reloading vs. buying factory

[TreeStump]

how much does it cost to get started reloading? and is it cheaper to handload or buy factory made ammunition?

[RenegadeRN]

Treestump....

The cost to get into reloading is variable dependent upon what you purchase. As in anything you can get inexpensive to what we all would consider as gold. LOL! Suffice it to say you can get a 'kit' that would come with all you need minus dies for your caliber, bullets, brass, and primers. The kit is the way to go because you save money. RCBS makes wonderful, rugged equipment with OUTSTANDING customer service. I think the kit I looked at was for in the neighborhood of $300. Hornady has a progressive kit reloading kit on sale til end of December I think. It comes with bullets. The initial outlay can be overwhelming, but save yourself some money and don't piecemeal it together. If you are in the Jacksonville area go to Eastern Outfitters and look to see what they have. PLUS, to change calibers only requires changing dies and expendables.

YES, you can save money by reloading. Enough to pay for the reloading equipment and in short order. But there are other benefits as well. You can reload more accurate rounds and tailor the round to the game you will shoot. Well...unless you are like others of us who shoot more now that we reload...LOL! Once you have the brass, while expendable, you get a number of reloads off those.

This is for a .270. A .223 would cost you less due to less powder and less cost of bullets. 460 Weatherby Magnum would be more.

Powder: $25 a pound dependent upon where buying. 7000 grains in a pound, but a 270 shoots about 60 grains of powder. A .223 would be about 25 grains of powder
Bullets: $35 for a 100 premium bullets (Nosler) dependent upon the cal you shoot and manufacturer. 223 is about $20 for 100 bullets
Primers: $3.60 per 100 dependent upon many things. Again you can save if you buy in bulk.
Brass: if you have it is free, but I have seen it like for $40 for 100 new. (If you search you can find people who sell it cheap or give it away) Say you get a minimum of 5 loads off the brass you are saving here as well.

Ya got $100 in 100 rounds plus some powder left over. I dare say you would have a very hard time finding top of the line premium 270Win loads for this price that are more accurate. And if I manipulate things here or there, buy in bulk, buy less expensive bullets I can save more. And lastly there is the satisfaction of knowing you took the game you seek with your own handbuilt rounds.

[SongDoghunter]

The initial cost can run anywhere from $150-$400 depending on the brand of equipment, type of powder, bullets etc.

Average cost of a lb of powder is $22.00 and contains 7000 grains or about .15 cents per round with a 50 grain charge
Box of 50 Nosler 150 grain Ballistic Tips .308 bullets cost $19.00 or .38 cents each
1 piece of once fired brass cost you about .15 cents
1 large rifle primer costs about .03 cents (less than that after the first loading)

If you add this all up your rough cost per bullet to load is about .71 cents per round or a little over $14 per box of 20
A box of the Winchester Supreme 30.06 bullets from Bass Pro with the Nosler Ballistic Tips sell for $34.00

So your savings would be roughly $20 per box loaded.

[TreeStump]

Wow so i reckon it is worth it

I reckon i will try to get me some because i cant afford to shoot much as it is so maybe if i get me a set of reloading equipment i can afford to shoot a little more.


but what about the time is it worth the time invested? how long does it take to make a single rounf or a 20 rnd box?

[RenegadeRN]

First, before you go and do anything buy yourself a reloading book. Every reloading book out there has the basics of reloading in it. I had good help from the Lyman book...but anyone will do. I think the RCBS kit has the current Speer Manual in it for Speer bullets.

Hmmmm....the basic aspect of reloading? You resize and deprime the fired brass. If new brass some people just size it. You then prime. You weigh out the powder and drop the powder in the primed case. You seat the bullet. Bout as long as it took me to type this. 20 rounds? I dunno...never really timed it. And this is on a single stage press. As time goes on you will get faster and may do things in a different fashion.

I personally deprime and resize or necksize a certain amount of brass at one time. Next time around I will do brass prep....coz I am anal that way. You trim the brass to minimum length (ream the primer pocket/ream the flash hole) and then I deburr the mouth of the case. You don't necessarily have to do the primer pocket and flash hole. I then will throw my brass in a vibratory cleaner. So ya do about 100 this way. Then you know your brass is prepped, cleaned, and is shiny like new. The nex time around I will weigh out and drop the gunpowder in the case one at a time and put in a loading block. Once this is done you will seat the bullet to the correct length in all twenty cases. You are basically done. Not really much too it.

[TreeStump]

thanks for the info

[MadeintheUSA]

Reloading is the way to go!!!! I use to pay $44 plus tax for a box of 20 .308 BST ( over $2 a round) now I reload them with my own brass for about $0.77 around and get better shot groups.

[nedscreekkennels]

Buy a reloading manual and find someone that will let you watch the loading process that way you can understand the flow of things. One tip is to learn how to anneal case necks the proper way as to not anneal the case head and stand a chance of a case rupture. I started 25yrs ago with a RCBS Rockchucker master reloading kit still have it and would reccomend it .

[ZmanWakeForest]

Hey fellas, I just returned after a few days away and I have to chime in on this, because those of you that have been doing this for a while have been through this like me.

Reloading is absolutely the best.....FOR some people.

First of all, for a guy who is shooting normal stuff....223, 243, 30-30, etc it may not pay for itself for a LONG time. If the guy shoots 2 boxes of shells a year out his gun and he can be happy with a 1 and 1/2 inch group at 100 yards....there is not need to start reloading.

Second, before you start reloading, make sure you have a good spot for all your stuff! If you have to set the crap up everytime you want to reload, it is a pain in the A$$! The kitchen table is not an acceptable place.

Someone above mentioned powder and bullet prices, so let me bring this up. So a guy gets into this, a buddy shares a good load and bullet combination that works for him. The guy buys the powder and the bullets and guess what....the load is crap out of his gun! Maybe his gun doesn't like the powder or the bullet weight or whatever...so now he needs more powder and more bullets. I know you guys have tried 3 and 4 powders, different bullets, etc just to get what you are looking for.

I am not going to get off on this too far, but let me be the first to tell you about getting into this......

1) Figure out the cost of what you are shooting and are going to shoot and be realistic whether this is going to pay for itself in a reasonable about of time.
2) DO NOT tell the wife that you are getting into this to save money! That is crap about 95% of the time.
3) I will be the first to tell you that a starter kit is great, but lets be honest....with only a starter kit, your loads are barely equal to factory loads!
4) BE HONEST WITH YOURSELF! IF YOU WANT THIS HOBBY, IT IS AWESOME, BUT YOU NEED TO ANAL RETENTIVE AND SPEND SOME CASH FOR GOOD EQUIPMENT IF YOU WANT GREAT LOADS!

I'll be the first to tell you, I am over $5000 into this with the room, the supplies, the equipment, and I KNOW there of lots of the good reloaders on here and all over which are in deep as well.

THE MORE YOU RELOAD, THE MORE DRIVEN YOU WILL BE TO FIND THE PERFECT LOAD, FOR THE PERFECT GUN AND GUESS WHAT.......ALL OF THESE COST $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

[SongDoghunter]

I don't care how much it costs me! I LUUUUVVV IT!:cool0010:

[RenegadeRN]

I bought piece by piece and doubt I have close to that in all that I own including brass, bullets, primers, and powder. WHEW! Must be one heck of a room. I will say that if I had a good excuse and could justify it I would have a Dillon 650. I'm with Doghunter on this one. I wouldn't care what it costs, but as to basic kit reloads not performing up to factory or better? Mine have always printed better than factory. I will admit that you can save money by buying factory Rem Corelokt type of stuff on sale for like $16.00 per 20 vice premium Nosler rounds. Its all in what you want. But I dare say Rem Corelokts will never come close to the accuracy I get and confidence i Have in the premium components I use. AND three of my loads I used were spot on by someone telling me what bullet, what powder and how much and what primer to use...270Win, .223, and the .308. WIth that said I do agree with ZMan in the fact that this doesn't necessarily occur for anyone or any rifle. You do have to work up loads, but that is one of the fun aspects of reloading. I can save some money by buying my veggies from Food Lion or Wally...but I grow my own. Nosler has ShootersPro Shop where you can buy 2nds for premium components and they are less expensive and just as good as 1sts.

With all of this said....yep, it is always better to ask for forgiveness than ask for permission....coz you ain't getting permission....usually. LOL! Just ain't nothing like sighting in and squeezing the trigger on some of your own home built reloads and zings into a square less than an inch.