What's your cost?

SosaSantos

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I have recently entered the world of some long range shooting and would like to possibly enter the reloading world as well. I'm getting acceptable groups with some of the premium off the shelf ammo but would like to dial it in even more if possible with some custom loads. One thing I am wondering is aside from initial equipment costs for setup, what are your costs per round for reloading. Specifically looking for .308/338 lapua and 45/70

Thank you
 
Depends on what you are trying to achieve. Like I'm running some 308 plinking rounds. Using red dot powder, and Berry Bullets 3030 150grn. I haven't did a final tally yet, but when the bullets are only 17cents a piece, primer 7cents, Maybe 30 cents a round since I was given the brass.
 
You are really going to enjoy reloading. I find it very rewarding intellectually and skills-wise. Its one big ongoing experiment and testing lab, shooting the results of your ideas, skills and gear. As you learn the details and get into more high precision reloading methods, components and gear, and gain skills and knowledge, it gets even more fun.

Regarding "costs per round": Initially I too tried to calculate it. But in reality I came to the conclusion that it does not matter. This becomes part of your lifestyle of shooting, and it costs what it costs depending on number of rounds you shoot, and the amount you decide to spend on high quality component's and reloading gear, and of course the number of rifles you shoot with and perhaps future barrel replacements. A chronograph will become essential, especially for long range. Based on your personal household budget and balancing priorities, you will naturally just work it out as time goes by.

I think the universal stereotype of reloading sports shooters shooting centerfire rifles (not including some mil-surp calibers where crates of cheap ammo are available), is that even though it is a fact that a reloaded round costs significantly less than a store-bought factory round, the reloading sports shooter ends up shooting many more rounds per year, and it "costs what it costs", usually more than before you started reloading. :)
 
I see you've caught the virus. There is no cure of course.

This can be an extremely deep hole to go down into. Be prepared for laying out a lot of money to achieve that elusive micro group.

If you're just shooting against yourself, to see how well you can do, it may not be to bad. That's what I do now.

If you decide to compete against other shooters. The trend in the winners circle almost always includes the shooter that spend both lots of time with his/her equipment and is anal about having the best equipment, with right on minimum tolerance chambers, you need to turn the necks for. Small base dies, Match grade barrels, Jewel 2 ounce triggers, NightForce scopes and the list goes on and on, including custom swaged bullets and weighing all of your brass so there is less than a grain of weight difference between the cases.

It's addictive and never really leaves you.

The only reason I started building my own rifles, on my own lathes, milling machines, was to keep the costs down and assure myself the workmanship was done within the parameters I required, without short cuts.

Things like buying a half dozen barrels at a time, threading/chambering all of them and fitting each one to an action, then shooting an initial 10 rounds to check which barrels would shoot best without excessive load development/wear. Setting the best two aside or three if I was lucky, then sell of the losers at a discount.

You just have no idea what and how anal this type of shooting can be.

You're also going to need an arbor press, Wilson reloading dies with interchangeable neck bushings etc.

Don't forget a quality spotting scope, adjustable fore end rest and a rear bag rest, filled with a dense fine silica sand.

Darn, I can still hear that Siren calling.
 
Whenever a post like this comes along every couple of weeks on getting into reloading does any one else hear the beginning of Pink Floyd's song Money? Or us it just me?
 
Whenever a post like this comes along every couple of weeks on getting into reloading does any one else hear the beginning of Pink Floyd's song Money? Or us it just me?

Not just you , went down that rabbit hole in the early 70's with a RCBS jr. single stage press and a lyman scale and a set of 30-06 RCBS dies and it progressed from there. Then I started to cast for my handguns about 1976 or so and never looked back. All I can say it has been fun and still is.
 
First and foremost, thank you all for your input and responses. I figured the outcome of this wouldn't lead to any savings but just more shooting, completely satisfied with that haha. I don't plan on shooting any competitions (I also didn't plan on reloading....) but I do want to continue to chase down just how sub moa can I get, consistently that is.

All of these responses are definitely helpful and appreciated guidance.
 
First and foremost, thank you all for your input and responses. I figured the outcome of this wouldn't lead to any savings but just more shooting, completely satisfied with that haha. I don't plan on shooting any competitions (I also didn't plan on reloading....) but I do want to continue to chase down just how sub moa can I get, consistently that is.

All of these responses are definitely helpful and appreciated guidance.

You don't really learn how to get past a certain level of accuracy, until you start competeing with peers.

There are a lot of off the shelf rifles that shoot sub moa with selected ammunition.

When it comes to winning a match, no matter which venue you're shooting, it's the little things, not just technique that really make the difference.

Shooting for groups is very different from shooting for the X in the center of the 10 ring.

When push comes to shove, it's not about shooting tight groups, which is a skill in itself, but doesn't mean that the shooter is going to be able to put that group into the 10 ring at any range.

Many matches require that you only shoot one bullet into each of five counting targets. That's where the skill of the shooter comes into the game.

You have to have a rifle that will shoot small groups to assure it's accurate enough to compete, then you need to be skillfull enough to place the bullets where they need to be.

None of this comes without lots of practise and another thing to remember, match grade barrels will still easily shoot sub moa groups after they are considered to be worn out for match shooting. Usually around 1200-1500 rounds, which is close to a summer's shooting for most match shooters. Then it's time for a new match grade barrel and hopefully the gunsmith's reamer is on minimum specs with an under spec neck/throat, so that you can tailor your load accordingly as well as your dies.

Gunsmiths that barrel match spec rifles will usually purchase custom size reamers and off the shelf reloading dies will not size the cases down enough to chamber.

Reamers with such tight tolerances can seldom be sharpened and have a very limited life span. Depending on the skill of the smith, 6-10 chambers and a new reamer is needed. This adds to the cost of a build as well as the smith has to charge for the wear after each use.

I've picked up a couple of those reamers, which were considered to be scrap, but with a bit of judicious stoning was able to get another couple of chamberings out of them.

Many match chambers require turning the necks for several reasons, mostly to reduce neck tension so that you can jam the bullet into the leade and set it back in the neck around .005 in. This eliminates the need for crimping and high neck tension. It also keeps things lined up close to perfect.

Very few match shooters or accuracy freaks full length or even partially resize their brass. They only size the turned down necs. It's amazing how long the brass cases last, even lesser quality types.

I've worn out the barrels, for match purposes, with 25 cases, prepped for a specific rifle.
 
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Just a warning, there is nothing cheap about loading for the 338 Lapua...but it will save you money over time vs buying factory ammo, if you shoot a lot.
If you are trying to factor the cost of getting the equipment to set up for reloading, it will take some time before the costs equal out. Buy once, buy right...it will save you money in the long run.
I don't factor that equipment cost into the shooting, as the hobby of reloading has its own benefits that you can't quantify by price alone.
Best of luck and hope you enjoy the new hobby!
 
My cheap 308 load is about $0.70 using a Hornady 155 BTHP Match. That's based on components I bought in bulk in the past, it would probably cost closer to $1 now. Berger 185 Juggernaut load is closer to $1.40. That doesn't include brass, but I keep pressures mild so brass life is very long. Over 10+ reloads even expensive brass doesn't cost much per loading.

338 Lapua and 45/70 are going to cost a lot more to load. Bullets and brass are more expensive for those cartridges. Per round you should be able to save more vs factory ammo with the bigger and/or less common cartridges, though.
 
First and foremost, thank you all for your input and responses. I figured the outcome of this wouldn't lead to any savings but just more shooting, completely satisfied with that haha. I don't plan on shooting any competitions (I also didn't plan on reloading....) but I do want to continue to chase down just how sub moa can I get, consistently that is.

All of these responses are definitely helpful and appreciated guidance.
Using current prices for 338 Lapua.
$49/lb H1000
$75 50 285gr Hornady ELD-M
$68 1,0000 FGMM215
$440 110 Factory Lapua 250gr Scenars.

I’ve only shot 20 of the ELD-M and they are already more accurate than the factory 250gr Lapua Scenars.

If I reload the brass 10 times my reloading cost per round drops to $2.60 per round.
I anneal my brass after every 2nd loading.
 
I remember when I started reloading I knew/calculated what my cost per round was. Interesting times. It's not that I don't know anymore, but it's more of a curiosity than a driving metric today.
At the end of the day, I assume that cost is but one of several factors that make up your decision to start reloading. Once I got started I just honestly began to enjoy it. If the cost of reloading went up to the cost of factory ammo, would I stop reloading? No. Looking at Jet's example above makes that seem like a silly answer, but I would honestly keep reloading.
 
When I was loading for 50 bmg my cost to reload a factory spec fmj round was $2.04, a 750 grain hardcast powder coated projectile 1800 ft/sec "plinking" round was 97 cents, This was compared to around $6-7 for a commercial round. When your saving $5 a pop it doesn't take long to recoup your up front capital cost equipment expenditures. In the end I look at reloading expenses as the cost to assure ammo availability more than savings. I have equipment such as shot makers that will never pay for themselves but I have been through too many ammo droughts to appreciate that I can't let that ever effect me again.
 
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The overall cost isn't really a main deciding factor for me, it was more of a curiosity to see all angles. I had said I'm not interested in competitions mainly because I have a group of guys who I shoot with and we run some pretty tricky/advanced competitive style shooting amongst ourselves. Now my only issue is finding the right reloading materials for myself, so off to youtube to watch reviews lol.

Once again thank you all for your input, it's much appreciated.
 
45-70
I was loading my own Lee 405gr cast bullets over unique pistol powder for pennies. 1300-1400fps. Was the most fun I’ve ever had with a rifle.
You could use full house loads and nicer bullets if you were hunting or something, but it’s punishing as a range toy.
.338 Lapua
I’m paying around $1.00 a bullet for new and $.65-$.75 cents off the ee. Right around 70 loads per pound of powder @$50-$60 a pound.
 
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