I have never reloaded but want to get into it. My understanding is that cost should not be the driving factor (vs Factory). I have been collecting all of my brass for the eventual day that I do reload. Assuming I have all of the gear to reload, what should I be looking at for a cost per round for materials (primer, powder, bullet) if I am reusing brass?
- Thread starter Ringo7978
- Start date
Bullets are anywhere between $0.32-$0.50 per bullet unless you go super expensive with A-tips or custom stuff.
Primers, when in stock, and normally priced, are about $0.03-$0.06 a piece
Powder is gonna be something in the 40-45gr of whatever powder you use, so depends how much you pay for what powder.
If you use H4350, the last keg I paid $190. ($190/(7000gr x 8lb)) * 45gr per bullet gets you $0.15 per round.
So thats between $0.50 and $0.81 per round if you used my prices, and don't include your brass price, and use "normal" components.
Another thing you can do is just look up the prices online of the various components you want to use, and add them up.
Primers, when in stock, and normally priced, are about $0.03-$0.06 a piece
Powder is gonna be something in the 40-45gr of whatever powder you use, so depends how much you pay for what powder.
If you use H4350, the last keg I paid $190. ($190/(7000gr x 8lb)) * 45gr per bullet gets you $0.15 per round.
So thats between $0.50 and $0.81 per round if you used my prices, and don't include your brass price, and use "normal" components.
Another thing you can do is just look up the prices online of the various components you want to use, and add them up.
Awesome, Thanks for the detailed reply. So it would be cheaper still than buying factory. I was under the impression it would come out to be much more.
Not sure where you learned that. The Price per round is almost always going to be lower.... but thats not the only cost associated with reloading. You have your press, dies, all the tools for measuring, brass prep crap, all the other various crap.... typically you're gonna buy in bulk. Eventually you'll need more cases so you'll have to buy cases, etc.
The start up cost is usually $500-$1500 depending on what you get.
Plus, usually when you reload, you're gonna shoot more, shoot more, reload more, cost more....
It's only cheaper when you don't factor in equipment costs, or the cost of your time.
A cheap, bare bones reloading setup, at $500, still adds $.50 a round to cost if you loaded 1000 rounds.
(Awesome, Thanks for the detailed reply. So it would be cheaper still than buying factory. I was under the impression it would come out to be much more.)
Oh it will young Skywalker. It will.
Oh it will young Skywalker. It will.
Also realize as components become scarce, prices go up accordingly.
Another factor is that very often, one will shoot more rounds when reloading since they cost less than factory. The cost per round is less in terms of consumables compared to factory, but shooting more than one might otherwise do raises the cost of the hobby still. . . though shooting more might be seen as helping get to the break even point quicker for the expense of the reloading equipment.
Well, if you’re like me (pray that you’re not) once you throw in the cost of your equipment, your getting to ~ $50-100 per round. The more I load the more that number comes down but building and adding to the mess of equipment is part of the fun.
With equipment costs plus time, you’re not saving anything loading vs factory ammo. The only reasons to load:
No factory ammo for chosen chambering
You want to fine tune your ammo
You enjoy loading.
Any other reason/s besides these and you’re just kidding yourself.
No factory ammo for chosen chambering
You want to fine tune your ammo
You enjoy loading.
Any other reason/s besides these and you’re just kidding yourself.
It took me just over 1200 reload rounds to get to a break even point for my initial basic reloading purchases. But . . . it's that rabbit hole so often referred to where one is purchasing this and that to get better and better results. The cost is really not bad to just do basic reloading. But when you go after "precision" reloading, it's hard to find the bottom of that hole.
Lol. Time is free now because of COVID19
Am I seriously the only person that the cost of my equipment and consumables is less than if I was buying factory ammo?
After loading 2000 rounds of 260 rem I’m well ahead of what I would have paid for factory ammo.
After loading 2000 rounds of 260 rem I’m well ahead of what I would have paid for factory ammo.
True, how true. For the equipment I chose when setting up, I calculated my break even point to recover setup cost for 308 was about 3500 rounds (I lean toward the buy once, cry once crowd) as compared to match grade factory stuff. And yeah, I did shoot a lot more too so I probably haven't saved anything but do have a lot more fun. I load 260 which is about the same as 6.5 Creedmoor for about 57 cents per round which is about a dollar less than match grade Prime ammo.
Well, I have a a bench source annealer, Autotrickler V3 with all Area 419 upgrades , LabRadar with upgrades, 3 different presses and a bunch of measuring tools
The autotrickler is a good way to push that break even point pretty far out.
I’m still rolling with the chargemaster 1500 and it’s been fine for my uses. I do think a Labradar is in my future though.
Reloading is definitely a rabbit hole
I really want to like factory ammo. Everytime I go to the store and pick up tho, I hold it in my hand, think about how much it costs, and put it back down. Then justify doing that by thinking how much higher the SD/ES numbers are.
The reality is, is what someone else just said. I'm probably kidding myself. My numbers probably aren't that low anyway.
The reality is, is what someone else just said. I'm probably kidding myself. My numbers probably aren't that low anyway.
All depends on what your purpose is. If you’re shooting prs matches.......a 50es isn’t going to be the reason you don’t do well. An F class match and you might as well not show up.
Oh yea, absolutely. I shoot occasional bench rest matches with tiny to large targets with point values attached to each. So to be competitive, one must consistently try for the smallest targets. This is where I get on myself about keeping my numbers as low as I can. Don't get me wrong, I have fun shooting the mid sized targets, but it's easy to see ones ammo or reload quality by their score and target hits. It's just not as fun shooting bigger targets after a while.
This was my larger point tho, factory ammo will only take you so far. You have to establish your own compromises with your shooting style.
Primers are 3-5 cents
Powder charge is 20 cents (1 pound H4350 with 168 41.5g powder charges
Bullets are 28-38 cents each
You already saved you brass
Basic bitch reloading setup is about 300-1000 depending on how complicated-basic you wanna be.
If you plan on shooting multiple calibers over a long period of time then rolling your own ammo is worth the cost of admission. It’s also worth it if you live in a state with stupid laws like CA or NY... components can be delivered to your door!
If you’re the occasional shooter, then stick to factory ammunition because the return on your investment is really not worth the time, energy, and possibly frustration.
But beware, it 100% is a rabbit hole! You’ll potentially be throwing hundreds and hundreds of dollars at lowering ES/SDs...
If you’re the occasional shooter, then stick to factory ammunition because the return on your investment is really not worth the time, energy, and possibly frustration.
But beware, it 100% is a rabbit hole! You’ll potentially be throwing hundreds and hundreds of dollars at lowering ES/SDs...
I’ve been saving all brass just in case. If I do sell it, is there a market for S&B brass? It seems everyone wants Hornady, Lapua, etc
There's a market for anything if the price is right lol...
Not everyone on this site buys Lapua, and there are plenty of utilitarian shooters who would be fine with some S&B brass. I actually do not know how good S&B brass is, just speculating
Reloading is a new hobby and hobbies cost money the reloading hobby just fits nicely with the shooting hobby. If you enjoy that type of stuff and are really detail oriented then go for it, if you are doing it simply to save money don't do it. To me it's fun and I enjoy it as much as shooting, the difference is I shoot with a group that have become my good friends, I reload by myself and enjoy the time doing it.
It’s not cheaper because you end up shooting a lot more
The thing that has been left out is most of the equipment holds its value over time and if you stock up on components when times are good you get to shoot your ammo when things get stupid like they are now. Or you can go with what I tell my wife, it’s cheaper than hookers and cocaine.
family slave labor could cut your time cost you could run 24 hr shifts allowing 30 min of rest and a 5 min break a glass of water per work day and crust of bread for a meal and you would be golden pony boy . See the communist have one good idea around the clock workers at your disposal to make you ammo to shoot . It's good to be king .
One warning, collecting brass from multiple lots of ammo may yield results you are not happy with. Unless you are just building blasting ammo, brass is a vital component in reloading.
Reason I am bringing this up, I just went through this crap with a Tikka 243 and Nosler brass collected from 7-8 boxes of factory ammo bought over the coarse of 2 yrs. Rifle kind of quit liking the ammo, so I processed all the brass and loaded some charges with 4 rds each, to chrono and group at 60 yards, OMFG, what a waste of resources.
One thing i did not do was measure case capacity on the brass, and it surfaced right now, 1.25" groups, average of 90fps ES on each charge.
I found some Sierra brand ammo that works.
Similar threads
