whats the cost?

If you have the setup to reload. How much is cost per shell to reload rifle shells. I have a 30 06 and a 243. Assuming you use your spent brass, what is the low end cost for powder lead and primers per round. Price for 40s&w and 380acp as well.

Bullets are the most expensive part. Primers are about 4 cents a round. Powders are about 20-30 bucks per pound and of course depending on load alters cost. 7000 grains in a pound. Pistol can use 3-7 grains per load while rifles can be 40-60 grains so powder cost varies a bit. I can load a box of 308/30-06 SST or NBT for about 8-12 dollars a box. There are a bunch of calculators online. Plug in your numbers and it will spit it out. The biggest thing to conaider is start up cost. You will not save money reloading, but you will shoot more for the money you spend.

I'm shooting Nosler Accubonds and Partitions at about $18/50.

If the file will open I attached, I built an excel spreadsheet thats pretty useful for calculating loads.

Impossible. Nosler Accubonds are $30-$33 per 50 bullets , Partitions are $33-$35 per 50bullets,are you sure didn't mean per 20? Per 20 would be about $18 using fired brass.

No, I meant per 50.

You might wanna re-check your figures and prices turkey. Unless you are getting accubonds for $10 per 50. You can't shoot 50 for 18, math just doesn't add up. Bullets alone cost more than that.

My bad. That's just for the bullets, not the loaded cartridge. I usually wait until Shootersproshop has what I want in stock. Then I buy a bunch of them. The shipping is high, but I order with other folks so the cost is spread out. And my 10% discount helps, as well.

Sorry for the confusion.

Turkey do you ever buy the blem bullets they have? I see they have alot of them from time to time. I was just curious as to what kind of condition the blems were .

Jwalker you do save reloading...but then you shoot more and their goes your savings.

The only difference I see is the packaging. The look and weight differences per bullet seem the same to me.

I've run the numbers a few times. If your brass is 'free', it all depends on what bullets you are wanting.

My 308 hunting rounds are nosler ballistic tips. Running those numbers on the cost per bullet, including ~45 grains of powder and a single primer... I have 0.63 cent in a round.

Federal Premium Vital Shocks from Midway USA are right at $32 a box... same bullet, and 'uncustomized' as far as bullet seating depth and consistency of charge goes.

If you are getting your brass free... that equates to right at 40% of the costs of factory ammo, for the same bullet.

Obviously, if you are not shooting premium bullets, the savings aren't going to be as much. I like to look at it this way, I can make a box of premium bullets and customize it to my gun to enhance accuracy for a little less than I can buy the cheap stuff.

My experience with blem bullets is that they are 100% functional and the only reason for blem status is cosmetics, namely discoloration. I have noticed no decrease in accuracy.

I think you could make the case with the current prices of ammo.. that you can find loaded ammo somewhere for most popular calibers for close to what you can reload.

You're cheapest to reload is going to be pistol ammo and you can get 500 9mm for what $100 right now? Factor in time... yea, it is cheaper to just buy ammo.

The reason I reload.... 1) Accuracy 2) Look at the price of a box of .30-378 and ask me if I can load that cheaper? Or go find some .358 Winchester or 6.5x284 with the bullets seated way out for a long action.

You'll see the point real quick.

I buy blems from SPS whenever they have what I need, normally load up on em. I haven't had any issues at all. Bullets look and fly straight. I've also ordered blems from Midway (I believe they're Hornadys but are not branded), those aren't nearly as nice as the Noslers. They function fine but cosmetically they didn't look good.

I'm fortunate in that my stepfather use to reload back in the day and gave me his whole setup. It's an old Pacific Press that's used but in great shape. I bought a new caliper as well as a digital scale. I have about 8 lbs. of assorted powders that I've bought to work up loads for a 300 Savage and my 30:06. To be honest, I'm not even sure how to figure up the cost of a round. I started with Nosler bullets, and they have performed well but now I'm working on Hornady bullets. I want to thank a lot of you guys for sharing your knowledge with the rest of us. It's greatly appreciated. If someone has a spreadsheet what have you to figure up costs, please share. I'm unable to open the one above.

The math is not difficult, Here is an example of how to figure the math (Prices are approximate off the top of my head):

30-06
Brass - Winchester $35.00/50 wach per bag = 0.70 ea. Amortize cost over 8 loadings each, Cost per round is 0.09 per round.
Bullet - 180 Nosler BT $30.00/50 EA per Box = 0.60 per round
Primer - Fed 210 $40.00/100 = 0.04 per round
Powder - 59.0 grains H4831. 1 LB cost is $30.00. 7000 grains per pound/59 grains = 118 rounds per pound. $30.00/118 - 0.25 per round.

Total cost per round = 0.98 each X 20 per box = $19.60 per box.

There are so many inefficient in reloading you can't get a true number.

Bottom line is there is no money to be saved. It is enjoyable and you get to work up specific loads. I haven't regretted spending the coin. But there wasn't a bit of savings involved. I'm sure my rounds are still in the $5-8/round with all the initial cost. It will fall in time but I'll always be behind.

Watching the X disappear or seeing animal drop with a load is priceless.

I don't see why we bother with adding up cost because the purpose for reloading is to build a round that will make the rifle shoot to it's maximum ability and you cant do that with off the shelf ammo. Now some shelf ammo is pretty good I have to admit but nothing beats a good handload.

This is true for the avg guy that pulls the trigger 10-15 times a year. For those us that pull it a lot more than that and load for some less common chamberings, our initial equipment investment is recouped pretty quickly. For me, I'm at about $.45-$.75 (not including brass) per round depending on the type of bullet.

I don't shoot a lot, nor do I load a lot. My reason for loading is that I am in full control of my ammo situation, not the local gunshop, WalMart or some online supplier. If I get low on a certain caliber, I load some and don't depend on anyone else.

I'm a little over a dollar a round for my 6.5/284 using Lapua brass and Berger bullets. Figure $22/20. Store bought ammo runs $60/20. I've put 350 rounds through that gun (still on first box of brass) so I've saved a substantial amount of money even factoring in my reloading components.

I am often asked if it saves money to reload. My answer is no. If you are getting into reloading to save money you are going to be disappointed. 223 ammo is so cheap you sometimes can't reload for the price of factory ammo, not to mention the hassle of those little cases. I handload for to attain the accuracy and velocity I want in a particular cartridge/gun. I have a 35 Whelen A.I., which you cannot buy factory ammo and a couple of outside the norm cartridges for which available factory ammo stinks.

I typically shoot about 800 rounds a year, not including pistols which I don't reload. I save money on a per round basis, but I know I would never shoot as much with factory ammo.

My cost to reload 223 is $163/1000 rounds. That's a significant savings versus buying loaded ammo especially when you shoot 7-10k rounds of 223/year. My cost to load 9mm is $71/1000 which is also a significant savings. (I'm able to buy coated bullets at manufacturing cost so that helps). I could get down to $66/1000 if I used something other than Federal primers

I haven't seen primer cost $40 per 100. Maybe per 1000 but 100 is only $3.50 to $4

Right on target. That is the best reason to reload. Self reliance. IT'S A NO BRAINER.

That and when a buddy of mine dropped a nice buck last week with one of my handloads.. Priceless.