Is handloading being rendered obsolete?

Reloading is not obsolete, but like so many things it has become more of a luxury and so has the shooting sports in general. I expect the price of components to come down as demand cools.
 
Have you seen the price of 7.7 jap factory ammo (the rare pccasion it can be found)? 8mm Lebel? .303 Brit? 7.5 Swiss? News flash, all are north of $1.50 per round (really closer to $2.00 out the door in most cases, unless your buying bulk). I can load any of them for $0.80 per round with today's component prices. BUT, I'm still using old stock so in some cases I'm loading for just over $0.50 per round.

Excellent 30-30 and 30-06 can be reloaded much cheaper than factory range fodder. I also cast, so that reduces my cost (but increases time invested) for pistol ammo. I assure you I save money by handloading .38spc and .357 mag. 9mm will be dang near pointless when I run out of old stock (purchased at "normal" price) components, even though I cast. .45acp is kinda in the same boat. Most any revolver cartridge can be handloaded much cheaper than most factory offerings.

And the biggest draw to reloading is the ability to buy bulk deals without dropping thousands of dollars. On a good deal/good day, I can still buy enough TAC to reload 2500 rounds of .223 for about $350. Then, should primers ever go on sale for $60 per 1k with hazmat waived (unlikely but I saw it no long ago), I can buy 3k for $200.00 shipped. Lastly, buy factory seconds Hornaday projectiles if they ever go on sale for $90 per 1k again, and you have 3k projectiles for $300 shipped. Reloading let's you take advantage of bulk pricing one component at anytime, so you don't have to drop $1200 all at once go get a deal. That fact is literally how I'm STILL loading 7.7 jap for >$0.50 per round.
 
Wow! You're able to buy 9mm for $9/50? That's what it cost me to load 124gr coated. Of course I don't shoot that much 9mm anymore.
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Hmm, what am I paying right now...my lead was sourced by a buddy who berm mined a closed range, split it with the guy who smelted, alloyed and ingoted it for me, so cost for lead...zero, incluyding casting and powder coating - the same buddy is always givi9ng me powder coat colors he doesn't like. I don't care if my bullets are pink or yellow as long as they hit the mark.
Primers, we'll use the worst price, $9.99 per 100 right now locally. So, that's $5 per 50 right there. Otherwise, best price I paid recently was still high, $79 per 1000 at Scheels.
Powder, well, last time I bought Accurate Arms #2, which I use 3.8 grains per load, was $33.99 a pound - it's gone up a bit. That's rounded up to two cents per round. So, that's a buck per 50. Brass is free, sourced off the range and given to me, all equipment paid for itself a decade ago. So, yeah, I can load 50 rounds of 9mm for $6 or less. Do not try to throw in that stupid "what's your time worth": because this is a hobby and if I wasn't loading, I'd be right here on the computer or doing something else relaxing, not going in to work. So my time cost doesn't figure in at all, not one penny.
And, like Electrod47 said, its fun and therapeutic. Did I mention when I am loading, nobody bothers me in my little corner of the world?
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I started reloading my ammo early on at age 16. The years was 1954. Cartridges were the 30-30, 30-06 and .38 SPL for a 38/44 Outdoorsman. I wisj I still had. I did find a replacement though many years later and I'm not selling that one.

I cannot remember the last time I used a factory round of ammo on a hunt but probably Labor Day weekend on a deer hunt up in the northwest corner of California. It was the last weekend of the coastal season and I was scheduled to leave a few days later to start military basic training. About the only time I use factory ammo at all these days it for test firing a new to me rifle. All my hunts afterward is with my handloads custom loaded to that rifle.

Early on one did save quite a bit by reloading ammo but also one could shoot a lot more. Much of my fun shooting was with home cast bullets and currently I have about 90 something molds. I even used cast bullets for some of my deer hunting and they worked just fine from the 30-30. I even took a few deer with the 30-06 and cast.

I'm more than willing to bet that just about all the deer I have taken since say 1964 have been with my handloads and I know for sure that every elk I've taken with my handloads. I don't think that will change any time soon.
Paul B.
 
Loading for Bullseye in 38 spl and 45acp, the cost is lower. 9mm
I don't reload. Then the recoil issue is easily dealt with in handholds. I haven't seen a 45 factory load that fits the bill.
 
The highest commercial volume rounds, 9mm for pistol and 223 for rifle, are always going to be the hardest to save money on because there is so much seller competition. One of the old rules of free market economics is that competition tends to drive prices down toward the cost of production. The high volume stuff is all assembled by robots, which will add a very small cost per round, so it isn't surprising the price would eventually come down to parity with component cost at the consumer level.

The plus sides of handloading will continue to be the customizability of loads, the potential for tighter quality control than most commercial loads have, and there are still cost savings in cartridges that are less common than 9mm and 223.
 
I haven't been buying loaded ammo for long time, so I may not be up to date. My range buddy told me he was paying close to $1 a round for 5.56 even buying bulk. I think I can save quite a bit material-wise handloading even at current prices. No I don't shoot more. Quite on the contrary I shoot less. Things aren't cheap, each round needs to count more.

-TL

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk
 
difficult

Don"t know about obsolete, but it certainly has become more difficult for two reasons: cost and availability of components.
 
Costs savings is the most common reason brought up for loading your own.

That's never been a significant reason in why I reload.
 
Cost savings is usually why people start loading.

Better ammo is why they usually continue.

--Wag--
 
Well, I’d like an example…..44 mag 240gr RNFP(not JHP)

FREEDOM: $1.19 per round

ME:
primer: $0.08
Case: $0.26
Powder:$0.11
Bullet: $0.17
Tax:$0.05
Subttl:$0.67
Labor@$80/hr:$0.64
TTL:$1.31

As you can see, labor or the productivity of that labor is my issue here!
 
I can't add labor cost to my cost equation. Nobody is going to pay me anything at the hour when I handload.

-TL

Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk
 
I really like having the ability to load rounds for specific things, and the ability to create accurate ammo that exceeds factory rounds. Reloading has certainly become much more costly, perhaps by design, but it certainly is not obsolete in my opinion.
 
Nathan, people that make $80 per hour probably can afford to buy factory ammo, right? If they can't, they are doing something wrong.
 
Labor@$80/hr:$0.64
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Your labor costs seem wildly out of wack to me.
Unrealistically so.

What idiot is going to pay you $80 an hour to assemble ammunition??

Even the Federal Govt paying union scale isn't that dumb.

You're looking at it the wrong way. Even if you make $80/hr at you "real" job, your time is ONLY worth that to your employer when you are at your job, and on the clock.

It is the value of what you do that determines the value of your time as labor. IF you think you are worth $80/hr no matter what you are doing, you're wrong. Or, at least working under false assumptions. Are you worth $80/hr when you're in the bathroom? When you're asleep? When you're eating??

Does getting 8 hours of sleep cost you $640 in lost wages?? I don't see how your math works.
 
as a side note: i met a guy one time that said his income stream was high enough that; if he stoped and bent over to pick up a $100.00 bill off the ground, he was loosing money. "name bill britt"


i wonder if he handloads ?
 
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