Why is reloading cost-effective?

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Rich Miranda

New member
I've been wondering about this for a while.

How is that reloading your own ammo saves money? When you consider the massive advantage ammo-makers have in terms of buying in huge quantities, fast machinery, etc., shouldn't factory ammo be cheaper than doing it yourself?

What is it that I'm missing?
 
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freakshow10mm

Moderator
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You save on all those when you roll your own. I load ammo for a living.
 
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spacecoast

New member
He also forgot you are re-useing the brass cases. Brass can be reloaded many times.
Click to expand...

Just the brass alone can cost 10-30 cents a round, depending on if new or used. The ammo makers don't pay that much for it but it still costs.
 
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NCMountain

New member
All good points.........

Even with all the cost associated with a business of reloading and if they could even get a single finished round down to lets say .20 cents (which it may be cheaper for all I know)....................they would still charge up to a $1 per round I would say for profit margin.

And as long as we pay that price they will keep pumping out the rounds.

I can't say I blame them for this. I could only imagine the liability insurance they carry for lawsuits and like one poster stated......those bastard lawyers that complicate everything on board as well.
 
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jtc2162

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He forgot,
Profit margin.
Retail mark up.
Not charging yourself for your labour.
Click to expand...

Add transportation from factory to distributor, distributor to retailer.
 
K

Ksmoker

New member
reloads

It's worth something to me to occupy some time, this time of year.
I have motorcycles to, reloading is way cheaper than the bikes. Besides that I'm only figuring on being here on this piece of dirt once so I'm having a little fun along the way.
 
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jiw275

New member
Saving money by reloading

"I've been wondering about this for a while.

How is that reloading your own ammo saves money? When you consider the massive advantage ammo-makers have in terms of buying in huge quantities, fast machinery, etc., shouldn't factory ammo be cheaper than doing it yourself?

What is it that I'm missing?"

Reoading doesn't save money. This is due to increased shooting.

:D

Mike
 
C

Christchild

New member
I 2nd WingMan. I got into handloading for quality and tailoring of loads, mostly. The cost-per-round savings is a bonus/a little extra (lagniappe), and someone like me who greatly favors premium bullets can use those "super-premiums" at a price that a non-handloader would pay for "basic" (non-premium) factory ammo, and have that ammunition tailored to the firearm.

Handloading, like any other "endeavor", costs a few dollars to get started, but with a clear head and DILIGENCE, Handloading is all positives.
 
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jaguarxk120

New member
Outside of the cost saving, there is the fact you can tailor the load to what your shooting at. Paper targets don't need a full house balls to the wall load, your just putting a hole in a piece of paper. In a 38 midrange wad cutters are so much more fun to shoot than using the 22. And you can get over 2500 loads out of a pound of Bullseye powder using the classic load of 2.7 grains.

Cast bullets in a rifle are the same using cast lead bullets, a lot of shooting for greatly reduced costs.
 
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ammo.crafter

New member
reloading

A great hobby.

When my kids were very young it was easy to load down 12 gauage loads for them to ENJOY the shooting experience.

I started my wife with powder puff 45's and she simply lives full house loads now. If she shot a full house load at first, the chances of her wanting to continue shooting would have been doubtful.
 
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RetiredMajor

New member
I'm pretty new to reloading....but I get enormous satisfaction from:

1. The quiet time spent reloading
2. Working with my hands
3. Producing a quality round that meets my requirements
4. The meticulous nature of the work
5. Having ammo available regardless of shortages

And if I save a little money while I do it....great!

Major
 
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wncchester

New member
Ignoring set up costs, I figger reloading my own ammo is about 1.5 cents per round more than buying new stuff.

I try to make that up by loading in larger volumes.
 
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Sez I

New member
Confused

According to my calculations my reloaded ammunition saves me anywhere from 50% to 75% over the cost of the store bought stuff. What are your calculations based on?
 
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okiefarmer

New member
I like wnnchester's math. He thinks like a politician.

Sez 1, not far off of my calcs either. I reload mostly for pistol, and cast almost 95% of that fodder. Lead was all free, picked up in last 20 years. I doubt I am able to shoot it up before I die, but son will. At one point not long ago, there was not that much difference, but still enough to justify doing it. And I do it because I enjoy it too. I loaded up on a boatload of the milsurps when most could be had for 7 to 10 cents a round. X39, X51, 5.56, and '06 all under a dime, most under 8 cents. Keeping it for SHTF. Even the cheap pistol stuff now will still knock your pocket for a loop, makes reloading even more fun, even if I do shoot more. 9, 40, 38, 45 et all are insanely cheap to load with lead. I'm still working on 1.7 cent primers. Gonna have to replace those someday.
 
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Rusty W

New member
From my experiance the more common pistol ammo is a wash. 9mm, 38spl, 40, & 45 you don't really save much if you factor in your tooling & time cost. What I started to do about 3 years ago is casting my own bullets. I shoot them in all my handguns and 4 out of 6 rifles, 30/30, 308, 30-06, & 45/70. When you cast your own and load for the big bores you can save quite a bit over store bought. I haven't bought a factory round in over 10 years.....well I'm take that back, a couple years ago I bought 1000 rds of .308 berdan primed for $160.00.
 
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