NEWBIE question....9mm economy

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WWW226

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dear fellows seniors reloaders,
Please don't be mad at me.... I really try to read, and read and read.....
but all comes down to my narrowed conclusion, that it is not as economically sounded when reloading ONLY 9mm lugers....:(

I tried to complied the costs of brasses, bullet, primers, powders and taking out the equation the cost for a multistage press XL650...
I only came up with a staggering cost of $0.30ish given take per round.
does this sound correct? :bangHead:

I am calculating all items being purchased...

as I do not have a single brass from any previous fired cartridges....

In fact, I just shot for first time two days ago 30 rounds at a range.

But wanted to know your feedbacks to foresee the near future....

really appreciate your input...
Thanks in advance.
 
You really need to get your brass for free.... For this, I really just ask people at the range if they want their brass and clean up their benches for them.

Campro 9mm projectiles is around.. $90/1000 for 115 grains + shipping
Primers, the cheapest is probably Canada Ammo dominion small rifle primers (which you can use as pistol primers too) $40/1000 + shipping
And 1 pound of titegroup is usually on sale at 30-32/pound many local gun stores

at 4.4 grains per load... you can make 1590 rounds per pound

With my math, I'm counting around.. 15-20 cents per round.
You can save more if you manage to find a store that has all these things in stock so you can save on shipping costs.

Also though the xl650 is a great press, if you're willing to load at a slower rate, the lee load master is great value for money. Though a lot more finicky.
 
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I buy commercial 9mm on sale generally, and it is working out to be .32c per round...after taxes. Works for me.

...I do keep all my brass though.... :)
 
I'm reloading for about 17-18 cents per round. Compare that to 26-30 cents for the best sales I've seen.
I use a Dillon Square Deal B and shoot at least a couple hundred rounds per week. This is a great press and plenty fast enough for me.
 
Reloading will allow you to fine tune your ammo.
Myself, running a weak spring 9mm 1911, having federal primers insures ignition each shot.
Reloading keeps me close and within the minor power factor for competition.

Still, even with 147gr projectiles, i manage to stay under 18 cents per round.
All i have to say, purchase in bulk.

buy campro in lots of 5000, buy primers in lots of 5000, buy powder in 8lbs jugs if you can.
I am running free brass, 147gr campro, titegroup powder, federal primers, have not purchased anything in more than a year as i had stockpiled, i might have a nasty surprise waiting on next restocking
 
People that are willing to melt lead and mould their own, yep even bigger savings.
Campro, is the cheapest route, if wanting to stay away for lead, which is my case.
The less lead manipulation in my life, the better.
 
Look if you are only loading for 9mm don't. It is not not worth it. People will come on here and claim I can load for x, But you can not because you did not buy when they did you can only buy now, and if people do not consider the brass value a cost then fine. But take it out both ways Everytime I buy a case of 9mm I get 1000 free brass that I could sell for 30 bucks if I wanted to. Basically 9mm is a loss leader for the gunstores everyone has one so if they want people to buy they put it on sale. Primers protectiles powder and brass are not loss leaders they are rarely heavily discounted.

I have a 650 and set up for 9mm I rarely use it I just buy it by the crate because it as cheap as loading it when you factor in your costs. So ignore the post about I am doing it for 17 cents a round.

he is ignoring the brass cost, he purchased primers when they were cheaper and powder was cheaper to. If you could go back in time and pick up this stuff at those prices then fine but while you are there maybe grab a winning lotto max ticket so you can buy an island and build a nice range to shoot an assemble inexpensive reloads on.
 
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Thanks guys for the feedbacks!
Da indeed. Free Rae’s site way to go.
Melting lead is out of picture, as health cakes first and agree. The less lead better the life.
Buying in bulk and stock up when on sales, but do they sells you even you do not have PAL yet from online store or local gun stores?

Very greatful for receiving your feedbacks!!!
Thanks
 
JBD said:
Look if you are only loading for 9mm don't. It is not not worth it. People will come on here and claim I can load for x, But you can not because you did not buy when they did you can only buy now, and if people do not consider the brass value a cost then fine. But take it out both ways Everytime I buy a case of 9mm I get 1000 free brass that I could sell for 30 bucks if I wanted to. Basically 9mm is a loss leader for the gunstores everyone has one so if they want people to buy they put it on sale. Primers protectiles powder and brass are not loss leaders they are rarely heavily discounted.

I have a 650 and set up for 9mm I rarely use it I just buy it by the crate because it as cheap as loading it when you factor in your costs. So ignore the post about I am doing it for 17 cents a round.

he is ignoring the brass cost, he purchased primers when they were cheaper and powder was cheaper to. If you could go back in time and pick up this stuff at those prices then fine but while you are there maybe grab a winning lotto max ticket so you can buy an island and build a nice range to shoot an assemble inexpensive reloads on.
Click to expand...

Free brass ain't that hard to start up.
Outdoor range, walk around and you will fill a bag of 100-200 in no time,
Indoor range, be helpfull to your range officers, they will often let you in on all 1F brass most factory ammo shooters aren't picking up.
 
JBD said:
Look if you are only loading for 9mm don't. It is not not worth it. People will come on here and claim I can load for x, But you can not because you did not buy when they did you can only buy now, and if people do not consider the brass value a cost then fine. But take it out both ways Everytime I buy a case of 9mm I get 1000 free brass that I could sell for 30 bucks if I wanted to. Basically 9mm is a loss leader for the gunstores everyone has one so if they want people to buy they put it on sale. Primers protectiles powder and brass are not loss leaders they are rarely heavily discounted.

I have a 650 and set up for 9mm I rarely use it I just buy it by the crate because it as cheap as loading it when you factor in your costs. So ignore the post about I am doing it for 17 cents a round.

he is ignoring the brass cost, he purchased primers when they were cheaper and powder was cheaper to. If you could go back in time and pick up this stuff at those prices then fine but while you are there maybe grab a winning lotto max ticket so you can buy an island and build a nice range to shoot an assemble inexpensive reloads on.
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Well said! I agree 100% Keep my brass for the same reason...to sell.

.04 my arse. Maybe with components purchased in 1996! LOL
 
0.18$ is very accurate with components purchased in 2016
Purchase in bigger lots.
a federal unopened case of 5000 primers is cheaper than buying by the 1000
Campro you have discounts buying in bulk, start a group order at your club you will be surprised how much you can save
Powder as in tite group, buy in 8lbs jugs, works out to about 1lb free compared of buying per lb.

Plus if ever you have a gun with specific needs or load to a power factor, reloading is a must.

What i would recommend to the OP though, if it's only for economy and don't plan on competing/shooting over 10K rounds a year,
Have a look at the dillon Square deal, you will get lots of bang for your buck
 
WWW226 said:
dear fellows seniors reloaders,
Please don't be mad at me.... I really try to read, and read and read.....
but all comes down to my narrowed conclusion, that it is not as economically sounded when reloading ONLY 9mm lugers....:(

I tried to complied the costs of brasses, bullet, primers, powders and taking out the equation the cost for a multistage press XL650...
I only came up with a staggering cost of $0.30ish given take per round.
does this sound correct? :bangHead:

I am calculating all items being purchased...

as I do not have a single brass from any previous fired cartridges....

In fact, I just shot for first time two days ago 30 rounds at a range.

But wanted to know your feedbacks to foresee the near future....

really appreciate your input...
Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

You can't beat ammo price on sale if you pay for the brass. Just start with picking up your brass, and only buy a press once you have enough brass that reloading it once will pay for the press. You'll find out that you either shoot enough that reloading makes sense for you, or you just don't shoot enough. If you shoot enough you get a press, otherwise you sell the brass.

At current price, you can make 9mm for 16-17¢/round if you have your brass. You can get cheap 9mm ammos for 230-240$ per 1000. Run the numbers and you'll see that you'll need to reload a LOT of 9mm for reloading to make sense financially. About 10,000. Some people shoot that in a year, some won't shoot that in a lifetime.
 
WWW226 said:
dear fellows seniors reloaders,
Please don't be mad at me.... I really try to read, and read and read.....
but all comes down to my narrowed conclusion, that it is not as economically sounded when reloading ONLY 9mm lugers....:(

I tried to complied the costs of brasses, bullet, primers, powders and taking out the equation the cost for a multistage press XL650...
I only came up with a staggering cost of $0.30ish given take per round.
does this sound correct? :bangHead:

I am calculating all items being purchased...

as I do not have a single brass from any previous fired cartridges....

In fact, I just shot for first time two days ago 30 rounds at a range.

But wanted to know your feedbacks to foresee the near future....

really appreciate your input...
Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...

Lots of good feedback already, but I'll throw in a few comments since I'm in YYC as well.
Here's a spreadsheet I made a while back. The reason I posted this is because it clearly shows one thing: You need to either find a good deal on brass, or collect your own!


Cost of Loading 9mm
With collected brass = $0.16/rnd
Brass = Free
Bullets = $0.09
Primers = $0.05
Powder = $0.02

With purchased once shot brass = $0.27/rnd
Brass = $0.10
Bullets = $0.09
Primers = $0.05
Powder = $0.02

With Purchased New Brass = $0.55/rnd
Brass = $0.39
Bullets = $0.09
Primers = $0.05
Powder = $0.02

Factory 9mm Ammo = $0.35/rnd when purchasing 1000 rnds.

1lb = 7000gr = ~$35
1rnd = 5gr powder on the high side = $0.03
Bullets are CamPro

You can get 9mm plated CamPro or Berry's bullets in 115 or 124gr at Proline or Western Metal or even The Shooting edge, typically for less that $100 per 1000. Powder should run you $30-35 per lb, and casings you can either collect yourself or find someone on the forums who cleans and sells brass. For example: I picked up ~5000 stainless tumbled/polished and deprimed 9mm casings for here on cgn for ~$200, but that's mainly because I like working with nice shiny brass.
I'm perfectly happy to collect and tumble my own 9mm, but ever since I started in to 45ACP that's where most of my tumbling and case prep energy gets spent.

Another comment I will make is that you really need to do A LOT of realoading before you would actually get to the point where you'd start to save money, or even pay off your initial investment. There are two main reasons I reload:
1. My dad passed down his reloading gear to me, so it was very inexpensive for me to get in to the hobby.
2. I REALLY enjoy getting out in the garage and experimenting with different loads. It's a really good, productive way to spend free time and it gets me out of the house (both loading and shooting).
 
I could buy components today (minus brass because 9mm brass should always be free, lol) and reload for .17 a round all in. When someone like JBD spouts off that it isn't worth it he only considers his situation, not all situations. I shoot 12-15K a year and I save a lot of money rolling my own and currently all I shoot and reload is 9mm.

So to answer your question...

Is 9mm worth reloading? It depends on your situation.

P.S. Here's a tip for collecting 9mm brass. Go see a local match, you'll be able to collect more than you can carry, lol.
 
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4n2t0 said:
I could buy components today (minus brass because 9mm brass should always be free, lol) and reload for .17 a round all in. When someone like JBD spouts off that it isn't worth it he only considers his situation, not all situations. I shoot 12-15K a year and I save a lot of money rolling my own and currently all I shoot and reload is 9mm.

So to answer your question...

Is 9mm worth reloading? It depends on your situation.

P.S. Here's a tip for collecting 9mm brass. Go see a local match, you'll be able to collect more than you can carry, lol.
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+1, well said
Myself at 1000 rounds per month, the dillon 650 with all accessories (strong mount, roller handle, bullet tray...) and dillon auto primer tube filler paid themselves under 2 years
under 30 mins per week takes care of my weekly ammo
 
If you look long enough and/or know the right people you can get 124g Campro RN's or 124g Frontiers for $100 cash per thousand. CCI SP primers are $40 plus tax tops so $44.20 after tax and if you run 3.2g of Titegroup at $26.12 (or cheaper if you buy 8lb) per pound you are looking at $158.20 after tax's for the components assuming you have your own brass (which as mentioned is very easy to get). Toss in another $5 in brass cleaning cost and you are looking at 14.4 cents per round before tax.

For a round you can adjust the length on, adjust the powder up or down a little to tailor the load to your gun is worth it if you shoot enough. I expect to shoot in the neighbourhood of 25,000 rounds of 9mm in 2018 so for me there is a significant cost saving now that all my blue babies have paid themselves off.
 
Been looking at OP question myself since I am contemplating a Kel-tec 9mm Luger in the future (mar/apr) likely buy ammo in bulk 1,000 rounds and keep the brass for future possible reloading - all i would need is the dies,projectiles and powder.

decisions, decisions.....
 
Until just now, I never made a calculation as to what it cost me to load 9mm. About 14 cents a shot. I buy DRG lead bullets for about $70/1000. I have 36 pounds of powder I bought on sale for $22/lb.

You are asking "Is it worth it?"

Financially, for just 9mm, I don't think so. I load for 30+ calibers, so for me it is a no brainer.

Some buddies asked me to load 9mm for them. I told them to buy commercial reloads from SFRC. I think it was about $250/1000. If my time is worth anything, the $250/1000 is a better deal.

And I seldom buy plated bullets. The plain lead are half the price and just as or more accurate than plated.
 
berger said:
.04 my arse. Maybe with components purchased in 1996! LOL
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Not sure why someone would pay for 9mm brass. I have an almost full 5 gallon pail that was free.

Assuming this was directed at me. Here is my cost list.

Powder - $33 tax in
Primers - 43 tax in
Bullets - $5 per 1k or half a cent each one
Brass - free

Cost per 1000 - $60.71
Cost per 50 - $3.04
Cost per 20 - $1.21
Cost per round - $0.061

I was using a cheaper powder before. But went to titegroup.
That is all including taxes and shipping. Powder and primers were bought last year when I started reloading for 9mm. My lead is all free so powder coating is the only thing I pay for on the bullet end. 30-30 is darn cheap for me to load as well

30-30

Per 1k - $115.74
Per 50 - $5.79
Per 20 - $2.31
Per round - $.116
 
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