Reloading

Thanks for the imput guys and sorry if this is a beat to death question. In regards to equipment needed to reload 9mm.,45 acp 762x39. 50 cal and 458 socom what would be required...
 
Much depends on what you're loading. If you load 9mm or 12 gauge you might lose money. If you load .416 Rigby you can break even on a nice set-up in an hour.

In pure dollars and cents you probably won't save any dollars or cents. Most guys just end up shooting more, and spending more than they did in the first place.
 
Reloading is a tool to create your own specific masterpiece. Like others said, it can be nerdy. I'm not bothered by that.

I.e. my 12g loads I cannot buy, but I can make. They are the best. And they are a bit less that buying cheap ammo.

My brass cartridge loads, 308, 22-250, 357mag - are less than what I can buy for and I get premium loads.

I would never stop.
C
 
Thanks for the imput guys and sorry if this is a beat to death question. In regards to equipment needed to reload 9mm.,45 acp 762x39. 50 cal and 458 socom what would be required...

With the addition of 458 socom, if you're doing volume shooting through an AR i'd be leaning towards the Dillon 650, grab a conversion kit for at least 45acp. 50 cal is it's own beast and any volume shooter for 50cal will save major if you shoot a lot of it.
7.62x39 never makes any sense to me to reload, unless it's for hunting bullets and a single stage is more than sufficient for hunting loads. I have better calibers to use my rifle powder and primers on.
Originally when you listed those calibers, I would say get a Square Deal for the 45, buy your own 9mm and 7.62x39 and get a single stage for the 458 socom if it's light use. It all depends on how much time you have, and how much you have to spend. If you do large volume of 45 and 458 socom, the dillon 650 is the way to go. Buy once, cry once.
 
With the addition of 458 socom, if you're doing volume shooting through an AR i'd be leaning towards the Dillon 650, grab a conversion kit for at least 45acp. 50 cal is it's own beast and any volume shooter for 50cal will save major if you shoot a lot of it.
7.62x39 never makes any sense to me to reload, unless it's for hunting bullets and a single stage is more than sufficient for hunting loads. I have better calibers to use my rifle powder and primers on.
Originally when you listed those calibers, I would say get a Square Deal for the 45, buy your own 9mm and 7.62x39 and get a single stage for the 458 socom if it's light use. It all depends on how much time you have, and how much you have to spend. If you do large volume of 45 and 458 socom, the dillon 650 is the way to go. Buy once, cry once.

Dillion 650... Thanks I'll check it out now. Appreciate it
Ah YouTube got lots of vids on it! Looks very cool and simple enough
 
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Well nutz !!!!! I've been reading the abc's of reloading and getting a handle on things. I'm hoping by spring I'll be set up and ready. Plan on starting small and slow with a single stage then as I learn I'll up grade to the Dillion 65o. I'm not sure what caliber I'll start with. I'm leaning towards 762x39 to take beavers with a cz527. The plan is to eventually load 9mm-45acp-762x39-458 socom and 50 bmg. I don't want to wast the ammo I've purchased so far and would really like to enjoy the firearms I have so reloading will enable me and the family to go out and have a great time then at my leisure reload for the next time.
Is there a single stage press that I can start with on 762 then after the D650 comes use the single to reload 50 cal??
 
Thanks guys. 9mm 45 acp and 762 x39. Do guys reload 762 x39 or it not worth it

BIG savings to be had - I load .45 ACP for ~15c a round with bought'en lead bullets, as an idea the .45 cases alone are worth ~40c each. If not for reloading, we wouldn't shoot .45 at all. 9mm is less so, lotsa people making cheap 9mm; but a lot of the cheap 9mm is Euro-surplus. If you're picking-up range brass (we have several thousand - just can't stop ourselves picking 'em up :) take a look down the throats and any that don't have one hole in the centre, are Berdan primed - don't bother with them.

7.62x39 would be a pain to reload - I guarantee they're all Berdan primed, you ~can't even buy Berdan primers over here. You can buy Boxer-primed 7.62x39 brass, but not easily or cheap. And being shot from auto-loaders, they'll all need the whole gamut - full-length resizing, case-trimming & chamfering, likely primer pocket swaging... Better to just buy them, IMHO.

"Good advice! It's absolutely free, and it's - worth the price!" ;)
 
I set up a spreadsheet. I priced things out. Cost of primers, lead and powder. How much for an 'each'. Then how much combined to make a round. Then do the math.

Example:

9mm.

1lb of powder is 35.99 + Tax. Thats 7000 grains. I use 4.6 grains in 9mm. So 7000/4.6 = 1,520 rounds of powder. The cost of powder per rounds is 35.99 + tax for a total of $40.68/7000 for .0058 per grain x 4.6 per round equalling .026 cents per round in powder.

Do the same for all components.

Add the cost of the equipment components together, then the cost per round, and then how many rounds to break even for a given caliber. Easy peasy right?

For 9mm its just a couple of pennies under half cost. And the savings go up from there. But, it takes time, and you need to be careful and do it correctly. Time is money too. Once set, I can progressively load 100 rounds of any pistol caliber in 15 minutes easy. thats 400 and hour, pushing 500. 2 hours for a case worth. But thats a lot of pressing. I usually get it all set up, and then do a couple hundred per evening. Lots of time for other things too that way.

Really enjoy shooting my own. Just like making my own bread, its just that much better.
 
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...you ~can't even buy Berdan primers over here.

Depriming Berdan is a pain if you don't have the proper tools however if you do, it's exactly the same as with Boxer primers. Henry at Budget Shooter sells large rifle Berdan primers.
 
Buy used, i can pay for my equipment after around 400 rounds

^this.

Basically if you buy your equipment used at a decent price then you can sell it later for almost the same amount.
This means you have pretty much no "equipment cost" (there is just some money tied up in it) and you start saving money faster.
 
it is cheaper if you shoot a lot. But if you will not enjoy loading, then it will not be worth the effort.

I plan on shooting more that's the goal. And I'll give it my best to enjoy it but if I don't I'll treat it as a chore that must get done and done correctly to enjoy my firearms.
 
I plan on shooting more that's the goal. And I'll give it my best to enjoy it but if I don't I'll treat it as a chore that must get done and done correctly to enjoy my firearms.

Well, if you want to get the best accurate results, and measure and test and try and get the rush when you get a good group from reloading, then it will be fun.

More or less it will cost you about $800 for a full set up.
 
Well nutz !!!!! I've been reading the abc's of reloading and getting a handle on things. I'm hoping by spring I'll be set up and ready. Plan on starting small and slow with a single stage then as I learn I'll up grade to the Dillion 65o. I'm not sure what caliber I'll start with. I'm leaning towards 762x39 to take beavers with a cz527. The plan is to eventually load 9mm-45acp-762x39-458 socom and 50 bmg. I don't want to wast the ammo I've purchased so far and would really like to enjoy the firearms I have so reloading will enable me and the family to go out and have a great time then at my leisure reload for the next time.
Is there a single stage press that I can start with on 762 then after the D650 comes use the single to reload 50 cal??

Pretty sure 50 bmg requires it's own press.
Lee Classic Cast SS Press.
 
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