campro projectiles from either canada ammo or western metal. Free shipping for orders >200$ or >300$.
For 9mm, 115gr is 10¢/bullet. Marginally more expensive for heavier bullets.
dominion primers from canada ammo (4¢/primer currently, they might get it back to 3 or 3.5¢) or fiocchi from WM (3.8¢).
Powder I got TightGroup at 31$/pound from Western metal (it's still in stock at that price). Prices vary wildly in powders, but Higginson's 20 lbs threshold for free shipping is too much for me. So I follow sales at CA or WM, X-reload or local sales. Keep in mind that 1 pound of TG will make more than 1800 rounds. CA also sells bulk 700X powder for 25$/pound, so that's cheaper, and also cheaper than higginson I believe.
So total (115gr 9mm, assuming you already have brass, everything from WM):
primer: 3.8¢
bullet: 9.9¢
powder: 1.7¢
Total: 15.4¢/ round, or 7.70$/box plus GST. As you can see, bullet is 2/3 of the cost, it's the only place where you could realistically save a few pennies.
For 223, the cost of powder is relatively higher. If you suppose 25grn of varget, that's 280 rounds/lbs, and varget is kind of expensive at around ~45$/lbs, so 16¢/round. Again, suppose you already have the brass:
projectile: 60$/500, or 12¢ (campro at CA, they're currently out of stock but they'll get more. I don't think WM has cheap 223 bullets)
primer: 4¢
powder: 16¢
Total: 32¢/round.
If you don't have 223 brass, you can get once-fired for quite cheap on the EE, or for no hassle, 200 1-fired for 15$ at western metal. It's another 7.5¢, which takes you to 39.5¢ per round. If you want to save money, you're wasting time, cause you can get steel-cased (Barnaul or MFS) for less than that at SFRC, when they have them in stock.
The real saving will come later this year when/if Canada Ammo comes through with bulk 4064 at 25$ or 30$/lbs.
You won't save that much on 9mm and 223. They are the most commonly used ammos, and available in bulk, so making your own will only save you marginal money. As soon as you go to other calibres, you start saving a lot more. My full power 44 magnum cost about 30¢/round to make compared to 1$ for new production. I would save a lot even if I bought new starline brass each shot. In large rifle ammos, the savings are even larger: It cost me about 1.25$ to make a 300wsm compared to almost 3$ for store-bought.
