Cost of Reloading

Reloading is not cheaper overall. You shoot more :)
You usually save per cartridge, but end up shooting more cause you can reload them. :) (I don't need to only use 5 rounds to sight in, I can shoot 3 groups of 5 rounds and have 5 left for the hunt...)
 
I guess I look at things differently(as usual), as i have the brass laying around or I find it, or get it from factory loads. Either way I don't include them in costs, but for pistol or small rifle i figure it like this: M.T. Chambers' basic pb bullets .08, primer .03, powder at 7grs avg.03, total cost .12 cents....or $6 for a box of 50.If you look at the cost of say a box of factory 44/40(I'm thinking cowboy action here) they cost $35/box. It wouldn't take long to payoff your equipment!
 
I reload for all my guns but the most fun is reloading ammo you cant get anywhere else, WILDCATS!!!

The only problem with wildcats is that some ##@%#%%*** ammo company brings out and commercializes your favorite wildcat.

I have a 17 Mach IV and Remington just brought out the 17 Fireball. It mahes one want to sart making some oddball bullet so the ammo companies wont follow you.

I reload for fun, profit and accuracy.
 
Lots of good advice. I only reload for .223 and the ammo is superior and it's fun to do. I just need to get out and shoot more.
 
TSX bullets are about a $1 per shot but even for 30-06 factory ammunition is about $37 for 30 according to my cousin. Yesterday I just bought some primers and powder for my 300 RUM. 100 primers were $4.19 and 1lb of powder was 22.99 form A8700. I use 107 gr = $0.35 each for powder and $0.042 each for primers. I think I bought 50 TSX 180 gr for $47 a couple months ago = $0.94 each. To be fair I should probably add $0.10 to $0.20 for the brass which is $2 to $4 per 20 ($53/50 at 5 to 10 uses) I'll use the higher value. This comes to $1.532 per round or about $30.64 per box of 20. At that point I am shooting cheaper than my cousins 30-06. Now if you use regular bullets the cost is much cheaper. Using Remington bullets at $27/100 it is $0.862 per shot or $17.24 for 20. Plus it lets you customize the seating depth and powder charge to get the highest accuracy out of you gun. Now for hunting this really doesn't matter. I haven't seen a load that would be outside of a few inches at 100 yards. You can pretty much use a standard book load and expect it to shoot well enough to hit a deer. Note that 308 and 30-06 brass are less than half the cost, use less powder, and the primers are cheaper.
 
for .303brit it cost's me .40c each to reload but brass is free because there are pile's of it at every range i have ever been to... compair that to about $1.17per round of winchester gray box... shooting 50-100rnd's a month let's you recoupe your loading equipment cost's in very short order and you always have the best shooting ammo available for your rifle, when you have the ability to shoot more you will and time behind the trigger is never a bad thing..

something i think alot of people overlook is the ability to step load's up/down for hunting, i can load 150gr or lighter bullet's that group under 3" at 100m and do minimal damage to deer, yote, sheep or i can go 180gr or heavier for elk, bear, moose etc, there are about 6-8 page's of .308 and another 6-8 page's on 30-06 load's 3 page's of .303 load's etc etc etc in the lee manual alone so it's not hard to tailor a load to a certain rifle but also the game you intend on filling the freezer with...

own any hard to find caliber's? i have a 38-55 that's next to impossible to get shell's for here but i can make as many as i want now that i can load my own...

even if you only punch paper chances are your group's will get smaller and you wont be handing over quite as much of your hard earned dollar to feed the pig....
 
After all is said and done if you stop reloading for whatever reason the equipment still has lots of value to it so I do not consider that a cost really.
Not likely to depreciate much cuz so many others want to buy it. The big deal is you can save money and have better ammo than you can buy unless you are getting real high end stuff but you can tune to your guns. The off the shelf stuff may work well but you should get much better results. And you can get deals off of this site too-just bought a whack of 223 bullets in a good mix so I can play a bit and save a bunch to boot. Have some fun. Dont buy too cheap cuz upgrading can be costly. Good tools pay for themselves
IMHO.
 
If you really care about the cost, assign a value to your time and factor that in. What else could you be doing with the time you spend reloading? Could you be earning more money with that time than you are saving on ammunition costs, or would you use the time for some other activity that costs you money?

(In my case, I probably couldn't or wouldn't use the time to earn more money, and I enjoy reloading, so it is also saving me what I would spend on another pastime or entertainment.)
 
I costed out my 308, I use match components for competition, lapua brass, CCI BR primers, Berger bullets, and Varget, it still comes to only $0.60 for each round, or $12 for a box of 20. Depending on components your price will be higher or lower. The most expensive part is the bullet that you use.
 
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