Who reloads for their harder to find ammo?

I reload for almost everything. Some of the military cases are very spotty for local availability but may show up.

But pretty much the only time I have found any variety, if any, .41 magnum was during the start of the last ammo "shortage" and the stores were putting anything they could find on the shelves. Now with more variety they are back to maybe one load on the shelf, at nearly $1 per round unless it is a "defensive" load in which case it is more like $1.50 to $1.75.

So for that reloading is pretty much required.
 
I reload for everything I own, as well as for a few that my brother owns.....

Its nice to not have to pay a dollar a round for 44 mag ammo or similar rounds. Its really nice to not pay $2.00 a round for premium rifle ammo.
 
Who reloads for their harder to find ammo?
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Harder to find like my 40-70 WCF? Or harder to find like 32-20? Or like 7X57? Or 218 Bee? Or 444 Marlin? No matter, I reload everything I shoot.
 
I recently started getting into revolvers that got me into loading 45 Colt & 454 Casull. Mostly started to save money but I’m liking the hobby, I tell my wife it’s like knitting for guys.
 
I reload for everything but 25ACP and I just bought 500 rounds so no need to. Thats a lifetime supply of that round for me.

But the harder to find stuff like good 8mm Mauser and 7mm Mauser I reload for and also make the brass from 30-06 brass from a Speer forming die when I can't buy it.

I reload 9mm and 38 Special and I can buy it cheap but I just like to reload. I tried loading shotgun shells but found I can buy them cheaper than I can make them. I do reload .410 shells. Those suckers are expensive.:eek:
 
.410 and 10 gauge are outrageous. The last 10 gauge I bought was $30 for 10 shells. And that was cheap. I’ve seen them as high as $52. The only .410 I like is 000, that was very common to find but now I don’t see it. 12 and 20 gauge is pointless to reload for unless you want bigger buckshot stuff or higher velocity stuff. I think if I can get around the ITAR stuff, which I believe I can, I’m going to get a FFL 06. The Ohio straightwall stuff seems like a good market. Not buying in bulk I can sell new .45-70 for $1.50 a round and still be cheaper than the cheapest on the shelf. Worst case it doesn’t sell and I’m stocked up good for my bear gun. The .444 is another but there’s a few AR specify rounds I think would dominate the market. I’d like to get the FFL 07 and build some so I could make the ammo to sell but that’s way more overhead.
 
The last time I seen .218 Bee, it was $85 a box at Cabela's, .41 and .44 mag are around $50 a box. Oddball military calibers like 7.5 French and Swiss, when you want to shoot an old gun. I reload for twenty or so rifle/pistol calibers, other than .22 I can't remember when I bought cartridges for anything. I handload for convenience.
 
I reload for every cartridge that I own and shoot. Common cartridges are a savings.....a substantial savings...other cartridges are so expensive that reloading is that only way that I would get to shoot them. (Read .416 Rigby) still others are so rare as to be not available (.577/.450 or .44 Bulldog)
 
I reload for everything but my 20 gauge.

Even common ammo, I can load it cheaper than buying factory, and for stuff like my .22 Hornet, .358 Winchester, and .375 H&H, even with ammo being fairly easy to come buy, I can’t bring myself to pay what they want for factory stuff.
 
I have always reloaded for my centerfire rifles and have never hunted with a factory loaded centerfire cartridge. I reloaded for my 12 ga. shotguns for many years but stopped when lead shot was prohibited.
 
I make it a point to reload and cast bullets for every gun I own , handgun, rifle and shotgun (buckshot and slug moulds). I started in 1967 and never stopped the hobby .
The reason I reload is ammo availability . When Obama was elected , every and all ammo evaporated from dealers shelves . It was years before I could buy a box of 22 LR....22's ...Why 22's ? Then primers and powder and bullets ....all gone.
It showed me an election can cause a huge panic buying event...the ammo is no where to be found and when it comes back....the price has doubled...Panic buying and panic hoarding leads to a gross shortage.
A few reloading tools makes me my own ammo factory...master of my own ammo supply!
Gary
 
I reload for everything I shoot, except .410 bore, but some more than others. I have to load for my hard to find ammo... .348WCF, .41Mag, for example... simply because it's too expensive (.41) or Unobtanium (.348.) But I also load for the cheapies... .30-30 and some .308, because I use cast bullets.

I like to have a box of factory for each cartridge, I use them as my control rounds for velocity and accuracy benchmarks when I'm working a new firearm and handloads.
 
Reload? Yep it's my hobby

I have come to own that reloading is a separate interest. It is a challenge to set a rifle up. Part of this challenge is to make up good cartridges. If your heart is not in it don't go there. I joy shooting rifles but, not at $2.00 a shot.
 
I'm with darkgael on this. I shoot so much 25-20WCF that I bought a LNL AP press just to feed it. Shooting factory ammo would have cost me more than the gun and press combined.
 
Moving to the Handloading Forum.

If I didn't reload, I wouldn't shoot most of the stuff that I own.

I'm set up to reload:

.32-20

.32 S&W Long

.41 Magnum

.44 Special

.45 Long Colt

.45 Auto Rim

9mm Makarov

.300 Savage

I also have a .25-20, but I've not gotten around to getting dies for it.

At one time I also loaded for 6.5x50 Arisaka, but I ended up trading all that stuff.


I'm also set up to load for:

.30-06

.243 Winchester

.38 Special

.357 Magnum

9mm

.380

.45 ACP
 
Mike Irvin, i see you shoot .25-20. Getting the Dies is one thing. The tough part is finding .25-20 brass. Nobody is making it anymore. I think what most suggest is to neck down .32-20. I haven't tried that yet.
 
I have about 200 loaded rounds and brass.

And I've not shot the rifle in years.

And, if I run low on brass, I will do the .32-20 trick, because I have a ton of .32-20.
 
When I get a new gun, I get a box of factory ammo if available, and a set of dies. First range trip, I shoot a few factory just to be sure, then on to the handloads. Of the 20 calibers I reload for, I have several uncommon calibers (.40 Super, .414 SuperMag, 6.5 PCC, .338-06) and some that are just not as common like .41Mag and .450BM. Most of my about 30K rounds of centerfire a year are loaded on the Dillon 650. Just rimfire and shotgun are factory.

If I had to shoot factory, my shooting would drop to just a few calibers and probably would drop by about 50% and I would be very sad.
 
.41 AE isn't made by anybody except Buffalo Arms($1.19 each). Neither brass nor loaded ammo. The only way to shoot it is reloading. S'ok, there are no pistols or barrels currently made anyway. IMI said 5 or 10 years ago they'd do a run if somebody ordered 1,000,000 rounds. Bought 500 cases when I bought the barrel for my BHP long ago. Supposedly worth a fortune.
Mind you, I reload everything I shoot. Factory is way too expensive.
 
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