Im thinking about getting into it and was wondering if you can end up saving money after all the experimenting is done and you have found the "load" that you are going to stick with. If so, take any box of factory ammo (say $40), about what would it cost to reload the exact same load and bullet combo on a per box basis.

Half if not a little less. Price can vary depending on how much in bulk stuff you buy.

Initially the cost is high to get started. But really depends on what caliber and how often and how u actually shoot.

I reload 8mm mauser. its about $.86 a round with new brass. using old brass its around $.40 a round. Powder is $20-$30 depending on type and brand per lb. 1 lb equals 7000 grains. If my round uses 40gr then thats 175 rounds per lb of powder. Where as new production ammo is $1 per rnd and up.

25-06 with nosler accubonds, win large rifle primer, imr 4861, and new winchester brass apprx. cost

bullet-28.00 per 50 or 11.20 per box

primer-30.00 per 1000 or 0.60 per box

powder 27.00 per 1 pound 3.55 per box

brass 29.00 per 50 11.60 per box or 2.32 if you pick up your brass and load it 4 more times

total 26.95 per box if you dont reuse brass

total 17.67 per box if you reuse your brass

total 15.35 per box if you already have a good supply of once fired brass

.357 mag with 158 gr cast, win small pistol primers, Blue dot, new starline brass apprx. cost

Bullet- 40.00 per 500 or 4.00 per box(50)

primer- 32.00 per 1000 or 1.60 per box

powder- 20.00 per pound or 1.00 per box

brass- 16.00 per 100 or 8.00 per box or 1.60 if you reload it 4 more times

total 14.60 if you dont reuse brass

total 8.20 if you reload brass 5 times

total 6.60 if you dont buy brass

Theoretically you can save money reloading, but no one does - you just shoot more.

David

You have to shoot a LOT to save money reloading, if your reloading for the yearly week at the deer lease your not gonna save much at all.

Cost of materials (excluding Brass) is about 1/2 or a little less than factory loads. If you buy new brass then your looking at saving $2-5 off factory loads... UNTIL you factor in the cost of the equipment and your time, now your down a bit.

I reload off and on for myself as well as several of my friends, it's kinda therapudic and relaxing for me. But to give you an idea, I just finished reloading 200 rnds of 220 Swift, 200 rnds of 6mm, 200 rnds of 243 and 400 rounds of 22-250 all factory new brass. Cost for all of this is around $1000...

I also use a single stage press, and it takes me about an hour per hundred rounds, but that's also using the Hornady Scale and auto dispensing charges. If I use my Lee powder drop I can get 200, and as much as 300 rounds an hour but my friends and I like the consistancy I get by weighing every load.

If your looking to save money for shooting, buy bulk ammo when it's on sale. If you are looking to tune your loads to exactly what you like then reloading is the way to go.

If you do not shoot away the savings yes you can save money. Especially if you shoot the less common calibers. My 6.5-284 & 257 weatherby i save 40 to 50 dollars on a box of 20. The oboselete and wildcats there is even greater savings on them. But if I did not reload I would not own those.

If you are a box of ammo a year gut then probally is not worth it. If you like to shoot then the enjoyment is there to make it more affordable to shoot, which iften leads to shooting more

+1 on both of these statements

Its fun and brings a lot of satisfaction and will teach you more about your rifle than you could ever know buying stuff off the shelf.


Saving money? Uh....depends on how much you shoot. Like others have said. Do it for other reasons.

Personal satisfaction and the enjoyment of doing it are the reasons I reload. It feels better smoking a dove from a shell I made or dropping a deer with a premium bullet load I worked up and know exactly where it will hit with the utmost confidence.

I am going to stretch this question. In pistol shooting especially the really big saving came when I got into casting. After collecting a supply of lead that I could reuse time and again, and loading light rounds that were easy on my gun and myself, my costs dropped dramatically. Loading light lead rounds for rifles will also cut your costs. The bullet is the most expensive item in reloading.

Yep, this is so true.

The only reason I reload is I shoot a lot of wildcats and I do all brass work and loading on them.. the only standard cal i reload for is 300wm. I have not saved $$ its quite the opposite...

Yes. I save gobs of money reloading. I shoot a lot, but I would shoot anyway. My 9mm is about 50% of retail price for cheapest stuff you can find, 45 is 33% retail, 44 Mag is about 20-35% retail depending on bullet and powder load, and the list goes on and on for 223, 300 Win, etc.

I save quite a big reloading my my .308 and 30.06. I can reload 20 rounds of .308 for about $9.00 per box vs. 30.00 per box for factory.

Joe

Thanks for all the input. I've been shooting a lot recently so going to break down and buy the equipment.

Yes you can save money per box of ammo by reloading, but in the long run you will spend more money as you will end up shooting more.

I reload as a hobby...
and spend a lot doing it. Lots of powders, bullets, primers of each brand, different case brands. its fun.


WAY more than picking up a box of ammo. OTOH, you can also spend a lot finding the factory ammo thats best.
Once you have a press dies and one can of powder, factory ammo purchases seem a moot point.

And no factory ammo can match the better/best reloads for my guns

considering the 150 - 200yd bobcat shots, it HAS to be very accurate ammo.

I agree with this. I save alot of money when it comes to loading my 300 wby 45 colt and my dads 280 rem. I shoot nosler partitions in my 223 and would weather I loaded them or had to buy factory federal loadins, the factory federals wer over $25 a box when I quit buying them, so I can load those cheaper as well, same goes for my 270 as I shoot partitions in it as well.

I have loaded standard cup and core for the 270 and the cost margin shrinks. I do reuse my brass, but I have a pretty endles supply of once fired 270 brass and 223 is cheap and easy to come by. The wby is quality brass and last several loadings if you dont load max loads and neck size. I dont count my time as it is a hobby and something I really enjoy.

matt

Also startup cost varies greatly with reloading. When I started I bought a kit but then got a good set of calipers a tumbler and a electric powder dropper and scale. It is nice, but the much cheaper tripple beam scale will do the same job with a trickler. You can get into it for not a whole lot of cash if that is what you want to do.

About the only real place that I have seen a huge savings was with practice ammo for pistols using cast bullets. I used to shoot 250-500 rounds a week of .45acp. I couldn't have ever afforded that much practice if it wasn't for reloading and casting...

I don't do much casting any more though, here in the DFW area it's too hard to find scrap lead anymore, seems everyone has figured out that it has scrap value afterall and they all think it rivals the price of gold.

For me it is a hobby and not a money saver. But it does feel like I am saving money when I only spend to buy powder one month or bullets another. I feel like the money goes further. I know it may not be true, but I feel like I am spending less that way...

Mike

Per round you definately save money. Some calibers like 9mm and .223 you dont save much. I load my 308 target round for about 1/3 the price of factory rounds with the same projectile! 44mag also has substancial savings.

in the long run you will spend more money but you will get to shoot a LOT more than if you were buying factory loads for the same money.

Honestly, if you are getting into reloading just to save money dont! Reloading is a hobby to most that enjoy it and is a great past time for me. To me it boils down to how many times are you actually going to go shoot. If you are the kind of guy that goes to the range 2 weeks before season opens (or maybe not at all) then just buy a couple boxes of factory and let them last you 15 years!

While I partialy agree with this there are exceptions.

A budy of mine inherited several guns. He has a 257 roberts, a 264 win mag, a 7mm wby and a 22 hornet. None of the guns have increadably readily available ammo, and you can very very easily save money reloading only a couple boxes a year for any of them, payoff time may only be a couple years depending on how he chose to outfit himself.

matt

I agree with most of these posts. It is hard to define saving money in one general statement because ov all the different variables in your situation. The problem with reloading is once you get started, your done for. When you start small, just getting a few things to get started, then you see after loading for just a short while all the cool gadgets that will save you time and makemyou more accurate. That's when you really start spending money! It is very therapeutic though.

I think I have like $300 or so in powder..