Have you worked out your cost per round?

gixer1

Well-Known Member
After reading some of the posts on copper prices and general head prices going up, and with the cost of powder - just curious if we are getting much benefit on the cost side from reloading (also factoring in the reloading gear)

looking at my 06 rounds im looking at -

39p/head
37p of powder
18p For brass assuming 6 reloads.
7p/primer

so £1.01/bang not including the cost of reloading gear...

it’s certainly gone up over the last few years, I dread to think what the cost will be when we are forced to go with copper! It’s looking like. 50% increase per round!

regards,
Gixer
 
Reloading for my heavy calibres the cost (with 'exotic bullets') is substantial

between 100 and 330 p/head
60p of powder
40p for brass assuming 4 reloads.
7p/primer

Worst case therefore - about £4.40 per bang

Cost of purchase of commercial rounds estimated at between £8.00 and £12.00 per bang

Fun and interest - priceless
 
I have previously worked out costs for mine. I can’t buy premium ammunition for what I can load it for. Even if I charge my hourly rate it is a slight saving. I suppose it depends on if you can get away with using PPU etc or you are looking at forty pounds plus a box.
 
I have previously worked out costs for mine. I can’t buy premium ammunition for what I can load it for. Even if I charge my hourly rate it is a slight saving. I suppose it depends on if you can get away with using PPU etc or you are looking at forty pounds plus a box.

yeah, it’s still cheaper, but an example is I load 85gr BTSP’s for my 243, and they pretty much touch at 100yards, so about as good as you can hope for, I wanted some cheap brass recently and so bought 3 boxes of PPU 100gr, I put a few ppu through the same rifle the other day and they were hitting same POI and the group was maybe a 3/4” so absolutely nothing wrong with it, we also chrono’d them and they were consistent. As others have said I enjoy the process of reloading and the slight cost advantage is a bonus but it seems like the cost advantage may be reducing!

regards,
Gixer
 
Thanks @gixer1 I had guessed about that cost, to be honest even if the cost was comparable I would still load my own, I actually enjoy doing it.
As an aside, how much are copper bullets?
I'm thinking of making the change to copper
Cheers
Richard
 
After reading some of the posts on copper prices and general head prices going up, and with the cost of powder - just curious if we are getting much benefit on the cost side from reloading (also factoring in the reloading gear)

looking at my 06 rounds im looking at -

39p/head
37p of powder
18p For brass assuming 6 reloads.
7p/primer

so £1.01/bang not including the cost of reloading gear...

it’s certainly gone up over the last few years, I dread to think what the cost will be when we are forced to go with copper! It’s looking like. 50% increase per round!

regards,
Gixer
It’ll not matter to me I’ll be using lead being as there’s no good reason not to
 
yeah, it’s still cheaper, but an example is I load 85gr BTSP’s for my 243, and they pretty much touch at 100yards, so about as good as you can hope for, I wanted some cheap brass recently and so bought 3 boxes of PPU 100gr, I put a few ppu through the same rifle the other day and they were hitting same POI and the group was maybe a 3/4” so absolutely nothing wrong with it, we also chrono’d them and they were consistent. As others have said I enjoy the process of reloading and the slight cost advantage is a bonus but it seems like the cost advantage may be reducing!

regards,
Gixer
I’ve found ppu excellent in both 7-08 and .222
 
Thanks @gixer1 I had guessed about that cost, to be honest even if the cost was comparable I would still load my own, I actually enjoy doing it.
As an aside, how much are copper bullets?
I'm thinking of making the change to copper
Cheers
Richard
From what I’m seeing people mentioning on here is over a £1/head! TSX’s seemed to be £53/50 when you include delivery for an 85gr 6mm...

regards,
Gixer
 
Rough costs for me excl brass. I've paid for my Lee Breech lock reloading kit a few times over. Bullets were cheaply obtained when I visited South Africa.

270 Win (95p/round)

110gr GSC Copper 47p
63gr Ramshot hunter 41p
Federal 215 primer 7p

6x45 (59p/round)

62gr GSC Copper 35p
25.5gr Reloder 7 17p
CCI450 primer 7p
 
It makes perfect sense to me for most of my rounds.

300WSM 69p per bullet, 37p powder, 7p primer, 10p brass = £1.23 per round for a premium bullet matched to perform in my rifle. Factory fodder is circa £3.50/round. Plus I use it alot to practice. "saves" me lots of money. :lol:

260Rem hard to get ammo. 65p per bullet, 26p powder, 10p brass, 7p primer. £1.08 as per the above.

22.250 easy to get ammo but I already have invested in the kit. Plus I love reloading. 34p per bullet. 22p powder, 7p primer 8p brass = £0.71 per round.

.308 same as 22.250 in terms of ease and availability but 50p bullet, 29p powder, 7p primer, 8p brass. £0.94 per round.

I have fired over 600rounds through my 300WSM in the past two years. I appreciate that if I didn't reload that number would be lower but based on that alone savings of over £1,200 for just one calibre.
 
Many years ago whilst at University in the mid 70s I looked at the cost of reloading shotgun cartridges; the answer was that I would have to make over 120,000 before I paid for the reloading gear without putting in anything for my time. As I was then shooting 4-5000 rounds a year I abandoned the thought. Not many years later (in about 1980) and my first 6.5x55 I started reloading. The reason was that almost the only ammunition available commercially was Norma which my Heym SR20 with a very light barrel did not like and a 2 1/2" group was the usual result. With home loads I once achieved 5 touching rounds from the same rifle (I put it down to "heat-creep") on a range I cannot shoot like that nowadays and am happy with 1 1/4" with either eye, either shoulder. At that time the savings to be made from home-loading were significant and the accuracy premium measurable but as more factory loaded ammunition became available in the UK for that calibre I was able to find rounds giving consistently accurate results. One of the reasons for choosing the calibre was the extended life of the brass which in 6.5x55 is relatively thick. By setting the dies to only resize to about 1.5/1000" on the chamber I was regularly able to use the same brass quite safely up to 20 times.I do believe the marketing departments of the manufacturers have become more adept at their pricing to leave smaller margins for the home-loaders.
Like Roestalker39 I shall continue to use lead for as long as we are allowed so to do; there are very good physical reasons to do with density of materials for continuing its use and good culinary as well as chemical reasons for cutting around the damaged flesh. End of Rant!
 
Gixer there are far too many variables to directly compare my reloading costs per round with yours, the biggest one being the cost of the bullet. However by careful purchasing the last time I costed my reloading it worked out at around or just over 72p a round for both .308win and 8x57irs.

The 9.3x74 varies considerably once again due to the particular bullet, but in any case the cost saving over factory ammo is substantial. I managed to pick up a job lot of 175 grain Sellior & Bellot bullets at a huge saving meaning that a loaded round is about 1/4 of the price of a factory round. Using the Nosler ballistic tip bullet, again purchased at a favourable price, is a bit more but still means I can reload for about 1/3 of the cost of a similar horrendously priced factory round.

I never made a huge investment in equipment just good sound basic equipment, and in any case most of my stuff is donkey's years old and has paid for itself many times over. My time costs nothing as it is my hobby and something that I find both relaxing and therapeutic. The satisfaction I get from loading my own rounds is simply priceless.

I have however noticed that the costs of components have risen over time and will have to work harder in future when my stocks reduce to source replacement components at the right price.

Some of my previous costs have been;
8x57irs once fired RWS cases from e-gun.de 11 Euro per 100.
9.3x74r once fired Norma cases from egun.de 15 Euro per 100
.308win once fired Lapua cases from my local police shooting club £10 a hundred.
.308 Norma bullets £25 per 100 from a site member
Various 8mm bullets from different site members, average cost about £28 per 100.
1,000 Muron primers from HPS £24
Powder has varied but I've had some good bargains in the past from various sources. This is one area where prices seem to have risen the most.

I have to make it clear though that I don't stick rigidly to any single recipes, my loads will be tested as part of my practice regime and will be serviceable and accurate for the reduced ranges that I stalk at (max 200 yards). I'm simply looking to produce good serviceable loads that do the job, and not produce high spec premium loads that will only ever be shot at stalking distances anyway.
 
Gixer there are far too many variables to directly compare my reloading costs per round with yours, the biggest one being the cost of the bullet.

it wasn’t a comparison between my rounds and yours - more of a how much are you paying per bang just to see if people feel there is still a large financial benefit to reloading - I would hazard a guess it’s not as big as some would think when you factor in the reloading kit and time, also as mentioned factory rounds have obviously improved considerably over the years in both consistency and variety.

I also wonder if people could find a brand/type that would match the accuracy of our reloads...some rifles I would say yes, others possibly not.

I have been lucky in that I bought a lot of my gear in the US where it was significantly cheaper, but if you look at the variety of factory ammo there and the cost you could most likely find a perfectly adequate round.

as said, most of us probably do it for the love of reloading and the fact it’s more convenient to be able to modify and tune a load to suit rather than buying 20 different types of factory round (although I think I’d struggle to get much selection where I am in Scotland!)

regards,
Gixer
 
I don’t dispute PPU can and do give good groups in some weight/cartridge combinations. But even then they are hardly a premium round.
I used to load 87 Vmax for my 243 at 63p/round and 222 40 Vmax or 52 Amax for 32p.
Do you save money reloading? Probably but you do shoot more than you would with factory.
The variables for “savings” are many. Do you count the time taken to go get the components? Let’s face it buying factory who buys 100 at a time? Most I know buy a box maybe two. So that’s 2.5 plus trips to the box of bullets to reload. I could buy a tub of N133 and a thousand primers and have enough for 600 or so rounds in 222 or 20 Tac. Bullets I can buy bulk either in person or online.
I live eight miles from my nearest RFD that is at least an hour and sixteen miles round trip. That must be done during working hours.
So in my opinion you should count your time too.
I would not go back to factory ammunition unless I had no choice otherwise ie lease or course requirements. It would have to cost significantly more for the same bullet and accuracy for each cartridge before I go back.
 
go on dillon reloading they do a free reloading cost calculater you can save to your favourites just substitute £ for $ bs
 
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