So I timed the stages to reloading 20 rounds of .308

[Sine Wave]

I'm new to reloading, have only reloaded about 200 rounds total so far.

I just reloaded 20 rounds of .308 from scratch. I kept track of the start/stop time of all the stages - I wanted to make a benchmark for time required to do all the work.

20 rounds of .308 from setup to cleanup (quick cleanup and final inspection) came out to exactly 1 hour. No crimping done on these rounds, intended for a bolt-action gun. Using a Lee hand press and Lee equipment and accessories.

Case prep takes the longest (that is no surprise) but actually how long it took compared to the other stages was a little surprising. According to my sheet:

Pocket cleaning, case trimming, chamfering, and cleaning/polishing 20 rounds took 24 mins - a little over 1 min per case. This is "only" 4 times longer than bullet seating for 20 rounds, but it feels like 10 times longer...

Final numbers (all stage times include changing of dies, making any adjustments, etc)
Lube and inspect 20 cases: 10 mins
Decapping/Resizing 20 cases: 7 mins
Primer pocket cleaning, Case trimming, Chamfering, Polishing 20 cases: 24 mins
Priming 20 cases: 4 mins
Powder charging 20 cases: 5 mins
Bullet seating 20 cases: 6 mins
Quick cleanup and final inspection: 4 mins

Total 60 mins (I swear I actually didn't make that up)

These times are only based on a single novice's session, but according to it that's 3 mins per cartridge. So from my back-of-a-napkin estimation (assuming my 1lb thing of Varget powder will do about 200 rounds and I assume the brass is "free"), then reloading 20 rounds of .308 with nice match bullets (including powder, primers, lube and all other consumables such as disposable gloves, q-tips, steel wool for polishing, etc) cost me approximately 3 minutes and 53 cents per round. Compared to approximately 1.65 per round for factory Federal Gold Match ammo, or .85-.90 cents per round for Winchester white box stuff.

I haven't measured my handloads against Federal Gold Match yet, but I know they kick the Winchester white box stuff out of the yard.

 

[Hitzy]

Get a tumbler, save yourself the polishing part. If you are loading for a bolt rifle, the next batch will go much quicker if you have a collet neck sizing die.
I do my rifle in 2 batchs, all the case prep first while I'm watching TV, then load at a later date. It doesn't take too long to drop powder and seat a bullet once the cases are prepped and primed.

 

[Boomer]

I agree with Hitzy, the biggest time saving is realized if you have a supply of prepped cases ready to load. You might as well get yourself a primer pocket and flash hole uniformer from Sinclair. The primer pocket uniformer works well cleaning carbon from the pocket of a previously uniformed case.

 

[44Bore]

Batch processing improves the time. I genrally prepare several hundred cases at a time so that I wind up with cases that I only have to put in the powder charge and seat the bullet. By the way, make sure you keep accurate records of your loads so you don't have to keep re-inventing the wheel.

44Bore