Is it worth reloading 9mm?

A lee pro 1000 and a balance beam scale and a tumbler.

Look those up and that's the cheapest way I can think of to load 9mm in bulk.

I do .38 special with that setup.

Add in a vernier caliper to set up OAL and to check case length too
 
f55 said:
Its worth it, you can shoot twice as much.

$3 for 50 lead projectiles.
$1.75 50 primers
$0.88 50 powder loads (3.8gr tg)
Brass is free.

total $5.63 for 50 rounds of 9mm (124gr) and takes about 15 min on my lnlap
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I load 9mm all the time, too. It ends up costing me less, no matter what price I see on factory ammo. Having said that, I'm curious to know where you obtain your components. Taxes in, I pay about 5.30/50 projectiles, and 2.25/50 primers.
 
9 mm is cheap when you cast your own lead. Very cheap so yeah its worth it. My break down is for 100 rounds = $5 primers+ $2 powder + $5 ish for lead and misc electric and shop stuff like bullet lube and case cleaning media. 12 bucks for 100 rounds.

I think in the coming year it will be more worth while to reload. Atleast suppliers can get 9 mm from Europe so the price will be a little more stable than 38, 357 and 40. If you are only shooting 9mm then I can see you buying most of your ammo. If your interested in reloading get into reloading. if your not thats fine as well. It will still be available just more expensive. The benefit of reload is that with a few pounds of powder and a few boxes of primers your set for a long long time if there is an ammo shortage not to mention a fullfilling hobby. I like shooting factory 9mm but I can save 18 dollars on a hundred. The other option is to buy a 22 pistol to suppliment your 9 mm shooting.
 
Don'tkillbill said:
9 mm is cheap when you cast your own lead. Very cheap so yeah its worth it. My break down is for 100 rounds = $5 primers+ $2 powder + $5 ish for lead and misc electric and shop stuff like bullet lube and case cleaning media. 12 bucks for 100 rounds.

I think in the coming year it will be more worth while to reload. Atleast suppliers can get 9 mm from Europe so the price will be a little more stable than 38, 357 and 40. If you are only shooting 9mm then I can see you buying most of your ammo. If your interested in reloading get into reloading. if your not thats fine as well. It will still be available just more expensive. The benefit of reload is that with a few pounds of powder and a few boxes of primers your set for a long long time if there is an ammo shortage not to mention a fullfilling hobby. I like shooting factory 9mm but I can save 18 dollars on a hundred. The other option is to buy a 22 pistol to suppliment your 9 mm shooting.
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BINGO : The other option is to buy a 22 pistol to suppliment your 9 mm shooting.
 
RemMaster said:
I just bought a RCBS rock chucker supreme kit from Cabela's. I bought it mainly to reload .338 win mag and 30-06. Since it comes with a single stage press do you guys think its worth reloading 9mm or does it take too long seeing as its a fairly cheap round.
Thanks
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This is a first for me. "Yes". If you didn't already own the press etc. I'd have suggested you not bother getting one just to reload 9. Since all you need now is a set of carbide dies, why not ? You'll get better ammo, tuned to your pistol and possibly save a penny or two in the process. I'd never get into the alchemy necessary to make my own bullets unless the practice itself was of interest to me, (it isn't). There's too much extra gear $$ involved and scrounging for cheap lead and all of that.
 
Chuckbuster said:
I load 9mm all the time, too. It ends up costing me less, no matter what price I see on factory ammo. Having said that, I'm curious to know where you obtain your components. Taxes in, I pay about 5.30/50 projectiles, and 2.25/50 primers.
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I was lucky enough a few months back to pick up some cast 124gr, 6000 in total for $60/1000.

The primers & powder i purchased from dantesports in montreal (prices have gone up sine last year)

Just checked my emails again i paid $50/1000 not $60 /1000 so $2.5 per 50 for 124gr cast
 
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tgt40 said:
....If I was seriously shooting 9mm I'd probably load simply because the savings could be on the order of a range membership for the year but for casual shooting, no way - especially on a single stage!
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I use a single stage to reload 9mm, but I am a casual shooter (approx 1K rds/year). The trick is to break it up into stages (I do it over winter). Eventually it's all done, and you don't feel overwhelmed as you would trying to do it all at once.
I've got it down to about 15 cents per round.
 
I buy 9mm bullets and brass when I can get them cheap--and stockpile them to use if ammo supplies dry up. I also buy loeaded ammo when it is on sale and so far I just load high performance hp's and use the cheap ball ammo for practice. 9mm is cheap enough that it is practical to use factory ammo--most other calibers can creat quite a saving by reloading--think .45 acp, 44 special, 44 mag, .357 mag and even .38 spl now that the police forces don't use it. Also the heavy specialty calibers.
 
f55 said:
I was lucky enough a few months back to pick up some cast 124gr, 6000 in total for $60/1000.

The primers & powder i purchased from dantesports in montreal (prices have gone up sine last year)

Just checked my emails again i paid $50/1000 not $60 /1000 so $2.5 per 50 for 124gr cast
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Talk about good luck...that was a great deal...a steal in fact. I'd love to pay half what I am now for bullets.
 
stevebc said:
I use a single stage to reload 9mm, but I am a casual shooter (approx 1K rds/year). The trick is to break it up into stages (I do it over winter). Eventually it's all done, and you don't feel overwhelmed as you would trying to do it all at once.
I've got it down to about 15 cents per round.
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Exactly how I do it.
 
44Bore said:
I buy 9mm bullets and brass when I can get them cheap--and stockpile them to use if ammo supplies dry up. I also buy loeaded ammo when it is on sale and so far I just load high performance hp's and use the cheap ball ammo for practice. 9mm is cheap enough that it is practical to use factory ammo--most other calibers can creat quite a saving by reloading--think .45 acp, 44 special, 44 mag, .357 mag and even .38 spl now that the police forces don't use it. Also the heavy specialty calibers.
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Yep, it PAYS to have your ear to the ground and take on an inventory as and when supplies are available and/or a deal. Its worth tying up the $ these days. The banker sure as hell isn't making you rich off of what you leave on deposit.
 
I reload my 9mm with cast lead bullets because I shoot Steel Challenge with it and you do NOT want to be using jacketed ammo when shooting at steel from 7-10 yards!!!(my club doesn't allow jacketed ammo because the jackets can come back at you):eek:

I've reloaded about 5000 rnds on a Lee Pro 1000. It's not a bad progressive press for the money, but it does require some tinkering to get it running right. Once you've played with it a bit, it's almost as reliable, and a hell of a lot faster, than any single stage press out there.

I CAN find lead RN ammo, but it's a bit of a pain, and I usually wind up paying exorbitant shipping costs. Reloading my own ammo saves money, gives me something to do on a cold winter's night, and allows me to tailor my ammo to my pistol.
 
I reload 9mm on a lee load master, works ok. Priming system has issues though, I now manually prime on the single stage.... and their case feeder isn't so effective, so I removed it... so I progressively reload manually primed and fed cases. Better than nothing. For the expand, powder, seat and crimp, it works fine. Cost is approx 15 cents a round.
 
44Bore said:
I buy 9mm bullets and brass when I can get them cheap--and stockpile them to use if ammo supplies dry up. I also buy loeaded ammo when it is on sale and so far I just load high performance hp's and use the cheap ball ammo for practice. 9mm is cheap enough that it is practical to use factory ammo--most other calibers can creat quite a saving by reloading--think .45 acp, 44 special, 44 mag, .357 mag and even .38 spl now that the police forces don't use it. Also the heavy specialty calibers.
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amen to that.. i used to buy factory .44 mag with tax == 43$/50 rounds.. i don't have any good source of cheap materials and it cost me 13$/50 rounds since i reload. I was asking myself the very same question.. 9mm.. probably worth it since i already got a 650xl and enjoy the heck out of reloading my own ammo
 
DocBurN said:
amen to that.. i used to buy factory .44 mag with tax == 43$/50 rounds.. i don't have any good source of cheap materials and it cost me 13$/50 rounds since i reload. I was asking myself the very same question.. 9mm.. probably worth it since i already got a 650xl and enjoy the heck out of reloading my own ammo
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I only buy 44mag ammo because I need the brass: With taxes, $1 per bang adds up. Even 357mag, the savings are quite high for me to bother with my single stage press. But the biggest savings will always be with larger rifles and the greatest attraction is the consistency of the rounds and subsequent accuracy.

Every trip to the range, I gather most of the brass I find laying around and within a year have accumulated probably ten thousand 9mm brass. I won't likely reload any of it, for I have my own empties, but I can sell it to Wolf, to supplement my factory ammo diet. A basic formula I learned: The more expensive a round is, the less empty brass you will find laying around in that caliber. That explains (plus popularity) the 10g 9mm, 25% of that 40 S&W and 223.

You could say I like cleaning up after everyone else: The range is left clean, what I can't or won't reload, I can trade; what is junk will wait in a bucket until I try casting something out of brass. :D
 
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