Reloader math

[winnre]

I pay $18-$22 for 50 rounds of 45ACP. If I buy a reloading die set, brass, powder, bullets, and all the stuff to go with it, how long until I break even and start saving money? 500 rounds? 5,000 rounds? Anyone?

And is there a math constant for savings across the board, or if you shoot X amount of ammo a year you need to think about reloading, etc?

[G60]

http://www.handloads.com/calc/loadingCosts.asp

[chim-chim7]

Math lies.

Three men go to stay at a motel, and the man at the desk charges them $30.00 for a room. They split the cost ten dollars each. Later the manager tells the desk man that he overcharged the men, that the actual cost should have been $25.00. The manager gives the bellboy $5.00 and tells him to give it to the men.
The bellboy, however, decides to cheat the men and pockets $2.00, giving each of the men only one dollar.

Now each man has paid $9.00 to stay in the room and 3 x $9.00 = $27.00. The bellboy has pocketed $2.00. $27.00 + $2.00 = $29.00 - so where is the missing $1.00?

[erik_26]

Math lies.

Three men go to stay at a motel, and the man at the desk charges them $30.00 for a room. They split the cost ten dollars each. Later the manager tells the desk man that he overcharged the men, that the actual cost should have been $25.00. The manager gives the bellboy $5.00 and tells him to give it to the men.
The bellboy, however, decides to cheat the men and pockets $2.00, giving each of the men only one dollar.

Now each man has paid $9.00 to stay in the room and 3 x $9.00 = $27.00. The bellboy has pocketed $2.00. $27.00 + $2.00 = $29.00 - so where is the missing $1.00?

I took the extra dollar.

[SanPedroShooter]

I dont save any money reloading, not really. But, and its a big one, I will never run out of ammo. No matter how crazy the 0bama rush may be this year. I also get the satisfaction of knowing I understand my firearm about as much a person can. I dont think you can truly say you understand your gun untill you make ammo for it. Its like feeding a kid off TV dinners or home cooked food and watching him grow. The light handloads I make for my Garand is the equivilant of a special geriatric diet for a senior citizen, he cant just eat rare steak everyday.

Next step is casting bullets.

[Snapping Twig]

30 years ago I bought my setup. So long ago that the cost... I can't remember what it was. Since then I've loaded quite a bit.

You really want to lower the cost, learn to cast also.

My cost for ANY bullet from small bore pistol to large bore rifle is in the area of six to 8 cents a round. Not bad but I don't really save either. I use the lower cost to introduce new shooters to the game.

[John Browning]

You will shoot much better ammo. You'll be able to shoot two times the volume at the same price. You won't see your costs go down, you'll just enjoy shooting a lot more for the same price.

[HighLander51]

I pay $18-$22 for 50 rounds of 45ACP. If I buy a reloading die set, brass, powder, bullets, and all the stuff to go with it, how long until I break even and start saving money? 500 rounds? 5,000 rounds? Anyone?

And is there a math constant for savings across the board, or if you shoot X amount of ammo a year you need to think about reloading, etc?

[erik_26]

You will shoot much better ammo. You'll be able to shoot two times the volume at the same price. You won't see your costs go down, you'll just enjoy shooting a lot more for the same price.

^This^

[SanPedroShooter]

^ Right, I ran my 30-06 loads through the calculator. I had to buy a pound of IMR4895, a thousand CCI 200 LR primers, 100 brass remington cases and a 1000 surplus pulled 147g boat tail FMJ's.

The cost is actually higher than factory the first go round, but after I have reloaded the cases four times, its half the cost of factory. If you add in the cost of having to re-stock powder, by the time I have reloaded the cases eight times, which is getting near the limit, I have shot twice as much for the same money.

I will use the same 100 brass cases almost all year, think about that.

[ubet]

Math lies.

Three men go to stay at a motel, and the man at the desk charges them $30.00 for a room. They split the cost ten dollars each. Later the manager tells the desk man that he overcharged the men, that the actual cost should have been $25.00. The manager gives the bellboy $5.00 and tells him to give it to the men.
The bellboy, however, decides to cheat the men and pockets $2.00, giving each of the men only one dollar.

Now each man has paid $9.00 to stay in the room and 3 x $9.00 = $27.00. The bellboy has pocketed $2.00. $27.00 + $2.00 = $29.00 - so where is the missing $1.00?

30=(30-5)+(5-3)+3 You are doing it wrong the men paid 10*3=30 of that 5 to much was charged of that 5 belhop keeps 2 5-2=3 and that is what he returned to the men. It cancels out. You are doing the math wrong though. You are using $9 as the constant, when it isnt $10 or $30 should be. The 9 never enters the equation.

subtracting then adding to get an answer works and doing it backwards works. But using multiplication in lieu of adding is going to lead you to a different answer, especially if done out of order.

[Chief-7700]

I pay $18-$22 for 50 rounds of 45ACP. If I buy a reloading die set, brass, powder, bullets, and all the stuff to go with it, how long until I break even and start saving money? 500 rounds? 5,000 rounds? Anyone?

And is there a math constant for savings across the board, or if you shoot X amount of ammo a year you need to think about reloading, etc?

Buy in bulk:
My last order was
15,000 Winchester Large Pistol Primers
16 Pounds of Winchester-231
10,000 .45ACP 200 grain LSWC Bullets

[sonnyt650]

Actually the men paid $27.00 for a $25.00 room and $2 for the bellhop that never gets tips because of such cheap rooms. It doesn't detract from the argument though that the math as commonly accepted doesn't work out cleanly. I shoot less overall ammo but hit lots more often, while I'm also going shooting more often due to increased enjoyment.

For example with my bolt-action .308 maybe 2 out of 3 hit a 1" paster at 100 yards. The 10" shoot-n-sees are around $1 apiece, while the little 1" pasters are 12x freebies they've added in the leftover spaces of the sheet. Two sheets of freebies later and I'm pretty much done with that rifle for the day.

[AAShooter]

I pay $18-$22 for 50 rounds of 45ACP. If I buy a reloading die set, brass, powder, bullets, and all the stuff to go with it, how long until I break even and start saving money? 500 rounds? 5,000 rounds? Anyone?

And is there a math constant for savings across the board, or if you shoot X amount of ammo a year you need to think about reloading, etc?

Some rough cut math. Buy nice reloader with needed support equipment $ 800 - $1600. Savings per box of 50 ACP, $8.00. Number of boxes required to recover cost 100 to 200 boxes, or 5k - 10k rounds.

Of course assumes the value of your time (and any associated joy/satisfaction) is free.

My advice, if you are just reloading to save money and don't enjoy it . . . don't reload.

[NotEnoughGuns]

With my own cast bullets I can load a box of 50rds of 45ACP for probably 5 bucks.