Newbie - should I start reloading pistol - cost per unit

I figured out my price this past Spring with Campro bullets, 5gr charges for 9mm and .45 and 8gr charges for .357, and $0.06 per primer, which you can save a couple pennies a round on if you get cheaper primers (which I do now, just over $0.03 a piece).

9mm = $0.202 / round

.357 = $0.236 / round

.45 = $0.259 / round

FWIW, I was in the same boat as you a couple years ago, I bought a Dillon 550b and haven't regretted it for one second. Solid unit, it paid for itself within the first six months, and now I can shoot literally over twice as much for the same price as factory ammo. Win...win...win...!

It was ~$1000 for my startup costs as well, and I'm with ya on the "buy once, cry once" mentality. With the volume you're shooting I'd recommend getting into the progressive reloading scene!
 
I load everything on a single stage. Time is not a factor for me. Reloading is part of my shooting hobby, so I am not looking at an hourly rate while I reload. Much of my reloading is for bench rest rifles where I am looking for maximum accuracy. I carry over many of these practices into my pistol ammo.

Even for pistol, I clean primer pockets. I also inspect cases closely. 9MM brass is so plentiful at most ranges, I have never bought any empty cases, so essentially I don't factor in the cost of empty cases. I also cast my own bullets. I have a 4 cavity mold that drops 121 grain conical bullets that work well in most 9MM's, particularly my CZ's. I salvage my lead from the range, so it is free other than time. Bullets are sized to 0.3575. Many commercial bullets are sized to .356, which I find don't shoot as well for me. Proper sizing is even more important than hardness. The limit to bullet diameter is what will chamber in your particular gun. Undersized bullets tend to lead and also are not accurate. I don't get any leading and my bullets are much softer than commercial cast which tend to be very hard.

So with a 4.5 grain charge of Unique, I can get 1556 loads out of a pound of powder. So my last powder was roughly $40.00/LB, so 5 cents for a primer, 2.6 cents for powder, say .05 cents for bullets lube = 8 cents a round. Granted, if I counted my time, it is cheaper to buy, but I enjoy the process. I load enough each winter to get through each shooting season.

I tend to batch processes. Range brass is washed, dried and then tumbled. I toss any military brass as I can't be bothered dealing with swaging primer pockets. I inspect brass after it comes out of the cleaner. I check overall case length randomly on newly picked up brass. I never trim 9 MM. I typically load 3 or 4 times max and then toss it. I have so much 9MM brass, I can't see ever running out.
You need to be careful with range brass you pick up as every so often, some of it is Berdan primed (even brass cases, not just the obvious steel surplus military cases), which will snap a de-capping pin, or bend the sizing rod if you are really ham fisted. I sort cases by head stamp, clean primer pockets, chamfer the case mouth.

Next I will bell the case mouths of a large batch, just enough to get the bullet seated.

Next I will use my Lee auto prime for priming the batch of cases.

When I am ready to load, it is just dumping powder and seating bullets.

For me, the extra level of inspection and care of single stage loading is worth it. Probably more psychological in some regards than better than what comes out of a progressive press, but the attached targets is what I get out of my CZ 85 combat at 20 yards, slow fire with my home cast bullets. Target on the right is a 20 shot group.



 
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A casting pot can be had for $60-$100 and molds are $32 or so on Amazon. I typically pay mechanics $10-$20 for a 10 gal pail of wheel weights or free of it's my regular mechanic. This puts my .45 ACP loads with 700X powder and S&B primers (x-Reload) at $0.07/ ea. You can't shoot. .22 LR for that price!

I was in the same position as the OP and ended up finding a used Dillon 550B. To get into another caliber was $45 for Lee dies $32 for the Lee mold and $75 for the Dillon cal conversionkit. From that point it's $0.07- $0.10 / round for any pistol cal unless you want to make high end ammo which will run you up to $0.50 per shot for something like 250 gr .45 Hornady XTP bullets with Fed Match Primers and Bulleye or Win 231 powder. Ammo like that will cost you over $1 / rd from the factory.

I'll agree. I didn't save a dime!!!! But I got way better at shooting and spent far more time blasting away at the range than I would have afforded before reloading. I laugh at folks coming to my range and shooting a box then leaving. Nope, not for me, I'll shoot 300 - 500 rounds in a sitting now then go shoot some home cast long range stuff too.
 
Well I have been reading through this thread with interest (Dillon XL650 questions) http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php/1476669-Dillon-650-questions

Looks to me like $1000 would not touch it if I want to go 'all in' on a progressive system. My count is near $2300 to be able to load 9mm, .357/38, .45

Prices are from Budget Shooter Supply here in BC - I know Tenda has some stuff cheaper but mostly not in stock

16944 XL650 9mm press w/o/dies $855
14406 9mm die set $103

21071 XL650 Conversion kit .45ACP $125
14404 .45ACP die set $105

21098 XL650Conversion kit 38/357 $126
14400 38/357 die set $105

21080 Case Feeder (large pistol plate) $336
21073 Small pistol plate $70

22214 Bullet tray $67
17950 Roller Handle upgrade $77
20049/50 Pickup tubes (4) $39

might as well go for minimal re-setup on caliber changes:

22059 Quick Change Assembly (x2 @ $175) $350


Now that's just the equipment, no spares >>>> $2268

Projectiles, Cases, Primers, Powder(s), etc etc.

To be fair the 350 for 2 x Quick Change kits is steep to save time when going from one caliber to another but time is money ;)
 
IIRC the Hornady ammo plant is like $1600

but you dont NEED all the bells and whistles, thet can be added later if wanted

my Hornady progressive is a combination of Hornady, Dillon, and Lee, by taking the best and dimplicity of all 3 mine worka for what I need. LP to SP conversion is 1 screw removal and takes 10 seconds.


got a friend on here where we found him a LNL with everything but the bullet and brass feeder on the EE for $500
 
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Gariagi said:
Reloading to save money only makes sense for the expensive stuff.

For example, my cost to reload .44 Magnum is less than 30 cents a round and a box of factory ammo is over $50 which gives me a savings of over 70 cents a round which adds up quick. Same applies to reloading rifle rounds.

But as others have said, any money you save from reloading will be offset by you just shooting more.


In the end, reloading is like an additional hobby to me. I enjoy the act of reloading and I also get extra satisfaction from shooting ammunition I crafted myself.
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Yup, me too. The money I've saved on reloading .44mag alone has paid for every single scrap of equipment many times over and the ability to experiment and tune is invaluable.
Want to find out how super hot JHP loads work? Instead of $1 - $2 a round, way more fun at 60 to 80 cents. And plinking ammo for 50 to 80% off ain't too shabby either.

But overall, the satisfaction of creating a high quality customized product is friggin' awesome and more than worth the price of admission.
 
I have an Excel spreadsheet which will give you costs per round, savings per round, payoff times, etc. PM me with your email adderess if you are interested.
 
My costs - 'WAAAY cheaper to reload, but this just means you shoot a lot more. Works for me! :) - and "HER" :)

We wouldn't shoot .45 at all if we had to pay factory ammo; I reckon the brass (the ones I've bought; you find very few on the range) at 45c each. If you reload 9mm, the brass is free and plentiful - we've picked-up thousands - but 9mm is finicky, I'd far rather shoot .45. And when you 'roll your own', you can load 'em as soft as you want, to where they just nicely cycle the action. My standard load is 3.5gr powder - a pound of powder is 7,000gr, so $50ish gets you enough powder for 2,000 rounds.

- I'm embarrassed how many empty powder jugs I've tossed these past two years. I bought her 2,000 .45 bullets for our one anniversary (ain't I romantic? :redface: ) - it didn't last us the year.

So that's ~2.5c for the powder; primers are closer to $6 than $5 a hundred anymore, that's 6c each. My bullets can be ~free - got a lot of range scrap - but it takes hours to get enough for a casting session, so we buy our bullets; 230gr LTC's, I figger a grand total of 15c a round of .45 - you can't buy decent .22 for that around here anymore. And my .45's are soft enough that they drop the empties at my feet, so they're a lot easier to pick-up.

But as noted, we wouldn't shoot .45 at all if we hadda buy store-bought ammo, so what's 15c/0? NOOOOOOO - Don't divide by ZERO, you'll kill us all!!!
 
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Paul_T said:
Well I have been reading through this thread with interest (Dillon XL650 questions) http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php/1476669-Dillon-650-questions

Looks to me like $1000 would not touch it if I want to go 'all in' on a progressive system. My count is near $2300 to be able to load 9mm, .357/38, .45

Prices are from Budget Shooter Supply here in BC - I know Tenda has some stuff cheaper but mostly not in stock

16944 XL650 9mm press w/o/dies $855
14406 9mm die set $103

21071 XL650 Conversion kit .45ACP $125
14404 .45ACP die set $105

21098 XL650Conversion kit 38/357 $126
14400 38/357 die set $105

21080 Case Feeder (large pistol plate) $336
21073 Small pistol plate $70

22214 Bullet tray $67
17950 Roller Handle upgrade $77
20049/50 Pickup tubes (4) $39

might as well go for minimal re-setup on caliber changes:

22059 Quick Change Assembly (x2 @ $175) $350


Now that's just the equipment, no spares >>>> $2268

Projectiles, Cases, Primers, Powder(s), etc etc.

To be fair the 350 for 2 x Quick Change kits is steep to save time when going from one caliber to another but time is money ;)
Click to expand...


That seems more realistic from my setup at least..
 
OK - update on all this for me. After speaking with a few local reloaders, the reloader guy at my LGS and reading more here and on the rest of the interweb I have decided to go with a Dillon 550.

I can get started with a pretty good setup for 45ACP and 9mm (with the quick change assembly for the 9mm) for about 1500 all in (including a lot of options for the 550 plus a case cleaner, bullet puller etc etc).

At the moment my cost for 45 ACP 230 FMJ has been anywhere from .52 to .60 per round depending on what brands and if I get it on sale.
Looks to be around .25 - .26 for reloads (with my saved brass) or .32 if I need to buy range brass.

Should be able to recoup my cost of the equipment in 3-5 months depending on #units I do per month - I will be loading well short of the capability of the equipment :)

Have to figure out where I am going to build my table but have cleared a space in my home office/computer room that should work.

Not sure if this will be a XMas present for myself or if I will wait until the New Year to purchase - will update the thread with some pics once I buy stuff.

Thanks for all the comments (and thanks ATOM for the spreadsheet - it helped to convince me).
 
Congrats on taking the leap. I enjoy the reloading aspect as much as shooting. From here on out you will be keeping an eye out for components. Buy them when on sale and stock up. If you get into casting keep an eye out for lead and stock it up for the future when you do find it. There will be other ideas and tools you will want to try which will have a cost but with the rising price of ammo you are making better and more ammo in cost comparison. All the while learning more about the ammo you use.
 
I enjoy reloading so that's why I do it, plus the accuracy gains for my rifles. Not counting my time, I have never found the cost to reload worse than 1/2 the cost of factory, comparing apples to apples with good components. I only reload larger, more expensive pistol calibres like .357, .44, .45 colt, .460, etc. I don't do 9mm as not worth it to me since I only have a single stage and a turret. I find the turret more than adequate for my pistol needs, ymmv.
 
Well here is what I started with - was going to make a desk but found a good price on a chest of drawers 36 inches high (reload room is computer room/home office).



Cut a piece of 3/4 G1S plywood for the top including 8 inches extra at the back where I will add a hutch for books/storage. 3 coats Stain/polyurethane. I'll be bolting this to the wall as well.



Lots of reading to do....
 
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