Reloading-how much money could I save?

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Dave3006

New member
I am very seriously thinking of learning how to reload. I am curious to know how much I could expect it to cost to reload good plinking ammo for the 45/70? The new stuff is $0.75-$1.00 per round. How low could I get the cost?

For a beginner, should I go with Lee or Dillion to start?

Thanks,
Dave
 
I really don't know about 45/70 but my .308 are about $34.00 per hundred not counting the cost of the brass. I figure that is reusable. You can also work with different loads to see what is the more accurite in your rifle. I knew a guy that use to load his with black powder and they where fun to shoot and very little recoil.
As for reloading equipment, the best deal I found was the Lee 35th Anniversary Kit from www.midwayusa.com. It has everything you need to get started for about $70.00.

Good Luck and be careful reloading. Take it easy and keep track of the powder in each and every case. Oh, and get you a couple of good manuals.


Karsten
 
Oh ya, I did forget about that little incidental Spectre :rolleyes: Sorta like that cheap Mil Surplus stuff when you are paying $30 or $40 for mass quanities at times it get hard no to see how fast you can just pull the trigger :eek: and just hit the target for effect.

Karsten
 
You'll probably not save a dime, but you'll shoot a lot more for the same outlay. If you're like me, reloading will enrich your shooting hobby at least threefold.
 
Do a search on Lee and Dillon in the reloading forum, I think you will find that Dillon is worth the money (and you only have to buy it once.)
Saving money? Never happens, you just shoot more and brag to your friends about all the neat new loading equipment you just got (and are trying to hide from your wife if she is not a shooter). Have fun and enjoy, isn't that what life is all about?
 
Seriously, has anybody ever even so much as met somebody who saved money reloading?

Everybody I've ever met in any forum, real or virtual, has just shot more.

Steve
 
Since hardly any reloading stuff actually wears out, I gotta say that my cost per round after 50 years or so is down just really, really low. :D

Fer instance, I have a 1983-vintage Dillon with which I've loaded well over 10,000 rounds of .45ACP stuff. It cost me some $200, which is 20,000 pennies, so my capital cost per round is two cents.

I'm still loading '06 with dies my uncle gave me in 1950, and there're lots of miscellaneous "thingummies" in the reloading toolbox that have been around forever.

The older you get, the cheaper the reloading!

:), Art
 
In all honesty I don't think that reloading is about saving money. At least it didn't work that way for me. I could probably have shot factory ammunition all my life for the money I've spent on reloading gear. I just love gadgets and, well, reloading has more than its share.

If saving money is your main concern then just buy the very minimum equipment to do the job. Nothing extra. Once you start buying gadgets you're lost!:) :)
 
Reloading

Will,
as the others have alluded to........save you nothing.

It will cost you a fortune..........

You will shoot at LEAST 10x's more rounds than you do now, and you will spend bookoo's cash trying the LATEST..........

There's ALWAYS one MORE little "ITEM", you want.....want, not NEED.

I have been reloading for many years, and I find it to be a physiological, as well as phycological aid........

It CALMS me down, and eases stress and tension(wonder if the IRS would go for a tax deduct....NOT!!).

On a serious note.............

IF you are going to shoot, a LOT, and you really LOVE the sport, and you KNOW you will continue it....then reloading is for you.
IF, these criterion do not describe your current level of insanity about the sport......then DO not reload.

You can purchase a LOT of factory ammo, for what it will cost you to set up...not to mention COUNTLESS hours, standing in front of a press.

You have to factor in your COST of LABOR also, when considering getting into reloading.............

All this said......WHAT are you waiting for!!!!!!!
Join the rest of us moron's!!!!!!!!!!:D
 
Ya....like everyone said. Sorta like I sand and paint old USGI M14 stocks and paint them..Most everything about shooting is personal gratifaction.
I set down at a press and spend a few hours, no TV, No Stereo.I or we just up, down, shell here, up down for hours.
I also paint M1A stocks for fun and sale them for I am sure less than it costs me...But I enjoy it.

Just think, a space to reload....A SPACE to call your own :) A space with no kids, no Honey Doo's, no demands on your sexual ability :confused: Just up, Down, Powder, Primer, Bullet and a loaded bullet..over and over again.True Quality time :)
Next is 1 grain more more grain less or a differnent powder. All to get the best accuracy....

Karsten
 
You will save money on reloading IF you figure the cost on a per-shot basis. What you may end up doing is shooting a whole lot more for the same cash outlay. Went to the range yesterday and fired my usual 250 rounds of 45. Now, figuring the the cost of store bought vs roll your owns for me comes out to .30 per shot for the factory stuff compared to .08 per shot out of my garage, assuming I have brass to reload. For 250 rounds, that is $75/factory to $20/my stuff. Not to mention it keeps me off the streets, gets me some really cool reloading stuff (just got a pact electronic scale and companion powder drop), and I get to make ammo not offered by the ammo plants. It also helped me to turn my wife into a shooter, because I could load ammo for hers which would just cycle the slide so she could get the hang of the trigger, and slowly stepped up the charge until she was comfortable with factory speeds and just a bit warmer on occasion.
 
Just to chime in: David Nancarrow has a good post and Art has a point that the longer you do it, the less it costs.

I still have a lot of my original reloading equipment back from the late 60s it has not cost me a dime in maintenance and the box from my Lyman powder measure shows I paid something like $16.00 for it.
 
I don't reload rifle calibers, so I can't say how much you would save reloading .45-70. I mostly reload .45 ACP on a Dillon 550B. I once ran the numbers and figured that my cost is about 20 - 30% of the price of buying new ammo by the case. That figure does not include the cost of the machine itself. I figured that I reached the break-even point on the cost of the machine in the first year.

For some calibers, like .223, .308, 7.62x39, surplus ammo is so cheap that you probably can't save any money by reloading unless you are reloading match grade ammunition. Match grade ammo is quite expensive, so you can save money by rolling your own. But plinking ammo is so cheap in these calibers, that it just isn't worth reloading...

M1911
 
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