Totally new to reloading, how far does 1lb of power go with.....

philhut

philhut

CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Rating - 100%
34   0   0
Location
GTA, Ontario
So do not have reloading equipment at this time. Still on the fence re-cost/time. I have brass in each of the calibers below, I know the cost of primers and equipment but.
My biggest question when crunching the numbers is how far does powder go? If I were to reload the following Calibres approx how much powder would I use per 1000rounds or 100rounds (whater is practical)? Trying decide if I make the plunge this holiday or keep firing factory. I am a causual shooter, no competition just for fun at the range and hunting.

How many rounds can I reload with 1lb of powder (I know there are varying types)

9mm Luger


7.62x39


7.62x54R


8x57 JS


Thanks for the advice.
 
One pound of powder contains 7000 grains. That is how powder is weighed, it is
not actual grains of powder.
So for whatever the caliber that you wish to load that pound of powder will
load 7000 divided by the powder required for each round.
For example, a powder for reloading 9mm that uses 4 grains per round
will load 7000 divided by 4.
,
 
ok so reloading 9mm using Tenda as a price reference 1000rds
Powder approx 38.99
Casings (I have 1000 S&B currently factory loaded) debating buying 2nd 1000 since on sale
Bullets 96.99/1000 hollow point
using 4 gr powder
cost approx 162.26?

thats about a 40% savings direct cost not including materials needed.

the other calibres seem to be cost prohibitive as projectiles in those calibres are outragous and cheaper to buy factory, am I on base with this assessment. Short of smelting lead at home of course (i have a small child would like to avoid that for the time being)
 
Phil - In your calculations, don't forget the cost of primers, 3-4 cents per round.

The payoff for loading for your rifle calibres is better quality ammo rather then the bulk surplus that you are likely using as a comparison. It's only attractive if you are interested in accuracy rather than plinking and you should be able to reload for much less than match-grade commercial rounds while getting the same quality.
 
also don't forget to factor in your time. Single stage presses are time consuming, progressive presses are faster, but a fast setup will bring the hardware cost to pretty darn high !

I reload 308... because I don't shoot it that much and it brings the cost of match ammo way lower, also will allow you to fine tune the ammo to your rifle.

for my 9mm carbine, I shoot way more ammo than can reload with my single stage press in a reasonnable production time.
 
1 lb of powder = 7000 grains.

You can calculate some approximate values. Look at load data and find a load, for example - say 50 gr of powder for the 7.62x54:
The basic math would be: 7000/50 = 140 (one pound of powder would give you 140 loads of 50 grains powder).

For 9mm (estimate 5 grains powder per load): 7000/5 = 1400 (one pound of powder would give you 1400 loads of 5 gr powder each).

Factor in the time, but don't get carried away. If you're using spare time that would normally be used for nothing anyway - watching TV, net surfing - then your time is basically free and you get some exercise for your body and your brain at the same time. OTOH, spending every free moment running a single stage press isn't much fun.

A turret press is not a bad place to start and gives you some more speed for larger production. The Lee classic cast iron turret is a fairly decent machine and compares price-wise to a decent quality single stage press.
 
For x39 surplus is cheaper but only good for plinking, decent hunting ammo is $1/round.
Same for x54, except $1.50/round.
Not much surplus 8x57 so the same deal, $1.50/round.

If you have brass...
A decent commercial jacketed bullet can be had for 35-40 cents (or less), primers are 3-5 cents, powder say 45gr for 8mm/x54 at $40/1lb about 25 cents of powder per round...in total about 70cents a round.
So you can reload a high quality round for about half the cost of the cheapest commercial hunting ammo out there
 
With the 9mm reloads I've made, I've been using bullets that cost $0.10/round, and other bullets that cost $0.35/round.

I found that as far as accuracy is concerned, you won't see the difference out of a pistol held at 10m. But you will definitely see the difference in consistency of the group sizes if you shoot them out of a carbine on a rest at 100m. :)

So it all comes to what you want to do. 9mm is cheap enough that you won't do a large saving on each round. But you still can shoot more of them for the same cost, which is nice.
 
philhut said:
ok so reloading 9mm using Tenda as a price reference 1000rds
Powder approx 38.99
Casings (I have 1000 S&B currently factory loaded) debating buying 2nd 1000 since on sale
Bullets 96.99/1000 hollow point
using 4 gr powder
cost approx 162.26?

thats about a 40% savings direct cost not including materials needed.

the other calibres seem to be cost prohibitive as projectiles in those calibres are outragous and cheaper to buy factory, am I on base with this assessment. Short of smelting lead at home of course (i have a small child would like to avoid that for the time being)
Click to expand...

You reload to make higher quality ammunition and for enjoyment of making better ammo than factory. If you worry about cost and your time and do not enjoy reloading then just buy your ammo.

I'm still using the RCBS Rockchucker I bought in 1973, but I did speed up the operation was buying a RCBS Chargemaster that is more accurate than a hand operated powder measure. Meaning it doesn't cut large kernels of slower burning single base powders.
 
There also seems to be a learning curve involved as far as getting a more accurate round. So far for me, factory rifle cartridges are still more accurate.:(
One benefit to reloading that has been mentioned in other threads is: gaining knowledge of firearms and ballistics - that is coming true for me.:)


But cost savings has not happened yet (except with Win 25-20 which are really expensive if I were to buy them)
 
Last edited:
philhut said:
ok so reloading 9mm using Tenda as a price reference 1000rds
Powder approx 38.99
Casings (I have 1000 S&B currently factory loaded) debating buying 2nd 1000 since on sale
Bullets 96.99/1000 hollow point
using 4 gr powder
cost approx 162.26?

thats about a 40% savings direct cost not including materials needed.

the other calibres seem to be cost prohibitive as projectiles in those calibres are outragous and cheaper to buy factory, am I on base with this assessment. Short of smelting lead at home of course (i have a small child would like to avoid that for the time being)
Click to expand...

Why are you using hollow points? Cheaper to use fmj or plated.
 
I don't count the cost of my brass because I have a few buckets of 'many times fired' brass. Buying in bulk, my 9mm reloads cost me $.12 each. 8 cents for bullet, 3 cents for primers, and 1 cent for powder. I'm retired and enjoy loading a few hundred rounds each morning with my coffee so time is free. The 550 with casefeeder has paid for itself many years ago.
 
Robert Nicholson said:
There also seems to be a learning curve involved as far as getting a more accurate round. So far for me, factory rifle cartridges are still more accurate.:(
One benefit to reloading that has been mentioned in other threads is: gaining knowledge of firearms and ballistics - that is coming true for me.:)


But cost savings has not happened yet (except with Win 25-20 which are really expensive if I were to buy them)
Click to expand...

The most common mistake made by reloaders is locking the dies expander down off center and causing neck runout.

This is why I can't say enough about how well Forster dies work at reducing or even correcting neck runout. These dies have a high mounted floating expander and the case neck is held and centered in the neck of the die when the expander enters the case neck. Meaning the expander can not pull your case necks off center and induce neck runout.

Example about how the case effects your accuracy, in 1976 I could not understand why new brass fired in my 1943 03-A3 shot the best groups with new brass and my reloads were shooting groups 3 to 5 times larger. I was lucky and at work was a benchrest shooter and machinist that had some gauges at work. The problem was warped cases with excessive neck runout with the base of the case not being 90 degrees to the axis of the bore. (warped banana shaped cases)http://www.milsurps.com/images/imported/2010/02/bent-1.jpg

Bottom line, if you use Forster dies you will not need to worry about buying a neck runout gauge and your die causing the problem.

NECO CONCENTRICITY, WALL THICKNESS AND RUNOUT GAUGE

NEWDIAL2.JPG


Also referred to as "The Case Gauge," this item is designed to measure:
1) The curved "banana" shape of the cartridge case;
2) The relative wall thickness variation of a cartridge case;
3) The cartridge case head out-of-squareness;
4) Individual Bullets - out-of-round "egg shape" and/or
curved "banana" shape (excepting very small bullets);
5) The seated bullet and cartridge runout of loaded rounds. The accuracy of any firearm is determined -- and limited -- by the quality of the ammunition shot in it. The effect of imperfections in ammunition is cumulative; each flaw adds to the influence of all others. Precision shooters spend much time and effort "uniforming" cartridge cases, using advanced techniques to eliminate variation. Yet until recently, one of the most important of these variations has not been susceptible to detection by any device readily available to marksmen.

I do not have the NECO gauge above, and I posted this to show you a case can warp and become "banana shaped" and screw up your reloading.

This happens when the case wall thickness is not symmetrical, and the thin side of the case expands more on one side when fired causing the case to warp. Then when you full length resize this warped case it makes things even worse. The worst cases can be seen by standing the case upright and they will lean like the "Leaning Tower of Pisa".
 
Last edited:
B
pmt said:
I don't count the cost of my brass because I have a few buckets of 'many times fired' brass. Buying in bulk, my 9mm reloads cost me $.12 each. 8 cents for bullet, 3 cents for primers, and 1 cent for powder. I'm retired and enjoy loading a few hundred rounds each morning with my coffee so time is free. The 550 with casefeeder has paid for itself many years ago.
Click to expand...
I know the OP said he's not keen to get into casting but using your numbers (which are pretty accurate) it's obvious that the real savings in hand loading are realized when you cast your own bullets. Smelted wheelweight lead can be had for about $1 pound so that's about $18 for 1000 124 gr. 9mm bullets or $28 for 1000 200 gr. 45 bullets which means 2-3 cents a bullet. That drops the price of 9mm down to around 6 cents a round or $3 a box (cheaper than 22s). 45s run about 8 cents each or $4 a box. Obviously the moulds have to be purchased but at these prices once you've cast 1000 bullets the mould is paid for and after that it's essentially free. If you're lucky enough to be able to score free wheelweights or range lead things get ridiculously cheaper.

Of course rifle rounds with jacketed bullets are another ball game but I shoot at least 10x as many handgun rounds as rifle rounds so what I save on handgun shooting compensates for the extra cost of reloading with jacketed rifle bullets.
 
Last edited:
bigedp51 said:
You reload to make higher quality ammunition and for enjoyment of making better ammo than factory. If you worry about cost and your time and do not enjoy reloading then just buy your ammo.
Click to expand...

A little obnoxious of you to inform the poster of his own reasons for doing the things he does, isn't it? I have reloaded tens of thousands of rounds over the last 25 years, and I assure you the vast majority have been loaded for reasons of economy, followed by pride in self-sufficiency. My ammo is good quality, but I do not suppose to brag it is better than good-quality factory ammo (which is excellent), and I care not-at-all about exceeding factory accuracy (accuracy being the most overrated thing in all of gun-dom, despite all those who worship at its altar).

Point is we all have our reasons, those reasons vary, and you have no right to pre-suppose what they may be.
 
I've found that I don't save any money from reloading. It's a fact!

Yup! It's still costing me the same as buying factory ammo but here's the kicker. I'm getting to shoot more than twice the number of rounds as I did when shooting factory ammo which translate into me being a better shot due to all the additional trigger time I'm getting. Plus, I know for a fact that the rounds I load for my rifles are definitely more accurate than factory rounds because of all the fine tuning I've done to find a great load. And last but not least, reloading is quite enjoyable, getting to shoot more is a whole lot of fun, and there's a certain satisfaction one gets when you shoot a game animal with ammo you've done up yourself! Kind of like catching fish on flies you've tied yourself.
 
I have learned a lot here thank you!. I am going to hold off with buying equipment at this point. I was looking at a single stage press Lee set but I think I would be better off saving and investing in a quality unit in the future. I will have to try and sit in with someone at the range at some point to observe the process as I am somewhat of a visual learner. My main aim would be to achieve cost savings. So far it looks like those savings may be negligible per my error/learning curve.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom