Reloading cost question

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JRobinson

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I have heard many debates on cost of reloaded ammunition. Many say its saves money. Many more say it doens't save you money but you will shoot more.

I am no econmist so here is my question.

If I bought a reloading setup lets says it costs me $300. I know that it will take many rounds of ammunition for it to "pay for itself" Also labor is a cost figure. I would be wasting time anyway so I am not going to figure it into the cost of ammo. So here is the question if I want to reload .30-06, I need to buy bullets, powder, primers, and cases. So how much does one, 150 grain FMJ .30-06 bullet cost? Id like to find out the material cost of one as compared to buying a commercialy made round?

Thanks brother in Arms
 
Well,
The cost of the bullets can be pretty cheep. I think I saw somewhere online, milsurp 150's in .308dia for around $40 per 1000. Powder will of course cost less and less the more of it at a time you buy, but if you want to make up some #'s you will need to find a load data for the 30-06 with that bullet, and divide that by how many grains of powder you will be using per round. That being said, there are aprox 7000 grains of powder in 1 pound. Primers can be had for around $15-$17 per 1000.

Just for the hell of it, I worked up a cost, using a 50 grain powder charge, the milsurp bullets, and primers. I didn't calculate the brass cost, because once you buy it, it's yours. You can reuse it as long as the brass is in good shape, and can be had VERY inexpensively from ebay. Your expendables would come to somewhere around $135 for 1000 rounds of reloads, with almost 1lb of powder left over out of an 8lb keg.

Those are just quick rough figures, but should give you at least an idea.

Adam
 
Powder can be had for $79 for 8 pounds (4895) plus shipping and Haz Mat. 7000 grains per pound. This will make 1120 rounds @ 50 gr per round, 1333 @ 42 gr (7.62 NATO/308), 2153 @ 26 gr (5.56/223).

Primers are about what Adam mentioned.

Bullets can be had for $49 to $70 per thousand. M2 Ball (150 FMJ Flat Base) runs $55 to $70 per thousand. You can use M80 Ball (147 FMJ-BT), and they can be had as $49.

Decernt MILSurp 7.62 NATO runs about $35 to $40 per 140 rd BattlePack.

Decent .30 M2 Ball goes for about $80 per 384 rounds.
 
If he shoots his 30-06 a fair amount, he can recoup the investment faster than he would on pistol ammo. I really don't understand why more shooters don't reload. You don't really save money, you just shoot a lot more for the same money.
 
My match .223 loads cost me 1/2 of what Black Hills blue box cost and shoots better. You will never get the accuracy out of box that you can from reloading. So, to answer your question - I do it for both reasons.
 
Nickle said:
If he shoots his 30-06 a fair amount, he can recoup the investment faster than he would on pistol ammo. I really don't understand why more shooters don't reload. You don't really save money, you just shoot a lot more for the same money.
Click to expand...

Nickle,


Shhhh!! Don't tell our SOs that! [devil]
 
To clear this up... I just did some figures here for myself.

With just buying 1lb of powder, 100 bullets, and a case (1000) primers, for the first 100 rounds of ammo I reload, will be saving me $53 if I payed retail, for the same Federal Gold Medal ammo in 308WIN. The Lee Challenger press I just purchased was $35.

So, not only will I have payed for the press, but will be $18 ahead of the game, after only my first 100 rounds. Well... We won't talk about the extra stuff I bought from Midway at the same time.

Without even going into the entertainment value of sitting at my reloading bench and actually going through the reloading process, I think reloading is a win, win situation!

Adam
 
JRobinson,

The cost of your reloaded .30-06 ammo will depend upon your rifle and how accurate you want to make it. Bullet prices can vary from about $.05 each (surplus military) to about $.20 each (commercial target grade). Powder will vary from $.07 (military pulldown) to about $.11 (commercial) per round. Primers are cheap (less than $.02 each), and I don't even figure in the price of brass since it can be bought once-fired and reused many times. So, depending upon the quality of components you intend to use, a box of 20 rounds will cost you between $2.80 and $6.60. Hope that helps.

Don
 
Adam_MA said:
To clear this up... I just did some figures here for myself.

With just buying 1lb of powder, 100 bullets, and a case (1000) primers, for the first 100 rounds of ammo I reload, will be saving me $53 if I payed retail, for the same Federal Gold Medal ammo in 308WIN. The Lee Challenger press I just purchased was $35.

So, not only will I have payed for the press, but will be $18 ahead of the game, after only my first 100 rounds. Well... We won't talk about the extra stuff I bought from Midway at the same time.

Without even going into the entertainment value of sitting at my reloading bench and actually going through the reloading process, I think reloading is a win, win situation!

Adam
Click to expand...


I've gone over the numbers in for my .45s.

If I buy just normal ammo off the shelf. It's about 25 cents a bang. When I reload, it rounds out to about 7 cents a bang.

So that's a HUGE savings. That's not pricing out the cost of the press. Just the cost of the brass...which you only really buy once, when you buy factory ammo. Then heads, powder and primers.
 
I have reloaded since the early 70's. Right now I shoot a mix of different ammo. I don't reload all the time. I shoot the cheaper wolf, barnaul and norinco ammo and military surplus FMJ ammo were i can and I reload for most calibers too. I'm getting a better quality, more accurate reload for hunting too. Plus reloading the magnum handguns is where you save too. If you shoot a lot it will pay for itself in a short time.

Last winter i was sitting here with nothing to do and i ran about 6k of 308win using yugo 30cal FMJ bullets. It should last me a while plinking. I have 1 more 5 gallon bucket of empty cases to go, maybe next winter. Sometimes its fun and sometimes it can get boring too. At first its fun and you will like to do it but then you will only do it when you really have too. Like when the empty cases pile up.

I cringe ever time i see the prices on the new ammo in the stores. Then i see people at the range who will shoot 5 to 6 boxes of new 30-06 fail safe ammo in a short time too. The cost has to be very expensive for a few hours of shooting.

The point is to save $$ were we can so we can shoot more for less!!!!!

BTW; The affordable LEE dies (RGB & Pacesetter) work awesome in my RCBS press at about half the price of RCBS dies too.
 
If you really want cost per round, I have a spread sheet I got from another reloader that breaks it all down less labor. My cost per round for 45ACP with 230gr Montana Gold FMJ, 4.8gr Tight Group and Federal primer is .05 each

regards,
 
Before I read the second page I started looking for that spreadsheet file, cause it is SOMEWHERE on my PC! Thanks for finding it first!
 
curlymaple42 said:
Before I read the second page I started looking for that spreadsheet file, cause it is SOMEWHERE on my PC! Thanks for finding it first!
Click to expand...

The one I have is even better that the web site. I am just not sure how to export it.

Seems the link will do what you need. Fill in your actual cost, to add in brass, use a price from Starline as a base. You will be surprised at the actual cost per round.

Have fun,
 
I've found a new supplier for components and my .223 match rounds cost me $0.194 per round, or $9.70 per box of fifty. Compare that to $25.00 / 50 of Black Hills blue box and my stuff flies better.

That's using Hornady 75 grain BTHP's, Re-15, and Remmy 7 1/2 BRSRP's. My medium range ammo (600 yards) is a couple pennies higher because I use 80 grain Sierra MK's. Still less than half.
 
That sounds like a good combo, Tony. The Rem 7 1/2 BR's work well, and are not likely to slam fire. I use them when I can't get Winchester Primers, and the Remingtons are probably more accurate.

I standardized on Winchesters, since I buy my primers in lots of 5000, and can mix sizes, but not brands. Of course, I get quite a deal, with the Type 06 FFL discount.
 
I started using WSR's when I first started loading my match rounds because that's all that was available locally and I didn't know better. I've since found that more experienced loaders than I use either Rem 7 1/2 or CCI 400's. The only two hard and fast rules I've found with .223 match is never use WSR primers and never reload Federal brass.
 
Actually, as I understand it, FC brass has a thin web that is subject to a fissure causing blown primers which, as you know, leads to other nasty's.
 
The WSR's are not what I would use in Match ammo. I personally have had problems with CCT's, even though they were good in the past.

For a bolt gun, Federal 205M's and 210M's are my choice for Match ammo.

For semi's, Winchester, except for Match 223 ammo, then it's Rem 7 1/2 BR's.

I agree on Federal Brass.

As far as I'm concerned, the best brass is a toss up between Norma and Lapua. Neither is cheap. For semi's, I use almost strictly military brass, and prefer Lake City (LC), especially LC 65 Match brass for my .308's.
 
I also am partial to LC M118 brass ('72, '77, LR) with IMR4895. The only commercial brass I use is Hornady Match (lighter weight - more case capacity) with heavier bullets and slower powders.

Don
 

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