grains (1/7000 lb or 64.8 mg). Sometimes cc volume is given but it’s normally secondary. The relationship between the two depends on the brand/type of powder used of course. Some are flakes, balls, or sticks. Some devices like the Lee Auto Disc is marked in ccs I think and the according grains can be found in a table. So most people think primarily in mass/weight as they double check with a scale.
Yes and no. Strictly speaking, recoil shouldn’t affect accuracy- by the time you feel recoil the bullet has already left the muzzle. Practically speaking however, people are more comfortable with lower recoil; and if it’s a matter of firing several shots accurately within a time limit, then lower recoil helps with how quickly you can get back on target.
Depends on how much soda you drink.
Also, SodaStream is another brand that’s trying to make a nice profit through ingredient markup. You can make a DIY carbonator for less than a Sodastream machine with a 20lb CO2 tank and there are plenty of syrup recipes online. Sugar is quite cheap, and is the primary ingredient in any soda syrup.
The marginal cost for soda with this kind of setup is maybe $0.05 / liter, which is significantly less than even store brand soda on sale.
My wife and I don’t really care for soda much, but we love carbonated water, so I did this, and it paid for itself in less than a year.
I had thought about reloading as I shoot 500 or so rounds off a couple times a month. But I was at Walmart the other day and they had boxes of 50 round 9mm ammo for $10.97! I bought ten boxes of it and will buy more when they have it. I shoot it this week and it fired fine. Hard to justify relaying when you can find ammo that inexpensive
This. Everyone that I known who reloads does so as a hobby, and basically views the process as one more thing related to their love of shooting and/or hunting that they can play an active role in and can customize to their individual preferences. I’ve never heard anyone talk of reloading in economic terms.
You don’t save money reloading, you just get to shoot more for the same amount of money.
<sidenote>Most glass beverage containers are not melted down at all; they are just washed, relabeled, and reused.
Yes, common calibers are normally not worth the savings, especially if you can buy in bulk. Rarer or heavier calibers may be worth it.
Back of envelope math for .30-06, an older but still very common and widely used cartridge:
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Purchase 1000 rounds: $547.98 for Wolf (non-reloadable) or Korean surplus $481.30 (possibly corrosive). All FMJ, so not meant for hunting. If you’re buying individual boxes, e.g. Herter’s SP for $849.95
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Reloading 1000 rounds, prices mostly from various sources, cheapest I found:
[ul][li]Brass - reusable, so your actual cost ranges. 50x Winchester $26.99[/li][li]Bullets - Hornady BTSP $246.40 or FMJBT $220.90. Essentially free if you cast.[/li][li]Powder - IMR 4064 (7.5 pounds worth of 8 lb can loaded at max load of 52.5 grains) - $165.93[/li][li]Primer - CCI 200 $39.99[/li][li]Dies - one time purchase, Lee $25.5 - $30.99 plus press one time purchase for multiple calibers (($1xx to $thousands)[/li][/ul]
End price not including the press stuff: $426.82 - $479.31, or higher if you want more brass/don’t have any pickups.
At worst you can break even. Of course the potential value of labor costs would make it much more expensive, but many consider the process fun.
What would enough 8 round clips to feed your Garand 1,000 rounds of 30-06 cost?
As mentioned, it really depends on caliber. I would venture that you won’t save much, if any, money reloading common cartridges such as 9mm, .223, .30-30, .30-06, .308, etc. These are produced in huge volumes and can often be found on sale. I don’t reload, so I don’t have a lot of first-hand experience to add. But I do pay attention to ammo prices for guns I use.
The .308 Winchester caliber was created in 1952. Since then, that basic cartridge has been adapted into numerous other cartridges, mostly by necking down or up and using different caliber bullets. The .243, .260, 7mm-08, .338 and .358 are all based on the .308 platform, and all use pretty common bullets. But ammo pricing ranged dramatically, mostly related to popularity and volume of production.
Using natchezss.com, one of the best online websites to purchase ammo, I see the following pricing (for boxes of 20) for mainstream hunting ammo, such as Remington Core-Lokt:
.243 Win $21.99 to $22.99
.260 Rem $36.99
7mm-08 $30.99 to $31.99
.308 Win $21.99 to $22.99
.338 Fed $34.99
.358 Win $29.98
I often see .308 on sale for even less, such as $17-$20. The 7mm-08 and .260 use smaller, cheaper bullet and less powder, yet costs about 50 percent more. I doubt it would make much sense to reload .308, but it does save some money to reload 7mm-08 and .260.
If you reuse them, not much. They are about a buck each on Amazon.