Why Load Common Rounds?

Magnumite · Nov 1, 2018

Common calibers, pistol, one can save somewhere around a third on a box of blasting grade jacketed bulk box ammunition. The only exception I know of is 9mm, and that is only considering the jacketed brass case Federal is pumping out through Walmart. That is break even. 45 ACP, savings are a 1/3 compared to bulk box Federal 230 grains FMJ. If you are loading lead, hollow point, and/or premium bullets, the savings are greater. Accuracy in a pistol which allows one to realize it is more accurate and consistent using developed handloads. I wouldn't realize a quarter inch at 25 yards except off bags on a real good day but when the range gets greater the better loads advantages are easily quite apparent. I have experienced loads shooting acceptably accurate at 50 yards and breaking up past that with same design/sized bullets but cast with a different alloy

For rifle, I see better loads at similar cost to the blasting grade ammo being sold. I can load same cost ammo in 223/5.56 which shoots noticeably better on my Dillon 550 at greater rate than on a single stage press. That is a high shooting volume round for many so the potential accuracy advantage on a 200-300 stage in a three gun shoot would be advantageous.

As for the time...if the time is better spent elsewhere and household income allows it, there may be no reason to load for casual quantities. Shooting steel pistol events, a reasonably tuned pistol will perform well with 9mm bulk box. Similar for 223 relative to similar skill level rifle. When shooting in more serious competition bent regimens, the accuracy needs and/or volume shot almost mandates reloading...unless one is quite wealthy.

Todd S · Nov 1, 2018

I started casting boolits a few years ago. MY CPR for 9mm and .45 is about 6-7 cents per round. Now if I consider the cost of the equipment to smelt, cast and lube or powder coat, it is higher, but not by much.

teratos · Nov 1, 2018

squaregrouper said:
I started reloading, single stage, about 5 years ago for my obsolete and hard to locate rifle calibers. I have since added .300AAC subs ($$$) and 6.5CM (repeatable precision for distance cartridges).
Getting a progressive press is now a serious consideration, and I had a session with DA's Dillon 550 for .223 a few weeks back. My component cost- powder, projectiles and primers came to 25cpr. Commercial loads can be had for 30cpr.
Herein lies my problem... I have been running the numbers, and I cannot, for the life of me, figure out the benefit of reloading common caliber plinking rounds. Increased accuracy is trivial with pistol rounds, as virtually none of us are a good enough shot to appreciate an improvement of .25" @ 25yds.
My math shows .40cpr to load my own .357 Sig, and that is an expensive round to buy. Why does anyone load 9mm, when factory loads can be bought for $9/box of 50.
I understand the accuracy thing for rifles and (obviously) understand the benefits of reloading pricey or hard to find cartridges. However, I would have to load 10's of thousands of rounds to break even financially, let alone the time for case prep and actual reloading.

Thoughts?

.

I like subsonic rounds for 300 BLK, 9mm. I can roll them much cheaper than factory.

I also find reloading quite relaxing.

RuralRifleGuy · Nov 1, 2018

My brother and I are looking into reloading rifle rounds since he has a 6.5 Creedmoor rifle and I have 6.5 Grendel and 300 BLK ARs. We’ve discussed reloading 9mm since it’s our only pistol round at the moment and he has a 9mm AR pistol.

I haven’t run the numbers but it probably won’t be as cheap as factory ammo, however, we want to be prepared in case there’s a shortage or act of idiocy by the government. It is better for us to spend the ~$100 now for dies and other 9mm tools plus the cost of a couple thousand rounds of components then to scramble and try find them when we need to. If we buy other caliber pistols we’ll buy dies and components for them as well. The last thing I want is to have a firearm and no ammo for it.

For now we are stacking the cheap stuff as deep as we can. Neither of us had firearms during the last shortage but I remember reading about calibers being next to impossible to find and/or the prices being ridiculously high.

1time · Nov 1, 2018

I load 147 grain 9mm for 12.7 cents a round. You can’t buy factory 147’s anywhere near that. It makes 130 power factor which is perfect for USPSA, works well for 3gun and sounds great in a suppressed sbr. That does not include the cost of brass but helping clean up after a match only takes a bit of time and I usually leave with much more brass than I shot.

For .223, I shoot factory ammo and save components to load when I get around to it (haven’t in several years).

For anything other than 9mm or 223 the cost savings is much larger.

I am using a 650 with a bullet feeder and brass feeder. It doesn’t take long to load the ammo and that is visually checking the powder at 2 stations per round.

If I were loading on a single stage or even a progressive without at least a brass feeder I’m not sure what point it would be worth the effort.

PowPow · Nov 1, 2018

.45acp 185gr or 200gr SWC commercial loads are not easy to find, and those that you do find are "no freaking way would I ever spend that much per round for .45acp" expensive. Depending on my bullet/lead source, I load them anywhere from 7-15cpr. That's cheaper than the cheapest 230gr FMJ commercial ammo.

Squaregrouper · Nov 1, 2018

OP again... Many good points were raised- especially the guys who pointed out we're in a temporary "ammo surplus" stage right now. I will buy dies and consumables for .38 Special, 9mm, .357 Sig and .223 but not start actively loading for them (testing loads only). I will also start saving my pistol brass.
I will continue loading: Krag, .303 Savage, .300AAC, Creedmoor and Grendel.

ETA- I will work up loads to get data.

GuitarmanNick · Nov 1, 2018

You may want to load some of each type just to get things set up and fine tuned. Determine the desired charge and overall length needed for reliable functioning in all of your firearms using that caliber.

I am using a single stage Lee press with all of my dies in breech lock quick change bushings. This saves time when I reload. I can pull out any set of dies and go right to work and know the rounds produced will be the same as every other round I have in inventory. This insures the same performance between batches, too.

I only load a few thousand rounds each year for general purpose shooting and have a nice inventory of reloads for each caliber. Storing powder and primers can be a problem for some of us, and is limited by our wonderful laws but once loaded, are no different than salt or sugar. Properly stored, these reloads will work long after my life has ended. If you plan to stock and store components, make sure they are kept dry. Also, remember that if the SHTF, primers will be more important than powder. Making gunpowder is a process that most could do if necessary, but reliable primers are very difficult to make without the proper equipment and knowledge. I keep a 50 cal. can of primers(more rifle than pistol) and rotate them FIFO by date as I use them. One day, perhaps a second can will be in order.

alucard0822 · Nov 1, 2018

I save about $50 per thousand comparing my 9mm loads to the cheapest brass cased ammo. Thing is, I load 124gr to a soft shooting 130PF for competition, shoots far better than 115gr bulk FMJ. I may go through 10K rounds or more per season, so it adds up. Same with 223, I can change charges and powders to work with the lightweight internals of my comp AR and adjustable gas, and give the most balanced recoil, all for $230 per 1K compared to around $300 per K for the cheapest reman/new ammo that runs well, a few thousand rounds a season adds up quick. My LNL AP was expensive, but I use it for a lot of calibers, and it can crank that 1K rounds out in a little over an hour, paid for itself in less than 1 season of 3 gun, even though that wasn't my primary reason for reloading. For some rounds like 10mm, 460 Rowland, or subsonic 300BLK, 308, 30-06 and other oddball calibers, there is no replacement for rolling your own..

Mark75H · Nov 1, 2018

alucard0822 said:
I save about $50 per thousand comparing my 9mm loads to the cheapest brass cased ammo. Thing is, I load 124gr to a soft shooting 130PF for competition, shoots far better than 115gr bulk FMJ. I may go through 10K rounds or more per season, so it adds up. Same with 223, I can change charges and powders to work with the lightweight internals of my comp AR and adjustable gas, and give the most balanced recoil, all for $230 per 1K compared to around $300 per K for the cheapest reman/new ammo that runs well, a few thousand rounds a season adds up quick. My LNL AP was expensive, but I use it for a lot of calibers, and it can crank that 1K rounds out in a little over an hour, paid for itself in less than 1 season of 3 gun, even though that wasn't my primary reason for reloading. For some rounds like 10mm, 460 Rowland, or subsonic 300BLK, 308, 30-06 and other oddball calibers, there is no replacement for rolling your own..

I am officially old

alucard0822 · Nov 1, 2018

Mark75H said:
I am officially old

lolz, I load 308 and 30-06, I also load oddball, milsurp and wildcat calibers, those oddball calibers do not include the afforementioned 308 Winchester, and US caliber 30 adopted in 1906, which are completely relevent, mainstream, and still hip.

better

Blacksmith101 · Nov 1, 2018

squaregrouper said:
OP again... Many good points were raised- especially the guys who pointed out we're in a temporary "ammo surplus" stage right now. I will buy dies and consumables for .38 Special, 9mm, .357 Sig and .223 but not start loading for them. I will also start saving my pistol brass.
I will continue loading: Krag, .303 Savage, .300AAC, Creedmoor and Grendel.

While you are preparing for the eventual shortage a few other things you might want on the shelf just in case. A variety of reloading manuals so if you can't get your favorite powder you can find a recipe for the powders you can find. Some way to cast or swage bullets in the calibers you shoot or you might only be able to reload blanks. Although I have at least one mold for each caliber as a backup I have been looking at paper patching because making a mold for a paper patched bullet would be much easier than one with lube grooves.

ras_oscar · Nov 1, 2018

I enjoy the process. The precision and recordkeeping appeal to my scientific thought process.

John from MD · Nov 1, 2018

teratos said:
I like subsonic rounds for 300 BLK, 9mm. I can roll them much cheaper than factory.

I also find reloading quite relaxing.

I too find it relaxing as it is repetitive work which does not require the brain to work hard. :party29:

Docster · Nov 1, 2018

For those repeat times when there's nothing but 40 S & W on the shelves?

gemihur · Nov 1, 2018

Common? Is 250 Savage common?

I load because I shoot outside my platform's thresholds.
My contender won't tolerate commercial ammo in 250/3000 and I don't think it's available anyhow.
I keep my loads within moderate pressures.

Bolts Rock · Nov 1, 2018

Leaving out match ammo (jacketed high velocity) the common calibers available in bulk I load are:

.30-06 Garand tuned for jacketed and cast boolit for bolt guns.

.45acp cast boolit ammo toned down for Wild Bunch but hot enough to cycle a stock 1911.

.38spl plinkers

.223 M-193 equivalent (the 5th loading of brass using bulk 55gr FMJBTs).

Note that except the .38spl I have anywhere from 3000 to 8000 empty cases for those calibers. Pistol cases I load until they crap out with a mouth split or loose primer pocket. Rifles cases get loaded 5 times then scrap bucket, except .30-06 which get converted to cast boolit use.

The M-193 equivalent is worth it only because I do not expect match accuracy and can use bulk bullets. I get CCI No.41 or Wolf primers when I find them cheap and set them aside. I order the bulk 55gr FMJBTs, firsts or blems does not matter, when they go on sale stupid cheap and set them aside. Then I order a jug or two of BL-C2 when it goes on sale and has free hazmat. The brass is on it's last loading and is effectively no cost at that point.

I load and shoot thousands of .45 Colt for cowboy matches a year but I do not consider it a common caliber available in bulk.

DaemonAssassin · Nov 2, 2018

Bolts Rock said:
Leaving out match ammo (jacketed high velocity) the common calibers available in bulk I load are:

.30-06 Garand tuned for jacketed and cast boolit for bolt guns.

.45acp cast boolit ammo toned down for Wild Bunch but hot enough to cycle a stock 1911.

.38spl plinkers

.223 M-193 equivalent (the 5th loading of brass using bulk 55gr FMJBTs).

Note that except the .38spl I have anywhere from 3000 to 8000 empty cases for those calibers. Pistol cases I load until they crap out with a mouth split or loose primer pocket. Rifles cases get loaded 5 times then scrap bucket, except .30-06 which get converted to cast boolit use.

The M-193 equivalent is worth it only because I do not expect match accuracy and can use bulk bullets. I get CCI No.41 or Wolf primers when I find them cheap and set them aside. I order the bulk 55gr FMJBTs, firsts or blems does not matter, when they go on sale stupid cheap and set them aside. Then I order a jug or two of BL-C2 when it goes on sale and has free hazmat. The brass is on it's last loading and is effectively no cost at that point.

I load and shoot thousands of .45 Colt for cowboy matches a year but I do not consider it a common caliber available in bulk.

I just want to know where you are finding Wolf primers...

John from MD · Nov 2, 2018

DaemonAssassin said:
I just want to know where you are finding Wolf primers...

You might try Shydas. I got some there a couple of visits ago.

teratos · Nov 2, 2018

Bolts Rock said:
I load and shoot thousands of .45 Colt for cowboy matches a year but I do not consider it a common caliber available in bulk.

You mean .45 Long Colt? :lol2:

Why Load Common Rounds?

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