Is reloading even worth it now?
- Thread starter handofzeus
- Start date
- Location
- WMU248 near Edmonton
well if price is your only criteria then for common calibers its not worth getting set up to reload.
If your already set up then adding another set of dies is not big deal
If your looking at less common calibers and odd magnum premium ammo, that is >$120 a box if you can find it then price wise its worth it. But then the real cheapskates out there don't buy that sort of gun, the are all running 308, 30-06, 270 fuddy guns.
If you take your time and understand a few things about ammo you can make your own ammo with your choice of premium bullets that are tuned to your rifles that will be better then factory ammo.
I myself have 3 presses and over 30 sets of dies. I started with a Lee Challenger kit and have over the decades upgraded everything. I've sold or given away at least 4 single stage presses to help other guys get into reloading. Upgraded presses all came from auction buys from the boxes of miscellaneous gun stuff at gun auctions. I'm using a Redding single stage and have an RCBS RS5 and RS2 as the secondary and backup presses.
if you watch sales and build up your loading bench over time, have a small stockpile of components to tide you over when the market goes crazy, then reloading is worth it.
If your already set up then adding another set of dies is not big deal
If your looking at less common calibers and odd magnum premium ammo, that is >$120 a box if you can find it then price wise its worth it. But then the real cheapskates out there don't buy that sort of gun, the are all running 308, 30-06, 270 fuddy guns.
If you take your time and understand a few things about ammo you can make your own ammo with your choice of premium bullets that are tuned to your rifles that will be better then factory ammo.
I myself have 3 presses and over 30 sets of dies. I started with a Lee Challenger kit and have over the decades upgraded everything. I've sold or given away at least 4 single stage presses to help other guys get into reloading. Upgraded presses all came from auction buys from the boxes of miscellaneous gun stuff at gun auctions. I'm using a Redding single stage and have an RCBS RS5 and RS2 as the secondary and backup presses.
if you watch sales and build up your loading bench over time, have a small stockpile of components to tide you over when the market goes crazy, then reloading is worth it.
Another reason to reload... Ammo will become harder to buy. It'll be one of the things the government will want to control in the future. If I was younger that would be something I would be planning for. Nice not to go to a store and show your permit to buy ammo.
thewoodsrunner
Regular
The perennial pet fear of how many generations and counting now? That they're "coming for it all"? Bin hearing it all my gun-toting Canadian life, and i'm now in the adolescence of old age and still with a safe full of legal guns. Far more than anyone could argue "necessary" if they were required to, in fact.
One of the (many) errors in this sort of thinking and statement, just for starters, is the Blue-Team cheerleader assumption that all gun nuts are cheering for the same blue team.
Fortunately for all of us this has never been the case, and never will be. Hell, even Karl Marx championed gun ownership amongst the masses.
Which doesn't mean all things gun won't be banned one day, of course. Just that I wouldn't lose any sleep over it. It bodes poorly for a person, for one thing.
As Darwin pointed out, "It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the ones who respond most positively to change."
Licensed to kill
CGN Regular
- Location
- Peace Country Alberta
I have kids and grandkids that I want a future for. Will MY guns be taken away in my lifetime, highly unlikely but I don’t live my life only for me so I do have a reason to fight this battle. The speed at which things are changing is irrelevant to me. To each his own though.
Darwin wasn't facing the current globalist agenda now was he. If adapting to change positively means bowing down to the criminals pretending to be government in Ottawa , I'll say no to that.
as for reloading. I've been meaning to get into reloading for years LOL Built a bench have some tools and a press but not a complete reloading tool kit. I still need a few things like tumbler, a few case prep items like a trimmer and I don't have a powder trickler/thrower. Got most everything else though. Even have enough powders and components to reload over 500 rounds for each of my hunting calibers, even more for .303.
Just haven't done it yet.
This season a box of the ammo I like for hunting with my 303 rifles has gone fro 34.00 pre covid, to 99.00 a box. The 7mm rem mag from 64.99 to 109.99 a box. For me, my reloading is going to pay off big time as after this season I will not be getting @ssraped buying factory loads. I have a box n a half of 7mm rem mag and 4 boxes of 303 left in the stash, once it's gone it's reloading only from there on out. I bought the vast majority of my reloading components before the prices went crazy so it will work out to a fraction of the cost of todays retail prices for those same factory rounds.
as for reloading. I've been meaning to get into reloading for years LOL Built a bench have some tools and a press but not a complete reloading tool kit. I still need a few things like tumbler, a few case prep items like a trimmer and I don't have a powder trickler/thrower. Got most everything else though. Even have enough powders and components to reload over 500 rounds for each of my hunting calibers, even more for .303.
Just haven't done it yet.
This season a box of the ammo I like for hunting with my 303 rifles has gone fro 34.00 pre covid, to 99.00 a box. The 7mm rem mag from 64.99 to 109.99 a box. For me, my reloading is going to pay off big time as after this season I will not be getting @ssraped buying factory loads. I have a box n a half of 7mm rem mag and 4 boxes of 303 left in the stash, once it's gone it's reloading only from there on out. I bought the vast majority of my reloading components before the prices went crazy so it will work out to a fraction of the cost of todays retail prices for those same factory rounds.
Here you can see the difference between a load tailor made for your rifle and one you can buy off the shelf.
well for starters when primers were $30/1000 my new Pontiac LaMans was $6000 and I made $16,000 annually….times have changed.
Look at current .308’s in the store at $60 plus tax for a box of 20…I can sure reload them for less than $3 each
Look at current .308’s in the store at $60 plus tax for a box of 20…I can sure reload them for less than $3 each
thump_rrr ya I'm aware of the potential accuracy gains of matching a load to a rifle.
My 7mm rem mag m77 mkii was incredibly accurate with the factory loaded winchester premium ammo that housed the accubond bullet. When i got the rifle some years ago now, I bought a box of every commercially availlable load in the weight ranges i was after and found what the rifle liked.
Next best factory loading in this rifle is the federal premium 160gr Nosler partition. The last longish range shot i took.... which is pretty much point blank for this rifle and load , was 295 yards. Smoked him right where i aimed. So if accuracy kills, the factory load is certainly getting the job done for me, in this rifle.
My goal with reloading, and yours is probably different and that's okay, is to replicate the results I am getting with those two factory loads with the same or similar components. So the factory brass, the same bullets and variables will be my primer selection and actual powder used. Should I see even greater accuracy, I won't be disappointed but in the field where it matters to me, I want to duplicate the performance I've become accustomed to with the components on the reloading bench. That will be my journey anyways. I'm not a paper puncher as a hobby so my needs are different.
My 7mm rem mag m77 mkii was incredibly accurate with the factory loaded winchester premium ammo that housed the accubond bullet. When i got the rifle some years ago now, I bought a box of every commercially availlable load in the weight ranges i was after and found what the rifle liked.
Next best factory loading in this rifle is the federal premium 160gr Nosler partition. The last longish range shot i took.... which is pretty much point blank for this rifle and load , was 295 yards. Smoked him right where i aimed. So if accuracy kills, the factory load is certainly getting the job done for me, in this rifle.
My goal with reloading, and yours is probably different and that's okay, is to replicate the results I am getting with those two factory loads with the same or similar components. So the factory brass, the same bullets and variables will be my primer selection and actual powder used. Should I see even greater accuracy, I won't be disappointed but in the field where it matters to me, I want to duplicate the performance I've become accustomed to with the components on the reloading bench. That will be my journey anyways. I'm not a paper puncher as a hobby so my needs are different.
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It depends if your a shooter or a hunter primarily, if you hunt why bother just use the factory stuff, if you are an avid shooter then reloading makes the most economic sense. The trick back in the day was to stockpile components when they were far less expensive and far more abundant, to me it is an additional parallel hobby that I enjoy. Also bullet casting is another great way of saving money if you can source out a decent supply of cheap or free lead.
With constant shortages of components and ammunition prices going thru the roof, the only way to keep in the game is to handload.
Duplicating those loads isn’t that difficult.
You can buy Accubond and Nosler partition bullets.
The velocity of those rounds is printed right on the box. Although I don’t load for a 7mm Remington Magnum I do load for a 300 RUM with 180gr Accubonds. Retumbo is my go to for that but H1000 is probably better for the 7mm Remington Magnum. If you’re not concerned with the nth degree of accuracy then any Magnum primer should be good.
Once you get in the velocity range you desire the. You can fine tune the charge weight and the length for better accuracy.
It took me 21 rounds from my initial charge weight right up to my desired velocity in the 338 LM. I was using 2.5gr increments in that size of that case.
In the 7mm Remington Magnum I would probably go in 1.5 to 2 gr increments.
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Ya I bought a few boxes of the same lot# of accubonds several years back and have snapped up nosler partitions any chance i saw a good deal on them. I keep all my brass from this rifle as well. My friend has the same rifle, same caliber and he gets good results with the H4831SC so I have a few cans of that, some cans of H1000 and a couple others. I wasn't quick enough on Retumbo at decent prices but I got all the others before the prices took thier leap a few years ago. Hopefully I have enough of everything to find the load my rifle likes and the rest will last me till I'm ot hunting anymore hehe
