How much money does reloading actually save you anyway?
- Thread starter prosper
- Start date
Personally, reloading just costs me more money. I shoot more, I buy more equipment, I buy dies for guns I don't own yet (which means building yet another gun). One of the most expensive hobbies I ever had. - dan
Keep in mind I'm new to reloading. I was paying $17.99 for 20 .204 32gr Vmax factory bullets. Using my once fired factory brass I figure I'm at about $7.60 for 20 rounds of reloaded 32gr Vmax .204,
Now to save this money, I bought a press, digital scale, digital vernier gauge, trimmer, shell holders, de-burring tool, die sets, primer hand loader, funnel, loading manuals, bullets, primers, powder....get the idea?
I'll be reloading for a while before I cover the cost of the equipment. I'm also reloading for .223 now so it *MIGHT* speed up my savings even more.
But what also was said, its great to relax sitting in the basement at your bench listening to tunes, doing something related to the sport you love.
Now to save this money, I bought a press, digital scale, digital vernier gauge, trimmer, shell holders, de-burring tool, die sets, primer hand loader, funnel, loading manuals, bullets, primers, powder....get the idea?
I'll be reloading for a while before I cover the cost of the equipment. I'm also reloading for .223 now so it *MIGHT* speed up my savings even more.
But what also was said, its great to relax sitting in the basement at your bench listening to tunes, doing something related to the sport you love.
Years ago I had one pistol, a 9mm I used in IPSC. I began reloading to save money. I saved so much I figured I could afford another gun, so I bought a .45 and began reloading for it. Later, through my increased saving, I fell into the cycle and bought a .357, reloaded for it, bought a .44 mag, a .40 S&W ,.45 Colt and was reloading for all and all the time basking in the enormous sums I was saving. I just realized I went broke saving money!
The question is, why am I still smiling?
That's a true story! (x2)
The point of reloading is to make ammo you can't buy..like 500 gr cast hot loads for the 45/70.. they take a bit of time, but are a lot of fun and very deadly in the siamese mauser. Yes we spend a bit reloading, but is any hobby cheap? It is a big part of hunting too, working up a load with a favored bullet, but for savings, once I bought 63 lbs of various bullets, all of which I had rifles to fit for 160 bucks..they made shooting very economical.
One of my hunting rifles is a 308 Norma Mag. Factory ammo [sometimes hard to find] generally runs from 75-80 dollars for 20, so roughly $4 a pop. I load Partitions for about 90 cents a pop, and practice rounds for 70 cents. Thus savings on this one are substantial, even if I shoot 3x as much as I would using factory fodder. I have several wildcats....obviously these would not get shot at all unless I was a handloader. My 357 Magnum sees a lot more shooting because I can afford it due to reloading. For a casual 2 box a year hunter/ sighting in, it is probably not practical, but if you shoot more than 500 rounds of centerfire a year, it is worth considering. Regards, Eagleye.
As far as plinking ammo for use within 100 yards goes, I am certainly paying less half what I'd pay in store (50 cent per rounds for Winchester white box .223). Reloads made for accuracy using 69gr. SMK's cost me about 45 cents I believe, almost 10 cents cheaper then the cheapest ammo I can find. This is Nova Scotia though, my savings might not be quite as significant in AB haha.
