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lone ranger

lone ranger

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I took a break from the gun thing and reloading to take up my other hobby of motorcycle riding.
I sold off a bunch of brass , guns and ammo etc.. I really wasn't planning on coming back to guns, so I wasnt worried.
That was a Mistake !
The bug is back, and I decided to load up some 9mm for a pistol carbine I just got.
YIKES !!! It costs less to buy them rolled .I cant believe how MUCH the primers and powder is.

I looked at 22cal federal box of 500 and shook my head. I still cant believe it.
was planning on spending a bunch of my retirement time at the range this summer shooting.
A few years back, it was nothing to blow 500 rounds down range and think nothing of it.

so I did some thinking....and building. this is part of my new plan.

cooey single shot 22

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I'm not sure on your math for 9x19 being cheaper factory than reloaded.
15 cent bullet
10 cent primer
3 cent powder

compared to 45 cent factory round.
 
I reload a lot of 9mm using Ginex primers and Campro bullets. I've found bags of Campro for $100 and Ginex primers are about $80 on sale these days. So my cost is about $0.20 per round (and my time is "free"). So a box of 50 costs me $10. I can load about 200 per hour (once brass, powder, & primers ready to go), listening to podcasts.

I don't watch TV - I reload to relax.

YMMV
 
Londonshooter said:
Air guns and archery are starting to look real good on a retirement fixed income. Still, I dropped $250 yesterday buying a fletching tool and supplies.
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I do have a nice Air Rifle, 908fps and lots of Tins of ammo. its good for 100 yards.
I hear you on the "fixed income " thing. Gotta watch the spending.
 
wasa said:
I reload a lot of 9mm using Ginex primers and Campro bullets. I've found bags of Campro for $100 and Ginex primers are about $80 on sale these days. So my cost is about $0.20 per round (and my time is "free"). So a box of 50 costs me $10. I can load about 200 per hour (once brass, powder, & primers ready to go), listening to podcasts.

I don't watch TV - I reload to relax.

YMMV
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I will redo my math. I buy my supplies from Henry, he has fair prices. Its costs $10 alone for 50 rounds, just for the primers. $20 a flat of 100

dont watch TV either, LOL

edit..well crap, I was looking at 45acp instead of 9mm. ya big difference.
I'm getting a little silly in my old age.
 
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I am on the fence about reloading 9mm. I currently do not have a progressive set up as all my reloading is done for hunting rounds. I was looking at the Dillon Square Deal B set up and that seems pretty flawless to reload some 9mm. I am not a high consumption shooter, maybe 1000 / year max so I don't think it's worth setting up vs buying 9mm on a sale. I really enjoy reloading but not sure it makes sense $$$ wise vs purchasing bulk 9mm ammo.
 
lone ranger said:
YIKES !!!
Click to expand...

it's not as bad as it might seem at first glance. Yes, the supply chain is in terrible shape, but it's well past the bottom, and is steadily getting better.

22LR, a year ago was tough to find, and when you did it was 12-15 cents a round. Now it's easy to find, and can be had under 9 cents each, on sale.
Small pistol primers, 18 months ago were near impossible to find, and 12-20 cents each if you could. Now lots of dealers have them, and if you pay over 10 cents you aren't looking very hard.

Bullets and powder haven't been hit nearly as hard. Yes, they are up 25% vs pre-pandemic pricing, but that's 4 years ago now, so it's 5-6% inflation, that's pretty on par for everything else.
 
OkayShooter said:
If you cast for 45 and grab small primer brass. 45 is no more than 9mm.

I might use .07 of a grain more in my 45, than my 9mm load.
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I sold a bunch of SP 45 brass. I didnt figure things would get this bad back then. Crap !

I took in 168lbs of brass and sold it at scarp price,...no one was buying at the time and shipping was crazy expensive.
I only kept 1000 9mm and 1000 45acp

not much brass left at the range any more. since the ban, hardly any one going. I guess I will start picking what I can find again LOL

I could easily bring back 500 mixed rounds on every range visit back then.
 
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I just set up to load 223, as a new to me caliber. Without the dies factored in, I will be at $.75 a round for match grade ammo using varget. This is with a match tip, and not the cheap fmj plinking rounds, so I know that I can get things less with the campro tips. Probably shave $.15 each off with fmj, and another bit for powder, so I could realistically be in the $.50 range per shot. That is cheaper than the best bulk crap ammo that I have seen, which is about $.70-$1.10 per round to get it out to me. (.556 bulk rounds.)

That is with new brass factored in as well, with a 10 times life usage factored in, but I'm sure I could get more than 10 cycles out of it.

I know plinking hand gun ammo, you could get in that range or less easily, if you shop smartly.
 
I know plinking hand gun ammo, you could get in that range or less easily, if you shop smartly."

yes you are right. I just found some cheap primers today, I couldn't believe it.
He wanted what he paid for them- $5.99 per flat . yup... not a problem I said.
 
BattleRife said:
it's not as bad as it might seem at first glance. Yes, the supply chain is in terrible shape, but it's well past the bottom, and is steadily getting better.

22LR, a year ago was tough to find, and when you did it was 12-15 cents a round. Now it's easy to find, and can be had under 9 cents each, on sale.
Small pistol primers, 18 months ago were near impossible to find, and 12-20 cents each if you could. Now lots of dealers have them, and if you pay over 10 cents you aren't looking very hard.

Bullets and powder haven't been hit nearly as hard. Yes, they are up 25% vs pre-pandemic pricing, but that's 4 years ago now, so it's 5-6% inflation, that's pretty on par for everything else.
Click to expand...



Except Nosler bullets... Those have gotten ridiculous...

Considering where factory ammo prices have gone in the last few years, reloading looks even better than it used to IMO.
 
I am not finding the reloading of FMJ difficult, expensive, yes but components are readily available if you don't mind paying the price. Prices on Primers have tripled in the last 4 years, powder is doubled depending on your source. What is really killing me is the fact that my wife and I are Cowboy Action shooters that are mandated to use cast lead bullets. At the beginning of season I like to have ready 8,000+ loaded rounds in .38 Spl, .44 mag, .45 Colt, .45 acp, .30/30 & 6.5x55 mm. This is now far more difficult and expensive because a commercial caster recently left the business due to injury in Alberta and another commercial caster in Saskatchewan passed away. Finding cast lead these days means the price has come close to quadrupling, then you have shipping costs.

If this keeps up I think I can see match attendance decline in the next few years, putting another nail in the coffin of our sport.
 
I don't find 9mm to economically viable to reload, it's easy to buy, YMMV but I'll spend my reloading time on other things.
 
MiG25 said:
I don't find 9mm to economically viable to reload, it's easy to buy, YMMV but I'll spend my reloading time on other things.
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I tend to agree as 9mm has been historically mostly ubiquitous. That said I remember not that long ago it being scarcer/expensive during height of COVID when American's were trying to hoard it together with 22LR. The main reason I got into reloading some 20 years ago was because I was tired of travelling to the gun store and finding my favorite ammo unavailable with unknown restocks. I didn't see it being unlikely that gun control could eventually evolve in ammunition control. Acquiring guns in obsolete calibers didn't help either. Saving money was just an extra perk. That said I will still cast projectiles and use components acquired cheaply as early as 4 years ago. The ability to send those 9mm cast bullets downrange at 7 cents a round ( that is roughly 15 cents per round with cast bullets or 25 cents/round with plated projectiles and today's powder/primer prices) vs current 38-40 cents factory 9mm is still compelling for me to make the effort to reload. Meh, I still bend down to pick up pennies off the road so its probably just a me dysfunction :)
 
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When I got into reloading a few years ago, I bought all the supplies for reloading 9mm, but at $180/k for loaded rounds it wasn't worth my time. But, like others in this thread, I find reloading very relaxing. Throw on some music or a podcast and plunk away. I also live somewhere that minus 30 winters limit my motivation to go outside, especially since I work outside for a living. So, I tend to reload all winter to stop me from going stir-crazy. Last winter I reloaded about 2k 9mm on a single stage press, using a manual powder scale, and measuring out each powder charge by hand. Efficient? No! But I really enjoy it. This winter I only did about 800 9mm as other calibers required more attention and stocking, so I'll probably end up having to buy more factory ammo this year
 
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