A nephew asked me about the cost of reloading.
I priced out the cost of reloading 100, .223 Remington, 1X LC brass with H-4895, Sierra #1310 bullets and Rem 7-1/2 primers and it came out to about $63 per 100.
Purchased new, .223 Rem about $100-to-$150 per 100 (before shipping costs) so there is not a huge cost savings and that does not include the labor sunk into preparing the brass for reloading.
The upside for my nephew is that he calls coyotes and his rifle is finicky about bullet weight. The hollow-points were more explosive than he liked and the Sierra #1310 is a weight his rifle shoots well and is reputed to expand less explosively than his current ammo-of-choice.
In my experience you don't save money handloading.
ReplyDeleteYou DO shoot more, however, and you can tailor the loads more closely to your needs.
But you won't save money.
Primers can finally be found here in ETN, 17.95 per 100 small pistol/rifle primers. Nothing exotic available, just the basics.
ReplyDeleteThe biggest reason I don't reload is because I might be away from home hunting and need some ammo and store-bought won't shoot into the same hole.--ken
ReplyDeleteI have never included my time into reloading. I shoot a lot of 45 Colt & 44-40 which factory ammo was expensive over 30 years ago when I started hand loading.
ReplyDeletePlus I am involved in Bullseye competition & hand load for 38 Special & 45 ACP, and you're not going to get anything close from factory to those taylor made loadings.
All that said, I really enjoy hand loading.
100% 9mm - why reload? 44-40! O'Heck yea, the cost savings. Currently learning about reloading .303 British. And of course, if you want to shoot old guns at paper you can do yourself and gun a favor with soft loads.
Delete"9mm - why reload?" Because post 1/1/24, courtesy of our illustrious overlords in Olympia, many vendors will no longer ship loaded ammo to your door in Washington state, you need to have it shipped to an FFL, at least that is the reason given to us when our last three orders were cancelled. However you can get all the components you want shipped to your door.
DeleteAnd yes you can still purchase from a LGS but when the closest one is more than an hour away it was more convenient to order online and watch for the UPS truck.
wes
wtdb
While cost has typically been the argument for/against reloading... I am stockpiling powder and primers (and molds and lead ingots....) because they are available to acquire TODAY at what might be considered relative ease.
DeleteThat may not be true in the not too distant future, by the by.
Now figure the cost of brass by the number of times it can be used.brass . Reload cost should dropa lot. You should get at least 5 reloads or more out of that brass so divide the brass cost by 5 at least.
ReplyDeleteAt my range there are a lot of 223 shooters that just leave their brass behind , so it is free for the taking.
You'll also get many more hundreds of rounds out of a pound of powder.
DeleteBoat Guy
Last 223 i bought from PSA was 53 cents per round shipped. About a month ago.
ReplyDeleteCheckout SGammo, veteran owned, ships free over 150. I get my cases there, he packs them in ammo cans. Pay about $0.51/5.56 green tips.
DeleteIt's worth reloading the larger rifle calibers and 38 special, 44 ,and 45.
ReplyDeleteAbout 10 years ago we got deeply into this argument. When you amortize cost of equipment, the cost of YOUR labor to prep cases, etc. the breakeven point was roughly 5000 rounds of ammo, regardless of caliber.
ReplyDelete5000 rounds is what we call " a good start"
DeleteBG
As a prepper ( Boy scout motto is "Be Prepared") having the equipment, supplies and knowledge is most important.
ReplyDeleteSaving money - meh.
But the way the value of the dollar is falling, you can count on costs going up. Buy it cheap, stack it deep.