Why don't you hand load?

[F-Trooper05]

Just curious why so many people here don't hand load? I don't because I'm poor and lazy (and also because I don't want to be "that guy" at the range who's constantly searching for his brass).

What's your excuse?

[Slavex]

I load because I'm cheap. But I don't hunt for brass. I hold weekly classes and I steal my students brass at the end of class. The more I make them shoot, the more I get. mwa hahahaha

[Joe in PNG]

I don't load because I'm not allowed to have guns in New Guinea. And, when I'm back in the USA... wait one dang minute here, why the heck don't I load?

[LittleLebowski]

Kids, time.

[JV_]

I don't because I'm poorThat's interesting, I reload for this exact reason.

It was getting too expensive to spend an extra $100-$115 on a case of ammo - especially when I'm burning through 15-25 cases per year. The Dillon 1050 paid for itself in the first year. Now, in exchange for 75 minutes of my time, I'm paying $100 per case of 9mm.


Kids, time.

I can spend one early Saturday morning, before the family is up, loading up a case or two of ammo and be set for a 45-60 days. I made my kids a workbench in the basement - so if they're up early, they can come down and do their own thing. They really like it - and I enjoy the company.

[ToddG]

Because policing brass is the devil's work.

[JV_]

Because policing brass is the devil's work.Then I must be headed straight to hell - I have (4) 5-gallon buckets filled with 9mm brass. As long as I don't lose too many in classes - I'm set for a while.

[LHS]

I don't have the space in my home to set up a press. I'm planning on an addition though, and one of the specific purposes will be to have a reloading room.

[NickA]

I started reloading last year, then joined an indoor range where I can't reclaim brass, so I'm kind of reevaluating right now. In all honesty I probably don't shoot enough to justify reloading, but the savings adds up, plus I enjoy it. Next year I guess I'll see if I can mix in enough trips to IDPA matches and outdoor ranges to self-sustain on brass.

[LOKNLOD]

Start up costs. If I have that much spare funding there is usually something else waiting for it. I buy most of my ammo in small quantities sporadically. I realize that's not necessarily ideal.
Lack of knowledge about what I really need to do it right.
Lack of time to spend messing with it.
Lack of space to keep the setup out and functional.
Relatively low volume of shooting means it would take me a while to get the payback on it.

[JAD]

Kids, time.
Kid(s) != time.
time = money
therefore,
kid(s) != money

I love it when math works.

(I reload at 04:30)

[JMS]

Too many frothing-at-the-mouth practitioners interrupt my shooting time by laying a hand on me to ask "Mind if getcha brass!??" and spray spit in my face. Somehow, I'M the bad guy for asking you guys if you'd gargled with urine that day, and shoving you back to arm's distance.....

Here's a picture of the everyday reloader at the range, after being told "No, the range gets my brass."

http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/7599/smeagolr.jpg

Don't wanna become That Guy.

[JV_]

Kid(s) != time.
time = money
therefore,
kid(s) != money


My basement is unfinished, and my kids love riding bikes down there. So, they're frequently asking me if I have to work in the basement so they can ride (they won't go alone). If there's space, and you create an environment for them to enjoy it, reloading doesn't have to mean time away from the family.

[JV_]

Don't wanna become That Guy.Hey .... I'm pretty sure we frequent the same range :o

FWIW: Enough people offer me their brass, when I'm periodically cleaning up my area, that I don't have to ask. Plus, asking would mean that I have to display some social skills.

[JAD]

My basement is unfinished, and my kids love riding bikes down there. So, they're frequently asking me if I have to work in the basement so they can ride (they won't go alone). If there's space, and you create an environment for them to enjoy it, reloading doesn't have to mean time away from the family.

Soon yes. It was easy when Griffin was small enough to sit in his bouncer (he did that while I reloaded for a while), but now that he's two there is just no way to adequately kid-proof the reloading room. When he's three, and I've had enough time to get a locking fire cabinet (grumble, expense, grumble) put in place, we should be good to go.

[jetfire]

Just curious why so many people here don't hand load? I don't because I'm poor and lazy (and also because I don't want to be "that guy" at the range who's constantly searching for his brass).

What's your excuse?

Because for me it's not actually cheaper to hand load. Being self employed, my time has a dollar amount associated with it, and the time I'd spend reloading isn't worth the "savings" I'd get by doing it. I'd end up costing myself somewhere around 10 bucks per hour to reload 1000 rounds, where just buying ammo costs me 2-5 bucks per hour.

[Cookie Monster]

Instead of reloading, I am dry-practicing.

Start up cost have kept me out as well as having enough hobbies and projects I don't already keep up with.

Happy to have the reloaders pick up my brass, thanks guys.

Cookie Monster

[JeffJ]

Because for me it's not actually cheaper to hand load. Being self employed, my time has a dollar amount associated with it, and the time I'd spend reloading isn't worth the "savings" I'd get by doing it. I'd end up costing myself somewhere around 10 bucks per hour to reload 1000 rounds, where just buying ammo costs me 2-5 bucks per hour.

This is only true if the time you spend reloading is taking away from time that you could be producing at work (with your job it very well might) For me, my wife has evening meetings once to twice a month and I go reload after the kiddo goes to bed at 7:00 and get a couple thousand rounds done while she's gone.

I think that once you hit around 1000 rds/mo that it starts to make more sense as far as dollars and time goes. I bought a used square deal B and to get everything I needed (tumbler, scale, calipers, etc.) I ended up with a total investment of about $400 - I can load 1000 rounds for $90 (lead, picked up brass, 9mm)

[Tamara]

Kid(s) != time.
time = money
therefore,
kid(s) != money

I love it when math works.

(I reload at 04:30)

As usual, xkcd says that so well (http://xkcd.com/946/)...

I've got plenty of reloading crap and buckets 'n' bags of brass, but I just never bothered setting it up after I moved here to Indy. I even bought a little Black & Decker Workmate table to which I can c-clamp my little Lee turret press so I can put it away when I'm done, but I just haven't yet. I'll get around to it. You know, one of these days.

[NickA]

My basement is unfinished, and my kids love riding bikes down there. So, they're frequently asking me if I have to work in the basement so they can ride (they won't go alone). If there's space, and you create an environment for them to enjoy it, reloading doesn't have to mean time away from the family.

My daughter always wants to help with "your machine". Since she's too small to reliably pull the handle, and 5 year olds and explosives don't mix, she plays in the garage while I load and then her job is to put them in the boxes.

[LittleLebowski]

My basement is unfinished, and my kids love riding bikes down there. So, they're frequently asking me if I have to work in the basement so they can ride (they won't go alone). If there's space, and you create an environment for them to enjoy it, reloading doesn't have to mean time away from the family.

This is my plan once my children get older (and start sleeping more). My oldest already plays in the basement while I work there.

[ToddG]

Because for me it's not actually cheaper to hand load.

You also get to claim your ammo expenses on your taxes, making the overall impact of that cost lower.

I actually spent more on ammo last year than I did on our mortgage... the tax thing really matters. :cool:

[LittleLebowski]

Truf.


Too many frothing-at-the-mouth practitioners interrupt my shooting time by laying a hand on me to ask "Mind if getcha brass!??" and spray spit in my face. Somehow, I'M the bad guy for asking you guys if you'd gargled with urine that day, and shoving you back to arm's distance.....

Here's a picture of the everyday reloader at the range, after being told "No, the range gets my brass."

http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/7599/smeagolr.jpg

Don't wanna become That Guy.

[Chemsoldier]

I dont like it.

I have the gear and I do still reload for infrequently used and expensive calibers (.44 mag, .30-06). Ultimately though I dont enjoy it and would rather spend the money than the time on ammunition.

I also refuse to buy cheap beer. Life is too short...

[jumpthestack]

For the potential reloaders with kids, just be aware reloading is associated with a certain amount of lead dust and kids are much more sensitive to lead than adults. Not that big a deal, but tumbling brass and separating it from the media should be done outside somewhere where the kids don't go, and then if they're going to be around reloading / reloading components, make sure they don't touch or if they do touch, wash hands before eating or putting fingers in mouths.

[TGS]

Too many frothing-at-the-mouth practitioners interrupt my shooting time by laying a hand on me to ask "Mind if getcha brass!??" and spray spit in my face. Somehow, I'M the bad guy for asking you guys if you'd gargled with urine that day, and shoving you back to arm's distance.....

Here's a picture of the everyday reloader at the range, after being told "No, the range gets my brass."

http://img198.imageshack.us/img198/7599/smeagolr.jpg

Don't wanna become That Guy.

Dude, your posts are amazing.

[Tamara]

Dude, your posts are amazing.

Tell me about it! I'd have given a finger to have typed that!

[NETim]

I enjoy reloading. I can't imagine life without it.

[JAD]

Tell me about it! I'd have given a finger to have typed that!

1197

I see what you did there.

[secondstoryguy]

I've reloaded for precision rifles for years but I've never had any interest in reloading 9mm until recently. Most ranges that I currently use require me to police brass. My logic is that if I'm picking it up and allowed to keep it I might as well start saving it. I've been casually stocking it up and now have about 3 5 Gallon buckets full in the garage. I plan go buy a press next month. After the initial cost of the press is absorbed, my calculations indicate that I could save a considerable amount allowing me to shoot more. If I had the financial means I would never bend over and pick up another piece of brass but in my current money situation it seems like a no brainer.

[TAZ]

I'm just lazy :). I used to spend a lot of time reloading and have a pretty good set up in my garage. My shooting routine has diminished considerably after my son came along, so I can make ends meet without reloading. Switching to 9 recently also has me at a component disadvantage, but I'm planning on changing that by using a brass exchange program and converting my piles of 45 brass to 9mm ammo and then reloading my "new" brass.

My Christmas plan is to reconfigure the 650 from 45 to 9 and be ready to run again after I build up some brass piles. My boy is getting old enough to start coming to the range and hopefully enjoy shooting with me.

[rsa-otc]

Dude, your posts are amazing.

Buddy are you trying to tell me something? :p

[JMS]

Dude, your posts are amazing.

Amazingly boneheaded, in this case. I typed "everyday reloader," which is stupidly broad-brush. Narrow it to "typical gun-range brass prospector."

I'm frankly jealous of the folks that can produce their 9mm practice ammo for rates that can approach $.11/round, recipe-dependent.

In my case, I let out my finished basement to a colleague, whose son is occasionally in-residence. He thinks the kid's "very well-behaved...," when in fact he's a 6yr-old lockpicking psychopathic gremlin (do not feed past midnight, etc.....) who was booted from a school this year for violent behavior. From a private school that supposedly specializes in helping normalize that sort of thing. Awesome.

It was enough effort to make a securable room he can't get into just to keep guns, ammo, and certain other expensive/irreplacable items out of his dickskinners. Needed an arms-room, anyway, so no big deal by itself, but I don't have another space in which to do that for reloading equipment AND accellerants. I'm certain that arson will be his next trick, and since I can't justify lashing him with a knout when he breaks bad, it'll have to wait.

Otherwise, I'd be all over it. One day....

[Mr_White]

I don't hand load because I have absolutely nowhere available at home to set it up, and the indoor range I do 99% of my shooting and practice at requires use of their ammo. Certainly costs more, but is incredibly convenient which is a big time advantage in getting practice.

If I had somewhere to set it up though, I could see getting into reloading and doing more practice elsewhere.

[David Armstrong]

Because for me it's not actually cheaper to hand load. Being self employed, my time has a dollar amount associated with it, and the time I'd spend reloading isn't worth the "savings" I'd get by doing it. I'd end up costing myself somewhere around 10 bucks per hour to reload 1000 rounds, where just buying ammo costs me 2-5 bucks per hour.
That's me. My time and knowledge are what I trade in, and both of them are valuable to me. I understand reloading as a hobby or as a way to relax for those who do it for those reasons, but the economic argument has never really seemed to work that well for me.

[fuse]

I hold weekly classes and I steal my students brass at the end of class. The more I make them shoot, the more I get. mwa hahahaha

I'm berry jelly of this

[ford.304]

I'm really kind of curious how the math works out for different people. Ignoring initial costs of the press itself and assuming the brass gets reused at least 5 times, the .45 ACP I reload for practice runs about $0.17 each. Cheapest that *I've* been able to find .45 practice ammo online is about $0.34 per. So if I do 200 rounds/hour I'm at $34 an hour (slightly more than my day job as a software engineer). If I do 300 rounds/hour that's $51/hour, which is *much* higher than my day job salary.

Are you guys getting that much of a better deal on bulk ammo, 9mm that much less of an advantage for reloading, or do your day jobs just pay that much better? ;-)

[jon volk]

I don't own equipment and $200 per 1k rounds doesn't hurt my wallet too bad.

[mizer67]

I can't imagine enjoying shooting as much without reloading.

For $.12/round I can produce 9mm that shoots an average of 3, 10-round groups into 1.5" at 25 yards out of a Glock 17, has a recoil impulse I like and shoots POA/POI.

For $.17/round I can produce 5.56mm 55 gr. FMJ that holds MOA to 400 yds.

For $.40/round I can load 5.56mm 77 gr. ammo that holds .6 MOA to 600 yds.

I can't find any factory training ammo that can duplicate the above.

Even the factory loaded Match ammo often cannot, at considerably higher prices than typical training ammo.

Plus, I never have to worry about whether or not I can find ammo that I like, or find ammo in general. It's much easier to store a large volume of components than finished rounds and easier on the wallet too. My resupply is my garage.

Finally, with the right investment in equipment (case and bullet feeders and a vibra-prime), I can "make" more in an hour reloading 9mm than I can working, after taxes, easily.

[Shawn.L]

I pay under .20/round on 9mm, and shoot roughly 1k/month. Thats under $200/month over 12 months thats $2400. Reloading might save me anywhere from .05-.10 cents per round. Or $600-$1200/ year. Equipment costs means I wont break even until the first year somewhere depending on what I buy.

Thats not a significant enough amount of money for me to save to invest the time, any time at all, in the act of reloading, the learning how process, or the risk of blowing up my gun or having a squib lodge in the bbl.

In the list of limited resources in my life time and focus on a skill is much higher than money. So its much easier and more effective for me to spend my time and energy thats already near maxed out on my current endeavors and simply throw the small amount of money Id save by reloading at the problem.

[Rex G]

I cannot trust other members of the household to leave things alone. One favorite activity seems to be consolidating things; I might find all of the powders consolidated into one can, for example. Don't laugh; I have already found some older, already-carried .40 Gold Dots, for example, mixed and consolidated with my stored new Gold Dots. I have found pristine, boxed knives tossed together into a container, with the original boxes tossed into the garbage. I won't even bother to say where I have found some of my treasured books. No, I would not feel comfortable with ammo components being in the house, unless and until I can construct a lockable handloading room.