Am I missing something on the cost of reloading?

[wilderness medic]

Really close to getting into reloading but after pricing out materials I'm not seeing how its that much cheaper. Heres what I found for .308 priced out to make 100 rounds


Sierra Match King bullets $38

Lapua brass $77

CCI primers $37
IMR powder $17

Total cost $168


$1.68/round doesn't seem that much cheaper than buying decent .308 from the store. Now I understand you can reuse your brass, but only a couple times correct?

I wasn't expecting huge savings, but I'm having second thoughts about the time it takes with the cost being only slightly better.

Did I miss something?

[Citadelgrad87]

Really close to getting into reloading but after pricing out materials I'm not seeing how its that much cheaper. Heres what I found for .308 priced out to make 100 rounds


Sierra Match King bullets $38

Lapua brass $77

CCI primers $37
IMR powder $17

Total cost $168


$1.68/round doesn't seem that much cheaper than buying decent .308 from the store. Now I understand you can reuse your brass, but only a couple times correct?

I wasn't expecting huge savings, but I'm having second thoughts about the time it takes with the cost being only slightly better.

Did I miss something?

First, the ammo you turn out will rival good medal match ammo in consistency and accuracy. Use that as a price point.

Second, a pound of powder will load over 150 rounds of 308, so factor that in.

$37 of primers is a thousand.

And in a bolt gun you can easily load 10-20x.

[wilderness medic]

First, the ammo you turn out will rival good medal match ammo in consistency and accuracy. Use that as a price point.

Second, a pound of powder will load over 150 rounds of 308, so factor that in.

$37 of primers is a thousand.

And in a bolt gun you can easily load 10-20x.

Whoops. Missed that digit on the primers, thanks for pointing that out.


I did factor in a pound loading 150, and did some math to reach my number for 100


So I should basically expect to spend almost as much as buying it off the shelf, but come up with a higher quality round. I suppose thats not too bad.

[message2rey]

Really close to getting into reloading but after pricing out materials I'm not seeing how its that much cheaper. Heres what I found for .308 priced out to make 100 rounds





Sierra Match King bullets $38


Lapua brass $77


CCI primers $37

IMR powder $17



Total cost $168





$1.68/round doesn't seem that much cheaper than buying decent .308 from the store. Now I understand you can reuse your brass, but only a couple times correct?



I wasn't expecting huge savings, but I'm having second thoughts about the time it takes with the cost being only slightly better.



Did I miss something?

Reloading takes time and for the most of us is a stress reliever. I don't pay for brass "SAVING HUGE ON THAT ALONE" and majority of us reloaders shop whatever cheapest components we can get. Trust me there out there !!! If you can pay 20 bucks a pound for powder and 20 bucks on 1000 primers or less is a big time score. Yes, I understand the cheapy deals are not fresh grade but you have to know what your doing as to inspection wise. I recommend going to a calguns reloading clinic in your city. Projectiles various as well and can score on seconds or pay the price for premiums. The equipment will cost you a bit but in my opinion is well worth the money. You can barter tons of stuff in the calguns community.

Sent from my SM-J700T using Tapatalk

[wilderness medic]

I just priced out cheap ammo and found I can reload plinking .308 for .58/ round. That alone is enough to make me do it.


I guess I should have looked at the cheapest option before the higher end Lapua and Match King components.

[Widdle]

First, the ammo you turn out will rival good medal match ammo in consistency and accuracy. Use that as a price point.

Second, a pound of powder will load over 150 rounds of 308, so factor that in.

$37 of primers is a thousand.

And in a bolt gun you can easily load 10-20x.

[hermosabeach]

So you are making match Ammo - that’s good

Reloading is not really cost saving for mass produced rounds
9mm- dirt cheap ammo
45 - dirt cheap
223/556/ 308

You can find cheap Ammo


308 Match is harder to find and runs $1.50-$2/ round

When you buy in bulk, the prices drop. Don’t buy a box of 100 bullets, buy 1,000

If you shoot 44 mag, you can reload for a fraction of new Ammo
Same with .38/.357

You can also load up a very very light .38 special load for new shooter


For rifle you can developer a load to squeeze the max accuracy from your gun

[Shab21]

Breakdown of my loading cost per round 6.5 creedmoor

Bullets 150 per 500 = .30 cents
Powder $25 a pound 160 loads per pound= 16 cents a round
Brass 77 cents per piece of brass but I get 20 loads out of 1 case = 4 cents a round
Primers = 2 cents

Total cost 52 cents a round for match grade ammo.

No way you can find Nosler bullet, Laupa Case, H4350 and CCI primer rounds for anywhere near that price.

I don’t bother adding my time since I enjoy reloading

[phdo]

[bohoki]

yea i do not see much benefit to 308 since it is common and available cheap


i too have a hard time finding bullets for less than 20 cents each

its just more buck for the bang than say .223 where i can get bullets for 10 cents and it uses half the powder

it is good to be able to make it though

[JackEllis]

Setting aside the cost of all the equipment he'd need, the OP's per round cost would be around 66 cents as follows:

Brass: 8 cents assuming 10 reloads
Bullet: 38 cents
Primer: 4 cents
Powder: closer to 16 cents (~25/lb) unless you score a really great deal

66 cents isn't bad for match grade ammunition.

[mmlook]

for rifle ammo, dont forget,
after the first fire forming, accuracy and consistency should increase as well

if you tune OAL and charge to your chamber and barrel, with a decent bullet(Berger, Lapua, Nosler, Sierra)

Even the best, most expensive factory match ammo will not compare in terms of accuracy and reliability

[Distinct_Editz]

I reload all my guns sometimes cheaper than Wolf steel cased ammo, and it usually shoots comparable to match grade factory ammo.
For example:
-
45 ACP ($0.20/rd)(Wolf ~ $0.28/rd)(1.25" Group at 10 yards)
9mm ($0.16/rd)(Wolf ~ $0.18/rd)(1.5" Group at 10 yards)
30-06Sprg ($0.55/rd)(Wolf ~ $0.60/rd)(Haven't tested my new Lapua brass yet but 0.87" groups at 100 yards with an old M1903 and Winchester brass)
.50DTC or BMG ($1.50/rd)(Basically half the price of anything else I know of.) And my good ammo, @$2.00/rd shoots 0.85"@100yds
-
*All prices calculated with HazMat, and shipping. *

I buy primers and bullets in increments of 1,000 due to how primers are boxed. Then I get just enough powder to accompany the order. Brass is free for me unless I decide to buy Lapua brass.

For me, I like to reload to save money, and to avoid FFLs. With reloading, everything gets shipped to my door unlike buying loaded ammo in CA. The biggest reason I reload though: it's a lot of fun.

If you want to know what I load I'd be happy to share what components I use. I buy from many different online stores such as Grafs, Natchezss, and especially Brownells. Wait for those weekly discounts. Also, install the Honey browser extension if you want to shop on Natchezss. You'll save a lot of $$$. Hope this helps

[the_tunaman]

Don’t forget to factor in the changes coming 7/1/19... it is going to drive the prices upward a bit, I think, and make getting it more of a PITA.

I was brought to the realization that it isn’t as much a savings factor, but the fact that you will be able to afford to shoot more.

It also makes more sense when you start reloading multiple calibers, especially those less common varieties.

[Distinct_Editz]

Forgive my ignorance but...What's going on then