For those of us who dig .45, the calculus is a little better.
For those of us who dig .45, the calculus is a little better.
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I like reloading .38 special quite a bit. Especially wadcutters or SWCs. .45 ACP is pretty great savings wise as well. Even more so when I load .357 mag or .41 magnum.Originally Posted by JAD
Also I feel like the people talking about "what's the value of your time compared to just buying cases of 115gr steel cased crap?" often miss the point that I'm not comparing my handloads to a bunch of Tula.
Compare your handloads cost wise to a 147 grain factory ammo instead.
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That's very close to the number I came up with.
I reload 9mm but then I have more time than money.
How's that old Lefty Frizzell song go?If you've got the money honey I've got the time
In the P-F basket of deplorables.
Or do you get better by doing 35% more live fire for the same money?
Pretty sure in the history of reloading, money was actually saved by nobody, ever...
In my case my equipment investment might be difficult to cost justify, but I have it, and I always aspire to doing more volume.
Seriously, if you think you will dislike the task, and would do it only to keep $50 a month or so in your pocket, that is like the cost of a case of craft beer. OTOH if you like working with cool tools and get an appreciation for a shiny pile of ammo you had a hand in, and it cost $50 less, you already have the equipment sitting there then why not give it a try and decide for yourself. You might end up liking it and gaining a feeling of satisfaction.
That right there is how I ended up with that dang ol RL1100...
ETA:
Loading anything other than 9mm is pretty much like printing money The cost of the bullet changes a few pennies, and other than that...
My 9mm load today, 147 gr Gallant coated, is $204 a thousand at current prices.
Dare I compare that to 147 Syntech at $450 a thou or must I treat it as no better than $259 Blazer Brass?
It is a darn sight more pleasant to shoot than econoball.
P.S. I am retired with time to reload, dry fire, live fire, and watch Braves baseball.
Code Name: JET STREAM
I usually shoot my own 147gr 9mm reloads. I have tons of brass and powder on hand, pre-covid sunk cost. I have ~4-5k 147gr bullets on hand. I have not bought primers since pre-covid. The last 5k primers I bought was CCI small pistol, for about $25/k. I've been using my old stock of WSP (some as low as $10/k) up, and I'm about to break into that 5k CCI SP, but I'm having the same quandary. Primers are still often 8-10 cents each, delivered, which is ~30% of the cost of some new factory 9mm ball.
The curve ball for me is .38 and .357... I can save myself a LOT of money reloading those rounds. I have plenty of powders, brass and bullets on hand, for the volumes of each of those that I shoot. If I use up all my primers loading 9mm, I'd have to buy primers again at what I consider inflated prices to load .38/.357, or I'd have to buy factory revolver ammo. My current thinking is to load 1-2k 9mm, and maybe 1k .38, while waiting to see if primer prices drop more in the next 6-12 months, keeping ~3k reserve for future 9/38/357 loads.
CCI Blazer Brass 147gr can be had for about $270/k. AE9FP can be had around $300/k. Tax adds a bit to those prices. I'd likely be buying ammo now, if I could get either of those for closer to $200-$225/k. If I was willing to use 115gr or 124gr factory ball, I could maybe come close to my "buy it now" 9mm pricing. Buying ammo saves a lot of labor/time, but, I enjoy reloading.
Ammo prices seem to have somewhat stabilized at a "new normal", but you are also seeing Winchester offer some fairly significant rebates on multiple rifle calibers right now, so maybe there is some room for more downward pressure in the market. If you start seeing Federal/CCI/Speer offering rebates, I'd suspect lower primer prices would follow soon.
What am I missing? I have recently purchased a few thousand 124s, and I also have a couple thousand 115s. What’s the deal with 147s and USPSA?
Bigger bullets= less powder and are “softer” shooting. If you look at the uspsa survey 124s are still very popular.
I settled on 124ish because sigs didn’t like 147s accuracy wise. If it shoots accurate in the gun, I’ve settled on, it probably doesn’t matter that much in terms of my placement in matches.
Agreed. This is where the equation breaks down for me.
I’m happy to load 44 Magnum and 45 Colt but not 9mm or 308. I like that factory ammo leaves you with once-fired brass. I’m not a fan of range brass as a rule. Too many people do all the wrong things on the loading bench and leave little time bombs in their wake.
Okie John
“The reliability of the 30-06 on most of the world’s non-dangerous game is so well established as to be beyond intelligent dispute.” Finn Aagaard
"Don't fuck with it" seems to prevent the vast majority of reported issues." BehindBlueI's
When I run out of my pre-CovidRiotDeathPanic supplies, I won't go back to loading 9mm unless primer prices drop. At current prices, it's even money for reloads of bulk ammo.
On the other hand, .357 and anything that starts with a 4 is still money saved...lots of money.
"Gunfighting is a thinking man's game. So we might want to bring thinking back into it."-MDFA
Beware of my temper, and the dog that I've found...
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