How much money does reloading actually save you anyway?

Morgayne said:
Anyone have a general time estimate on how long it actually takes to reload shells? approximately of course... (sorry for hijacking your thread question :))
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Well, I have been bugging my daughter for 4 months to get her reloading done before she left for summer camp (shooting instructor at Connaught this year). It took her 4 months to get 200 pieces of brass primed.:mad: She is now at camp and I am stuck doing her reloading.:( Not just her practice ammo, but she sabout 150-180 for the ORA Annual Matches and another 450 for the DCRA. I hope I have time to load for myself.

If you take into account all the case prep, sizing, trim to length, deburring, chamfering, cleaning and priming. Then dumping powder and seating bullets, you are looking at about 1 hour time for about 50 rounds. If the cases are primed and ready to go anbout 1/2 hour for 50 rounds and that is weighing every charge.
 
maynard, progressive press purchased with daughter's funds. Your time, her money.

Wonder if the wife will buy that story????

For me, reloading is priceless as what I shoot no one manufacturers.

Jerry
 
time depends on equipment and what you're doing. loading up a test series (size, trim, prime, then groups of 5 rounds, varying charge weights, bullets, etc) takes me about an hour for 50 on an RCBS rockchucker. 500 rounds of .45 ACP on my preset Dillon 1050 takes a bit under 30 minutes.
 
It's hard to say how much time I spend, cause I don't just sit down and go through all the steps in one sitting. I'll decap/resize shortly after I get home after a session. Then I'll drop 'em in the ultrasonic cleaner, then put em away to dry. Few days later when I'm sitting on the couch watching TV, I'll pull em all out and prime them all with the Lee AutoPrime hand priming tool. If the brass needs additional prep (trimming, or is new) then that also happens while watching a game or something else on TV, before priming.
Sometime in the future, I'll haul out the chargemaster, and charge all the cases - again, this can be done inside while listening to the radio, or watching TV. After that, everything gets hauled out the the garage, and the bullets all get seated.

Each stage can be separated by days, weeks or months.
 
If you used cast bullets with gas checks the cost would fall to .16 a shot, which is cheaper than match grade .22 long rifle, and you probably don't even sacrifice much performance with the hornet.
 
Economics aside...
Reloading frees one from being dependent on gun shops et al when it comes to ammo...
Buy vast quantities of componants and keep them on hand and you'll never be at a loss for ammo come match day...
Last thing you wanna do is be calling around for ammo the night before a shoot when you realize you don't have enough on hand!
 
grouch said:
If you used cast bullets with gas checks the cost would fall to .16 a shot, which is cheaper than match grade .22 long rifle, and you probably don't even sacrifice much performance with the hornet.
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You'd sacrifice terminal performance. No more turning the rodents inside out. With the VMAxs, there's zero doubt about whether you hit the critter or not.
 
fogducker said:
i call bs on this:p
as since im new to reloading....i always have this list of stuff i think i need;)
but really... i figure i save at least 60 ----70% on bullets now..
i get more pride in shooting ammo i made...then in my savings..
any one that owns a gun,should at least try to reload there own ammo at least once..
i kick my own butt for not reloading years ago:eek:
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[smartass]I only got a .22wmr, so it won't help me. :D[/smartass]
 
^ So get a Hornet, load it with Blue Dot and cast bullets to about the level of a 22 WMR, and shoot WMR-like loads at 22lr-like prices
 
I shoot more now that I reload so I spend about the same amount of money in ammo, but reloading has also taken me to a whole new level of shooting. I now shoot 150 times better than i ever had and I know when i shoot one of "my" bullets, it is hitting exactly what I am aiming at.
 
I can't say it has saved me any money. The big plus I have found from reloading is the extra knowledge on how brass/bullets and rifles operate.
 
i get 1000 9mm ( 115gr FMJ) for $79 bucks... reload um for 9 cents a round.
cant beat that price.
Factory.. cough...$12 per 50 rounds?! cough....
 
hoochie said:
i get 1000 9mm ( 115gr FMJ) for $79 bucks... reload um for 9 cents a round.
cant beat that price.
Factory.. cough...$12 per 50 rounds?! cough....
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So Im assuming you are re-using your brass but can you tell me if this means you are powder/primering for 1 cent a round. Or do you mean 9 cents on top the price of your bullets.

thx
 
By reading the replies and using my own experience yes you save money by reloading but you end up spending the same amount on ammo ( factory ) but you get to pull the trigger at least 50% more for the same money.
 
rosco.d said:
By reading the replies and using my own experience yes you save money by reloading but you end up spending the same amount on ammo ( factory ) but you get to pull the trigger at least 50% more for the same money.
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This is so highly individual. During the winter I try to get out to the indoor range once every 1-2 weeks and typically shoot 200 rounds of 45 or whatever. This usually costs me about $10 as I cast my own bullits. If I was shooting factory loads I would probably stop at a box of 50 or about $20, so no matter how I cut it, I shoot more and save money.
 
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