Skill comes from practice, practice comes from having ammo

[Deaf Smith]

So reload gang if you want to practice!!! ALOT!

http://www.cabelas.com/p-0032404215922a.shtml
Lee Deluxe Turret Press Reloading Kit Item:IA-215922 $119.99

In addition to the Turret Press and Auto Disk Powder Measure; the kit includes the Lee Safety Scale, unmatched for sensitivity, a primer pocket cleaner, cutter and lockstud to trim the cases and a chamfer tool to deburr cases after trimming. A set of Lee Dies is all that is required to complete this reloading outfit.

Lee carbide dies are $28.99.

You don't need calipers but if you do want 'em... stainless steel ones are $29.99.

And about components..

At Midsouth:

9mm 115gr FMJ are $198.95 per 2000!!!! Remington slugs at that. There are cheaper ones!

Unique 4 lb cannister is $61.84

Winchester small pistol primers are $32.99 per 1000 (let's say you need 2000, that's 65.98 bucks. They are at Cabelas (I paid $29.99 here at the store per 1000.)

Brass is all you need now. Get that on the range, order it fresh, or just get some ammo and shoot it (I get it off the local ranges, FREE!!)

Total cost:

Press setup = $119.99
dies (9mm) = $28.99
9mm slugs (2000) = $198.95
powder 4 lb = $61.84
primers (2000 of 'em) = $65.98

That comes out to $475.75 And for that you have 2000 9mm rounds loaded to with powder to spare.

Now 2000 rounds of 9mm FMJ 115 slugs cost even for the stinky Russian stuff $9 to $10 per 50, or $380 or so dollars!

Won't take you to long to pay off the press & dies, and once that is done the cost of ammo becomes alot less than any store bought ammo.

Cool thing is you can get extra turrents and dies and have several different calibers that can be changed out in 20 seconds.

I have this kind of setup. Have had it for 20 years. Just added a .380 setup and I loaded 100+ rounds tonight to play with my Bersa.

Cost? One turrent for abougt $15 bucks, $30 buck dies, $20 or so for the powder charger. I already had a shell holder ($6 or so) and vola I load .380s now.

I have it set up for 9mm, .380, and M1 Carbine. Might add a .40 S&W next month.

Deaf

 

[Jenny_in_Chico]

Can you load me up 2000 rounds of 9mm, pretty please? *kissy*

 

[lklawson]

Range fees are more expensive for me than ammo.

Can I order a range from Cabelas?

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk

 

[Grenadier]

You aren't going to save any money by loading your own.

However, you will be able to shoot 2-3 times as much ammo for the same money you would have spent on factory loads...

 

[lklawson]

You aren't going to save any money by loading your own.

However, you will be able to shoot 2-3 times as much ammo for the same money you would have spent on factory loads...

Assuming, of course, that you don't set a monetary value on your time.

I know that for some people, it is a time-investment that they're willing to make because it's enjoyable, a hobby, or whatever. But a lot of people don't have that sort of time.

For many professionals, when you factor in the value of your time (what do you get paid "per hour"???), factory ammo is actually cheaper.

Other issues that many people forget is the learning curve and quality control. Beginners take time to learn everything they need and even then it seems that reloaders are always tinkering around with their own recipes. And most of the double-charged, under-charged, squib loads, and dud-primer issues I've heard of come from home reloaded cartridges. I know there are some reloaders who have never had this sort of failure (or a failure rate lower than that of factory ammo) but factory QC is hard to beat.

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure there are lots of great reasons to reload (the idea of tinkering loads particularly appeals to me) but "cheaper" may not actually be one of them and there may be plenty of reasons not to (egad! where would I put the press?!?!).

Peace favor your sword,
Kirk

 

[Deaf Smith]

What I do is this;

When I get home from work, and after dinner, my wife watches 'house hunters'. I go to my little shop and crank out 30-50 rounds of ammo for 9mm or .380 or .38 or .45 (depending on what I need for the weekend.)

Well by Saturday I'm sitting on 100 to 200 rounds of practice ammo!

That only takes about 10 to 15 min a night for 5 nights to make up that much ammo.

So it's real easy. Just last night I pushed a bit and craned out 100 rounds of .380 ACP 95gr FMJ (and you know how much THAT ammo cost in the stores now???)

And tonight, after Krav Maga, I swapped the Lee turrents. Swapped out the .380 for the 9mm, taking about 20 seconds, and cranked out 25 rounds of 9mm. Already had 50 or so 9mm loaded so by tomorrow night I'll have close to 100 rounds of 9mm for the weekend to.

Add my AACK .22 unit and well, I'm ready for an interesting weekend.

That's how you do it!

Deaf

 

[Skpotamus]

My current 45automatic reloads are 230gr lead round nose under 5.1 grains of W231 powder. They work out to $103.11 per 1,000. This is with current bullet prices btw, the powder and ammo were stuff I bought in bulk before the price hikes. So raise powder and primer, drop bullet prices (I think they were close to $20 cheaper when I bought them). Compare that to buying winchester white box which is $145 / 300 at cabelas (bulk price). Cabela's works out to $.33 per shot, or 330 / thousand. I could relaod 3000 rounds for that price.

Now, my reloads are tuned to my guns. They are one hole accurate at 25 yards, which typically means they are more accurate that even high dollar defensive ammo.

Takes me about 3-4 hours to produce that many on my Dillon RL550B reloader. What I typically do is load up a single primer tube of 100 rounds, crank them out in about 20 minutes or so, then do whatever. Think of all that time you have where you have a half an hour to kill and do nothing but sit around or play on the internet. Turn that wasted time into ammo.

Doing 100 to 300 rounds a night gives you anywhere from 500 - 1000 rounds a week to shoot. Which is far more than most people will shoot. So you could get away with reloading once every couple of days and still have plenty of ammo to burn up on your weekends.

Had I gotten one of the faster reloaders, like the 650 or 1050, I could cut that time down to an hour or so. So the time "cost" of free time is pretty negligible. Besides, I don't get paid unless I'm at work, and they make me leave after so many hours, so the whole time argument is a null and void for me.

As far as where to put it, I've seen lots of bench ideas that were compact and easily storable. One guy had made his on a set of sawhorses that he folded up and stored in his closet. Another guy mounted his press to a 2x10 board and bolted it down to his workbench, another guy did the same thing with his desk. There are free plans online to build a small cabinet that opens up into a reloading bench complete with storage for everything. Finding a place is pretty easy.

So I get a lot more ammo at the same price I'd normally spend on ammo, and burn a WHOLE lot more each week. Or it's cheaper, depending on how you want to look at it (I spend the same amount of $$$ on reloading supplies, I just get a LOT more ammo out of it).

Reloading can be a very fun activity, if you liked making models as a kid, think of these as little models that BLOW STUFF UP!!!!!