Is Limited for Reloaders?

[Stafford]

Just wondering if most shooters in USPSA Limited are reloaders? I’ve often heard that if you shoot .40, you should reload, but I’m not sure why?

 

Maybe because it’s considerably cheaper than buying factory? Or if you’re competing with .40, you have the opportunity to dial in your load?

[RJH]

Really every division is for reloaders.  But any division that has major is even more so.  You want to make sure that your load makes major, cause sometimes factory don't, while at the same time you probably don't want to be shooting 175PF either.  Also the cost savings will be greater in 40/38 super/357 sig/45 too

[Rnlinebacker]

Just wondering if most shooters in USPSA Limited are reloaders? I’ve often heard that if you shoot .40, you should reload, but I’m not sure why?
 
Maybe because it’s considerably cheaper than buying factory? Or if you’re competing with .40, you have the opportunity to dial in your load?

I compete in limited primarily and making major reliably at an affordable cost is why I got in to reloading. There are a handful of very good factory suppliers but the cost puts it out of my budget when you factor practice.

My ammo makes major comfortably, shoots relatively softly, and is very accurate. I also enjoy reloading as it's own hobby now as well. I do reload multiple calibers for other guns some of which I use in USPSA but sparingly.

If you're shooting major pf or plan to practice a lot then reloading is the way to go. The money spent on new ammo can double or triple your output.

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[broadus123]

1 hour ago, Stafford said:

Just wondering if most shooters in USPSA Limited are reloaders? I’ve often heard that if you shoot .40, you should reload, but I’m not sure why?

 

Maybe because it’s considerably cheaper than buying factory? Or if you’re competing with .40, you have the opportunity to dial in your load?

Both reasons are exactly why we reload.

[Stafford]

OK, if you don’t want to reload, but want to compete affordably, then 9mm minor with factory ammo is the way to go?

[Joe4d]

currently bulk 9mm is cheap, I am buying factory and not wasting my primers. Cant say it will stay that way, could change tomorrow.
Depends on what division you want to compete in and how you define competitive.
You wont be competitive in limited or open shooting 9mm minor.
If you want the lowest price factory ammo, you could go production, carry optic or PCC.

[EEH]

52 minutes ago, Stafford said:

OK, if you don’t want to reload, but want to compete affordably, then 9mm minor with factory ammo is the way to go?

Even then 147 gr.bullets work better in 9 minor for recoil and gun control.

[Hi-Power Jack]

When I got into this game, three decades ago, I started out shooting

9mm Minor, Limited because I had a P35 with 15 round mags and it was 9mm.

 

I bought 9mm factory ammo (the cheapest I could find) and had a blast for

few years.  

 

I'd still be doing that if I wanted to save some $$$, but got into OPEN and

I reload 9mm Major.

 

If you're just getting started, there is nothing wrong with shooting factory

9mm in Limited - you'll have fun, learn a lot and see where you want to

take it for the next year.      

[Jaycwebb]

1 hour ago, Joe4d said:

currently bulk 9mm is cheap, I am buying factory and not wasting my primers. Cant say it will stay that way, could change tomorrow.
Depends on what division you want to compete in and how you define competitive.
You wont be competitive in limited or open shooting 9mm minor.
If you want the lowest price factory ammo, you could go production, carry optic or PCC.

 

9mm bulk is so cheap I'm not sure how worth it is to load 9 minor even for divisions where that is the correct caliber. $190 a case shipped is hard to beat

[EEH]

That’s $9.50 per box of 50 You can load them at about 6 bucks, if you pick up free brass .

[aandabooks]

53 minutes ago, Jaycwebb said:

 

9mm bulk is so cheap I'm not sure how worth it is to load 9 minor even for divisions where that is the correct caliber. $190 a case shipped is hard to beat

I load 9mm minor with a 147gr bullet for $11.00 per 100.  If I don't feel like picking up brass at a match, I have a source for indoor range pickup and cleaned for $20 per k.  That moves me up to $13 per 100.  Still a lot cheaper than $190 per k and I am making better ammo with a heavier bullet and lighter recoil.  The stuff you can get for $190 per k is likely 115gr stuff.

[TonytheTiger]

5 hours ago, Jaycwebb said:

 

9mm bulk is so cheap I'm not sure how worth it is to load 9 minor even for divisions where that is the correct caliber. $190 a case shipped is hard to beat

$108 per 1k here. Its worth it to me.

[Joe4d]

we all value our time at different levels,, currently my time is worth more than I save loading 9mm, got plenty of bulk 124's that shoot fine.
Far as the OP,,, yeh for major,,, bigger price jump,, so its worth my time to reload.

[Jaycwebb]

I load 9mm at 12.8 pe round even if I don't pick up the brass. Its cheaper for sure to reload. But the ability to save the time and push the ammo to my house with button has me doing it more often than not. 

The  cost variance is far less than with 45 or 38sc, where reloading is your only real option.

[Stafford]

46 minutes ago, Jaycwebb said:

I load 9mm at 12.8 pe round even if I don't pick up the brass. Its cheaper for sure to reload. But the ability to save the time and push the ammo to my house with button has me doing it more often than not. 

The  cost variance is far less than with 45 or 38sc, where reloading is your only real option.

 

FYI, I don’t even understand 12.8 per round. When discussing with newbies, you have to explain.

[Joe4d]

I am gonna guess 12.8 cents a round,,, AKA  $128 per thousands rounds of ammo.
Right now I can load 1000 rounds in about 6-8 hours when u add in set up , primer tube fill, packing up, refilling boxes, tumbling brass, beer runs, fighting off cat,, dodging wife,, yadda yadda
Think I paid 158 recently for a k, shipped of 124 gr 9mm... honestly my time is worth more than 3.75 an hour but thats me and my circumstances

[Jaycwebb]

11 minutes ago, Stafford said:

 

FYI, I don’t even understand 12.8 per round. When discussing with newbies, you have to explain.

 

$0.128 Per round

0.01 powder

0.03 primer

0.032 brass (once fired)

.056 Bullet

About 12.8c per round to load. 

 

make a spreadsheet with the cost of everything per unit calculated. 

 

I agree with Joe, I load about 1k an hour including load, prep, case checking, etc. For the extra $50 I'd rather ship it to my door.

Granted, I currently shoot open major full time. If I shot 9minor full time I might change my tune. I only shoot 3-4k of 9 a year

[Stafford]

Thanks, that makes sense.

[zzt]

I currently reload 9mm, 40sw and 45ACP.  40 and 45 major and because I want to tailor the loads.  Three loads for 45- bullseye, major and competition.  Major and minor in 40.  The only reason I reload major and minor in 9mm is I have to shoot JHPs to keep the comp clean.  I have a PCC on the way, so I'll be buying minor ammo for that.  At 17 cents shipped it doesn't make sense to reload.   It costs me 21 cents to reload major, mostly because of the large amounts of slow powder and the expense of good JHPs.  It costs about 1/2 cent less to load JHPs for minor.

[gransport]

One of our local shooters went sub-minor at the Indiana Sectional a few years back, while shooting factory ammo. So if that's your plan, try and get some rounds over a chrono.

[Hi-Power Jack]

10 hours ago, Stafford said:

 

 I don’t understand 12.8 per round. 

There are six costs to reloading :

 

1.  Bullet - usually the most expensive part - for 9mm you can cast lead for free but most buy bullets for 6-12 cents each

2.  Case - many get them free, but most pay 2 - 5 cents each;   BUT, you can then reload that case 1-10x more, so

                 cases are free to 2 cents each, depending on how you count it

3.  Powder - usually costs 1-4 cents each round

4.  Primers - usually costs 2-4 cents each

 

5.  Your Time - most people don't count that, but if you're making $100+ / hour, you might want to consider it

6.  One time reloading equipment - most don't count this either - but it cost $600 + for the equipment that has

                           to be amortized over years.

 

Reloading makes a lot of sense right now, for most calibers.

 

But, a valid argument is that given the current price of 9mm ammo, and the cost of

buying the necessary equipment and the labor cost (your time) it might not make

a whole lot of sense to get into reloading right now for 2,000 rounds of 9 mm/year.

[m700]

1 hour ago, Hi-Power Jack said:

There are six costs to reloading :

 

1.  Bullet - usually the most expensive part - for 9mm you can cast lead for free but most buy bullets for 6-12 cents each

2.  Case - many get them free, but most pay 2 - 5 cents each;   BUT, you can then reload that case 1-10x more, so

                 cases are free to 2 cents each, depending on how you count it

3.  Powder - usually costs 1-4 cents each round

4.  Primers - usually costs 2-4 cents each

 

5.  Your Time - most people don't count that, but if you're making $100+ / hour, you might want to consider it

6.  One time reloading equipment - most don't count this either - but it cost $600 + for the equipment that has

                           to be amortized over years.

 

Reloading makes a lot of sense right now, for most calibers.

 

But, a valid argument is that given the current price of 9mm ammo, and the cost of

buying the necessary equipment and the labor cost (your time) it might not make

a whole lot of sense to get into reloading right now for 2,000 rounds of 9 mm/year.

I don't value my time. my math puts my 9mm savings at $30-40 per 1000 and any other caliber savings would be even better. If I could work an extra hour I could cover that cost but being salary I can not.  So the old adage is if you reload you just shoot more so you don't save anything. But more practice is a good thing in all shooting sports.

 

[egd5]

This age old argument of whether it's worth it to reload because of cost misses the point entirely.

It's not the fact that it saves money per round, it's the fact that it disguises how much we spend on ammo. For us if we reload and keep a stockpile we just grab some each time we go shoot. When we only buy (supplies) occasionally in bulk it doesn't SEEM like we're spending money every time we shoot. And most importantly if the CFO of the household says something about the credit card bill, we can say, "But Honey that jug of powder will last me for months".

 

ETA-supplies

Edited November 12, 2019 by egd5
add a word

[Hi-Power Jack]

4 minutes ago, egd5 said:

 When we buy  in bulk it doesn't SEEM like we're spending money every time we shoot. 

 

It seemed like a  LOT of $$$$  the last time I bought 6 cases of MG 124 JHP's.      

[egd5]

7 hours ago, Hi-Power Jack said:

 

It seemed like a  LOT of $$$$  the last time I bought 6 cases of MG 124 JHP's.      

I'm sure it did.