Interesting camps out there.
I view my reloading investment as a one time shot, and quit worrying about when I "break even". Everything depreciates and wears out and needs replaced or upgraded.
Buying a car/truck to drive where I need to go, or, following the logic here - rely on public transit, Uber and Lyft? Puts the $1300+ a month in payments, insurance, fuel, and, projected maintenance towards having someone drive me and the rest in my pocket. Yeah....No. I buy a vehicle.
I would not count the time to make said ammo either unless you work in the industry making ammo. I am a mechanic, and when I work on my vehicles, or someone else's on MY TIME, then I factor in the $75 an hour I bill out based on flat rate. Otherwise it's MY TIME to do with as I please, be it reloading, or sitting on the couch watching the babysitter.
Brass is almost another one time buy. Powder, primers and projectiles are the consumables. I am on my 4th loading of 6.5 PRC (400 cases) and 6 or so on 6.5 Grendel (2000 cases). All Hornady brass, and according to projections I should get another 4-5 out of my PRC, and 8 on the Grendel...loading sensible rounds, not HP rounds that are chewing up the case head, and flattening/cratering primers.
IIRC I am around $.50 per to reload my PRC, and $.40 for the Grendels. Cost of supplies only, and that is calculating out the life of the brass @ $.20 per shot starting with factory loaded ammo cost, not the virgin brass that half of it was. Again reloading equipment is no different than a kitchen, house, car, and so on.
Now if Prime offered to "Credit" me back for fired brass and then sell "Factory" loads in Once fired brass at a reduced rate....then we might get somewhere. Or as others have suggested, send the brass back to be loaded and bought back at a significant reduction since the brass no longer costs $1.00 per. Then we just get into the liability standpoint of when the brass has been fired past it's life expectancy from a business standpoint. Gonna be one heck of a liability waiver document made up and signed, and even then there is always a way.
Prime may say "No more than 3 loading's" when the guy running the press at home may say "Hell, I'll push it until I see the case head separation start somewhere around 8 loading's, and if I get a Kaboom, well It's my own damn fault and glad I wore the eye protection that day." But if Prime reloads the ammo, someone is gonna sue the shit out of them for blowing up their $8k rifle&scope and scarring them for life both physically and emotionally because the brass was wore out. Nevermind it was a new barrel and short throat.
Another option for the crowdfund - a shooter buys in at $3k. Said shooter now has a $3k credit with Prime so when the ammo that they want becomes available, they can buy based on that credit as much or as little as they want, and whatever caliber they want. If they put up their $3k and the flavor of the month in the safe was a 6creed, and 4 months later they shift gears and go .375 because shooting less than 800 yards is no fun anymore, they are not stuck with the 6creed they were shooting way back when.
Pre buying 5 cases of 6.5C/G/P and waiting....waiting....waiting...waiting because well, damn, we did not expect to have the pre buy order hit 20k cases of 6.5C, now we have serious supply issues, and time issues since our machining is tied up making the damn 6.5C when the G and P guys are stuck in the background for months, and now have to go out and buy ammo, or load up at home to get them through the season, with their $3k tied up already in ammo that is back ordered due to demand.
We've passed instant gratification and hit the WTF stage at April when the order was placed in January, and told it could be as late as June now due to the demand. Like waiting all year (literally 1 year) for RL26 to show up, and actually find it on MY TIME. Then some dickhead politician manages to get a law passed during the wait and now the 5 cases of ammo I ordered can no longer be shipped to me, and shipping to a FFL is a nightmare of paperwork because they are not an "Authorized Distributor" as stated in the law.
Excess inventory that won't sell, is it cost effective to pull down the loaded ammo, then sell off the powder, primed brass, and Blem projectiles as components?