• We are now running on a new, and hopefully much-improved, server. In addition we are also on new forum software. Any move entails a lot of technical details and I suspect we will encounter a few issues as the new server goes live. Please be patient with us. It will be worth it! :) Please help by posting all issues here.
  • The forum will be down for about an hour this weekend for maintenance. I apologize for the inconvenience.
  • If you are having trouble seeing the forum then you may need to clear your browser's DNS cache. Click here for instructions on how to do that
  • Please review the Forum Rules frequently as we are constantly trying to improve the forum for our members and visitors.

Any handloaders here?

VFORVENDETTA

Regular Member
Joined
Jul 18, 2010
Messages
222
Location
Death Valley, Nevada, Utah, Idaho
FOR PRACTICE AMMO!

I would like to know exactly what the cost would be to load 9mm, 357sig, 357mag, 10mm, 40s&w and 45acp. This is considering you re use your brass. I have been buying 357 sig for $19.50/box and 40S&W for 15.95/box.
Also what have you spent on the equipment to do it?
I understand people do it for precision and accuracy reasons.

What is the best way to collect the brass while shooting a semi auto?
I'm thinking parking my truck to the right of me with the tailgate open.
 
Last edited:

jeeper1

Regular Member
Joined
Sep 29, 2008
Messages
692
Location
USA
The last time I bought primers they were $.04 each.

Powder was $22 a pound (Walmart). In my XD40 I am using 6 grains of AA5, that's over 1000 rounds per pound. Thar's about $.02 a round.

Bullets (I use Berrys plated 180 grain HP bullets in my XD40) run$118.07 a thousand or less than $.12 each.

That is about 18 cents a round or $9 a box of 50.

I use a Dillon Square Deal press for loading 40 s&w/10mm and 38special/357 magnum. For everything else I use an old Lee turret press.

A cheap tarp on the ground works too since you can just pick up the tarp most of your empty cases can then be poured into a cardboard box.
 

Broondog

Regular Member
Joined
Feb 26, 2009
Messages
368
Location
Ste. Gen County, MO, , USA
yep, jeeper1 summed it up pretty well. i can load my most common calibers (9mm, 40s&w, 38spl) for roughly $7-8 per box of 50.

i bought this RCBS rig http://www.midwayusa.com/viewProduct/?productNumber=646599 at a local shop for about $260 a few years back, added a few things, bought some die sets new and others like new at shows. i guess i've got around $600+ wrapped up in hard parts. books are another expense and can't be under-rated. buy all that you can!

depending on what you plan on loading you'll probably end up with a half dozen or more different powders and 2-4 different styles of primers, if not more. more bags and boxes of bullets than you can shake a stick at too!

as for collecting brass i just employ all of the shooters at my home range to find all that they can and drop it in a plastic grocery bag.

once you tool up it will all pay for itself in no time if you shoot a lot. not so much so for the casual shooter tho. some of the stuff like presses and dies never really break/wear out if well taken care of. check your local paper for stuff like that on the cheap. most folks don't know what to do with grandpa's old setup so they just sell it for next to nothing sometimes.

but the best piece of advice i can give to ANYONE looking to get into reloading is READ, READ and then READ some more BEFORE you throw your first charge. reloading is not something that you want to "learn by your mistakes" at.
 

shad0wfax

Regular Member
Joined
Oct 11, 2008
Messages
1,069
Location
Spokane, Washington, USA
FOR PRACTICE AMMO!

I would like to know exactly what the cost would be to load 9mm, 357sig, 357mag, 10mm, 40s&w and 45acp. This is considering you re use your brass. I have been buying 357 sig for $19.50/box and 40S&W for 15.95/box.
Also what have you spent on the equipment to do it?
I understand people do it for precision and accuracy reasons.

What is the best way to collect the brass while shooting a semi auto?
I'm thinking parking my truck to the right of me with the tailgate open.

I recently priced out 1,000 primers (CCI large pistol), 1 lb of powder (Winchester 231), 1,000 bullets (Rainier Ballistics 230 gr RN .451" cal), a Hornady Lock n Load AP progressive press with an automatic case feeder and all of the requisite add-ons such as a powder-check die, caliper, bullet puller, powder scale, reloading manual, shell plates, extra parts, lubricant, and a set of dies for a .45 ACP.

With shipping (assuming the powder and primers are bought locally to avoid haz-mat fees) the whole thing was around $1,340

Shell plates for that press are about $35 a piece and dies for each additional caliber would be between $30 and $80 each depending on how fancy you get. I think the Hornady dies were Ti Nitride and still came in at about $60 each. You'd be in it for another $300 in dies and another $35 for a second case-feeder plate if you got the automatic case feed.

Then you'd have to add in the cost of additional bullets for each caliber.

I think for your setup with a progressive press like that you'd be looking at about $2500 total to load 1,000 rounds of each, assuming you had brass for each.

Now if you go single stage, you'd save about $500 or so but rather than loading 600 to 800 rounds in an hour you'll be loading about 60 rounds in an hour and you'll be pumping your hand up and down on the press 3 times, plus a priming stroke, rather than one pump on the progressive press.

That being said, a single stage press is better for rifle accuracy (which you don't seem interested in) and a single stage press is arguably safer and easier to learn to reload on.
 

VFORVENDETTA

Regular Member
Joined
Jul 18, 2010
Messages
222
Location
Death Valley, Nevada, Utah, Idaho
Another thing

What about the time required? Sometimes my work has me on a leash for 9, 10, 12 hours a day 7 days a week. When i work that much i can afford a lot of ammo, toys and whatnot. So obviously i will have no time to reload. I think its going to be hard to justify the cost of all the equipment.
 

shad0wfax

Regular Member
Joined
Oct 11, 2008
Messages
1,069
Location
Spokane, Washington, USA
What about the time required? Sometimes my work has me on a leash for 9, 10, 12 hours a day 7 days a week. When i work that much i can afford a lot of ammo, toys and whatnot. So obviously i will have no time to reload. I think its going to be hard to justify the cost of all the equipment.

Look at it this way: for ~$2500 to ~$3500 you can reload 1,000 rounds of each caliber. Let's assume $4,000 just to err on the side of caution. That's 6,000 rounds at $4,000 for your first set of reloads. That will take you a total of about 20 hours to reload. (That's assuming you have a very gradual learning curve and go very slow.) Again, this is only for your first batch. Yes, your first time through you're spending more than the factory ammo is costing you because you invested $400 to $800 in a reloading machine and another $50 to $80 for each set of dies and another $40 or so for each caliber in miscellaneous reloading press parts. These costs are offset each time you reload; the more you reload, the less relevant this initial investment is.

Your second batch (assuming .45 ACP) is going to cost you $0.03 each round for primer, $0.14 each round for bullet (For the 45 ACP using Rainier Ballistics 230 gr bullets), re-used brass you already have, and about $0.02 each round for powder. That's $0.19 a piece. And you'll be able to reload 1,000 rounds in 2 hours easily once you're good with the press.

Bulk rate ammo: 1,000 rounds of .45 ACP is usually about $450

But you can load it for $190 and 2 hours of work. Is your time really worth $130 an hour?

In the time it takes you to drive to the store, buy the ammunition, and then drive home, you probably could load between 300 and 600 rounds, depending on where you live and how close to the store you are.

And the biggest advantage to reloading is that you can choose precisely what you want to shoot. You can load up economic light-charge practice ammo in bulk and then load up hot-load practice ammo to duplicate your defensive load recoil without shooting up your defensive ammo.
 

VFORVENDETTA

Regular Member
Joined
Jul 18, 2010
Messages
222
Location
Death Valley, Nevada, Utah, Idaho
Look at it this way: for ~$2500 to ~$3500 you can reload 1,000 rounds of each caliber. Let's assume $4,000 just to err on the side of caution. That's 6,000 rounds at $4,000 for your first set of reloads. That will take you a total of about 20 hours to reload. (That's assuming you have a very gradual learning curve and go very slow.) Again, this is only for your first batch. Yes, your first time through you're spending more than the factory ammo is costing you because you invested $400 to $800 in a reloading machine and another $50 to $80 for each set of dies and another $40 or so for each caliber in miscellaneous reloading press parts. These costs are offset each time you reload; the more you reload, the less relevant this initial investment is.

Your second batch (assuming .45 ACP) is going to cost you $0.03 each round for primer, $0.14 each round for bullet (For the 45 ACP using Rainier Ballistics 230 gr bullets), re-used brass you already have, and about $0.02 each round for powder. That's $0.19 a piece. And you'll be able to reload 1,000 rounds in 2 hours easily once you're good with the press.

Bulk rate ammo: 1,000 rounds of .45 ACP is usually about $450

But you can load it for $190 and 2 hours of work. Is your time really worth $130 an hour?

In the time it takes you to drive to the store, buy the ammunition, and then drive home, you probably could load between 300 and 600 rounds, depending on where you live and how close to the store you are.

And the biggest advantage to reloading is that you can choose precisely what you want to shoot. You can load up economic light-charge practice ammo in bulk and then load up hot-load practice ammo to duplicate your defensive load recoil without shooting up your defensive ammo.
45 acp $340/1000 plus shipping
http://www.ammunitiontogo.com/produ...i-blazer-230gr-fmj-ammo/cName/45-acp-fmj-ammo

someone else reloading it $330/1000 plus shipping
http://georgia-arms.com/45acp.aspx
 

t33j

Regular Member
Joined
Dec 28, 2009
Messages
1,384
Location
King George, VA
Setting up my press today. Looks like it'll work out to about $9 or $10/box of .45 ACP.
 
Last edited:

tnhawk

Regular Member
Joined
May 19, 2010
Messages
41
Location
Tennessee, USA
You will not save money by reloading. You will spend the savings per round on additional equipment and supplies. The main reason to reload is to shoot more for the same amount of money.

As stated above, get a reloading manual and READ it before attempting to reload.
 
Last edited:
Top