I have a brand new (well I just put 70 rounds through it) USP45c that was paid for with the brass that I have collected and carted around with me for the past 20 years. I have never started to reload yet, even though I was diligently picking up my brass. Up until recently, it really was cheaper in my eye to buy in bulk. Now I barely have time enough to shoot. But this little USP shows that even if you don't reload, it is worth picking up your brass.
Because I wanted to clear the garage out quickly, what I did was advertised on the local gun forum market place. My brass had been separated into basic caliber (didn't differentiate between 223 and 556 etc) so I advertised it by the pound with a rough approximation of round count for $3 a pound. $3 was more than what scrap dealers in my AO were offering. At that price, I had over $1000 in brass sold in under 15 minutes.
I could have probably sold it for more, but it all went to good gunnies stocking up for the big Kalifornia ammo laws and saved me a lot of hassle.
I have also come to realize that not only is cheaper to reload some of my more "hard to find" calibers, but has actually proven to be nearly the only way to get it. While there are plenty of ads in the WTB section of the local trader, rare is the WTS.
.300 BLK in a decent factory load doesn't exist. And the few times I have seen a decent, or rarer....high quality factory load, the prices are well beyond what I can justify paying for it.
.17 Hornet in any load is priced way beyond anything I can justify spending.
When I start spending $1.50- $2.00 per round to shoot, I'll take up golf. That is what I see folks asking/paying for .300 BLK, and nearly as much for .17 Hornet.
Currently, reloading helps keep me shooting, and from taking up golf.
You can get much more of what you want with a kind word and a gun, than with a kind word alone.
You just hit the nail on the head as to why I reload everything.
I shoot precision rifle almost exclusively, and compete with a suppressed 6.5x47L. When the factory ammo is in stock, it's ridiculously expensive, not tuned to my rifle, and woefully underpowered. My practice gun is a straight .223, set up to send pointed 82 bergers at 2900 (matches the 6.5's pretty close to 800 in drop and wind)...of which finding anything remotely close on store shelves is impossible. When I am forced to slum a lowly .308, I can at least hot rod 155's to 2950 and make up for at least some of the garbage that is 308 ballistics.
Along the same lines, I work my tail off, have two young kids...one of which has a bad fishing habit, so we just bought a boat to facilitate...and I need every ounce of performance that I can squeeze out of my ammo/rifles come competition time. My time is limited, and I want my ammo to be the last thing that I worry about when I am running through a PRS match.
The upshot is that it is remarkably cheaper to reload AND make significantly more effective ammo The downside is that I have limited time with which to load, so I am set-up with efficiency in mind: I throw powder with a Prometheus Gen 2 and can have a charge accurate to the kernel of powder within 8-10 seconds, I use a co-ax press so I know my ammo is as concentric as possible, I trim on a Giraud trimmer, and I prime cases with an RCBS hand primer. All said, I can have 1 loaded precision rifle round complete within 10-15 seconds. Good components make or break it for me.
Now I am in possession of a Ned Christiansen 1911, and am eyeballing a Square Deal....God help me.
For me reloading is a hobby. It is relaxing and I get to go off and be by myself for a while. The biggest benefit however is the improved accuracy of my reloads. Not necessarily with the self defense rounds but definitely better than the factory target rounds. I know I save a little money but that is of little consequence to me at this stage of the game. I did a cost analysis once now I don't really care. IT's fun and I even enjoy picking up my brass on my private range ( it's nice not to share space with dangerous idiots ).