FastRope71 wrote:
I break the self imposed rule of many reloaders and carry the ammunition I make every day. I own some of the factory stuff, but I haven't had any issues with my loads in a long time. I know how the components were stored, I know the guy who operating the equipment better than my own brother. I also know when to label a bag of boolits for range use only. I doubt the guy who's livelyhood and family's well being will fess up as fast as me when he's unsure if something isn't quite right.
I'm nor saying that should be the choice for everyone, but it is the choice I have made.
My theory is that if I can't make accurate, reliable, safe ammunition for carry, why should I assume that I can do it for practice? All of our turn-to-and-repel-boarder guns are stoked with handloaded ammo, from The Boss's nightstand .357 to my nightstand .45 ACP, to the carbines in the closet (with the exception of the Mossberg shotgun; I don't do shotshells). This is ammo that we've practiced with, and we know how it performs at ranges from 10 feet to 50 yards out.
Ya dance with the one what brung ya.
But there ain't many troubles that a man caint fix, with seven hundred dollars and a thirty ought six." Lindy Cooper Wisdom
Let me note that for less popular calibers (such as a whole wide world of military surplus calibers) the payoff is a lot faster. 7.5 Swiss or 6.5 x 55 Sweed is expensive to buy, but costs no more than any other mid-sized rifle caliber to load.
When ammo is available as surplus, sometimes one just can't load for the price. A while back you could get Lake City 30-06 from the CMP for about 22-cents each. There is no way I could load -06 for that cheap. Better, more consistent, more accurate yes, but not cheaper.
On the other hand, a box of .45 Colt costs almost $30. And no there is really no good reason for .45 Colt to cost twice as much as .45 ACP. But I can load either for about the same, say 15 cents a round with a cast lead bullet (so $7-8 a box). Eight months ago it would have been about 10 cents, but lead has about doubled in price since then.
Now loading FMJ costs a lot more. 1000 pcs of Golden West 230 grain FMJ is $140, one pound of H. Universal will easily load 1000 rounds so $22 locally. Box of primers is $28-29 these days. Equals $190/thousand.
Breakeven? Reloading? It's a disease, an addiction. It will consume you. Bwaaa ha ha ha!!!
Seriously, though it depends. It depends on the caliber you're talking, how much you put into your loading setup (ie from buying a used single stage to whiz bang progressive w/ power case feed and case trimmers).
Even with buying new Starline brass I saved $15/50 on the first 500 rounds of 45 Colt I loaded.
I've been buying/bidding for cast bullets on Gunbroker from some of the smaller casters represented there. Best pricing I've found lately. Good deals locally seem to have dried up.
"The Guncounter: More fun than a barrel of tattooed knife-fighting chain-smoking monkey butlers with drinking problems and excessive gambling debts!"
"The right of the citizens to keep and bear arms has justly been considered, as the palladium of the liberties of a republic;" Justice Story
I got into loading during the Carter administration so pretty much everything is amortized.
I load practice ammo for everything except shotguns and .22s. Ignoring labor and casting my bullets, my consumables cost for .45 ACP is about 3.6 cents a round.
I just did some quick pricing on line and found used mixed .45 brass ranging from 5 to 6 cents each. Assuming I only get three uses out of a piece of brass, that's another 2 cents a shot, tops. (As it happens, I'm very careful about recovering brass and I'm still using lead I got in '81) Even if I were buying bullets at $ 80/k, that would still be under 14 cents a shot.
I scored a bench at auction today. Occasionally these surplus auctions come along at my workplace when spaces get reorganized. It's been a while since anything showed that fit my immediate needs (and it's a struggle to resist latent packrat tendencies).
My stand up bench for metallic cartridges isn't too comfortable when loading shotshells. I've been wanting to go to a lower bench for shotshells. My MEC 650 is mounted on a 3/4" board and stored under my bench when not in use.
This score will allow me to dedicate a desk height bench to shotshell reloading.
"The Guncounter: More fun than a barrel of tattooed knife-fighting chain-smoking monkey butlers with drinking problems and excessive gambling debts!"
"The right of the citizens to keep and bear arms has justly been considered, as the palladium of the liberties of a republic;" Justice Story
I save $.15 or more on each round of 30SPL. That doesn't even account for 30-06 savings, or the 7.65 Argentine that I have to drive 2 hours to pick up, and it's better than a buck a trigger pull when I get there.
workinwifdakids wrote:
We've thus far avoided the temptation to jack an entire forum.
But what the hell.
Standing for Truth, Justice, and the American Way!
Reloading breakeven point is something that you can’t even begin to consider until you get into the tens of thousands of rounds made for the simple fact you’re paying off the cost of your equipment first…
Depending, of course, on your set-up! If all you’ve got is a Classic Lee Loader then you’re breakeven is after only a few boxes of shells while on the other hand if you’re using a Spolar Gold shotshell progressive loader that comes in around $2,000 with just the basic necessities it raises that point slightly!
Once that’s accomplished it can be very economical to reload your own but as others have mentioned the reason I load is to work up custom loads for my rifles to achieve the utmost accuracy with the optimum amount of velocity and for that reason only…
Sure, if I can save half or more of the retail price all the better but my loads would never be put out by a commercial maker so I can’t really figure that into the equation…
There is a certain type of mentality that thinks if you make certain inanimate objects illegal their criminal misuse will disappear!
Damn the TSA and Down with the BATF(u)E!
Support the J P F O to "Give them the Boot"!!
