Does reloading save money?

[Mossypaw]

You'll hear some telling you otherwise, that their setup was bought for £200 or less and they paid £25 per thousand for primers and £30 per lb of powder. They might be telling the truth, but in those days a new car was £5k and a good house cost £25k.

 

[John Gryphon]

When you like to use powder burners like this 45-70 below you know you must not tell the wife the real cost.

 

[Muir]

If you buy one of these kits, and use it exactly as supplied....Yes. You can save money.

However, once you start to add bits here and there you will fall down a deep dark hole losing cash all the way down. As John said, you best not tell the wife how much you spend if you wish to stay happily married. Ask my Ex.... ~Muir

 

[Utectok]

Im reloading @ £1.68 a round not including brass costs and equipment and time. I guess factory rounds for a 6.5x55 in the uk are perhaps @£2.75 a round? But I live in the middle of nowhere and it a long drive to get to an RFD to buy rounds that are not as nice to shoot as mine…..

 

[wytonpjs]

I’ve recently revised my reloading costs per round using today’s prices. My main round is a .308 TTSX 130gr. A box of factory loaded ones are now a staggering £89 (or £4.50 a round) from my very reasonable and local gun shop (Dauntsey Guns). Using their current consumable prices, my home loads are £1.54 for the same equivalent round. Yes, I’m not including my sunk capital costs but in the 6 years of reloading, I reckon I have now amortised those. As for my time, I find it very therapeutic and then there’s the convenience of being able to produce a box of 20 in approx 30 minutes whenever I need to. I don’t target shoot per se but I routinely practice at a range and I re-qualify my marksmanship test roughly every 3 months, all using the same loads I use on deer so the cost saving to me is very real, plus I have the luxury of knowing that I have many years of consumables tucked away to keep me going through supply difficulties. For me, reloading works

 

[VIGILAIRE]

As well as loading my hunting loads I enjoy casting my own bullets in 7mm, .30, .330 and soon .416. Loaded with moderate amounts of 2400 or 5744 you get plenty of cheapish plinking ammo.

 

[phaedra]

I lost count of the number of 44mag and 9mm I loaded using Lee Loaders when I started loading my own in the mid-seventies and pre-pistol ban

At a rough guess I'd say somewhere in the 10's of thousands of each, happy days

 

[tim@tcs]

I started loading because I couldn’t find any .455 for my Webley, then there was the great 1990’s .303 famine and eventually I got into stalking and I couldn’t get the 6.5x55 Federal that I liked in my CZ.
I now run a Redding Boss 2 press and powder cones through my RCBS Loadmaster and with prepped and prime cases I can load fifty rounds in about half an hour, less if it’s all one powder weight!
I found a load for the Swede that matched the federal factory and with Nosler partitions was magic! I eventually found that the Privi loading was as good so I bought that in bulk allowing me to amount a good pile of once fired in case of another famine!
My set up has paid for itself and I help mates use it for themselves as I tend to use it for oddballs, load development and wildcat cartridges!
I’m hoping my youngest lad whey interested, if not it will all go to a good home

 

[samdk]

go on dillons websight and use there reloading cost calculater to see how much it costs you to reload its in $ so convert i it to £,s it cost me £0.32 t0 reload for my 243 win it takes me 30 min to load 20 rounds . bs

£0.32 per round including all components?

 

[JTO]

If you shoot common rounds like .308 or .223, and there is a cheapie factory round that your rifle likes, it's probably not worth reloading.
My Samson brass was bought as loaded rounds for less than new un-primed cases now cost.
Is there a .284W factory round available?

 

[nic531]

partly it depends on how many rounds you will be making. if all you do is stalk once a month and shoot 1 deer per outing then NO!

if say like me, you stalk, shoot CSR on a 5.56 so 100 plus rounds every month on average, shoot a 38 underlever at a range 50-100 rounds per visit, shoot 303 on a range. pick up most of your kit second hand as you get a chance to pick it up at reasonable prices, and enjoy the process of reloading then yes it is worth it

 

[aris]

As I said before - you don't need to spend a lot to reload. It does give you security of supply - which is nice. Here is a great little video on using the Lee Classic Loader and a few other inexpensive Lee tools in .308 - and an him shooting it at the end



Next step up would be a Lee hand press, and a set of their RGB dies which is a low-cost Full Length Resizer + Seating die - under £100 for both new.

 

[Hunter300]

As most already said……. It ALL depends on how much you shoot. If you do less than 200 rounds of “hunting” amo a year, DONT EVEN GO THERE…… Yes reloading equals accuracy (if done correctly) but you need to shoot A LOT before you save. For most it started as a hobby and then turn into a chorus! For the few lucky of us it is therapeutic, at which point the cost don’t really matter any more.

 

[4616Oxon]

Just seen your write up @4616Oxon
Youre in the same boat as me, new stalker.

Keep the £400 start up costs of reloading, buy a box of 20 rounds and spend the rest on a few trips.

Agreed far more sensible!

 

[Hunter300]

As I said before - you don't need to spend a lot to reload. It does give you security of supply - which is nice. Here is a great little video on using the Lee Classic Loader and a few other inexpensive Lee tools in .308 - and an him shooting it at the end



Next step up would be a Lee hand press, and a set of their RGB dies which is a low-cost Full Length Resizer + Seating die - under £100 for both new.

As I said before - you don't need to spend a lot to reload. It does give you security of supply - which is nice. Here is a great little video on using the Lee Classic Loader and a few other inexpensive Lee tools in .308 - and an him shooting it at the end



Next step up would be a Lee hand press, and a set of their RGB dies which is a low-cost Full Length Resizer + Seating die - under £100 for both new.

Not wanting to be negative, but that way of inserting a primer gives me cold sweat

 

[aris]

Not wanting to be negative, but that way of inserting a primer gives me cold sweat

Always wear safety goggles

 

[Muir]

Not wanting to be negative, but that way of inserting a primer gives me cold sweat

If you think about it though, a firing pin that was that wide and sluggish would not be expected to set off a primer. I have set off a primer (once?) when loading. You barely notice it. I've loaded ammo off and on for 40 years using Lee kits, as have a million other shooters. If they were a hazard, Lee would have been sued out of business decades ago. Prime with this unit once and you realize that it's not a big deal.
Just watched that video. NEVER use a standard hammer on with these kits like this guy is doing. The 'hardness" of the die comes from the plating. I have seen many of these kits with dents beaten into the base of the die. A wooden hammer handle/block of hard wood is best. ~Muir

 

[enfieldspares]

If you think about it though, a firing pin that was that wide and sluggish would not be expected to set off a primer. I have set off a primer (once?) when loading.

Compared to the "excitement" to be gotten from reloading Berdan primed 9mm Parabellum or .455" Webley (on a conventional press) using a Lee Loader and Boxer primers is tame! I can also confirm that I never had a Boxer primer detonate when I used a Lee Loader either. But, yes, it does give you the screaming ab-dabs when you think about what you're doing. The same, in spades, when seating the bullet on the primed and charged case.

 

[bluesako]

£0.32 per round including all components?

yes

 

[Liveonce]

Just seen your write up @4616Oxon
Youre in the same boat as me, new stalker.

Keep the £400 start up costs of reloading, buy a box of 20 rounds and spend the rest on a few trips.

A basic setup of lee press, lee dies and jewellery digital ebay scales can be had for around £120 and will keep you happy for many years.