Is it worth it to reload 9mm

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mmcintyre1220

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Just about to venture into pistol reloading, I plan to reload in 45acp,38/357. Is it worth it to reload 9mm? the cheapest I can find it here is 14.99 plus tax for American Eagle 124grain. Not a rich person by any means but also don't want to be sitting there reloading only to save say $1 per box lol.

Thanks
 
beltfed said:
As a generality, the cost to reload is about half - not including your time.
Click to expand...

this is what i found when i did the calcs before buying my reloading gear for 9mm

non money related perk to reloading is you can tailor your reload to your gun and your competition, which is worth something in my books
 
Yes, it's well worth it. My approximate costs per thousand are as follows:

Bulk lead bullets: $80
Primers: $35
Powder: $15
Total, assuming depreciated brass and loss made up in range pick-ups: $130

Assuming once-fired brass costs of around $50/1000 and 10 firings, add another $5 to that number.

If you don't want to use plain lead bullets, figure about $120/1000 for plated, which will bring your component cost up to $170/1000, or $175/1000 allowing for brass. Even at this higher price, your costs are only a little more than half the cost of factory ammo.
 
I mainly reload 9mm. I have a Hornady LNL AP Press and chunk out around 200 rounds an hour. People do more, but I just enjoy my reloading time. I have never sat down to figure out the costs, but for the amount of 9mm I shoot, I believe it is not costing me any where near what factory costs. If you have accumulated lots of brass and re-use it, the cost goes down. I have never paid for 9mm brass.
The best part is I do not have to search from store to store looking for ammo. When my stock goes down, I just fire up my press.
A couple of years ago, 9mm was at a premium and was hard to find. That made up my mind to reload it and have the convenience of having a large stock available.
 
With MFS ammo selling for $110 per 500 I have chosen to buy a couple cases just for the sake of saving time.

I think I am gonna have to switch over to a progressive as the turret just takes too much time.

If your gonna do it get a progressive setup. That is the only way it is worth it IMHO.
 
My 9mm costs:

Hodgdon Titegroup, $29.95/lb
Winchester primers, $42.90/thou
BDX 124gr FMJ, $115.00/thou
Winchester brass, priceless

Works out to $17.50/100 or $9.00 a box

I don't count the cost of brass cause that price is included in the cost of when I bought it as factory ammo. You can buy cheaper heads and more expensive powder (Vihtavuori comes to mind), but this is the cartridge I like.
On my Dillon 650 I can casually pound out 400 an hour so I don't consider reloading a time-sink. I might even do 100 tonight between periods!

End of the day I like making my own.

Cheers,

O'Kelly's Boys
 
I ran out of 9mm ammo.
I needed 400 rounds for a match coming up in a few days...
I went onto my man cave and after am hour or so emerged with 500 rounds of 9mm

Yes it's worth it. Less reliant on the retail ammo chain...
 
I cast my own bullets. All my brass are range pick-ups. I buy primers, powder, and wheelweights/linotype.

That brings my material cost to about $3.50 per box of 50 rounds, or $70.00 per 1,000 rds.
 
I load 9mm Major for about $150.00 per thousand. I budget on $170.00 per thousand because you will see, you waste primers and powder. If you shoot often, it will take 2-3 years to cover your equipment (Dillon 650).
 
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:agree:
I cast my own swell and I figure my cost is around $65 per thousand. To me that's a pretty good savings over paying $300 per thousand.
 
Some additions which have value beyond the $. You can tune the load to your gun. And you can have ammo when you want it. Unlike some shelves which remain unstocked for weeks or months in local stores.

When you factor that in it is worth reloading IMO.
 
It's worth reloading if you shoot abit.

I got Hornady LNL and other stuff like dies, shellplate, tumbler, scale, calipers, books etc for about $600 back 4 years ago. Powder and primers were cheaper then and it took me to reload 5K rounds to cover difference - cost of factory 5K rounds minus cost of reloaded 5K rounds was about what I invested into reloading equipment and components.

Currently, my reloads are about $120/1000 before tax and factory ammo is about $250/1000 - difference is $130/1000rds. If I shoot 1000rds a month, I'll save $1560 a year - that'd cover reloading setup and components' costs...
 
You can buy reloads. Wolf makes them plus another out fit in London. Ammo is around $9.00 per box.


I find my pistols shoot best with a particualr load developed for them (using the DRG135 gr lead RN bullet). This load groups about half the size as factory ammo.

To me, having the best shooting ammo for each gun justifies loading.
 
mmcintyre1220 said:
Just about to venture into pistol reloading, I plan to reload in 45acp,38/357. Is it worth it to reload 9mm? the cheapest I can find it here is 14.99 plus tax for American Eagle 124grain. Not a rich person by any means but also don't want to be sitting there reloading only to save say $1 per box lol.

Thanks
Click to expand...

Honest question deserving of an honest answer,, no!

Compare apples to apples, as your teacher used to say. Check out prices charged by the professional reloading outfits for their reloaded ammo, then deduct the amount you receive by selling back your brass. Thats the number you use to compare against what you can buy components and put em together yourself for; not new ammo by the 50 rd box !!

Reality will bite when you set up for reloading too. Our "rose colored glasses" tend to filter out a lot of the real setup costs. You can't go buy a Lee starter kit and then be good to go. There are other tools to buy, dies and accessories, manuals, bench, whatever. Recovery of startup costs by reloading your own 9mm, 45 ACP, 223, basic common and relatively cheap ammo, will be a long term process if you shoot a ton and will never happen if you don't.

On the plus side, there are nominal savings to be had, as you rightly suspect, even with these common and cheap calibers. This means that you can ease into reloading without undue cost. This is good because there are great reasons to do it ! Penny pinching just isn't one of em.
 
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