Firearms owners: Do you pack/load your own ammo?

[Cobra Jet]

Does anyone on here pack/load their own ammo instead of buying preloaded ammo?

Is there any real cost savings?

Any pros/cons to loading your own as opposed to just buying preloaded boxes?

Do you recover your own shells at the range?

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[cbrookre]

Used to when we were younger, but it is a real pain in the butt, or at least was back then. If you load a bunch then it might be worth it.

 

[sonofoldcars]

I did the math one time to figure out if I was and I would have to shoot 30,000 rounds of shotgun to make it worth it. I just buy ammo when I want to shoot and try to keep at least 500 rounds for each gun on hand.

 

[TNcoupe]

Yes, for precision rounds only for my 4 .308s. 9mm, .45, and 5.56 are so cheap to buy that its not feasible unless you buy a high dollar Dillon progressive loader that dumps out a round everytime you pull the handle. Freedom Munitions has 500 rounds of 9mm for a little over $100. I cant justify the time with my single stage press to load 500 rounds of 9mm plinking ammo. I figure I make $40 some odd dollars an hour at work so 2.5 hours of work will buy me 500 rounds. I cant load that many in 2.5 hours. My .308 rounds are all individually checked, 42.5gr of powder, 2.005 case length, 2.810 OAL and headpsaced at 1.631, so thats the only advantage.

 

[Livnpaintball2]

Reloading rifle rounds are a money saver or pistol rounds if you shoot a lot, what is your time worth and how accurate do you want to be, I.E. tuning your round to your firearm!

Reload!!!

 

[ForTehNguyen]

it takes a large up front investment to get a reloading setup

ill just pay $1/round for federal gold medal match .308 which shoots damn fine for me. Got .25 MOA group at 200 yards with .308 GMM on my Ruger Precision Rifle.

 

[wildcatgoal]

I used to buy reloaded rounds made by an old man who was given the brass for a cut of the profit for target shooting. He somehow automated his lever rounds press thing. Anyway, they were accurate enough for me to get the the point on if I was shooting straight. Meant a lot of gun cleaning but got a zillion rounds for cheap. One day, the rounds tended to shrapnel out of the barrel for some reason. I started, after that, playing with different ammo to see what differences it made. Beretta guns only for me.

 

[zxd9]

Ya got to shoot a lot. I justified the expense because I was shooting 500-1000 rounds a month for a while. If you're shooting a box here and there, don't bother unless you're looking to tune a round for your firearm.

 

[uglygun]

The only time I came out ahead EARLY in loading was with 50bmg.

Back when talon was in the game doing remanufactured ammo I could have had 1k rounds delivered for about 1700 bucks.

I was able to buy my press and 500 casings with supplies to do 1k rounds for about 1500 bucks. At the time 700grn AP pulls were about 200 bucks per 1000 and powder was 28 bucks per 8 pound jug. 8 pounds of powder got you about 220 rounds which is comparable to a pound of commercial store bought powder for 223. Yup. My powder cost using mulsurp powder in 50bmg was about the same as for 223 rem on a round for round basis. My second loading for 50bmg fell to 85 cents a shot with M2 AP. First loading was around 1 dollar a round unless it was using match grade components like Lapua 800grn solids or 750grn Amax.



Now when it came to loading for other cartridges, I could handload about 3 times as much quality ammo for vaporizing varmints as if I were to just buy loaded ammo.

I also shrunk my groups for my 300WinMag by about 1/4 inch by seating the bullets to the lands. Factory Federal Gold Medal 190grn was at most a MOA performer. My handloads quickly dropped to sub 3/4moa for 5 shots by removing the jump to the lands.

You can save a little bit of money but the real key is your time IS worth something. Back when I was reloading like it was going out of style my time wasnt worth much. Now it is harder to make time.

I prefer to see my money burn up on cars and/or other hobbies now instead of shooting. With a set of cheap tires for the rear being less than a case of ammo, I prefer to shred tires. I went from shooting a ton from 95-2006 to hardly ahooting at all(maybe 6 times with my own guns since 2007 til now). I get enough shooting with department issued firearms that my own stuff kinda just sits.

 

[Livnpaintball2]

Something else to spend money on. I save some money because I shoot a 338LM.

 

[Road Dog]

Like most guys have said unless you are shooting many hundreds of rounds each week it is not economically beneficial. It would be beneficial to accuracy if you make the effort to only use premium components and constantly monitor the load process. Me I will buy the reloads from a local company, I turn in empty shells and get a discount. For shooting 200 rounds a week it is cheaper than reloading myself.

 

[Hunter]

I'm in Australia and I do.
When I used to shoot handguns a lot, I had a Dillon 550 press. Definately cheaper and more versitile if compition shooting or serious hunting is your thing. I handload for all my hunting rifles including .223, .243, .30-06, .416 ruger and .505 gibbs. I have to to for the .416 and .505 (which I sold a few months ago for mustang parts). Factory ammo is about $400 per box. I could load for about $2 per shell excluding brass.
A .243 for example down here would cost about $20 for a box of 20 factory loads. If I reload (using factory brass I've recovered) it'll cost me 30c for a projectile, 5c for a primer and about 20c for powder. 55c all up but the versitility and quality is far better than factory ammo.
If I was only plinking, having fun at the range, I might not bother reloading but target shooting and serious hunting, yep I do and will continue to do...

 

[z06psi]

I reload. However I reload what I can save money on. Right now I reload 10mm, .308, 338 Lapua, .300 WSM, and .50 Beowulf.

All of those ammos, except for .308, are not common. If Killary had been elected then all ammo prices would have shot through the roof. I was prepared regardless.

 

[shawn3210]

I actually need to start with all the propositions that requires background check for ammo purchase in california. Anyone has a good place to start learning?

 

[z06psi]

Youtube. Tons of videos.

That a good reloading book that comes with most large kits.

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