Is 50 BMG worth reloading cost wise?

Deathrawt

Deathrawt

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If been thinking of reloading 50 BMG since I bought my first "big" rifle
After doing some quick research I have discovered that it will cost more to reload then I can buy factory ammo from Tenda (4.60) per round
Even with buying pulled bullets for a buck a bullet it's around 4 bucks a round not including the brass
For precision shooting I know reloads are best regardless of cost but for general use/ plinking am I better off not reloading the 50?
Anyone have ideas for a cost effective way to reload the 50? And yes I know that "cost effective" and 50 BMG should not be used in the same sentence lol!
 
wait for itar changes. with the cost of surplus components and powder from places like pats reloading, a 50 can be cheaper to load than any of the common magnums...an acquaintance feeds 3 different 50s for less cost than his 300 ultra. If you want to load new (not surplus) amax style bullets costs go up substantially.
 
If shooting just to make noise and scare targets at close range is your desire then no reloading 50 cal ammo is not worth the time versus the cost of purchasing crap surplus ammo like the XM33 that Federal is dumping on the market. It is US military reject, dirty and unreliable. The PMC stuff is slightly more expensive but has the advantage of being not bad brass but is is loaded quite light so velocity potential is simply not there. Hornady loads decent "match" ammo but it runs close to $10.00 per shot which then suddenly makes loading your own more affaordable for the same or better quality ammo. My ##### with the Hornady stuff is that it is loaded short so it will fit in mags, which then greatly compromises what you can get out of a decent rifle. My criteria for loading is to eek out every bit of accuarcy I can for shooting obscene long distance.
So the real answer is in what you want the rifle to do as well as what the rifle is. If you are feeding an M2 as long as it is 50 cal that is all that matters, if you are shooting a Nemesis or DSR then things change as both are incredibly accurate rifles.
 
I bought a gently used Dillon BFR on ebay, seller thru in an RCBS seating die, so I bought RCBS FL die from Brownells. I purchased Wilson trimmer, crimp remover, Lee Factory Crimp die, and RCBS 50 BMG powder measure and Dillon adapter for the powder measure. In total I have about 1000 total, so it is a big investment, the Dillon press is 1179 new by itself. When I saw the deal on the press I figured if I was going to reload 50 BMG the time to buy it was now
 
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griffin86 said:
Have you looked at the price of dies? It will take a long time to amortize the press, dies, and every thing else you need.
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I got the Lee press with dies, the Lee trimmer and factory crimp dies. I'm into the reloading hardware for around $600. Not including brass I can reload pulled projectiles for around $2.50 a round and cast bullets rounds around $1- $1.25. My buyback on my equipment was met at 200 rounds.
 
I load “plinking” rounds with 647gr pulled bullets - lube them and push them through a 0.51 Lee bullet sizing due to remove any pull marks and to confirm that they were not deformed out of round by the pulling process. There are $0.90-1.00 each in bulk. Add a CCI primer ($0.45 each!) and 220gr or so of H50BMG powder (at 27 shots/lb powder costs $1.50 per round) and you’re at about $3.00 per round.

Or go the 750gr AMAX route when you care to send only the very best - $3.00 / projectile.

You don’t shoot .50 for their economy!

Then add dies, press (I have an RCBS ammomaster) and the rifles themselves.

Best investment I made was a CH4D bushing neck sizing die - remove the bushing and you have a decapping die, and add the bushing back in and you have a great resizing die with way less resizing effort / lube required. Full length sizing is critical with any 1F brass, as much of it has been fired in M2 machine guns with big, sloppy chambers. LC brass is thick and I reduce my loads by 5%. IVI Match brass 1F from a TAC50 is dreamy!
 
FirearmsEnthusiast said:
I load “plinking” rounds with 647gr pulled bullets - lube them and push them through a 0.51 Lee bullet sizing due to remove any pull marks and to confirm that they were not deformed out of round by the pulling process.
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By doing this is it hard on the tip, I believe the Lee sizer using the next bullet to push the next one out. Also how hard is it to push them through the sizer
 
Curtis264 said:
By doing this is it hard on the tip, I believe the Lee sizer using the next bullet to push the next one out. Also how hard is it to push them through the sizer
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Its the ram extension that pushes a bullet through a Lee sizing die, there may be bullets above the sized bullet but there should be little to no pressure on the preceding tip.
 
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