newbie to reloading...

canadian hunter312

canadian hunter312

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ive pretty much made up my mind about starting to load my own ammo...

how much does it cost to load your own vs buying the "same" loads in stores?

what equipment do i need to get started?

are all components easy to come across or is it a pita to find stuff?

how hard is it to find a load that your gun likes? (i dont have a ton of free time)
 
Do a search on this topic. There is literally thousands of posts.
Buy yourself a good single stage press if your going to load rifle. Lee, RCBS, Hornady, all make great "starter" kits, that have a decent scale, powder measure, chamfer tool, case brushes, etc.

Components are usually easy enough to find here on the EE and from our sponsors, cheaper components however are becoming not so easy to find.

Reloading does save you money versus buying factory made ammo, primarily because the biggest cost of factory ammo is the brass.

Reloading can take a bit of time however to find that perfect load.

Hope this helps.
 
You only start saving money after you load several rounds because of the equipment cost. I have been reloading since I was 12 or 13 with supervision of course. It is alot of fun and very worth while. Some guns will shoot as well with the first thing you try as they do with factory ammo. It might not take a long time to find a good load for what you shoot. I have personally burnt over 40 lbs of powder in 20 years so I know I have saved money compared to buying factory. If I didn't reload I probably wouldn't shoot and would be a little bit wealthier. Buy the equipment and get started.
 
canadian hunter312 said:
ive pretty much made up my mind about starting to load my own ammo...

how much does it cost to load your own vs buying the "same" loads in stores?

what equipment do i need to get started?

are all components easy to come across or is it a pita to find stuff?

how hard is it to find a load that your gun likes? (i dont have a ton of free time)
Click to expand...

Unless you plan to reload "exotic" (ie .338 LM) ammo or unless you put an incredible amount down range each year, or unless you found half a 45 gallon drum of grandpa's favorite powder in the attic, you will not save money reloading. Reports to the contrary wax incredibly short on cost estimates, neglecting the cost of anything beyond the basic price of the press or "starter kit". Other rosy-eyed estimates involve casting bullets from lead obtained during ingeniously planned scrap drives. Otherwise, estimates tend to compare the cost of reloaded ammo to NEW product priced in 50 rd boxes :rolleyes:. Compare the cost of reloading your own ammo to that of purchasing from a commercial reloading outfit (trading in your used brass) and the difference won't pay for your reloading gear before it wears out.

As cost for ammo goes up, cost for components goes up and yes, right now, stuff is hard to find. There's no free lunch.

Do I reload? Should you reload? YES!!

Reloading is interesting. Add to this the fact that your reloaded ammo can be built with bullets you can't get with commercial ammo, that it will perform more accurately in your firearm, that you can use powders that burn cleaner (or with other characteristics you may want) and that all these benefits will cost you no more than generic product off the shelf and NOW you've got legitimate reasons to reload.

As posted above, you can find volumes of info and advice in the "Reloading" section here. Get into it and enjoy :D !
 
I'm 23years old, I plan on hunting and shooting for the next 50years. I currently shoot 6.5 swede and may start .300WM. 6.5 costs 25$/20rnd, .300WM is 30$/20rnds local. Starting kit with 2 dies is $220roughly local. Powder, bullets, primers, some brass going to add up fast, but even if it saves me 10cents a round it'll only take a few years before the starting equipment is paid off. I can't see reloading being same cost as buying factory.
 
Just for interest sake (and fun) I worked out the cost of reloading 20 rds of 6.5 x 55 which I do quite often. All prices are current ie I bought the powder and primers within the last month. The bullets were not purchased but this is the current price on Hgginson's web site. My 6.5 target load is (and has been for 25 years) 35grs of 4064 and 140 gr Hornady SP's. I have shot sub 1.5" groups at 100 yds with this load in a M38 (open sites) when my eyes were younger.
Anyway here's the math- all prices include tax- primers-$47.40/1000-powder $33.84/lb (200 loads/lb) and bullets $38.17/100. If my math is correct this works out to $59.83 per 100 rds or $11.97 for each box of 20. I have not included the cost of the brass. If you're already shooting the round you may already have some cases.
The great thing about reloading rifle and/or pistol is that once you're set up a new caliber usually only requires the addition of a set of dies. Shooting cast bullets results in even greater savings (or alot more shooting for the same money

Old Ranger
 
I still think reloading is alot cheaper no matter what anyone says. Depending on what and how much you shoot you will see savings. Of course some ammo you are just better off buying. I just started reloading a couple months ago. I have loaded up about 200
.308 rounds so far with good results. Not including the cost for the rockchucker kit or my bench I built or things like my trimmer my cost has been about 50 cents a round. I have kept my brass over the last year and have a crap load of it. I have also started keeping my 9mm and .223 brass too so I can reload for it.

Now that 200 rounds has been shooting better then the GMM I used to buy which is now at $42.00 for a box of 20. So just with the these rounds I have saved $320 by reloading. This almost has my basic rcbs kit paid for already. By the end of the year I expect to be past the even point and have my reloading equipment paid for.

Of course those are there and I can be like that sometimes, were you want to load faster and upgrade to make your job of reloading faster and funner. This is when you will start to spend the same kind of money as would you by buying factory ammo. If you keep it simple you can have low costs in reloading and produce excellent results.
 
Reloading takes your shooting to a whole new level. Instead of looking at it from a pecuniary perspective, look at what you will learn about how reloading so dramatically affects accuracy. It gives you unparallelled verstility in bullet choices, it teaches ballistics in a completely different way.

It can even turn that tired old hunting rifle into a tack driving long-range target rifle. I don;t think you fully understand all there is to know about shooting until you also master the variables that encompass reloading.

go for it!
 
If you live in an area where ammo is hard to find then reloading is a must. Even though prices have gone up you do save money. A little bit on common rounds like .308 etc and a pile on other stuff like 300 weatherby. Especially when using premium bullets.

Politics seem to show a trend towards more and more regulation and we all know what could happen. Reloading offers one the ability to stock up on components and have a good supply of hunting ammo.

Finally IMHO it is a lot of fun to shoot with ammo you've developed yourself whether its at a paper target or a game animal.

Finally if all you want to do is shoot at the range and cost is an issue by a .22 and blast away to your hearts content.

If you go for it have someone mentor you or do your reading and follow reputable sources to the letter. This is not a hobby for goofing around and trying stupid things.
 
Load up 20 rounds of .300 Weatherby X 5 times and compare the cost vs paying 80.00 a box for new and throwing away your brass.

Or $400.00 for factory loads vs $50.00 of bullets and $40.00 worth of powder and primers.
You just saved $310.00 and paid for a top of the line singles stage press.

Yeah I think you'll save money in the long run plus you'll be shooting more.
 
For anyone else that was wondering....

:welcome:
pecuniary perspective
Click to expand...


pe⋅cu⋅ni⋅ar⋅y  /pɪˈkyuniˌɛri/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [pi-kyoo-nee-er-ee] Show IPA
Use pecuniary in a Sentence
–adjective 1. of or pertaining to money: pecuniary difficulties.
2. consisting of or given or exacted in money or monetary payments: pecuniary tributes.
3. (of a crime, violation, etc.) involving a money penalty or fine.
Origin:
1495–1505; < L pecūniārius, deriv. of pecūnia property, money (pecūn-, deriv. of pecū flock (see peculiar ), with -ūn- as in tribūna tribune 1 , fortūna fortune, etc. + -ia -ia ); see -ary

Related forms:

pe⋅cu⋅ni⋅ar⋅i⋅ly  /pɪˌkyuniˈɛərɪli/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [pi-kyoo-nee-air-i-lee] Show IPA , adverb


Synonyms:
1, 2. See financial.
 
TonyMo said:
For anyone else that was wondering....

:welcome:



pe⋅cu⋅ni⋅ar⋅y  /pɪˈkyuniˌɛri/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [pi-kyoo-nee-er-ee] Show IPA
Use pecuniary in a Sentence
–adjective 1. of or pertaining to money: pecuniary difficulties.
2. consisting of or given or exacted in money or monetary payments: pecuniary tributes.
3. (of a crime, violation, etc.) involving a money penalty or fine.
Origin:

1495–1505; < L pecūniārius, deriv. of pecūnia property, money (pecūn-, deriv. of pecū flock (see peculiar ), with -ūn- as in tribūna tribune 1 , fortūna fortune, etc. + -ia -ia ); see -ary

Related forms:

pe⋅cu⋅ni⋅ar⋅i⋅ly  /pɪˌkyuniˈɛərɪli/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [pi-kyoo-nee-air-i-lee] Show IPA , adverb


Synonyms:
1, 2. See financial.
Click to expand...

And here I thought he was being racist :eek: .
 
right now the only guns that id reload for are 22-250, .204, .243, and .303. even if it costs the same as store bought, id still like the options of different loads vs the ONE available now (without driving 40 minutes) id also like to get into loading shotgun shells. can you use the same press for both?
 
No, shotgun is another press. Not much money to be saved in birdshot loads either if you shoot 12g... 28g, 410, lots to be saved.

All of those calibers are def worth reloading for. If you're not a huge volume shooter a single stage would serve you well, I think the rockchucker master kit, calipers, some kind of case trimmer, dies, shellholders, maybe another manual like the lyman, and components is about all you'd need to get started. There's something else that the master kit is kind of missing that's escaping me right now... I'll try and figure it out.
 
Here is one way reloading saved me money that was a little off the beaten path.

Almost 10 years ago I shot a fair amount of skeet and sporting clays, some of it with a 20 gauge. One day I moved away from the club where I did all this and my 20-gauge shooting dropped to virtually zero. Among my possessions from those days was a nearly full, 8-lb jug of Unique I bought for $100 through a club-organized group buy.

Flash forward to 2009 and there is an ammo shortage on. My rifle shooting was greatly curtailed due to a shortage of powder and bullets, but that jug of Unique was calling my name. I bought some casting stuff and picked up two buckets of wheel weights, and redeveloped loads so that almost all my handguns are burning Unique. The primer makes up 2/3rds of my costs in most calibres, and I will be shooting all I can stand the whole way through the current difficulties.

The short version is that reloaders become natural stockpilers, and you will find yourself very often shooting available ammo at several-years-ago prices while others are sitting at home whining about the recent price hike at Wholesale Sports.

ETA: I should also mention that I still have enough supplies to make something like 700 rounds for my M14 at about 30 cents apiece, due to some fairly pedestrian stocking up two winters ago.
 
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I usually get to shoot 2x as much ammo when I reload for the same cost as factory. Last year it was more like 3x, but oh well.... I strongly recommend reloading. It's fun and you get to tailor you loads.
 
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