Does reloading save money?

[4616Oxon]

I am sure this has been done before but thought it may be more pertinent now. Does reloading save money? A box of good quality ammo for 6.5 Creed and others is now £50-£55. I know you can get it cheaper Hornady white tail ammo etc but you often have to travel. I have kept all my factory cases just in case! I have heard you can get the kit for under £400 and you can go on courses. Also how long does it take to load 20 rounds of ammo on average? I am fairly time poor!

 

[Morkai]

I am sure this has been done before but thought it may be more pertinent now. Does reloading save money? A box of good quality ammo for 6.5 Creed and others is now £50-£55. I know you can get it cheaper Hornady white tail ammo etc but you often have to travel. I have kept all my factory cases just in case! I have heard you can get the kit for under £400 and you can go on courses. Also how long does it take to load 20 rounds of ammo on average? I am fairly time poor!

I looked at it as a fresh start with no kit for 6.5CM, with the prices I was looking at I dont think I could reload now for cheaper than the Sellier & Bellot 140gr SP I'm using at £20 a box.

From the grouping I get with it I'd say its pretty good.

A pound a pop for factory aint bad. Depends how many rounds youre going to go through.

 

[Malxwal]

Only going to save you money in long haul if you're doing a lot of target/range shooting.

 

[bluesako]

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

 

[User00040]

Whatever you save financially, you'll lose in terms of time and effort spent.

You'll need to test your handloads, which will require a place to do it along with some time to fine tune the load.

The difference in results between Hornady Match/Precision Hunter and handloads of the highest possible quality will be minimal, a degree which you won't be able to appreciate outside of competition settings.

Component (powder, primer, bullets and brass) prices have increased dramtically. Availability has fallen significantly. The war in Ukraine and America's ritual preparation for an apocalypse everytime a democrat wins the presidential election are the main causes, along with the aftershocks of CV19 lockdowns and restrictions.

Reloading is now something for the enthusiast due to the amount of research and investment required to produce ammo which is either roughly equal or better to factory offerings.

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.

 

[4616Oxon]

Well I am not doing target range at the moment but I have a great area where I could set up some targets at longer ranges. Sako and Hornady uniting ammo is around £50 a box of not more. S AND B looks like great value and good it has worked well for you. Most places don’t stock it though so would means a bit of a bulk buy and a drive.

 

[cjs66]

Not a chance!!!

Don't even think about starting to reload if it's only to save money. It's an interesting and addictive hobby all of its own.

cjs

 

[4616Oxon]

Whatever you save financially, you'll lose in terms of time and effort spent.

You'll need to test your handloads, which will require a place to do it along with some time to fine tune the load.

The difference in results between Hornady Match/Precision Hunter and handloads of the highest possible quality will be minimal, a degree which you won't be able to appreciate outside of competition settings.

Component (powder, primer, bullets and brass) prices have increased dramtically. Availability has fallen significantly. The war in Ukraine and America's ritual preparation for an apocalypse everytime a democrat wins the presidential election are the main causes, along with the aftershocks of CV19 lockdowns and restrictions.

Reloading is now something for the enthusiast due to the amount of research and investment required to produce ammo which is either roughly equal or better to factory offerings.

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.

Thank you and excellent response and what I had suspected. I can get some cheap S & B ammo for target at my home range setup and keep expensive factory ammo for hunting - where I won’t be consuming it fast at all.

 

[User00057]

Yeah I agree with above. I only reload my 223 as found a good load that works better than any factory. I was lucky with my 6.5 as that groups really well with the S&B blue energy and they don’t break the bank. I don’t shoot enough with it to spend on reloading. I’m probably going to reload my 243 though
It’s really interesting to do but not a money saver.

 

[Brave Echo Niner]

I wouldn't start reloading for the cost saving, if there is cost saving for most people it is minimal, then when you factor your time in it gets to be next to no saving.

The real reason to start reloading is a better end result in terms of accuracy, consistency and performance.
I reload and as a result won't use factory ammo unless a contract stipulates it, because I know I can tune my loads to be very tight grouping, very low ES and SD of Velocity and that gives me confidence I can put the bullet exactly where I need to repeatably.

If it interests you go for it, if you're happy with the factory results though and are just thinking about the cost I wouldn't bother personally.


Ben

 

[VSS]

At one time our local gunshop had a reloading club. You paid a small annual fee for the use of the equipment, and only paid for consumables actually used (so, for example, no need to buy whole tubs of powder or boxes of primers). I was definitely saving money by using that facility, and also had the benefit of someone being on hand to help.
Setting yourself up for reloading would only be cost effective in the very long term, I should think. Also, any savings made per round will be lost by using more rounds.

 

[Morkai]

Well I am not doing target range at the moment but I have a great area where I could set up some targets at longer ranges. Sako and Hornady uniting ammo is around £50 a box of not more. S AND B looks like great value and good it has worked well for you. Most places don’t stock it though so would means a bit of a bulk buy and a drive.

Will stocking up not also require a bit of a drive to stock up?

 

[Stalker-of-the-deer]

Not really,

Components wise yes, if you buy in bulk when on sale etc then yes you do, even with the cost if everything going up your still saving money vs most factory offerings.

But if you factor in time and equipment it would take a lot of rounds probably In the thousands to pay for it back.

If you buy decent equipment it makes life easier and the process faster buy again that's cost you have to re coup.

 

[PhilRS03]

The way I look at it is, it’s less of a cost saving and more of an investment into the hobby I love. It teaches you a lot, opens you up to a lot of new and otherwise only read-about information/considerations when it comes to shooting in general, and I personally find it relaxing. Does it cost less? Probably not. Does it add value to me personally in terms of enjoyment of my hobby… 100%. So in value for money terms, it’s absolutely worth it for me. I didn’t start shooting/fishing/doing Track days because i thought It would save me money in the first place, so for me, it is what it is! Hopefully adds another dimension to your thought process!

Just to add to that- if you do ever buy a new rifle most people tend to buy a couple/few boxes of ammo for that gun just to see what shoots the best. So there’s a cost associated to that. If you reload, it takes far expense to find that out. It’s just an increase in your time. But again, is spending more time doing something you enjoy ever a bad thing!

 

[bluesako]

i started reloading nigh on 40 years ago, i started with factory ammo, then searching for the best ammo that suited my rifle found it, then went to buy a load of the same factory sorry we dont carry that ammo anymore thats why i started reloading, as brave echo niner said, so i could tune my ammo to the rifle, alot of gun shops didnt carry a major ammount of factory ammo, hense i started reloading my own and have enjoyed every round ive made its no good buying a load of ammo for your rifle if its putting 3to 4 inch groups in is it . bs

 

[Morkai]

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.

 

[fallow me]

Doe reloading save money
No

 

[enfieldspares]

I am sure this has been done before but thought it may be more pertinent now. Does reloading save money? A box of good quality ammo for 6.5 Creed and others is now £50-£55. I know you can get it cheaper Hornady white tail ammo etc but you often have to travel. I have kept all my factory cases just in case! I have heard you can get the kit for under £400 and you can go on courses. Also how long does it take to load 20 rounds of ammo on average? I am fairly time poor!

It does for me as all my reloading equipment was bought long ago, my first press an RCBS Rockchucker in 1977, and scales, RCBS 505 in maybe 1980. So cost wise they paid for themselves long ago.

How long is a piece of string? Too many I think spend money on reloading equipment that they don't need (or could get by without) as they read and view too much of what "internet influencer" types write.

When I started reloading you bought a press (with compound leverage) and you bought a set of dies (and a if loading rifle cartridges powder funnel) and then acquired a Lee scoop, or made your own, after a fellow reloader with a set of scales had worked ou the best scoop for the powder load you wished to use with the one weight of bullet you were going to use.

Then you just cracked on. Later you might acquire a case trimmer and deburring tool and then a set of scales. Then a powder thrower an RCBS Uniflow.

And for the past forty years that is all that I have ever had. Yes the RCBS 505 scales were replaced by RCBS 304 in the 1980s and the RCBS trimmer was replaced by a Forster from Otto Weber at Bisley in at a Pistol Anno Domini at about the same time.

And the Rockchucker by an Austrlian Simplex Master in the 2000s when the pistol ban came in and I wanted a press with a taller window for .270 WCF and etc. rifle cartridges. And the Uniflow was replaced by a Lyman 55 and that by an Ohause Duo Measure.

But elsewise that's all I've ever had, five tools. A press, a set dies in that calibre, a powder funnel, a powder thrower, a set of scales, a case trimmer. And cost? Here on SD Classifieds or eBay is your friend.

 

[6mmAI]

I am sure this has been done before but thought it may be more pertinent now. Does reloading save money? A box of good quality ammo for 6.5 Creed and others is now £50-£55. I know you can get it cheaper Hornady white tail ammo etc but you often have to travel. I have kept all my factory cases just in case! I have heard you can get the kit for under £400 and you can go on courses. Also how long does it take to load 20 rounds of ammo on average? I am fairly time poor!

All depends on how much you shoot, I don’t pay for ammunition as it’s supplied via work. Use roughly 1000 bullets a year, but I reload as I can ensure I have the same load all the time as I keep enough components for 18 months. I size cases as I use them, and can then load 100 rounds in a hour.

 

[Fosbery Holster]

If like me you were attracted to obsolete calibre rifles there would then be really no alternative than to reload, but with high prices for each component used nowadays it makes more sense to buy factory for the more modern calibres.
As others have said reloading is another part of the enjoyment of owning and shooting our rifles.