economics of reloading

It seems to hold up that ammo will cost roughly half the price. Of course one has to be disciplined about the reloading gizmos taking off on their own. But I am just thinking of reloading for a go to load for all, once it is done I see no problem in using the basic kit as I do not have any place I can use as a dedicated station anyway. In theory past 500 rounds I should have recouped my investment. Of course if I have to drive miles to get bullet heads that is not great. My Scottish genes are still kicking!
 
It seems to hold up that ammo will cost roughly half the price. ...

I don't agree, a lot depends on how you cost your time and how you cost your travel to test your loads. I shoot a lot more than I did when I was just using factory ammunition and I certainly feel the benefit of the practice. It's a bit tricky to put a value on that too.

One recommendation, get a good chronograph - March Scopes MagnetoSpeed Chronograph I wasted a lot of time and money last year 'testing' loads with a cheap chrono which gave inconsistent and intermittent results. Ultimately, I sent the chrono back. Gary will get a MagnetoSpeed to you next day if you want.

Regards

JCS
 
You should look at reloading as another part of shooting.

One of the plus sides is that you don't have to find an RFD when you get low on ammo, so that saves travelling time, fuel cost and frustration when you get there and they don't have what you want.
 
Just picking something for comparison...308 Winchester
brass .00 free, fired
primer .05 match, 0.035 for CCI 200 or Rem 9, or Win LR
powder .16 Varget, 4895, 4064 or RL-15, 44.0 grains, 160 loads per pound at $25.00
bullet .35 Hornady, Speer, Sierra.
----------
total .56 cents US

Can be .35 cents more for Nosler or Barnes bullets.

Can be a lot less, when I run across a deal on bullets.
Last month, I found 6 boxes of Hornady and Speer at an old gun store which was moving, for $12.00 a box.
I bought 200 rounds of Speer Grand Slam 7mm 160-gr for $20.00 from a commercial reloader who found they were too tough. His customers did not like them for deer.
Bought a box of Sierra 7mm 160gr SPBT GK for $10.00 from someone who tried 5 of them in a 7mm-08 and did not like the low charge and low velocity.
 
I forgot about that limitation, so you cannot take advantage of a windfall.
Here, because of competition shooting, many match bullets like Sierra .308 175-gr MK, or military ball like Hornady 150-gr FMJ, are sold in boxes of 1,000.

My main point is that you can often find a deal on some bullets, which offsets higher prices for some other ones ( Nosler, Berger, Barnes, Swift ).
 
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can home loads be as accurate as factory loads ,I mean manufactures they must spend lots of money on research to give us the best ammunition .
 
can home loads be as accurate as factory loads ,I mean manufactures they must spend lots of money on research to give us the best ammunition .

I think you've got it the wrong way around Neil, you should be asking can factory ammo be as accurate as reloaded ammo! I take it that you are new to shooting? :lol:
 
can home loads be as accurate as factory loads ,I mean manufactures they must spend lots of money on research to give us the best ammunition .

Go look at the threads up here right now, where some factory ammunition was overcharged to very high pressures, under-charged to anemic velocities, and home loads for the .308 with one 180 gr bullet, or the 18-inch .308 first attempts shooting groups 1/2 inch and smaller.
 
better start saving my cases then ,and get a lee loader .not new to shooting been doing it 30 yrs ,just asking the question.
 
same here just not at the top of my to buy list ,nearly there tho all i need is one more variation ,scopes nearly there ,and then watch out the worlds my oyster,well britain anyway,:old::fox: and then maybe reloading
 
better start saving my cases then ,and get a lee loader .not new to shooting been doing it 30 yrs ,just asking the question.

Neil - your factory ammo is made to fit all (well pretty much all) rifles in a certain calibre - whereas homeloaded ammo is tailor made to fit a specific rifle - bit like a car really, we can all get into it but to fit us we need to alter the seating and rear view mirror to fit.


On the cost side of reloading which we would all agree is pretty much cheaper than factory, the down side is that because it is cheaper we tend to plink more so the savings can be eroded !! Anyway, in my book it is not about the cost but the fun and satisfaction this hobby gives us.
 
You can get away, with a friend's initial help, with a minimum of kit. This should be a decent QUALITY set of dies with easy seating adjustment and easy decapping stem adjustment. As they lack the latter I rule out Lee's offerings in that department. Combine this with a good quality, new or secondhand (as long as used and not abused) compound leverage press.

If you use Lee's excellent yellow plastic pipes and an easy to use set of scales you won't need a powder thrower. Just a large plastic pot that can be obtained with such as the lid of one of those large aerosol containers. The scraper for the pipes is just a lenght, say 3", of bent wire coathanger.

Trim devices such as the Forster aren't required as again Lee's spigot type is more than adequate for a small batch first time re-loader. It is when you want speed of processing that you start to pay for the items such as the Forster trimmer.

Last and essential is a good heavyweight bench or reloading table with a good thick top of a minimum of 1" playwood. Double that is better. Or substantial reinforcing to the edges of the bench underneath with wooden 2" x 4" laid with the 2" as the vertical edge. That eliminates all "flex" in the press and it is "flex" and lack of stiffness to his table top that is the reloader's worst enemy.

Oh...and set your scales elsewhere than on your table unless you are weighing ONLY at that time with the table being used for no other operation save just that.

I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND A LEE LOADER UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE UNLESS YOU HAVE AN ARBOR PRESS. AND YOU USE THEM AS IF THEY WERE ARBOR PRESS DIES. REPEATED AND RE-OCCURING HAMMERING OUT CASES FROM IT WITH A STEEL ROD DOES THEM NO GOOD.
 
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You can get away, with a friend's initial help, with a minimum of kit. This should be a decent QUALITY set of dies with easy seating adjustment and easy decapping stem adjustment. As they lack the latter I rule out Lee's offerings in that department. Combine this with a good quality, new or secondhand (as long as used and not abused) compound leverage press.

I WOULD NOT RECOMMEND A LEE LOADER UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCE UNLESS YOU HAVE AN ARBOR PRESS. AND YOU USE THEM AS IF THEY WERE ARBOR PRESS DIES. REPEATED AND RE-OCCURING HAMMERING OUT CASES FROM IT WITH A STEEL ROD DOES THEM NO GOOD.


I am not a staunch defender of all things Lee but feel the need to rebuff some of this (there is a lot of Anti Lee sentiment and rubbish spouted on the basis that the cheapest products are the worst....comparably that MAY be the case but that does not make them poor or not fit for purpose!)

The stem adjustment on a the Lee dies is no better or worse than the ones on the RCBS dies which are arguably more expensive both new and second hand.
Lee dies work just fine (lets face it if they didnt they wouldn't have been making them for over 50years!)
one thing with them all is you should make sure you can get spares of all the parts of any dies you get and quckly!
decapping pins break (apparently), stems can bend, collars get lost etc etc


The Lee Loader is possibly the most prevalent reloading device in the world....
Sales topping several hundred million...

tapping out a case using the strongest part of the case with a steel pin and a wooden mallet whilst in the hand of the operator is hardly the same stress as a 65,000psi explosion taking place.
I get that the case MAY be supported at the case head by the bolt when fired but do you really believe the shell being tapped out is enough to damage the case?
really?
it is only sizing the neck and the rest of the body is barely in contact with the die

I have stripped off more rims with cases getting stuck in a FL die in a press than I have ever seen damage from a Lee Loader "extraction".
Tell me double sizing a neck and shoulders with a FL die using a rim designed for light load is not more stressful?

I am on 10+ firings on some of my .270 brass, at least 7 of those were "Lee Loads"


don't discount the Lee Loaders if you want cheap and accurate ammo
(and that is cheap INCLUDING THE COST OF SET UP HARDWARE not conveniently discounting the £400 you have sitting on a bench when you do you per round maths!)

you do not need micrometer seating dies, arbour presses, +/-0.001gr scales and a laboratory to make "better than factory" ammo
if you want them all that is fine, but please make your own choice rather than believing what other have chosen to believe.

(BTW I actually use BOTH Lee Loaders and a press. I can load with a press in the living room without being kicked out for being noisy! none of my "press ammo" is more accurate than the "Lee Loader ammo")
 
(BTW I actually use BOTH Lee Loaders and a press. I can load with a press in the living room without being kicked out for being noisy! none of my "press ammo" is more accurate than the "Lee Loader ammo")

Get off it Brewsher, enough is enough and I draw the line here. You are letting the side down man, don't you have any shame? The whole reason for having a man cave to reload is to get away from the family and the drivel on the T.V. Man up and start reloading like an adult.:rofl:
 
If you are shooting a common calibre and shooting 10 to 20 deer a year and a couple of boxes of ammo a year and the type of ammo your rifle likes is readily available the don't bother. If however you've a slightly less common calibre and you quite enjoy tinkering then reloading is not a bad thing to do. I got a 2nd hand lee reloading kit, plus a set of digital scales for £100. Plus a set of dies in 7x65r and was underway. It took 50 odd rounds to find a load that I liked and now over a couple of evenings I can reload a couple of boxes of ammo. Is quite therapeutic and am probably saving money, but I am not going to do the maths!
 
(BTW I actually use BOTH Lee Loaders and a press. I can load with a press in the living room without being kicked out for being noisy! none of my "press ammo" is more accurate than the "Lee Loader ammo")

Get off it Brewsher, enough is enough and I draw the line here. You are letting the side down man, don't you have any shame? The whole reason for having a man cave to reload is to get away from the family and the drivel on the T.V. Man up and start reloading like an adult.:rofl:


fair point, too many welders and engines in the shed and garage to make space for the loading stuff at them moment!
 
The stem adjustment on a the Lee dies is no better or worse than the ones on the RCBS dies which are arguably more expensive both new and second hand.

No, the adjustment on the decapping rod on Lee's dies is rubbish. It requires either pliers or a spanner to lock it into place to stop the rod being pushed up when sizing and neck expanding the cases.

On RCBS, Redding, Lyman the decapping rod and expander can be simply finger tightened and loosened off and removed by finger strength alone if required.

This may not be relevant to all but to those that want to be able to do this it is important.
 
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