Reliability of Walmart sourced practice ammo?

[vcdgrips]

Concur re the time v money issue. Presuming apples to apples-- 85.00 @1000 for some plated bullets. 25@ thousand for primers and 20@ pound for powder., I am at 125 @ thousand. I am presuming 0 for picked up brass. It takes me about 3-4 hours to go from the keyboard to having 1000 boxed rounds on a stock 550 or SDB. Even at min wage for the 3-4 hours, at my scale of production, it is essentially a wash when reloadable, brass cased 115 FMJ practice ammo can be had at 180ish @1000 all day long.

[Lester Polfus]

I really enjoy my Lee Classic Turrent press, but I still buy all my 9mm ammo. I shoot multiple thousands of rounds of that, and there's no way I'm going to sit there and crank that handle on either the LCT or a Dillion when 9mm is so cheap. I do have 5 gallon buckets of brass sitting in the garage, in case the economics changes.

It would technically still be "cheaper" to just work overtime than to reload .38 Special, 10mm and .357 but I reload lots of that every winter. Usually a 1k or so of each will get me through the next year.

It does pencil out both time and money wise to reload 100 round lots of premium hunting rifle ammo though.

When I was younger and broker, much of my practice ammo was assembled on a single stage press c-clamped to the kitchen table...

[WDR]

Truth. You have to find the balance that works for you.

With a Dillon or other progressive press, it really does not take much time, IF you have settled on a load, and can just sit down and crank ammo out. Fiddling around and testing loads can burn up a ton of time in a hurry. Some folks are compelled to tinker incessantly, chasing some particular trait ( accuracy, "shoots soft"/"shoots flat" etc) in search of perfection. Others settle on one load that works, and just stick with it. I do both sometimes, but settling on a standard load for most uses helps you avoid tinkering and wasting time.

I loaded up 2500 rounds of 147gr 9x19 on my Dillon 550 last spring, at a pace of about 200-400 rounds at a sitting after work ( I work 12's) over the course of a couple weeks. Maybe a couple of hours at each sitting, give or take. All told, I probably spent 5-6 evenings loading ammo after the kids were in bed. My costs for that run were roughly 50% of what I could have bought AE9FP for from SG Ammo at the time... I got a good deal on 2500 147gr Hornady FMJ's right as I was getting ready to order a case of the Federal load. It will take me a while to burn through that.

I also loaded a pretty good pile of 148gr HBWC .38 in a similar fashion last spring. 200 rounds a night for a few nights adds up quickly. Bonus with wheelguns: It's easier to keep track of your brass.

9mm is sometimes hard to justify loading, but if the brass is free, it can be worth it. With some steel case loads under $150 shipped per 1000 right now, I can see why some folks just don't bother. When I shoot on an indoor range, I sometimes buy CCI Blazer or the Federal clone, just to avoid losing brass.

I am 100% certain that I have not saved a single thin dime by reloading... but I can tell you I've probably shot a lot more for my money.

[HCM]

With a Dillon or other progressive press, it really does not take much time, IF you have settled on a load, and can just sit down and crank ammo out. Fiddling around and testing loads can burn up a ton of time in a hurry. Some folks are compelled to tinker incessantly, chasing some particular trait ( accuracy, "shoots soft"/"shoots flat" etc) in search of perfection. Others settle on one load that works, and just stick with it. I do both sometimes, but settling on a standard load for most uses helps you avoid tinkering and wasting time.

I loaded up 2500 rounds of 147gr 9x19 on my Dillon 550 last spring, at a pace of about 200-400 rounds at a sitting after work ( I work 12's) over the course of a couple weeks. Maybe a couple of hours at each sitting, give or take. All told, I probably spent 5-6 evenings loading ammo after the kids were in bed. My costs for that run were roughly 50% of what I could have bought AE9FP for from SG Ammo at the time... I got a good deal on 2500 147gr Hornady FMJ's right as I was getting ready to order a case of the Federal load. It will take me a while to burn through that.

I also loaded a pretty good pile of 148gr HBWC .38 in a similar fashion last spring. 200 rounds a night for a few nights adds up quickly. Bonus with wheelguns: It's easier to keep track of your brass.

9mm is sometimes hard to justify loading, but if the brass is free, it can be worth it. With some steel case loads under $150 shipped per 1000 right now, I can see why some folks just don't bother. When I shoot on an indoor range, I sometimes buy CCI Blazer or the Federal clone, just to avoid losing brass.

I am 100% certain that I have not saved a single thin dime by reloading... but I can tell you I've probably shot a lot more for my money.

Great point about how certain shooting venues don’t lend themselves to retrieval of brass.

I prefer to shoot outdoors but sometimes work, life and other commitments mean an evening session at an indoor range is the only option.

[deputyG23]

Agreed that 9mm, at today's prices, isn't worth the time to reload. I get a better return by loading .38 practice ammo at about $6/50 versus $14 or more for store bought. I have a crap ton of brass and several thousand primers and pounds of powder in reserve in case of another ammo drought or a reduction in income.