Why Load Common Rounds?

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?

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Accuracy, subsonic, bulk, boredom, cost. It's a Chinese menu of choices
And it varies from person to person. As long as you're having fun and doing
What you want to do, reloading, buying, etc is in the eyes of the beholder.

Some people have way too much time on their hands. One day I might get there to utter those two words..." I'm bored."

I'm with you.

I barely have free time to shoot, let alone reload. We're lucky in my house to afford any factory ammo I want. Maybe I'll regret that plan during the next shortage.

Just a hobby. I only load 12 gauge shotshell which makes no sense cost wise.

12-13 reloads out of a Remington Gun Club is pretty common before the crimp starts getting crispy.

Light 1 ounce recipes are easy to shoot.

Plus it's just fun to have a good day of shooting clays with ammo you assembled yourself.

I know members who compete in IDPA/USPSA who develop loads to slightly exceed the minimal power factor requirements in order to create consistent loads with the lightest recoil possible.

I do it because it saves a little money and enjoy it.

Depends on what dies, reloading gear, primers and powders you have on-hand. I'd forget a progressive press. I have 4 shotgun reloaders and even the cadillac of them all isn't worth what it was when I was shooting 500 or more rounds per week in the 80s. I have shot etc on-hand but not worth my time anymore. Yet.
My older Dillon & newest Lee single stage presses are all I need now, save the difference in a few pistol caliber base holders that differ tween Lee and Dillon, for savings. It isn't worth it for everyone but I enjoy reloading and teaching my kids. I forget how much exactly as I've been off my normal once per week range day for a year, but is between $4 to $5 for me with 9mm para, which pays for a range trip right there. I save more reloading 9x18 except I don't convert 9x19 to 9x18 cases with an M9 in the stable, so I have to look hard for my boxer brass. Need a few 100 more of each to be happy. I buy range seconds for 9x18 when possible. Out comes the magnifying glass or folks with younger eyes to read the "Markarov" on the base. Also have them save .35 Remington cases, but I do know the guys well & they aren't iffy Starline-like brass.
For pistol bullets I use plated .45, 7.62, 9mm para & 95 grain Mak. bullets from Everglades Ammo and Berry's seconds when I can get them. I haven't had a single issue of lead fouling in any caliber from Berry's or Everglades plated rounds & are on target at 25 yards, the .45s in my 1911 even better killing pins at 50 yards. Getting powder, primers and often dies second-hand, or direct from a trip to Cabelas helps. Then again reloading .45 ACP is almost "free" when it comes to the formerly-used-for-shotgun powder I use. Primers & bullets are what matters.
In the end one must of course be careful ALWAYS & conduct regular quality control, especially for the rifles I normally shoot (Garand & M1 carbines to name a few). Check for high primers, and after loading 50- 100 with powder I grab a few at random in the mix and weight them. My Lee, Dillon & RCBS scales haven't failed me yet. Done methodically I can run out a heck of a lot of 9mm in 1 hour on two single-stage presses (my Dillon and Lee), including the time to check my Lee powder dispenser as above. I check for high primers, OAL, you name it. If you can make more at the salt mine, go for it. I like the savings in cash, but actually enjoy the process and teaching my kids as I have been reloading since age 8 (under VERY CLOSE supervision at that age, of course).
The only thing I've found that matters as much as accurate powder measure (with already trimmed & resized cases + identical charges) is the crimp of my rifle target rounds. That matters a LOT. I am sure someone here is a trained armorer so they could chime in and fill any mistakes I made with holes, which is how we all learn anyway. I'd stick to single-stage presses. Can be monotonous but many more mistakes found than on expensive progressive presses.
Kind Regards, Dave

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?

.

Click to expand...

Back in the '50's and 60's, reloading did save a lot of money. We reloaded everything except .22. Since I still have most of the family reloading gear, and I make my own bullets, I can tailor my loads so they don't beat my old frame to pieces. For some cartridges, like my 28ga, either you reload or go to the poor house especially if you shoot sporting games with it.

For rifle, I can load 30-30, 44 mag, 8x57 down to 1300 FPS and enjoy shooting. Buying store bought stuff would both be expensive and hurtful.

And then there's the lingering memory of 2013, when whatever ammo could be found couldn't be afforded.

So buy cheap now, and save the brass. You'll thank me after the MD GA and Ben Jealous limit purchases to 50 rounds.

For obsolete (expensive when you find them) or Cowboy Action loads it makes sense economically.
Cowboy Action Shooting requires fairly light loads of soft lead bullets for steel targets 10 yards away. Facory loads can be prohibitively expensive. Most CAS shooters reload for this reason. I couldn't shoot if I used factory 44 Colt or 45 Colt CAS rounds.
NRA and DCM Highpower M14 & Garand requires a lot of ammo too. It's cheaper for me to reload than buy target grade 308 and 30-06 suitable for these gas rifles.
When I first started in the 70's, it did save me money. Eventually it just let me load better ammo for the same price as cheap stuff.
Then CAS came and went, Highpower came and went, now shooting odd calibers is fun for me. Go buy 43 Mauser ammo.
For Trap and Sporting Clays it saved me so much I bought first MEC 12 and 20 gauge loaders, then a Pacific progressive. Now it doesn't make sense cost wise. I still get to pick my wad, load weight, and velocity. That is the point to a shotgunner just as more accurate rounds or premium performance is to a rifle reloader.

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?

.

Click to expand...

We already spoke that day about how I feel about commercial loads, in regards to the QC of the ammo you use.

Plinking ammo is a general term for reloading, but if you tweak the loads for your firearms, you will be creating high end ammo for virtually a fraction of the cost when compared to FGMM.

Realistically when you compare the cost of reloads to commercial ammo, you are doing a disservice to yourself, when you should be comparing your reloads to higher end commercial ammo.

Let's just say FGMM 308 is going for $1.00-2.00 a trigger pull. I can generate the same ammo for right around 50cpr, after doing the load development. That is why I handload. It is the cost savings, consistency, and accuracy that I am able to maintain with ever round I make and fire.

Pistol ammo is a questionable thing for reloading, unless you are using cast bullets or trying to stay within a power factor for competition pistol shooting.

For some people it's a hobby in itself.

But yes , for common calibers, IF you satisfied with the performance of cheap generic ammo , just buy it cheap .

If you want a specific bullet, at a specific velocity , with particular accuracy level , load your own .

Say for .45acp - If generic 230fmj trips your trigger, great . If you want an H&G 68 @ 900 fps , load your own .

Back in the Revolver Era , nasty factory reloads were slightly cheaper than my component costs . But it had 5 shot velocity spreads of more than 100fps , and after each shooting session , took me an hour to clean the thick crud and lead deposits . My loads with hard cast swc's had single digit velocity spreads , and would do 1.0in @ 25yds in guns capable of that .

I agree with you and got into it for most of the same reasons.

Now that I have a place to shoot long range regularly the match factory ammo is killing my wallet, especially when you really need to buy large lots. I also have a few oddball cartridges myself, so it makes sense.

I'll likely never reload 9mm or practice .223. I shoot too fast for it to be worth it.

DaemonAssassin said:

We already spoke that day about how I feel about commercial loads, in regards to the QC of the ammo you use.

Plinking ammo is a general term for reloading, but if you tweak the loads for your firearms, you will be creating high end ammo for virtually a fraction of the cost when compared to FGMM.

Realistically when you compare the cost of reloads to commercial ammo, you are doing a disservice to yourself, when you should be comparing your reloads to higher end commercial ammo.

Let's just say FGMM 308 is going for $1.00-2.00 a trigger pull. I can generate the same ammo for right around 50cpr, after doing the load development. That is why I handload. It is the cost savings, consistency, and accuracy that I am able to maintain with ever round I make and fire.

Pistol ammo is a questionable thing for reloading, unless you are using cast bullets or trying to stay within a power factor for competition pistol shooting.

Click to expand...

Perfectly stated.

At the end of the day, how much do you enjoy doing it and how much do you value your time is really the question. I like reloading, so I'd do it anyway. The fact that I produce match ammo for a touch less than plinking ammo is gravy on top.

I hoard common caliber reloading materials but I don't actively reload them. I'm buying cheap and stacking deep. It's only a matter of time before the dems get power again and the ammo dries up. At that point I'll be making 45 acp for 1/5 or so of the going rate, when you will be able to find it on a store shelf that is.

Even though its common I started loading 30-06 for my M1s and m1917, I wanted to have a steady source of M1 "safe" ammo without paying the higher going rates for surplus or S&B these days. I can shoot that now for about the cost of good factory 5.56. The good thing too is now that I'm set up I can do my less common calibers like 7.5 swiss which seems to have dried up recently as well.

Because (to me), finding the right load is fun.

And because I can't come close to doing it for 10 shots at 100 yards with factory .223. And not even a prayer with the Wolf or PMC or Federal or Lake City factory so often used for cost comparison purposes.

Now the bench rest fellows would scrap a rifle for a group that looked like this. But I'm a hunter, in addition to being a shooter. If I can work loads until I can feel fairly confident that I can ruin a groundhog's day, I'm happy.

Which is to say, we all have standards. It's all relative to what you want to try to accomplish.

I cast 9mm, .38, and .45lc so I'm reloading for 6 to 8 cents a round. I find it to be an enjoyable hobby. My wife passed away and my son has moved out so it's my time now.

Knowing whatever comes down the pike politically, I'm covered for ammo is a good feeling.

I bought some .30 cal. rifle molds and need to perfect casting them, I mostly shoot at paper and dirt so I don't need $.25+ jacketed bullets for that.

I am buying .22lr and 17hm2 and stacking deep.

9mm wasn't always 18 cents/round nor will it always be 18 cents. In the current market glut it makes sense to buy commercially finished product

Biggfoot44 said:

For some people it's a hobby in itself.

But yes , for common calibers, IF you satisfied with the performance of cheap generic ammo , just buy it cheap .

If you want a specific bullet, at a specific velocity , with particular accuracy level , load your own .

Say for .45acp - If generic 230fmj trips your trigger, great . If you want an H&G 68 @ 900 fps , load your own .

Back in the Revolver Era , nasty factory reloads were slightly cheaper than my component costs . But it had 5 shot velocity spreads of more than 100fps , and after each shooting session , took me an hour to clean the thick crud and lead deposits . My loads with hard cast swc's had single digit velocity spreads , and would do 1.0in @ 25yds in guns capable of that .

Click to expand...

OP here- You typed what I was thinking. If I want precision or cost savings, I hand load.
The reason I started this thread was, yesterday I ran the numbers for my most used pistol rounds and .38 Special was the only one that made sense to me to reload.

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