Starting reloading question

Benjielsexo

Benjielsexo

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I recently bougth a m305, it is a great rifle, but it cost me an arm and a leg to play with my baby. Im planning to start reloading my own ammunition but doesnt know how it cost.

-What is the starting cost of reloading (press, dye, primer, powder and lead)

-I know you can gain a lot of accuracy when you reload but is it cheaper than 1$ .308 win cartridge.

(sorry for my bad english, im working on this)

thanks a lot
 
Benjielsexo said:
I recently bougth a m305, it is a great rifle, but it cost me an arm and a leg to play with my baby. Im planning to start reloading my own ammunition but doesnt know how it cost.

-What is the starting cost of reloading (press, dye, primer, powder and lead)

-I know you can gain a lot of accuracy when you reload but is it cheaper than 1$ .308 win cartridge.

(sorry for my bad english, im working on this)

thanks a lot
Click to expand...


IMHO, reloading for the M305 is prohibitively expensive. You can purchase the bulk 7.62x51 Chinese ammo as cheaply or cheaper than you can hand load.
 
To have to go out and buy everything new in one shot...i shudder to think.

IMO the true value in reloading is getting custom tailored, accurate ammo for your individual gun. Often i can load for 1/3 the cost, allowing me to shoot 3 times more. This applies mostly for guns that are very expensive, weak, or unobtainable in factory loadings. For example my Rum calibers can be $120/20, Weatherby can be $4/brass, and 7x57 and 45-70 are loaded very weak.

It is unlikely you would get great accuracy with a M1A/M305, and they are rather heavy to hunt with, should you load soft points. The other guns that makes sense to buy bulk for are SKS/7.62x39, and 223. Certainly many people custom load for serious target and predator 223, some people just dont or cannot be bothered.

Often the expensive part, once set up is the projectile. Good 30 cal projectile is going to push $1/. Makes no sense for a gun that realistically gets 2-3 MOA.
 
Benjielsexo said:
-What is the starting cost of reloading (press, dye, primer, powder and lead)
Click to expand...

You will need, at a minimum, a press, a scale, a reloading instruction and data book, and a way to trim your cases. A case tumbler and powder measure are very desireable, as well.

The cost of reloading equipment is closely tied to how fast it produces ammunition. A bare-bones, basic setup can be obtained for perhaps $150, letting you make, as an estimate 50 cartridges per hour. A top of line progressive setup with some nice-to-have extra tools will cost about 10 times that amount, and let you produce ammo about 10 times faster.

Dies can be had for as little as $40 or go over $100.

The cheapest, plain FMJ bullets will cost you $0.26, primers $0.04, powder $0.15, making the cheapest ammo you can assembly 45 cents. Norinco steel cased 7.62x51mm is $449 / 1000, the same price. Mind you, the next cheapest ammo I can find is $0.65 each, so if you don't like the Norinco reloading does start to become worthwhile.
 
nowarningshot said:
Good 30 cal projectile is going to push $1/. Makes no sense for a gun that realistically gets 2-3 MOA.
Click to expand...

You are right, it does make no sense to spend that much on a premium bullet to be used for recreational shooting with a rifle of mediocre accuracy potential. So why would you suggest such an expensive bullet when options that cost a fraction of that abound?
 
I just recently got set up for .308 reloading. My purpose was cheaper match ammo for precision work, but the cheap ammo option requires no additional tools.
Equipment:
I bought the Lee Breechlock Challenger kit ($270 ish)
Lee 3-piece .308 dies ($40 ish)
Lee Hand case trimmer tool for .308 ($7)
Digital powder scale (faster than the beam scale in the kit, optional, $40)
Stainless tumbling media ($45 plus shipping)
Rock tumbler thingy to wet tumble brass ($100 to $200)
Loading trays (optional, but nice for holding cases while loading ($5 each)
Reloading manuals: $20-$40, get more than one for cross-referencing; the differences between recipes can be surprising. Hogdon, Alliant, Vihtavuori, and Nosler have some data online.
Total: $500 to $600
You can go cheaper on the tumbler and go with a dry tumbler using walnut media (hint: check out TSC in Ontario, they have HUGE bags of it for $25).
Tip: Hornady book is pricey, but has a lot of data. Lee book is cheap and has decent data too.

Supplies:
Bullets ($25-$75/100, depending on quality/purpose, consider casting if plinking a lot)
Powder ($30-$40/lb, buy it when you can find it)
Primers ($30-$50/1000, depending on brand/quality; based on experience, I caution against using WLR primers)
Brass ($0 for range or once-fired brass, $25-$50/50 for new)

For 'plinking-grade' ammo, you can choose the cheapest bullets that you can find powder and matching data for. No need to go nuts on the components if your looking for minute-of-pie-plate. Just needs to be safe.

Good luck with reloading; it's fun and gets addictive. Lately, the powder search expeditions are not so fun.
 
get the lyman t mag 2 kit i have 2 of them comes complete with what you need to start but you need dies and powder kit tarts at about 450.00 dollars . or get the lee classic turett press kit comes with all the stuff except dies and powder its around 400.00 dollars ive been doing it for 2 years and i enjoy it but you got to pay attention to what your doing have fun hound13
 
nowarningshot said:
To have to go out and buy everything new in one shot...i shudder to think.

IMO the true value in reloading is getting custom tailored, accurate ammo for your individual gun. Often i can load for 1/3 the cost, allowing me to shoot 3 times more. This applies mostly for guns that are very expensive, weak, or unobtainable in factory loadings. For example my Rum calibers can be $120/20, Weatherby can be $4/brass, and 7x57 and 45-70 are loaded very weak.

It is unlikely you would get great accuracy with a M1A/M305, and they are rather heavy to hunt with, should you load soft points. The other guns that makes sense to buy bulk for are SKS/7.62x39, and 223. Certainly many people custom load for serious target and predator 223, some people just dont or cannot be bothered.

Often the expensive part, once set up is the projectile. Good 30 cal projectile is going to push $1/. Makes no sense for a gun that realistically gets 2-3 MOA.
Click to expand...

Good advice.

You can indeed save money, but pay-off depends on how much you shoot, how long you plan to be reloading (my old Rockchucker press paid for itself decades ago) and the delta between factory and handload prices. I have a simple Excel program which may help you. PM me with your email address for a copy.

As to absolute costs, you can start reloading with a Lee Loader for under $50 plus components, but it's quite slow. A reasonable single stage kit can be had for perhaps $300-350 and will contain everything you really need. The rest is nice-to-have and most of us wind up getting it sooner or later.

Oh, votre Anglais est beaucoup meileur que notre Francais. Beinvenue.
 
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