In the 90s my father (USAF SP) had a nice reloading set up but it was a lot cheaper to buy the ammo rather than reload it. He did it mostly for funsies I think. I remember going into the LGS and seeing barrels full of surplus 5.56 and 7.62 sold by weight. I think it came out to pennies per round.
I’m guessing reloading has gained a lot of value, especially recently, so I’m thinking of getting equipment this spring with dies for 9mm, 5.56 and .270 Win. What kind of cost per round (training loads) are you guys averaging? I’m not counting the equipment, only consumables. Specifically curious about the 9mm and 5.56, as I won’t be loading massive amounts of the .270.
It depends. If you get free brass, that is the biggest chunk of the cost. Next most expensive would be bullets. Depending on the type of primer and if you buy in bulk, you will spend about 2-3 cents per handgun primer. Powders range in price too, but for 9mm about 2-3 cents per charge. Most commercial FMJ 9mm bullets run around $.12 a bullet, copper plated run about $.08 a bullet, and lead cast bullets are about $.06 each. If you salvage lead alloy from scrap, you can get your bullet cost to almost zero. Occasionally I will get free car wheel weights, melt them down, and then cast them into 9mm bullets. When I do that, I usually average about $.05 per shot of 9mm. There are some die hard guys that have actually learned how to recycle primers and make their own semi-smokeless powder…but I draw the line at bullet casting.
I get free brass when I can, but there’s no guarantee. I haven’t checked out my local range, so I don’t know if they allow people to pick up brass left by others. I’m also going to assume that most people pick their own up, that way any I’m able to find is pure bonus.
I looked up brass prices earlier and was pretty shocked. Good 5.56 brass was like $0.30 or so each. I was like gawd. :cray::cray:
Add $0.30 per for brass and that’s around $0.50. I can get PMC .223 for that but the reload will be of better quality at least.
Wait, let me correct myself. The last time I bought any ammo was pre 12/17/2012 and PMC was ~$9.95 per box. I haven’t even walked into a LGS since then.
Grab that free brass when ever you can. Dig in trash cans if need be. I get free brass when ever I qualify with other officers. Most of the time, you can get around 5-10 reloads out of your brass. You can push that a little further if you reduce your charge as the brass gets old, anneal your cases, and keep them trimmed and neck turned.
Yes, those are good average prices. You get get some stuff even cheaper if you shop around or get generic. But I would use those figures as a good starting comparison.
Everything is cheaper if you buy in bulk, like 8# powder, 5K primers, 1,000 or more bullets, etc. Even buying in 1#, 1K and 100 batches you still save, just not as much. I think I figured even buying in small batches I could still load 68 BTHP Hornady for less than $6/20.
Before buying brass ask around for any buddies that shoot and don’t reload if they will save their brass for you. Once word gets around and you visit the range regularly for pick me ups, the brass just seems to start accumulating. If you can find Federal M193 or PMC bronze at a good price then get that as a starter batch. Never hurts to have some factory ammo around anyway and as you shoot it up you can reuse known brass. I shoot at a range where picking up forgotten brass is prohibited, but invariably there are so many AR15 shooters on the line now it is easy to find someone to shoot next to that isn’t picking up their brass and will give permission for me to pick it up instead. Even at the gravel pit I would say 1/3 of the time I go there I find at least 40-100 cases of .223 and 9mm.
If you can build up to 100-200 cases you are set for a starter and then it will build over time. When I invite others to the range to shoot at my expense I always buy factory ammo for their guns. The only person I let shoot my reloads is a SIL who reloads and we share a ton of info and ideas, but even he prefers his own reloads or factory. So there is always a reason to buy factory now and then and it just adds up. So do NOT buy factory empty brass unless you absolutely have to and then I would only get 200 cases at most.
Components are going to be hard to find these days, but if you know a heavy duty reloader he might be willing to part with some at a fair price to help a new local reloader get started. I would. Good luck and you may discover it is a lot of fun and learning in its own right.
$.19/ea for my 55 gr Hornady FMJ load with TAC and Rem 7 1/2s (excl brass), which is a higher end load (if there is such a thing for 55 gr FMJ). These are from components purchased in 2011 so add your best guess, but generally you can load for about 50% of factory, assuming you are comparing the same quality.
Great input so far. Thanks everyone. I never bothered to learn how to reload from my father (stupid me), but I have a friend who does it pretty heavily and said I can use his equipment and expertise until more is available.
Definitely seems like I’ll benefit greatly from going forward with this.
NWPilgrim, what do you mean by SIL? Just curious.
I’ve probably got 100-200 empty PMC bronze cases already saved and roughly another 200 rounds I have yet to shoot. That should give me a good start.
SIL = Son-in-law. Lucky that a daughter married a gun fanatic. We compare notes all the time on test load data, equipment, shooting, firearms, etc. If you have a friend like that you can really accelerate your learning curve. I’ve been loading for 24+ years and I still learn a lot from the SIL who has been doing it just a year or so. He tries things I have not and asks questions and researches other things. For instance, I was pretty happy with my accuracy loads of 75 THP and Varget. But he has a 1/9 bbl and tested powders in 68 BTHP and found them very accurate. So I tried my own 68 gr test loads and found they are accurate with practically any powder. Now he is trying out IMR 8208 XBR while I have been happily loading H335 and Varget forever. Meanwhile I share tips on case prep and equipment. We text back and forth on shooting session results, pictures of targets, malfunctions and corrective action, etc. OK, and component porn! When I was out visiting him a few few years ago we did a marathon 30 hour road trip to Camp Perry, OH to hand pick M1 Garands (his first, my third). AR15, Glocks and Garands we are all over it.
Just remember that while you share info with your friend to always verify with your own research and testing. If he gives you loads recommendations ask how he came up with it, what reference or testing did he do to arrive at that. My SIL and I have such an agreement: no hurt feelings for not just going with it. Any results one of us gets is treated just like we read it out of a manual or article. Good starting point but back it up with checking the source references and doing our own sanity check. Your safety is your own responsibility.
Nickle pistol brass is no problem so long as it cleaned/polished properly before loading. Just easier to scratch if you have grit in your cleaning media. Probably 1/3 or more of my .45 ACP brass is nickle.
Less experience with big game rifle brass with nickle finish, but no issues, for me, there either.
I saved brass before I had a reloading set up. That being said, I have purchased once fired brass before although, I’ve never paid more than 4-5¢ a case for it.
my variable costs come to about .19 per round for bulk stuff. Ouroborous breakdowns were spot on to my costs.
Brass is difficult to figure because of cost, varying reloading numbers, but I figured it between 1 and 2 cents for me. It depends on whether you collect, fire loaded cartridges and save, buy new, or once fired.
From a cost benefit standpoint I was able to recoup my initial capital equipment costs in one year, faster than my estimate. It depends on the volume of shooting.
Being a newbie to reloading, I am always out for more info. Good thread. I would like to add that there is also another cost involved…Your time. I justify reloading as me being able to shoot much more for a lot less. Also, the cartridges that I produce will probably be more accurate than the factory version due to my QC (hopefully more accurate).
I just opened the box of a new bushmaster AR-10 308 MOE model and went online to order ammo ,dies ,powder ,primers no luck!! All backordered! No ammo at any of the big stores then went to online bulk ammo no luck. I called Lee and RCBS no anser about how all the ammo and reloading componets are all backorder? Is the Fed behind this?? This is scary! Is it really coming down to this! Well wake the f___ Up!! If you think iam crazy go online and try to buy any NATO rounds!!! Join your local malitia and learn to shoot! You think you know whats going on let me know!! God help this country!! I hope!
