I am considering taking up reloading as a hobby and to save some money on shells. First question is can you save any money reloading? and second how much out of pocket expense would I be looking at to get started? is there any paticular brand that is better for beginners. I have a 270WSM and a 7mm-08.

not likely to save any money..unless you shoot an awful lot!

but it's a good hobby

I just started last year, so I'm by no means an expert. I don't know how much I've spent because I bought equipment over a span of several months and I'm still not done. I read reviews on all the different components it takes to get the job done so that I would have the best of each. Eventually the equipment will pay for itself, but it hasn't for me as of yet. As far as cheaper the only example I can give you is:

I loaded once fired brass with Sierra Match King 168gr. .308 with 41.5gr. of H4895 and Winchester LR primer. My total cost for a box of 20 rounds was $14. I saw some Federal factory loads with the same Sierra bullets for $50 at Gander Mountain, and for $35 at Academy.

Yes in the long run it will save you money if you shoot enough.
But you have to go in thinking more about getting accurate ammo, that you made, that is consistant more than saving money.

Like Fireman said, it won't likely save you any money. To add to what he said, when you start reloading you'll find yourself on the range more often, putting more rounds though your rifles than you normally would. At first anyway. This will eat into the money saving aspect at first.

On the other hand. If you go at it strictly from a money saving point of view and will accept around 1moa accuracy from any rifle you reload, then yes you can save some dough.

From an economic stand point. Buy the Lee anniversary kit. It's a fairly comprehensive kit that will get you wellon your way to loading ammo. Other things will be needed as well. You can look back a few pages and find other threads that recommends these items.

If accuracy is your primary goal, forget saving money. You won't save anything for a good long time. But you will get the satisfaction of building your own ammo and often finding loads that shoot better through your rifles than you ever thought they would. But it sometimes takes a good bit of load development to find those above average loads. This eats up "consumables" like primers, powder and bullets.

Reloading is a lot of fun. It takes time, concentration, and a will to keep at it. Other wise you end up with a bunch of equipment that sits around and collects rust.


Jay

Don't forget a bullet puller! When you load too many of something that clearly doesn't work in your rifle, that'll save all that powder and a bullet so you can correct the load to something that works. I have some I have to pull left over from this past Saturday. It will happen to you.

Like everyone else has said, you won't likely save any money. But you'll sure probably shoot a lot more and have a helluva lot more fun doing it.

If you seriously simply wanted to save money, get one of those Lee Hand Die sets where you hammer the brass into a sizing die and perform the rest of the steps using a wooden mallet. The little plastic dipper that is used for a powder measure will eliminate the option of varying your charge to dial in a load, so you'd take what you got for accuracy which would probably be equal to at least half of the factory loads you can buy off the shelf. You would save money as I did when I was a dirt poor high school kid in 1970 and one of those kits in .30-30 Winchester and another one in 12 gauge kept me in hunting ammo for several years. But truthfully, I now consider those kits as rather like using a pair of channel lock aka "water pump plaars" to torque the head bolts on a performance race engine.

The challenge of making your ammunition squeeze that last bit of accuracy out of your rifle, or tayloring a purpose built load around a particular bullet you like so that it performs on game exactly the way you want it to is just too much fun to save any money.

There are several price levels of equipment available and you don't need the very expensive top end bench rest/match grade stuff to be able to make precision loads that will shoot more accurately than you are probably capable of from most hunting rifles. I like RCBS and Hornady stuff. There is nothing wrong with Lee dies, but I'm not sure about the Lee presses as I have not used them. I do like the Lee hand priming tool. RCBS makes a nice one but I'm not convinced it's worth the extra cost. You can save a good chunk of change buying used equipment in good condition if you take the time to hunt it down. Gun shows sometimes have good prices on used, but sometimes you can buy new for not much more than what some of them are wanting to get for used. If you decide to jump in, first thing to do is get one of the reloading manuals and read the thing cover to cover. There is a wealth of good information available on-line now as well but I still think there's no substitute for sitting down with a Hornady, Speer, Sierra, etc. load manual and reading the how to do it and what to watch out for sections.

Reloading just opens up such a whole brand new aspect to the sport of shooting and it can be very rewarding. To the extent that for serious ammo needs you might never be satisfied with factory loads again. And, if you ever get into pistol shooting, reloading is about the only way a lot of us can possibly afford to shoot as much as we want to.

If you will buy good tools to begin with you can use them for a lifetime.
My Lyman Ohaus scale cost me $10...in 1969 when I "graduated" from a Lee Handheld setup, my original RCBS Jr #3 press came aboard in 1970 and I 'ginned mebbe 10,000 rounds of CF rifle thru it over the 35 years I owned it before I sold it to somebody else for about what it cost me new... now I'm using a RCBS Rockchucker a buddy bought in 1980 or so when I taught him how to reload... that my 40 year old kids will look at when I am dead and gone and wonder what the Heck is that for... yadda yadda.
I can build ammo for calibers like a 6.5x55 Swede or a 9.3x62 Mauser that cannot be bought at any price...and give me sub MOA groups. I can tune my 270 & 300WMg ammo to recoil levels I can tolerate for several box's at a time off the bench for practice sessions at 65 years old with a retreaded ticker and and a bum set of discs in my upper back ...and even compete some with the el cheapo WallyWorld 270 stuff - and beat considerably the average to poor shooting 300Wmg's price wise!!!! when I can find components on some of the annual factory-distributor bulk closeout sales, or at other old farts like me estate sales ...like I,m sure my kids will run some day...and produce better ammo for MY GUNS doing it.
Beside I HATE to play golf and need a hobby that my wife will not participate in (aka take it over !!!) since I created the monster striper freak top water fisherperson I sleep with some 10+ years ago...So...Be careful!!! what you wish for
If I could only teach her to clean fish or throw the cast net for bait ...
Ron

Yes, you will save money on a per bullet basis. But it may lead to you shooting more thus possibly costing you more money.

Heres some cost comparisions on ammo I make.

204 Ruger 40gr Hornady V max
Factory cost $19.99 per 20 My Hand loads(1/4moa) $3.90 per 20 (I shotover 1000 of these last year saving over $800)

22-250 Winchester white box 45 gr $29 for 40
22-250 My hand loads (sub 1/2moa) $8 for 40.
I shot about 800 last year saving $420


300 whby 180 gr tsx $80
My hand loads using 180 tsx bullets $23 (sub 1/2moa)
I saved $285 here last year.

And the list goes on!

If you decide to get into reloading and you are on a budget, look at the RCBS and Hornady starter kits. They are $350 and contain most of what you need to get started. YOu will still a few other things like bullet puller and dies but they are cheap. Lee is prety much considered the bottom end in the reloading world. However, I do like their collet dies and Factory crfimp dies and their Auto prime tool.

for those two calibers you have I would reload.

You can save a little money. Use to be able to save a bunch. War has caused a shortage on items and hard to get. So, what happens? Inflation. The main thing is you can customize your loads to your needs and make a truly more accurate load for your gun. Plus it is a fun thing to do in the off time. Just make sure you pat attention to details. I have to reload our 257 IMP.

it won't likely save you any money, ... Huh?

It will definitely save you money. I do not know of anyone that owns firearms, got into reloading, and then gave it all up. I have been shooting since I was 12, and reloading since I was 16.
I have reloaded 12 gauage / 20 gauge, probably about 50,000 rounds, and almost every caliber of pistol, I know more than 1 million rounds, and about 20 rifle calibers, almost 100,000 rounds there, ... and only took 30 years to do it.

Sure the cost of components has gone up, but what hasn't?

You have to register your ammunition purchases in Kalifornia now. Reloaders are not efffected, ...yet.