Explain how reloading saves money..

[medicdude]

After chatting with the guy on the lane next to me the other day I contemplated taking up reloading. However, I added up (on MidwayUSA.com) 1000 ea .40 brass, bullets, primers and some powder, and this is after the initial investment of equipment, and it was almost 500 bucks. Thats 200 bucks more than S&B factory loads, and over double what I paid for Serge's reloads. So when would I start saving money!?

[medicdude]

PS-Thanks.

[thevic]

It's an investment. Your brass is going to get reused an X amount of times (depending on how hot the are). It can last 3-5 reloads or 10+. You have to make make enough for the rounds to start paying off for the equipment. Plus you can make fine tuned loads for accuracy, but tht will cost more money initially because you will play with different powders and die mfg's.

Reloading doesn't savr you money, it allows you to shoot more

[thevic]

Then theres investing money for saved time with progressive press' better powder measures and scales with tricklers.

This hobby will take many quiet hours away.

It is best to start with the basic single press and beam scale to learn the fundamentals. I actually find my lyman beam scale to be just as fast as a regular digi scale.

[medicdude]

thanks guys i dont know why i didnt think about reusing brass. that was the most expensive @ 250/1000.

[mif_slim]

After chatting with the guy on the lane next to me the other day I contemplated taking up reloading. However, I added up (on MidwayUSA.com) 1000 ea .40 brass, bullets, primers and some powder, and this is after the initial investment of equipment, and it was almost 500 bucks. Thats 200 bucks more than S&B factory loads, and over double what I paid for Serge's reloads. So when would I start saving money!?

Well, heres a quick break down:

1000 40sw once-fired brass = about 0.059 per brass
powder 1lbs = 30 bucks, and you can make about 1750 rounds = 0.017 per charge
bullets = 1000pc/120 = about 12 cents per bullet
primer = 3 cents

Total = 0.22 per round the first time around

Second reload will cost .16 cents per round which comes out to 16 bucks per 100 rounds. That is more then half of whats being sold online/local.

Each brass can be loaded almost forever until the primer seats doesnt sit well or cracked neck, but from my experiance I've gotten anywhere from 12-15 reloads before throwing a brass away....so its a lot of saving for me.

When you get into casting it brings that cost down to about 4 cents per load. Which is what I do.

[Turo]

For the most part, you don't save money with reloading, you just are able to shoot more for the same amount. Although, if you buy new cases all the time and most FMJs in 40S&W, you are going to spend more than factory rounds.

A good piece of advice a member here gave me to start me off was, "Don't buy 40S&W brass! They're 25 bucks per hundred and you can get loaded stuff at walmart for $30/hundred. Just save your brass and use those."

Also, I've been looking into the prices for .40, and I've come up with for components only, I could load a thousand rounds for $200 if I use my own fired brass, and get cheap fmj bullets.

PrecisionDelta bullets are $115/1000, Primers are everywhere for 20-25 bucks per thousand, and powder is <=$20 for a pound, which depending on the powder can load approx 1000 rounds.

The loader and equipment are an investment, because they'll probably outlast you and your kids, so those costs can be spread out over all the rounds you ever load.

Hope that helps! I'm right where you are right now, just starting out loading 40S&W.

[sargenv]

And if you load lead bullets, instead of Jacketed, the cost savings is another $.06 or so per round... or $60/1000.

[CSACANNONEER]

You won't save a cent reloading. You will shoot a hell of a lot more and it won't cost you much more but, you'll never "save" a penny. My .45acp, .44mag, .44spl, .357mag, .38spl, .38S&W, 9mm, .25acp, .380 etc. all cost me less than a nickle a round (I cast my own bullets from scrounged up lead and reuse brass). Yep, it costs me about $2.50 to load a 50 round box of almost any handgun cartridge. All that means is that I can go to the range and shoot 250 rounds of .45acp without worrying about the cost. Also, if I ever took my time into account (I don't since both casting and reloading are seperate hobbies), I'd be in the red a lot more than I am now.

[Super Spy]

I guess it depends on what you shoot. I buy shotgun, most pistol, and 223.
I reload full power rifles and 45 Colt, I like old military rifles and frequently ammo is impossible to find locally and expensive anyway you buy it. Reloading means I pay for projectile, primer, and powder so is ends up being 1/3 or less the price of factory ammo and I can buy components locally. I also shoot Cowboy Action shooting and most of the guys doing that reload, it's way cheaper and light loads are faster to shoot. If all you do is go to the range and blast your 9 and your AR then reloading won't make sense. Try and find 7.5 Swiss at your local gun store.

[Saigon1965]

Yep - Yep -

7.65 French long - I see them from 37.00 to 57.00 a box of 50 - Too many obsolete stuff too -

I guess it depends on what you shoot. I buy shotgun, most pistol, and 223.
I reload full power rifles and 45 Colt, I like old military rifles and frequently ammo is impossible to find locally and expensive anyway you buy it. Reloading means I pay for projectile, primer, and powder so is ends up being 1/3 or less the price of factory ammo and I can buy components locally. I also shoot Cowboy Action shooting and most of the guys doing that reload, it's way cheaper and light loads are faster to shoot. If all you do is go to the range and blast your 9 and your AR then reloading won't make sense. Try and find 7.5 Swiss at your local gun store.

[Cowboy T]

Well, here are the results of my cost saving calculations, using standard 50-round boxes. The vast majority of what I shoot is .38 Special, .44 Special, and .45 Colt. I also shoot some .357 Magnum and .44 Magnum, which yield similar numbers.

.38 Special: $16 store-bought price, $3.25 if I make it
.44 Special: $35 store-bought price, $5.00 if I make it
.45 Colt: $30 store-bought price, $5.10 if I make it

I have two progressive presses, one for small primers, and another for large primers. The one for .38/357 paid for itself in about 6 weeks. The one for .44 Spl/Mag and .45 Colt (all large primers) took 2 weeks to break even. After that, everything else is gravy. Because of this cost savings, I can shoot about 1,000 rounds/month without breaking the bank.

The other benefit is ammo availability in case another AB 962-like law comes down the pike.

[CSACANNONEER]

Try and find 7.5 Swiss at your local gun store.

Hey, I still need to get you my recipes for 7.5. Anyway, when I bought my first K31, just a couple years ago, I walked into Fort Courage and told Tim what I needed. A week later, I had a few boxes of 7.5 Swiss waiting for me cheaper than anything I could find online. Another time, I was doing a PPT at Ammo Bros and picked a few boxes right off the shelf. So, it's not as hard as one might think. However, I have never seen 7.5 Nagant at a LGS.

[bumpo628]

You can get a Lee kit for around $100 and get started. Upgrade later as you need to. The tooling will pay for itself in the first 1000 rounds.

I wouldn't buy new brass - there's a lot of range pickup brass out there.

Precision Delta is probably the best place to go for FMJ bullets, as mentioned above.
B-40-165-FMJ, 40 S&W, Bullets, $111.00 / 1000
B-40-180-FMJ, 40 S&W, Bullets, $115.00 / 1000

http://precisiondelta.com/product.php

[toby]

Reloading can and usually does make you a better shooter! and that is priceless.