Reloading estimates - what's your guess?

One point that the OP made, was he wanted to get into some long range shooting with his 338. For him to accomplish anything worthwhile at that takes a lot of rounds and range time. Will he commit to that? If he does, then it is very worthwhile. If you want to play with the big stuff like the Lapua and the Cheytac, African big bore class cartridges, or out of production cartridges or wildcats, yes, it is worth doing. It may be the only reasonable way to approach those disciplines for 90% of the people involved in them, for some guns and cartridges, there is no other choice than to reload, just to be able to use them at all.
Now, he didn't state, possibly because he isn't aware of the commitment he needs to make, was that he was willing to commit the time and money to long range shooting, and sounded like maybe he didn't know what is involved altogether, or could not afford that.
He will likely need 500rds to learn the discipline, minimum. maybe more like 1000, ya, it would be worth it to do that. Go shoot 40 rds out of it in a day and see how it feels before committing to reloading for it, then do it 2 days in a row and see if you think you can handle a competition weekend before committing to reloading for it.
Is he willing to buy 100-200 pcs of brass and maybe 9-10 lbs of powder and maybe 500+ bullets to accomplish that in the first year or two? And is he aware he may have to buy 3 different powders or more, and maybe 3 different bullets or more, primers are almost inconsequential in the equation, 50/1000. And the gas back and forth to the range to practice and learn, and the other long range shooting related goodies needed? Which he may or may not already have on hand.
All I'm getting at, is as romantic as long range shooting may sound, the Lapua is not going to be a cheap way to learn that discipline, even if he reloads for it. If you are going to get into it, get into it and do it right, just be sure you know what you are getting into.
 
I bought all my gear used, RCBS Single press (with L/S primer kit), Lyman hand crank trimmer, hand tool for inner and outer chamfer, RCBS Powder Drop, RCBS Beam Scale all that for $200 (2013), NEW , Lyman cob tumbler. Since then, I have expanded into Shotgun 3 X MEC 600, 650 and 700 Steel for shotgun. Franklin Arsenal Case Prep center, Digital scale. Always picking up brass and shotgun hulls on range. I have more value in brass (by scrap metal values), then all my reloading gear is worth.

I only use LEE DIES..my preference.

Do I save money..NO.....but I shoot 3 X times as many bullets for the same price (some say that is worth it).
Speciality calibers is always worth reloading - just for the simple fact you can design a rd by bullet weight, power, primer to match every characteristic of your particular gun.
Reloading, for me started out as a way to control costs..always does...but then you find out how you can improve the performance of each rifle and bullet. It is sorta like a sickness, that leads to casting, searching for lead, making lead shot, swaging .223, custom loads for Black Powder (BP), paperwads for 50 cal BP, custom turkey loads for BP, grapeshot for BP, specialty loads for casting your own 0, 00, 000 #4 buckshot, casting for Lymon Pellet slugs, LEE 7/8 and 1oz slug, shot maker for lead shot, wax loads, sink drain chain wax loads, the madness never ends...DONT DO IT..STAY AWAY...lol

I shoot lots, over 7 different calibers and 3 type of shotguns, Cast & Reloading shotgun for me, is not about saving money. It is about time spent developing, testing and quiet times in my basement reloading room all winter making reloads. Come the spring I test all that load development..fun....fun
 
I don't reload to save money. I do it to get accurate rounds. As a bonus, it just so happens i can get extremely accurate loads relatively inexpensively. If you get a good deal on powder and bullets, it gets even cheaper.
I load 223 for about $.25 a round, and it is far more accurate than the cheapest ($.35) ammo I can buy, probably more on par with rounds that are $.75
I do it because I like to know how things work.
 
The Lee stuff is as good as any and plenty strong.
I use the hand held press for loading for my hunting rifles and the Lee factory crimp is the best going.
The ammo produced is equal to or better than any factory ammo I’ve tried.
 
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