Cheaper reloading?

[homer]

Reading an active thread on here I was surprised to see how much some people are paying for factory ammo. So how much cheaper can you actually home load for?
Not including buying all the equipment but just the powder, primers bullets etc. I know theres hundreds of different combinations of components out there but for you, how much does it cost per round?

 

[Ludders]

I’m loading 55gn vmax in 223. Approximately 35p a bang.
Yew tree in the 6.5cm about £1.50 a bang.

 

[Norfolk Deer Search]

Lead £1 a pop possibly a smidge more with modern prices I’m still running on old stock.

Copper £1.75 a pop ish depending on your favourite flavour

I was loading copper for £1.50 almost 20 years ago so that tells you a story

 

[enfieldspares]

The most expensive components are (assuming a moderate charge of 40 grains of whatever your powder) is, are in order, the case from 62p for a budget make such as PRVI up to £1.32 for a so called premium Norma of Lapua make, then the bullet of traditional lead cup and core at say 50p, and lastly the powder at a guess of 35p per cartridge and primer at 12p per cartridge.

Now the bullet, the powder and the primer are all consumed and lost when the round is fired. The cartridge case is the only thing that is left. So if you reload one huundred cartridges you've saved from £62 to £132 on the cost of the case purchased new. The maths is thus reloaded in your fired cases 50p + 35p + 12p = £97.00 for one hundred rounds.

The savings change and may even show a loss against budget factory ammunition if you use fresh loaded in new bought cases PRIVI 62p + 50p + 35p + 12p = £159.00 for one hundred rounds or with Scandanavian new bought cases = £226.00 for one hundred rounds.

To buy one hundred rounds of factory loaded .308 Winchester PRVI from Henry Krank would be £128.00. One hundred rounds of factory loaded .308 Winchester Norma from Allcock's would be £203.00 (these were the two prices that came up first on Google's search engine. Assuming traditional cup and core 150 grain lead bullets.

Thus for PRVI if reloading your fired cases you have saved £31.00 if my figures are correct. For Norma if reloading your fired cases you have saved £106. So what does this prove? That for budget price factory ammunition you save less that you save for premium price factory ammunition. But that if buying in and starting off using fresh bought cases that in the budget price range you may not save anything at all or indeed make a "loss"!

The biggest thing to take away is that we are poor bloody "Brits" and all our cases, bullets, powders and primers have to be imported as does all our factory loaded centrefire "hunting" ammunition (Radway Green doesn't make "sporting" ammunition even it did sell to the civilian market) so whatever it costs where its made we'll always n the UK pay more. In some cases US $1.00 becomes UK £1.00!

 

[ashray]

assuming you have the cases, then powder <n140 24grs > 291 reloads per pound of powder £60 = 20.6 pence a round 69gr smk £39 per 100 = 39pence each, magtech small rifle primer £70 per 1000 so 7 pence each so in my case 61 pence per round <more if i make a mistake/drop powder/primer bullet etc.> the cost are going up every day so in the very near future expect a reloaded round to cost you at least £1 a round. 223rem cartridge.

 

[wytonpjs]

Reloading Cost Calculator

Dillon Precision: Reloaders, Reloading Equipment, Bullet Reloading, Bullet Reloaders

www.dillonprecision.com

The Real Costs of Reloading Ammunition in the UK - Cost Per Round Calculator

For those of us who have been reloading ammunition for years, the practice offers more than just cost savings—it provides a deeper understanding of ballistics, flexibility, and precision in crafting rounds tailored specifically to our needs. However, while reloading can indeed be economical in...

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Others are available

 

[Norfolk Deer Search]

Reloading Cost Calculator

Dillon Precision: Reloaders, Reloading Equipment, Bullet Reloading, Bullet Reloaders

www.dillonprecision.com

The Real Costs of Reloading Ammunition in the UK - Cost Per Round Calculator

For those of us who have been reloading ammunition for years, the practice offers more than just cost savings—it provides a deeper understanding of ballistics, flexibility, and precision in crafting rounds tailored specifically to our needs. However, while reloading can indeed be economical in...

wildscapedeermanagement.co.uk

Others are available

Cheaper than factory that’s all you need to know

 

[wytonpjs]

Cheaper than factory that’s all you need to know

If you shoot long enough, or enough rounds, and you have offset the cost of acquiring the reloading kit. Whilst you can start cheap (as I and many others did), its can be a rabbit hole where things like auto-tricklers don't come cheap but do speed up the process considerable. The one deer a year man best stick with factory!

 

[Norfolk Deer Search]

If you shoot long enough, or enough rounds, and you have offset the cost of acquiring the reloading kit. Whilst you can start cheap (as I and many others did), its can be a rabbit hole where things like auto-tricklers don't come cheap but do speed up the process considerable. The one deer a year man best stick with factory!

My reloading kit consists of a press and a little box that is just over a ft.², mind you I now I only load for one calibre because that’s all I need!

Big deer, medium deer, small deer 7x57 does it all as did the 270 before that!

You load for one calibre , is as cheap as chips.

It only gets expensive when you start spending money you don’t need to spend on other calibres and the kit to supply it!

 

[hendrix's rifle]

My reloading kit consists of a press and a little box that is just over a ft.², mind you I now I only load for one calibre because that’s all I need!

Big deer, medium deer, small deer 7x57 does it all as did the 270 before that!

You load for one calibre , is as cheap as chips.

It only gets expensive when you start spending money you don’t need to spend on other calibres and the kit to supply it!

I got along for a while real well with a lee loader and a separate scale. Ended up doing that for 3 different cartridges before saving time and getting a rcbs auto scale because I was shooting considerably more. Absolutely nothing wrong with keeping it minimal!

To answer the OP - I don't think you actually save any money because you end up. shooting more. Its a very deep rabbit hole.

I was surprised the other day to see I've currently got maybe 6 tubs of viht powder, couple of kg's of RS powder and some reloader.... looking at it from what it cost me to buy, it was well over £1k. Then the stack of bullets, between copper and lead is probably close to 600 odd quid... there's a lot of time I could have saved to just buy factory

 

[Norfolk Deer Search]

I got along for a while real well with a lee loader and a separate scale. Ended up doing that for 3 different cartridges before saving time and getting a rcbs auto scale because I was shooting considerably more. Absolutely nothing wrong with keeping it minimal!

To answer the OP - I don't think you actually save any money because you end up. shooting more. Its a very deep rabbit hole.

I was surprised the other day to see I've currently got maybe 6 tubs of viht powder, couple of kg's of RS powder and some reloader.... looking at it from what it cost me to buy, it was well over £1k. Then the stack of bullets, between copper and lead is probably close to 600 odd quid... there's a lot of time I could have saved to just buy factory

Yep I’ve got 1500 primers 3 kg of powder, 1000 of not more bullets and that’s for 1 calibre

As above, it’s really adds up, but I do stand by what I say when a Bobby dazzler of a deal comes up and it is rare these days, dig deep and snap it up, I did that when I dropped onto Sierra game kings at £30 a box and I bought all 7 boxes can’t get them get the for under £50 now

 

[Rutland lad]

Does anyone really care if it’s cheaper or not !
I don’t personally, I just like to see my homeloads produce a nice tight group which gives me confidence I can hit what I aim at.
I also like to see deer shot with rounds I loaded myself.
Just gives me satisfaction.

 

[enfieldspares]

In some respects it is the same satisfaction as catching a fish on a fly or a lure that you've made or shooting a squirrel, woodpigeon (where GL42 allows) or pheasant with a home rolled shotgun cartridge. So that extra input you've put in adds to the sense of achievment. Also for some cartridges then homeloading is a neccessary if you want for example to load .270 Winchester with a 150 grain bullet at an effective but also shoulder friendly 2,600fps.

 

[Ste30.06]

Does anyone really care if it’s cheaper or not !
I don’t personally, I just like to see my homeloads produce a nice tight group which gives me confidence I can hit what I aim at.
I also like to see deer shot with rounds I loaded myself.
Just gives me satisfaction.

 

[Twodogs]

When considering reloading costs people rarely account for time and money spent on postage/travel for components.

 

[Bowland blades]

Reading an active thread on here I was surprised to see how much some people are paying for factory ammo. So how much cheaper can you actually home load for?
Not including buying all the equipment but just the powder, primers bullets etc. I know theres hundreds of different combinations of components out there but for you, how much does it cost per round?

it totally depends on how many rounds you get through in a year and what quality you except . Some cases cost less , some a lot more and every bit of what you do . Best answer is if you shoot 100 rounds a year - Just buy factory ! if you do 1000 plus ? you really want to be getting into building your own money ( still there is the kit ) A lot of my presses etc are perhaps 30 years old ! and i could sell them today for what i paid new because of inflation, the re-buying would be costly mind lol
If i was doing it today , i would . With the very best of everything !

 

[Liveonce]

When considering reloading costs people rarely account for time and money spent on postage/travel for components.

is that not also true for buying ammunition?

 

[Norfolk Deer Search]

When considering reloading costs people rarely account for time and money spent on postage/travel for components.

I stopped for a long time because it took too much time, but now I only shoot 1 calibre and it’s practically obsolete for factory so I have no choice and to be fair it relit a long dampened fire.

The key is buy consumables in bulk then your laughing

 

[Dan Newcombe]

I’m be just paid £45 for 20 .243 superformance

For me loading it will be £1 for a Virtus bullet then call it 35p of RS60 and 25p for a primer you would be £1.60 before brass and equipment so there’s actually a decent saving these days as I’d realistically call my equipment written off as it’s done quite a few rounds and the brass is probably 10p a load (if you are better at keeping hold of it than me). Plus a little bit of time. I’m saving just about £10 per box.

If it was compared to .260 the saving would be quite a bit bigger than shop bought

 

[Dunwaters]

The real answer is zero cost saving or maybe even a loss unless you shoot a lot, as in a helluva lot.
Firstly you will pay far more for your components than the commercial makers, then theres the equipment that you will need, theres your time and you’ll naturally use a lot of ammunition during load testing and evaluation.
If you are a non professional stalker, it’s cheaper to buy.
The only advantages of hand loading are that you can generally cobble something up, or once you have a recipe that you trust you can replicate it, if, and its a big IF you can find exactly the same components.