It gets away from you...

S

SaxonPig

New member
Getting ready to start loading a new caliber. Dies arrived and I threw them on the shelf with the others. Noticed it looked like a large number of boxes. So I counted them. Good Lord I am now loading 30 different calibers.

How did this happen? I started reloading in 1976 when I bought my first 375 H&H and factory ammo was so pricey. Like 50 cents a round. Can you imagine paying 50 cents per round? Of course I had to start loading my own at those prices. Could have been worse. The really big boomers like the British double rifle cartridges were a buck apiece in some cases. I can't even conceive of paying a dollar per cartridge.

Wait, today's newspaper insert ad from the big box sporting goods store featured some 30-30 ammo at $29 for a box of 20. On sale, no less.
 
Expanding collections

You are the champ with 30 calibers. Brother and I began with a .30-06 Lee Loader sometime in the late 1960's. Just counted and surprised myself with 14 calibers and related reloading stuff.

Not an addiction as some have called reloading - rather a calling.

Any more calibers to add in the future?
 
And now here’s what you can do, said Dale offering non solicited advice free and worth the price.

If you are a big fan of self delusion, just wait for something to catch your eye and when your common sense tells you it is too expensive just tell it,

"With all the shooting I’ve done since 1976 I have saved $xxx by reloading, so I CAN have this new thing…my sweat equity has ALREADY paid for it."

And it helps if you live alone.
 
You have me beat by the proverbial country mile. I load .45 ACP and 9mm. At some point I may widen my horizons by adding .38 Special, .45 Colt, and 8mm Mauser. Don't need much more than that -- I can't reload either .22 LR or .22 WMR.
 
I was lucky enough recently to "inherit" a Dillon 550b with ALL THE TRIMMINGS for 9mm, .45, .223, .308, and7mm Mauser... it's a ton of stuff. I've done some single-stage precision .308 reloading with it, and just today bought some plated 9mm bullets to get the progressive ball rolling.

I figure with the price of brass 9mm ammo not looking like it's going to drop much below .30cents per round anytime soon, and I can reload hardcast for less than half, it's more economical than ever to get into reloading even if you only shoot a few thousand per year.

Just think... even if I just buy whatever components are out there, I'd be hard-pressed to pay more than .15cents per reload... that's $150 saved every thousand rounds... so you're only about 2000rds away from a nice Lee Classic Kit (or similar) with some upgrades.
 
I can shoot 4 times as much with the same money that would have been spent on artificially raised factory ammo prices. If I were to just shoot 100 rounds a month, there would be 'real' savings...but alas.
 
Saxonpig, thanks for the warning, but it's too late for me. I took a reloading class 6 weeks ago, received a press for Christmas, and I've already done 9mm, 45 ACP and 38sp within a month. At this rate.......I'm already a goner.
 
I've already done 9mm, 45 ACP and 38sp within a month. At this rate.......I'm already a goner.
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Just wait until you start trying to reload precision rifle rounds. The endless combinations of powder and bullets is mind boggling. Then you have all the things you can do to prep the brass and all the tools that help you do so. All part of that glorious chase for a one hole group...
 
You have me beat by the proverbial country mile. I load .45 ACP and 9mm. At some point I may widen my horizons by adding .38 Special, .45 Colt, and 8mm Mauser.
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Same here, but I load .45 ACP and 10mm. I may add 9mm, .308 Win and .223 Rem at some point.
 
chris in va said:
I can shoot 4 times as much with the same money that would have been spent on artificially raised factory ammo prices. If I were to just shoot 100 rounds a month, there would be 'real' savings...but alas.
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Good luck with that. Lol! I've got 400 rounds of 9mm and still have to load another 600 for my next range trip.
 
The other day, I had a guy on another forum send me a message about a "great deal" on .444 Marlin ammo. A new online store had some Remington 240 gr JSP ammo for $54 per box (20), and Hornady 265 gr FTX for $64 per box (20). :rolleyes:

I'm not a fan of that ammo, anyway; but there's no way I am paying that, when I can load my own, better load, for next to nothing (I swage my own .44 caliber bullets, for 1 to 3 cents each). I didn't have the heart to tell the guy, since he had already ordered 5 boxes of each. :eek:

If I didn't reload, I don't think I could afford to shoot more than once a year. And, I would definitely own fewer firearms. Without the cost effectiveness of reloading, cartridges like .32 H&R, .327 Federal, and .444 Marlin just aren't worth it.

*(I won't shoot import trash ammo.)
 
I think I'm set up for about 20 calibers, it just adds up !

I know a guy with over 150 calibers in his reloading area. That's just the dies. Only God knows the contents of all the boxes and bags on the shelves.
 
I'll mention something that I told my wife, when I got my first gun safe:

"Honey, I have to let you know...if I put a handgun and a long gun in here and close the door...they will multiply."

I tried to tell her, but she didn't listen.....Now, I'm on my second gun safe.....with a shelf above my bench full of reloading dies.....
 
I also began to reload in 1976. I had bought a Mauser P08 replica, and I wanted to load 9mm for it. Then came the Ruger Security Six, so I needed another set of dies...

I've never loaded any rifle calibers, but today I load for 8 pistol calibers: .380, 9mm, .38 Spl., .357 Mag, .40S&W, .44 Mag, .45ACP and .45 Colt.

I always snicker when I read of how someone who was found with 500 rounds of ammo is described as having had an "arsenal". If I only have 500 rounds of any particular caliber on hand, I start to get fretful.

I have 5 gallon plastic tubs of empty cases in each caliber, and I know that I'll NEVER use the vast majority of them, especially the 9mm cases. :eek:

But, I've got no regrets. Having had this much "stuff" on hand has allowed me to skate through these last 2 ammo panics relatively unscathed.
 
Good Lord I am now loading 30 different calibers.
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You're looking @ that the wrong way.

What you should say is thank the good Lord you reload so you can have the luxury of shooting over 30 different calibers!

I've said it before & I'll say it again.

Reloading means you are only a set of dies away from a new caliber. (for the most part)

My reloading gear was paid for long ago due to the savings of reloading the .44 mag.
When I picked up a 9mm, my only real costs were a new set of dies and some .355" slugs.
 
Reloading means you are only a set of dies away from a new caliber. (for the most part)
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That (for the most part) is one of the neatest things about keeping a very wide selection of different powders on hand. Some think it's crazy or some manner of a "hassle" (??!) but, at least in handgun chamberings, I pretty much always have the stuff on hand to spit out some new chambering at the bench.
 
I'm up to 19 different calibers. But some are very similar. I have separate .38 Special and .357 Magnum die sets on Lee turrets - I didn't like having to keep readjusting when switching calibers. Same with 9mm Luger and 9mm Largo.
 
The OP must be the champ, with 30 calibers. But...I do understand. Just the other day I almost bought a 243 because I had a set of dies and some cases that a friend had given me. There's just something wrong with that logic, or is there?
 
Although it didn't "get away from me" I thoroughly enjoy reloading for the guns I have..............Now, if you'll excuse me, a pile of .44spl cases is ready to come out of the tumbler :D:D
 
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