home loading setup cost.

jimmy 84

Well-Known Member
Hi all,

I'm thinking about home loading and I was wondering what the rough cost would be to get setup? I have 3 rifles a .22/250, .243 and a .270.

Jimmy
 
For a bit less than £40. You could buy lee loaders for all of those calibers. They make decent ammo. With out the need of a press and all the other trappings.

Lee loaders are great bits of kit that can be taken any where and used to make ammo on the fly.

Even if you go the whole hog and get a press set up. Having a lee loader for the rifle you are using is a good idea.
 
Mine was around the £300 mark for everything including the powder, bullets and primers, but looking back on it know I didn't actually need half the stuff and now a lot of it like trays and the MTM cases are sat collecting dust.

​The Lee auto loader was my best buy as I just purchased the additional turret so now when I swap between my 243 and the 300 there is no unscrewing of dies, the four lift out and the other ones just drop in.
 
Got a lee hand press here, lee neck die so no need to faff about lubricating cases, cheap scales, hand primer, primer pocket cleaner, case mouth chamferer, and a ball grip trimmer, its all lee except for the hand primer, probably spent under £200. Shoots tiny groups, one the other day was literally same hole, centre to centre they must have been 1/32"... Either that or I completely missed with the other shots LOL.
 
Hi all, I'm thinking about home loading and I was wondering what the rough cost would be to get setup? I have 3 rifles a .22/250, .243 and a .270. Jimmy

Somewhere in the region of £40-1000

Depending on how much you want to spend and like precision and ease of repeatability.
 
Got a lee hand press here, lee neck die so no need to faff about lubricating cases, cheap scales, hand primer, primer pocket cleaner, case mouth chamferer, and a ball grip trimmer, its all lee except for the hand primer, probably spent under £200. Shoots tiny groups, one the other day was literally same hole, centre to centre they must have been 1/32"... Either that or I completely missed with the other shots LOL.
 
first questions:
How much do you shoot (i.e. how many rounds)?
Why are you looking to reload? single hole bench rest groups at 200yds or cost?

I started with three lee loaders, an assortment of case prep tools, two powders and bullets for .222, .243 and .270
Outlay for hardware was £50

all of them produced better ammunition than factory

or you could drop £3-400 on kit and spend a lifetime chasing groups that up until this point you have not worried about

or you can pick them up piecemeal
a cheap press can be picked up for £50-70+
dies - £20-30 each (x3)
case prep tools £20 tops
set of scales - £10-60
 
Probably about the £250-£300 mark all in that's loading for .243 and 22-250. Powder and heads extra and also had to buy brass for the 22-250 but it's worth it in the long run for sure.

ATB

Bryan
 
first questions:
How much do you shoot (i.e. how many rounds)?
Why are you looking to reload? single hole bench rest groups at 200yds or cost?

I started with three lee loaders, an assortment of case prep tools, two powders and bullets for .222, .243 and .270
Outlay for hardware was £50

all of them produced better ammunition than factory

or you could drop £3-400 on kit and spend a lifetime chasing groups that up until this point you have not worried about

or you can pick them up piecemeal
a cheap press can be picked up for £50-70+
dies - £20-30 each (x3)
case prep tools £20 tops
set of scales - £10-60



Like i've recently done :lol:

I started reloading due to the quantity of factory rounds I was shooting . . .I thought by reloading I may save myself some money . . .its not quite worked out that way !!!

The only thing I can think about now is trying to catch the fricking accuracy weasel and hunting for smaller and smaller groups . . .I have become super anal, where before an inch group was just dandy !!!

I have essentially set up a full reloading bench from scratch . . I have bought a mixture of second hand gear and some gucci new stuff . . .by the time you factor in powders {£45.00 a tub} bullets {£20 - £30 a box} and brass and primers theres another £100.00 quid spent.

In total i've spent around £350.00 for everything . . .excluding consumables.

It could however be done for much less . . .Interestingly the lad I bought some of my stuff from also gave me a tub of H322 with the price on the lid . . . .£24.00 quid !!!!!! Its now £45.00 !!!!

Unless your shooting lots of factory rounds i'm not sure it pays to reload . . .saying that the difference in quality and accuracy from factory rounds to home loaded has to be seen to be believed.
 
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the upside is once the initial setup cost is out of the way you then don't really thing about the cost as buying a box of bullets occasionally and a tub of powder is almost pleasant cost wise compared to wincing each time you buy 20 made rounds.
I am glad though i went for a half decent kit straight away rather than have to think about upgrading everything once I got into it
 
Reloading is what you make or need it to be.
example:
I started reloading to save money.
I am happy with 1" groups. (i shoot deer)
Reloads cost about 65p per round in 30-06. cheap yes!?(cost of dies and press not included)
I tried some PPU factory in my 30-06. I got 1"groups cost of 100, 150 grain soft point PPU=£58. So 58p per round. Reloading sucks!!!!!:cuckoo:

The .243 how ever is a different story.

​if I swage my own bullets up out of 22lr cases. reloads are 22p but then the .243 is just a munty/fox round and is no good for bigger deer!!!:stir::stir::stir:
 
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So there you go OP £40-£unknown.
Dont forget the good old lee stuff. For the price it can seldom be beaten. But dont be fooled into thinking that because its cheap its crap!!!!! it not!!!.
 
Thanks for all your replies. The main reason I want to reload is to save money. I do practice a bit on the range a bit and I use around 120 to 150 rounds per year through my 22/250 and a bit less through the other two. I also would like a wider range of bullets to choose from.
I'm all for keeping it simple.

Jimmy
 
nowt wrong with lee dies at all , ive used them in 300wm 270win 6.5x55se and 243win , they all shot sub inch !

for hunting / stalking do you need beter ? i dont .
 
I got myself set up with a Lee hand press. Takes a while, I accept, but working away from, I have precious little else to do save go to the bar. I've noticed a slight tightening up of my groups. I do it because its: a. Fun, b. Satisfies my OCD, c. Gets me ready for Zombie Apocalypse.
 
I just wish my feo would understand the need to up my ammo allowance to the thousands ........
He just doesn't understand the zombie apocalypse & our need to prepare !!!!
:cool:

Paul
 
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