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What's your cost per round in this post-pandemic pricing world?


Baynewrady

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I've been thinking about getting into reloading (.40, 9mm, .223 specifically) but am wondering if it even makes sense at this point with the shortage/pricing on components. I was wondering if people would be willing to share what their costs per round is looking like using components purchased recently? 

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Thanks for the responses so far guys. So it sounds like you are still loading for cheaper than factory options (especially for competition loads which are anywhere from 40 cpr -> 50 cpr right now). 

How are you guys getting your cost for bullets and powder so low? Massive bulk? Can I ask how much you're buying at a time?

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I'm at about $225/thousand for 9mm..40 I'm using old stock bullets, so price isn't accurate. 

 

Pricing it per round is like pricing gasoline per ounce; you buy primer in blocks of 1000 or 5000, bullets, generally, come in boxes of 1000. 

 

You need to buy your powder in 8lb kegs. Primers should be the absolute most you and/or your buddies can buy at one time. Bullets should always be bought in the largest quantities you can swing. 

 

Brass-Something is moderately up if you're buying brass for 9/40. You know somebody who's getting free brass........even if you don't know you know them yet. Obviously 38sc or 45acp are the exceptions. 

Edited by konkapot
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You have to take into account that after a couple of loadings your brass is free. Primers and powder used to be the least expense and now their the most. With some powders buying in 8 lb jugs can save up to $4 a pound. Some will argue that you don’t save anything by the time you invest in all the equipment. I look at it as a relaxing hobby that allows me to tailor ammo to my needs and wants. It’s also a way to do your part by recycling. 😀

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Thanks again everyone for the responses! For competition I would love to create/tune my own loads, which is why I'm interested in getting into reloading. It's kind of daunting though to a total newbie with 0 experience. I figured I would first determine if it would still be cost effective given the new pricing environment (especially because I keep my practice brass), which it sounds like it is thankfully.

Where are you finding 8 lb jugs of powder? My initial research tells me that NV320 or Hogdon TG is what I'm wanting and the best I could find recently was 4 lb jugs of NV320 for $170 (Brownells).. 

Also, any recommendations on presses for a total newbie? Is the Dillon 750XL too sophisticated for a newbie to start with? I ask because that is what I was thinking I'd get based on my research (buy once cry once).

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XL750 was my first (and still only) press. I had a few people tell me to just get a 550, and I'm glad I didn't listen. Looking back, I wish I got an 1100. Definitely go with a progressive press -- and probably the best one that your can afford.

 

N320 is expensive. If you're looking to save money, Aliant Sport Pistol is significantly less expensive and in my opinion, doesn't feel much different than N320 (in .40 cal).

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10 hours ago, Baynewrady said:

Thanks again everyone for the responses! For competition I would love to create/tune my own loads, which is why I'm interested in getting into reloading. It's kind of daunting though to a total newbie with 0 experience. I figured I would first determine if it would still be cost effective given the new pricing environment (especially because I keep my practice brass), which it sounds like it is thankfully.

Where are you finding 8 lb jugs of powder? My initial research tells me that NV320 or Hogdon TG is what I'm wanting and the best I could find recently was 4 lb jugs of NV320 for $170 (Brownells).. 

Also, any recommendations on presses for a total newbie? Is the Dillon 750XL too sophisticated for a newbie to start with? I ask because that is what I was thinking I'd get based on my research (buy once cry once).

https://www.powdervalleyinc.com/
https://www.grafs.com/
https://www.midsouthshooterssupply.com/
These are just a few to keep an eye on for powder. I’ve noticed that more powder is showing up lately but Alliant is still kinda a no-show. Get on mailing lists, Midsouth had a free shipping for dads day so that saves some $$. Good for you for saving your brass. I’ve picked up more brass at the local gravel pit than I can count and I picked up everything even if I didn’t own that caliber (which is rare). But those that I didn’t need were sometimes cleaned, sold or traded to other reloader’s. 

Edited by Farmer
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I've found ok deals on powder on Gunbroker. 

 

Press-Depends on how much you'll be shooting, where you'll be reloading, and how mechanical you are.  Regardless you'll want to stick with Dillon products. 

 

If you are reloading indoors, are very mechanical, and will be shooting a lot, that easily points you in one direction. 

 

If you're only shooting 1k a month, will be reloading in a shed, and are not very mechanical, that points you in another direction

 

Absolute best thing to do is link up with the local shooting crew; on an internet forum it's harder to screen through personal biases. By talking to actual live people you'll be able ascertain "well that guy is full of s#!t." Talk to dudes, take a look at their reloading setup, ask them how they like their SDB, or 550, or 650 etc. 

 

In this environment, you might find guys selling presses or accessories because they are getting out of shooting/reloading. 

 

USPSA people are pretty good about being helpful; a buddy of mine is getting into reloading and I polish/tumble his brass for him, saving him the cost of the tumbler/separator. 

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3 hours ago, konkapot said:

I've found ok deals on powder on Gunbroker. 

 

Press-Depends on how much you'll be shooting, where you'll be reloading, and how mechanical you are.  Regardless you'll want to stick with Dillon products. 

 

If you are reloading indoors, are very mechanical, and will be shooting a lot, that easily points you in one direction. 

 

If you're only shooting 1k a month, will be reloading in a shed, and are not very mechanical, that points you in another direction

 

Absolute best thing to do is link up with the local shooting crew; on an internet forum it's harder to screen through personal biases. By talking to actual live people you'll be able ascertain "well that guy is full of s#!t." Talk to dudes, take a look at their reloading setup, ask them how they like their SDB, or 550, or 650 etc. 

 

In this environment, you might find guys selling presses or accessories because they are getting out of shooting/reloading. 

 

USPSA people are pretty good about being helpful; a buddy of mine is getting into reloading and I polish/tumble his brass for him, saving him the cost of the tumbler/separator. 

Thanks for the response. I'd be reloading indoors, but I'm not very mechanical. Which direction is that pointing me in? Currently I only shoot about 1-2K rounds per month, but that has more to do with the cost prohibitive-ness of factory ammo prices than anything else. I've basically only been shooting matches this year with very little practice time on the range. 

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Agreed on 550; don't overlook the Square Deal B either. 

 

The bad news is that once you Really Get Into this sport, you'll end up shooting MORE. Getting into reloading to "save money" always ends the same for all of us. 

 

Another thought.....for a long time the conventional wisdom was that if you are only shooting 1k per month, reloading might not be the way to go. There's the upfront outrageous outlay, plus your time, plus the inevitible fiddle-faddling that goes with reloading. The buddy I referred to above found factory reloads in 9mm at $340/case. Call it $4k per year. Do some napkin math. If it's only 1k per month, and you can reload 9mm for $225, your savings is $100 =/- per month. All number are "ish."

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My monthly round count is hampered more by affordability than time. If I could I would love to shoot more. It seems like after the initial money dump, I'd be able to shoot 2x more for the same dollar on factory options if not more (.40 S&W especially, finding major PF loads loaded long for 2011's is proving expensive and not readily available).  

I'm already really into the sport, I shoot at least 1 match a week if not more :D. I'd also love to have the satisfaction and knowledge for loading my own ammunition. I plan on getting into PRS one day too, and it seems almost mandatory to load ones own loads for that sport. 

Thank you everyone for your responses thus far, definitely seems like I'll be getting into reloading once I have enough coin saved. 

Am I right in thinking that, considering my future plans/hopes of shooting more (~3-5K/month), a 750XL would be the way to go rather than a 550? Would be reloading 40, 223 immediately (maybe 9mm, though for minor loads I'm not convinced there's much savings to be had) and most likely 308/6.5 CM down the road (for PRS).

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I made these when I first started reloading (early Obama era). "Original" is first one I did.

 

Redid it in 2020 right before scam-demic hit. Someone on here was asking about reloading costs and I was bored on a layover so I updated it. Funny, in January 2020 it was cheaper to buy 9 and 223 than it was to reload it..

 

You can do with them as you'd like. Put in your own numbers, whatever.

 

I have enough reloading supplies to shoot at my current level for about 10 years so I'm not interested in updating it again any time soon, but be my guest it you want too. It's a lot of work to look up all the current supply costs and input them the way I have it, but if someone wants to do it, have at it.

 

I have a mac so they are in numbers. You should be able to convert them to excel though.

 

There are formulas in there so you can input in your reloading investment to see how long it takes recoup your cost. Cost of reloads vs factory. Both SD and practice factory rounds. How much to make your own SD rounds. All kinds of good stuff.

 

Reloading Cost-Original.numbers ReloadingCost-2020.numbers

Edited by iflyskyhigh
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I am loading for around $17 dollars per 100. I think it doesn't take to long to pay for a loader at those savings. I'm talking 9mm, cheap 9mm around here is $18.99 for a box of 50. I do not pay for brass as it is free for the taking at the ranges I shoot at.

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Let's see: I have primers from the past for 3 cents a piece, and some from the times after the increase, they were about 8 cents a piece. Got a lot of powder from the before time, and depending on the caliber and load, powder is somewhere from 1.5 - 2.5 cents per round. Bullets - I use Precis1on Delta JHP and FM, about 10 cents for a 9 mm and 12 for 45 - these prices were before, but now they are a bit higher, 12 cents  for 9 and about 15 cents for .45.

So, lets sum this up before my cost was approx 14 cents for a round of 9 mm or 38/357 mag and 17 for .45' now it is about 22 cents for 9 and 357 and 26 for .45.

Actually not that bad. My powder and primers (before and after) should last me a few years, then I buy a bow...

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  • 2 weeks later...

Since now you're talking 223 and PRS that changes the situation.  If you're serious, you'll end up with multiple presses.  I got a used 550 about 4 years ago and imagined I would do everything under the sun on it.  Since then, my time got more valuable with wife, work, home upgrades and family.  I mostly reload 9mm or 45 on it, 200 to 300 rounds per session, often on a day off work while I drink my coffee.  My loads are pretty settled so depending on primer availability, it'll spend months doing one or the other.  In the off season I'll load up small quantities of other calibers (a years worth, maybe 3-500 of 45 LC and 38) on it to get me through the year.  Based on that, I wish I would've ditched the idea of it being a jack of all trades and purchased it from the start as a dedicated auto pistol reloading station: a 650 (or 750) with case feeder.

 

Largely this depends on what your time is worth and how involved your 223 reloading is going to be.  Is your 223 going after accuracy or just cheap effective blaster ammo?  If you're going for accuracy, sizing for multiple chambers, trimming, and dealing with once-fired mil brass (crimped primers) then 223 throws a wrench in the scheme of using a smaller progressive.

 

I ended up doing 223 in two passes on a 550.  (You can perhaps get away with single pass reloading if you know you're getting uncrimped brass.) On the first pass, I lube, deprime, swage pocket (swage-it attachment), 80% resize, and resize/trim.  Then you clean and store this in a big bucket.  On the second pass you'll prime, load, and crimp.  Even if you don't trim, you have to deal with the crimp, most likely by depriming and swaging off press in a prep step that might as well be prior to cleaning.  On a 1050, you can do your bulk 223 reloading on the press in a single pass, including swaging and trimming.  In the end, I didn't find 223 load development and reloading to be very entertaining so all that 550 hardware (including trimmer) has spent years in a storage tote.

 

If you have more time available your ecosystem of loading and unloading matures to a different end.  I think you should start off by doing your pistol reloading on a progressive.  Eventually, perhaps you start doing 223 by buying prepped 223 brass and also do that on your progressive.  You can buy a single stage on the side to use for your 223 load development and PRS work.  If you are able to keep range pickup once fired brass out of your 223 brass stream, you can likely rid yourself of the need to deal with the crimp and perhaps even the trimming.

 

 

 

Edited by johnmyster
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Thanks for the responses everyone! 

I've decided that I'll save up my coin to get a 750XL with .40S&W dies, then go on from there. Chances are I won't move onto rifle rounds for some time, and if I do I'll probably go with a single stage as johnmyster suggested. 

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I load 9 at about .25c a round. Both major amd minor. 

 

If you are going to get a press just get an 1100 or 1050. You will end up wanting to have primer pocket swadge and have bullet seating amd crimp separate. Plus it is a much easier system as everything is on the down stroke. 

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 I started in 2020 with my reloading and primers  were 20 cents per primer  back then, now down to 7.5-10 cents( depending on the company). Also considering that powder is now 27-32 dollars a pound( up from 17 dollars a pound in 2020).below are my costs averaged out  since  buying  that starte d  in 2020

 

 here is my latest pricing-cost  per round

 

9mm

 

 brass=free

 

124 gr fmj bullet  10 cents

 

powder about 3 cents( 4.0 gr of titegroup)

 

primer--average 15 cents.

 

for  45 acp

 

 bullets=185 gr  fmj RN= 13-15 cents per bullet

 

powder is about the same as amount as   the 9mm as  is th e  primers

 

I prefer my reloads these days as I have  heard stories of newer commercial ammo being  short loaded with powder and dirty powder being used to boot.

 

mine are  basically clean firing  go bang everytime and cycles the slide.

 

 

Edited by boatdoc173
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Current costs for me (per round), factoring in shipping, HazMat, etc:

 

Powder: 3 c (N320)

Primer: 13 c (CCI or Fed)

Bullet: 12 c (JHP)

Brass: 2 c (assumes 10 loadings before lost)

Total: 30 cents per round.

 

So, a single 6 shot Bill Drill or NRA AP string is $1.80.  A typical 300 round practice is $90 in ammo alone (and does not include the time assembling it and other range consumables).  It's definitely a new world...

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