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justin1635

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i don't know much about reloading, and by no means am i bashing it. But do you really find it worthwhile to go through all the work/guesswork of this art.

with ammo prices being cheap these days i don't see how its worth it. but im probably not seeing the whole picture here.

i mean a downside to it is, your never 100% garunteed that when the moment of truth comes.. and your looking at that big animal (assuming its hunting and not pistol) that the bullet will actually fire.. granted you cant get 100% fire rate off production line bullets either.. but i would assume its higher.


just my thoughts
 
Re-loaded ammo is more accurate than factory, (mine is)

It is at least half the price if not better.

Reloading is interesting and challenging and I've never had a problem with them going bang.

You gotta try it. 8)
 
My group size shrank 1/2 using my reloaded ammo.

Your chances of a dud primer or a squib load are there, but with some vigilence (proper handling and patience), you can pretty much nullify those odds.

Like SKS said, half the price of factory. And you can load different variations to different levels. Try to find a 300 grn .44 Mag loaded to top levels. You can't. No factory will go there due to liabilities. With some tweaking, you can go to the upper limits of what your gun is capable of.

But do you really find it worthwhile to go through all the work/guesswork of this art.
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Its my hobby. Its fun to learn. A little frustrating a times, but still fun. I like being able to load some, go shoot and see the differences. My first crack at .223 dropped my group to 1/2"-3/4" on the first go. Very satisifying.

(E) 8)
 
Match grade ammo for slightly less than the cost of the cheapest factory ammo you can find - That's not too hard to understand, is it?
 
cost is a big draw. a lot of cartridges can be reloaded in the 40-50 cent range.

so is customizing the load, want to turn your 30-06 into a soft shooting 30-30 for practice, for the wife, whatever? you can do it reloading.

or you can improve the ballistics of rounds like the 8x57.

or, ammo for some rifles is just not available.

plus, it is a hobby like any other.
 
I agree with MiG25.
Reloading is not only about cheaper ammo, but better customization/accuracy of your loads according to how you want it, which is the fun part of reloading.
 
justin1635 said:
But do you really find it worthwhile to go through all the work/guesswork of this art.
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While I can get better accuracy with with carefully developed handloads the cost savings can also add up quickly, especially if you are loading for some not-to-common cartridges.

With the 30-06 I can develop loads in a modern rifle that perform so much better than the neutered loads the factories offer.

With the 338-06 factory ammo is around $70.00 per 20 cartridges IF you can find it. I hand-load for mine at around a buck a pop using a premium bullet like the Accubond or Partition. Using a good quality cup & core type bullet like the Hornady Interlock drops the price down to below $15.00 per 20

Even the .308 Winchester can be loaded to save a large amount of money. Federal factory loadings using the 180 grain Partition retail for about $34.00 per box of 20. I handload that same bullet for $18.00 per 20 a savings of close to 40% !!
 
With the 338-06 factory ammo is around $70.00 per 20 cartridges IF you can find it. I hand-load for mine at around a buck a pop using a premium bullet like the Accubond or Partition. Using a good quality cup & core type bullet like the Hornady Interlock drops the price down to below $15.00 per 20
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alot of hard to find calibers are better off reloaded for economy, personaly i love cutting the price of 338 lapua from 6$ each down to .70 - 1$ each (lapua says you can get 10 reloads out of their brass so for arguments sake i averaged the 3$ pice of brass over 10 reloads)
other than that, i found that i could reload any combination of premium hunting bullets in to my 375 h&h or 458 lott and it would cost a fraction of the price and be avaliable! try and find any of the above in factory selections with barnes tripple shocks or nosler partitions or TBBC's and then under 75$ if you do find them! skys the limit with reloading, factory is limited period! (but plenty good for the dozen or so most popular cartridges)
 
You have to calculate the investment of reloading equipment and component against your shooting needs. If you invest many hundreds of dollars in reloading equipment then only shoot 10 or 20 rounds a year it wouldn't be a good investment, however if you want to shoot multiple thousands of rounds a year then you'd be crazy not to reload.
 
justin1635 said:
i mean a downside to it is, your never 100% garunteed that when the moment of truth comes.. and your looking at that big animal (assuming its hunting and not pistol) that the bullet will actually fire.. granted you cant get 100% fire rate off production line bullets either.. but i would assume its higher.


just my thoughts
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So let's talk about reliability. I will put my handloads against anything the factory has to offer, but firstly let me say that not every handloader can make this claim. There are folks out there making ammo who should, for saftey's sake, just buy it.

My handloads for game are certainly no less dependable than store bought, in that I am using the same primers the factory uses. Of coarse I get to choose the strength of the primer I want. My primer pockets are uniformed as are the flash holes - neither of which is done in North American made ammo. My primers are also gently seated to the bottom of the primer pocket, which again is accomplished within tolarances at the factory. The ammo producers are getting better at loading premium game bullets, but the handloader has always had that option.

With regards to target ammo, my handloads measure equal or less run out than commercial match ammo. When I check my match ammo on the chronograph I have assembled ammo with single digit variation in velocity. The best made North American match ammo (Federal Match) doesn't come close. I have shot some .308 Lapua factory match which is very good though.

The bottom line is that all ammunition is built within certain tolerances. The handloader can put in the time on each individual cartridge, to reduce these tolarances to a minimum. Commercial ammo makers cannot do this and stay competitive, however, the handloader will always have an advantage in that he builds his ammo specifcally for his rifle.
 
i mean a downside to it is, your never 100% garunteed that when the moment of truth comes.. and your looking at that big animal (assuming its hunting and not pistol) that the bullet will actually fire.. granted you cant get 100% fire rate off production line bullets either.. but i would assume its higher.
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I am curious as to why you would assume this. Just wondering why you think factory ammo should be more reliable.
 
I have been reloading for 35 years and have NEVER had a failure to fire with any of my handloaded ammo--handgun or rifle. There should never be any "guesswork" in reloading--that is how people get themselves in trouble.

The ability to load for my firearms has allowed me to shoot many different cartridges that I never would have been able to afford factory ammo for.

Handloading is a very rewarding hobby in itself.

44Bore
 
Here's the way I see it.

Reloads cost half or less than the cheapest factory ammo I can find. My groups size is about half with reloads. When reloading you also get to try out bullets that may not even be available in a factory cartridge. As far as I can tell there is no downside to reloading other than the work involved. Surprisingly I am enjoying the work.
 
What is better than having a hobby that can save you money ? Anyway, cost saving is only small factor to go to reloading - the big picture is you learn more about shooting/firearm thru reloading. Extra work - yes, but I prefer the work rather watching TV.
 
Actually the biggest downside to hand-loading is that you find your rifle collection growing as you aquire even more firearms to load for! LoL

( ....or am I the only one that does that?? ;) )
 
I reload 9mm for $6.00 per 50....a saving of aprox 50% over factory ammo. I have way more time than money so reloading is viable for me...The downside is the time I spend reloading could be time spent shooting :D :D
 
WWB .40S&W = $165/500rds
Reloads = $58/500rds

or

Fed premium .300WSM = $39/20rds
Premium reloads = $17/20rds (and much more accurate)
 
justin1635 said:
But do you really find it worthwhile to go through all the work/guesswork of this art.
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Guess work? There is no guessing when it comes to being a safe load. Only guessing I have done has been to estimate the velocity I would get with a certain load that is not at the max listed in the manuals. And even that I was pretty close when I chronoed it. I mean the manual listed say 4 gr. of X powder for 600 fps and 6 gr. for 900 so what was 5.5 gr. going to be? Well my estimates were pretty darn close!

justin1635 said:
with ammo prices being cheap these days i don't see how its worth it. but im probably not seeing the whole picture here.
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Cheap? Where? For 45 ACP it's about $350/1000. Hardly cheap.

justin1635 said:
i mean a downside to it is, your never 100% garunteed that when the moment of truth comes.. and your looking at that big animal (assuming its hunting and not pistol) that the bullet will actually fire.. granted you cant get 100% fire rate off production line bullets either.. but i would assume its higher.
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Bad assumption. I haven't been reloading long but haven't had any failures to fire. Had chambering problems (over size lead bullets) when I first started reloading but they still fired. And if I was hunting I would be very confident in my reloads. And more than a factory load because I can afford to test the loads out more ahead of time for accuracy, penetration and expansion. I will be confident that my reduced load will be better than the full power factory loads on that smaller secondary hunting target.

[quote='Boo]Actually the biggest downside to hand-loading is that you find your rifle collection growing as you aquire even more firearms to load for! LoL[/quote]
Quite true and not just for rifles. Who sells 38 S&W ammo? Dies available? Yes. OK I'll buy the gun! ;)

waynesixgun said:
I reload 9mm for $6.00 per 50....a saving of aprox 50% over factory ammo. I have way more time than money so reloading is viable for me.
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I don't know anybody (personally) that makes as much money (specially after taxes!) as I can save every hour reloading. My quote from a few weeks ago:

As for costs, for me I reload 45 ACP a lot. I can shoot about 3 times as much by reloading instead of factory ammo. Cost using CMJ is about 14.2 cents, so about $7.10 per box of 50. Which makes my operating cost of my press at about $70-85/hour! But, my savings per hour is about $125-155/hour! And even higher if I use lead instead of CMJ. And that's not in a rush. I don't know about you but I don't make that much per hour at my job. Especially after income taxes, etc.!

And if I was to cast my own bullets that would really make it cheaper. Seeing that you can often get the wheel weights for free. Well maybe down the road I will try that.

Many many plusses to reloading. Negatives? There has to be one...


Fudd
 
I can reload better ammo for half the cost, if you don't count the initial investment in presses etc.

Now I shoot 3 times as much, so you are right it is not economical.
 
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