View Full Version : At what point does reloading start saving money?
Mods - sorry, I put this in the wrong area. Please move when you have time.
A while back my wife bought me a single stage reloading press (one of the RCBS kits). I started researching this weekend what it would take to start reloading and I'm starting to realize I'd have to reload a ton to save any money. I only seem to be saving 3 - 5 cents a round reloading vs buying factory made ammo. And I can only get this savings buying enough components (bulk fmj bullets, primers, powder) to reload 5000 rounds at a time. That's quite an up front investment considering I also have to buy dies. Then there's the cost of my time. Prepping 5k of used brass is going to take a lot of time, especially for a beginner like me. If I add in the savings needed to recoup equipment costs, reloading seems to be a losing game.
So am I missing something? I keep reading claims on the inter-tubes of people reloading for half the price of factory made ammo. How does one to get to that level? I am sourcing my supplies from midway. Are other places significantly cheaper?
For common calibers you're spot on. Once you get to stuff that costs morethe margins get much better. It's less of a savings per round as it is a percentage of the costs. 9mm reman is cheap it's hard to compete. But a 308 you can save 1$ per on match grade stuff or subsonic.
I started reloading to make sure that I have ammunition to shoot. Cost was not a major factor as shooting more, no matter whether it is reloads or factory costs money.
Eventually I began to enjoy the reloading process. Reloading itself has become almost as much of a hobby as shooting for me.
It is a personal thing. The more money you invest, the more time you will save. The more time you invest, the more money you will save. Either way, it is like any hobby; It costs money.
If you don't like it, you won't do it.
I assume you are talking about bulk pistol ammo? My reloads cost about 0.12 per round for 9mm today. So, maybe I save $80/K or so...but when 9mm was $400/case, I was saving more. The savings is about the same for .38spl, .40S&W and .45ACP. When you go to rifle, the savings are much better. My .308 reloads are in the range of 0.30/round, so I am saving more than $250/K. They are also better for handgun calibers that are not as common, like .41Mag and 10mm. On average, over time, yes, maybe 1/2 the price of factory is right for a guy who shoots a few thousand a year. But you also get a better load and you get to shoot more.
When I shoot major matches, I will walk past guns and optics to pick up rifle bullets. I have gotten 5K of bullets off prize tables so far this year, most of those rifle bullets from Sierra and Hornady. I also will end up with a bucket of range brass or two each year from working matches. I am sure I pick up a bucket full from guys who leave their brass on the range as well. It takes some effort, and for the vast majority of people who shoot a little here and there, probably not worth the cost. But if you love to shoot, it is the one thing that lets you shoot a LOT more for the same budget.
For me, I dont reload for the common plinking rounds. Just shoot cheap steel case or whatever. Now, for my bolt gun, I'm saving 50 cents or so a round (in .223). 33 cents using brass out of the yard, compared to 80 cents a round for loaded ammo with an equivalent projectile.
Great-Kazoo
09-05-2016, 18:20
Mods - sorry, I put this in the wrong area. Please move when you have time.
A while back my wife bought me a single stage reloading press (one of the RCBS kits). I started researching this weekend what it would take to start reloading and I'm starting to realize I'd have to reload a ton to save any money. I only seem to be saving 3 - 5 cents a round reloading vs buying factory made ammo. And I can only get this savings buying enough components (bulk fmj bullets, primers, powder) to reload 5000 rounds at a time. That's quite an up front investment considering I also have to buy dies. Then there's the cost of my time. Prepping 5k of used brass is going to take a lot of time, especially for a beginner like me. If I add in the savings needed to recoup equipment costs, reloading seems to be a losing game.
So am I missing something? I keep reading claims on the inter-tubes of people reloading for half the price of factory made ammo. How does one to get to that level? I am sourcing my supplies from midway. Are other places significantly cheaper?
Unless you shoot a lot, the investment to get up and running will probably not pay off.
Reloading for 1/2 price ?? Lots of saved brass, BULK BUYING. Don't look at it as a $30 hazmat fee, look at it as an investment. Buy 3-4 kegs of powder, 10K primers per order. OR buy more IF you have committed people willing to split an order.
MIDWAY, IMO Forget midway, for me anyway. They're the last place i'd buy from, that's my choice.
The second (not actually a mistake) more of a misconception is..... Accuracy.. Any out of box ammo will give you good results. Getting the best results, be it rifle or hand gun. That's where reloading shines.. not to mention being able to pull the handle when everyone else is waiting on back ordered factory ammo. I have 308 loads performing better than factory with a lower investment by the time i'm done. PLUS i get to reuse my brass.
Brass.......... Once you shoot factory, you start collecting. Brass is a decent chunk of $$ to get started.
I buy from NEreloading, graffs, powder valley, rocky mountain bullet, xtreme, and other places that either have in stock. Or allow back orders.
Where reloading really shines is being able to do everything at home, not having to outsource . I have a moderate investment allowing me to work at my own pace. Being retired really helps [LOL]
At this point in time it's considerably cheaper to buy, in bulk, while slowly buying components. If you feel it's not worth it. Sell what you have and , again, Buy in Bulk.
I've only reloaded pistol so far, and even though I'm not even what you could call a frequent, or heavy reloader, I've been able to stock up more ammo for matches or shooting than when I was buying it.
Purchases of primers, powder, projectiles, here and there build up over the years until one day you feel like you have enough to "stock up" if you choose.
Also, five years from now, you won't even remember what the up front cost even was, let alone how you felt about if it was worth it or not when you made the decision to jump into reloading. You might have felt that paying $550 for a brand new pistol was expensive at the time, but if you shoot regularly, you've probably put $1,000 a year of ammo through that same gun. Knowing that you can walk to the garage and make some ammo is a great feeling, especially if you take the time to stay ahead of your brass prep and have stuff ready to load.
I was pricing 9mm and .223, the most common rounds I shoot. So it seems for plinking ammo, those rounds aren't the most cost effective to reload. I can see where the saving can be had on reloading higher quality/match grade ammo or more expensive calibers. I'll still reload some just for the satisfaction of knowing how to do it. I've just come to realize it's not going to save me any money. It'll actually cost me more as I tool up. Thanks for the info guys.
The common theme is that like anything you do yourself, i.e. cooking, construction, carwashes, etc, you won't save money (or if you do you'll pay in time) but you'll get a better result for the same price. For 9mm, I switched to shooting 124gr, and since I never even see that on shelves, I don't get the opportunity to see if it's cost effective or not.
I never even factored cost into the equation when I started. I did it because I wanted too and because it was one more factor in the equation that I had control over.
When I started I already had buckets full of brass. Mostly stuff I picked up that others left behind. I never factor the cost of tooling into the equation. That's an investment and I don't count it as part of the cost of the actual ammunition. So most of what I started loading cost me the price of bullets, powder, and primers.
As others have said the more typical loads may not be "worth it" from a strictly money stand point. However if you can find some factory seconds, left over brass, 20 percent off deals on primers such as cabelas just had, it can add up quick. You rarely find actual ammo in crazy deals like that. However as you get into 308 or even heavy grain 223 you can save boat loads of money. Plus it's kinda fun. With a progressive press the up front cost is more but holy cow can you churn out rounds.
The only reason I reload is for precision ammo. You can load better than factory.
Never got into reloading to save money. I wanted to make better ammo or have ammo that wasn't easily found on the shelves. In a few months people will be complaining about not finding any factory ammo or the prices are too high. When you are set up reload, that isn't s concern. If you truly love shooting, I think that reloading is just another facet of that.
DenverGP
09-05-2016, 20:58
My reloaded ammo is cheaper than any factory ammo, even for common calibers like 9mm. My finished cost per round for 9mm is under 13 cents per round, for 45acp i'm under 17 cents per round. That doesn't include the cost of the reloading equipment, or my time. But I can reload for that price without having to buy huge quantities of anything... I buy powder by the pound when I can find it in stock, I buy primers 1 box of 1000 at a time. Bullets I mail order from Xtreme or RMR, usually 500 or 1000 at a time. And I use brass I pick up from the range whenever I go shooting. When I started reloading, reloading supplies were very hard to find. I was paying $35+ per pound of pistol powder. Today I picked up CFE Pistol for $23/lb and Titegroup for $19/lb at cabellas. When powder is harder to find in stores (about a year back it was), then I'll go mail order, buying up at least 8 lbs of powder plus some primers to offset the hazmat charge.
So there is some savings, I don't really reload to save money. I started reloading after the ammo crunch a few years back, where it was hard to find common ammo in stock anywhere. I know that when the next ammo crunch hits, I'll be able to keep shooting just a much.
Another benefit is that for some reason, the wife doesn't seem to protest reloading supply purchases the same way she does ammo purchases. If I ordered 1000 rounds of ammo, she'd give me crap asking why I needed to order another 1000 when I've got 5000 sitting in the closet. But I purchased enough bullets, powder and primers to load 3000 rounds, and she didn't care. The purchases were spread out (bullets a couple weeks ago, primers last week, powder this week) and apparently they flew under the radar.
And as a few mentioned, with reloading I can adjust my ammo to better suit my needs... I have some 9mm stuff that I've loaded pretty light for beginners. I reload some 9mm using 124gr bullets with a higher charge that very closely matches the feel of my self defense ammo. I also chose a flat-point for my 9mm 124gr bullet, which makes a bigger / easier to see hole in paper/cardboard targets. I have cheap plinking 223 rounds that are fairly soft shooting, and I have some that I reload with a higher charge using really nice gold dot .223 bullets I got cheap.
Grant H.
09-06-2016, 09:36
As has been said, reloading to save money can be done, but it's not the primary reason that attracted many of us.
I go into it for a variety of reasons:
1. Ammo availability
- Makes it easy to keep shooting, even when there are shortages, when you have your own source/stockpile of components.
2. Ammo Quality
- Even just mass producing 9mm pistol rounds gives me control of what I am shooting.
- Being able to control my rifle rounds has been a huge benefit.
3. Some calibers do make saving money a primary reason...
- .50BMG, .338LM, .300WM, and .308Win are all easy to save money on, especially when you are loading for precision guns.
- My .338LM load costs me $1.37/rd to reload (including amortizing the hazmat fees and shipping cost across the components). A similar quality, but not tailored round, would cost anywhere from $6-7/rd. Considering that my logbook shows I have shot 875 rds of .338LM this year, I have saved $4051.25 this year alone.
The fist time you shoot a deer with Ammo you made yourself.
sellersm
09-06-2016, 11:33
I started reloading to shoot more for the same or less $$$. I couldn't afford factory ammo, and wasn't going to use steel case "plinking" ammo to teach my family how to shoot. But that's just me, and it's worked really well these last bunch of years... Don't need a huge investment up front to reload, technically you can start with a simple setup and then grow from there.
For components, buying bulk is a MUST! There are some great places online to get bulk components at great prices, and some of the ammo I make with them far surpass factory ammo!
It's like anything in life, people get involved for their own reasons. Like clothes, mine don't fit you, so my reasons may not apply to you... Do what you'd like to do, but once you start, I'm pretty sure you'll be pleased with the results! My 9mm ammo is the most accurate I, and others, have ever fired, in many different handguns, and it costs me very little to produce! And it's not even FMJ bullets! (Rocky Mountain Reloading Hardcore Match plated bullets are what I use)
I started reloading to make sure that I have ammunition to shoot. Cost was not a major factor as shooting more, no matter whether it is reloads or factory costs money.
Eventually I began to enjoy the reloading process. Reloading itself has become almost as much of a hobby as shooting for me.
It is a personal thing. The more money you invest, the more time you will save. The more time you invest, the more money you will save. Either way, it is like any hobby; It costs money.
If you don't like it, you won't do it.
This x1000! It's more of an extension of shooting, another aspect of the hobby. Get into it just "to save money" and you won't be happy. Jump in with both feet and you'll find it can be a bottomless pool, but it's still fun to swim in it. I've got ammo stockpiled that I'll never get around to shooting in my lifetime, yet I still gather brass and make more.
Then there's bullet casting.....
Then.....there's making your own jacketed bullets from spent brass or copper tubing. But that's just TOO damned expensive for anyone but the most anal with deep pockets to consider. I've got samples guys have sent me, and they're very cool, but you'd have to make MANY THOUSANDS just to pay for the tooling. You can make .223 FMJ's out of spent .22lr brass, but for what it would cost to get started you could probably buy 10,000 - 20,000 Hornady 55gr. FMJ's. Not to mention the time involved to make each and every single bullet. And then the jacket is so thin they can blow apart if pushed too fast.
9mm brass makes .40 bullets, .40 brass makes .45 bullets. Cool to look at, but not practical IMO.
Circuits
09-06-2016, 14:08
If you don't reload a lot, you'll never recoup the upfront cost. If you do reload a lot, you'll never save any money, you'll just shoot more for the amount of money you spend.
DenverGP
09-06-2016, 16:14
If you don't reload a lot, you'll never recoup the upfront cost. If you do reload a lot, you'll never save any money, you'll just shoot more for the amount of money you spend.
I've got a relatively low volume Lee Turret press... Total spent on the press equipment is just under $400 total. In first year I saved more than that after loading approx 3800 rounds of 9mm, and 1050 rounds of 45, assuming the current 20 cents per round for 9mm and 30 cents per round for 45ACP.
And it's really even more savings, since the common ammo price was higher than that (about 30 cents per round for 9 and 40 cents per round for 45) for at least the first 6 months I was reloading.
Now on the second point of that statement, yes, I probably shot more than I would have if I wasn't reloading.
I should throw in so you don't get discouraged, reloading at first can be frustrating. Getting familiar with the press, setting everything up, getting into a routine and rythmn, it all takes a while but is worth it.
I will also add, if you don't enjoy the process, you shouldn't do it.
kpp80202
09-09-2016, 09:04
I can echo a lot of the comments here, but will just add that I tend to pick up oddball, obsolete calibers from time to time and need to reload to keep them fed. Also, sometimes modern ammo isn't the best for older guns. For example, I have a .303 Enfield rifle that has an oversized bore that needs custom ammo to shoot well. With reloading, I can shoot that rifle very cheaply (and accurately).
When I first started loading I bought a Thompson Contender. Mostly just to load weird calibers. 30 Herrett, 7mm TCU, 22 K Hornet, 300 Whisper (way before the Blackout), etc.
RonMexico
09-10-2016, 07:28
If you don't reload a lot, you'll never recoup the upfront cost. If you do reload a lot, you'll never save any money, you'll just shoot more for the amount of money you spend.
very accurate statement. Once you reload a lot, you start trying new bullets/load data. Its not cost saving if you value your time but I will echo what others have said, during the ammo shortage a couple years back, it was good to know I had the components. During the shortage I was still able to shoot and didn't have to pay the inflated prices, which saved me roughly 1k.
Just to be clear, I am not currently reloading bc ammo is too cheap but I do save all my brass and process it for a rainy day.
Time had been mentioned already.
But you will need a fair amount of free time once you start loading your own.
Between my job and family commitments and other hobbies I don't have much free time to shoot as much as I'd like to, much less reload. For that reason it's just more convenient for me to buy most of my ammunition right now than make it.
Most of these guys have already said it but I'll say it again. I don't reload .223 to save money, I do it so I have the exact load that my rifle loves every time I shoot. However my hunting calibers like .30-378 Weatherby and .300 Weatherby I reload for both accuracy and to save money. A factory box of .30-378 cost was $110.00 for 20 rounds. I can reload that same 20 rounds for about $30.00. So cost is a big factor there. And I enjoy the process of building custom loads and knowing that my loads have taken game all over colorado, New Mexico, Wyoming, and Alaska.
Zombie Steve
09-13-2016, 11:23
Friends don't let friends shoot factory.
ChiefBDT
09-13-2016, 21:03
I'll echo what many have already said. Reloading is just about as much of a hobby as shooting. I've been reloading for over 40 years now (man that makes me sound old), and now that I'm retired I have the time to load more, not just in the winter when nothing is on tv. I purchased a Dillon 550 when they first came out and still use it today. Mike Dillon told me mine was the 23rd. One off the line. It still works as well today as the day I got it. As far as saving money on the cost of ammo. The day may come real soon when your reloading equipment will be invaluable, because you can make ammo when others can't. I'm just now teaching my grandson (18) all the things involved in reloading and load development.
Hang in there, it'll pay off. Learn as much as you can from a lot of the guys here and on other forums so that someday you can pass this skill set down to your grandson. You may be telling him stories of when you could actually buy ammo in stores. ��
Stay safe!
Great-Kazoo
09-13-2016, 22:57
You may be telling him stories of when you could actually buy ammo in stores. ��
Legally..
Not_A_Llama
09-26-2016, 11:15
I'm occupationally-inclined to answer with a spreadsheet; I put one together a couple years ago for 9mm: http://subpar.info/RELOADING_COSTS.xlsx
Some of the prices need updating (powder and primers lol), but a quick whack at it with prices from the interweb indicates payoff around the 4-10k rounds level. If you're practicing for competition, that comes pretty quickly.
The biggest problem with your economics is using FMJ bullets; use of a polymer coated bullet will reduce your per-round cost to about $0.12, even with 147gr
Recently we looked at LE/Mil cost for some ammo which we had intended to load clones of.
Turns out it is cheaper to buy at LE/Mil pricing and then resell the brass than load our own clones.
For bolt gun/larger caliber we shall continue to load, but it doesn't really make sense for us when one figures time involved for brass prep, etc. as far as 9mm or 5.56. Keep in mind, this is single-stage press. I'm sure folks with progressives just making blaster ammo can do pretty good, but we run the same ammo in our SPRs as we do carbines for ease of ammo commonality.
Great-Kazoo
09-26-2016, 12:42
Recently we looked at LE/Mil cost for some ammo which we had intended to load clones of.
Turns out it is cheaper to buy at LE/Mil pricing and then resell the brass than load our own clones.
For bolt gun/larger caliber we shall continue to load, but it doesn't really make sense for us when one figures time involved for brass prep, etc. as far as 9mm or 5.56. Keep in mind, this is single-stage press. I'm sure folks with progressives just making blaster ammo can do pretty good, but we run the same ammo in our SPRs as we do carbines for ease of ammo commonality.
It also depends when and where one buys components. To date the only caliber that will cost me money is 6.5 creedmoor. Even then i'll still produce performing ammo for an average $0.30 - .50 per less. Once i build up bullets i'm hoping to lower that savings.
Reloading isn't for everyone. IF i wanted to start with today's market, i'd probably stick with factory. There's no way anyone can reload 1K of 55gr FMJ for less than factory.
Gravy Sandwich
10-18-2016, 22:14
I loathe reloading. It's tedious, but the economies are a significant motivator when I can load match grade 147g 9mm and 180g 40 for 40% to 50% less than the cheapest wwb or federal from walmart. Of course, it probably wouldn't be worth my time if I didn't shoot over 1k rounds a month. The margins are too tight for those who only dabble in shooting.
Did I mention I despise reloading? Hate it so much I got a Dillon 650, not because it's the gold standard, but because it's fast enough that I can crank out my entire monthly supply in less than two hours of sheer boredom.
Source components from places like Powder Valley and Bayou, and follow Gunbot.net like a stock trader. The savings are huge. Get the right machine for your discipline, and factor the machine cost not as a first year return, but as a lifelong investment. The numbers work, but the returns are better at higher volumes.
Powered by vBulletin® Version 4.2.3 Copyright © 2025 vBulletin Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.