"I'm serious thinking of switching to shooting my 357 mag revolver. At least I won't lose my brass!"
That's basically what I've done most of my life, shoot revolvers. I have so much .38 Special brass stashed away that I honestly will not be able to shoot it up in my remaining life. It doesn't help that the stuff lasts and lasts and lasts.
I never have warmed up to semi-autos all that much and never shoot them out in the field except for .22's of course. When shooting them I go to a public range with a cement pad, shoot whatever I brought with me while letting the brass find every interdimensional portal it can, and then just hope I don't lose more than 10 or 12 out of that batch. Losing brass is just the price you pay.
Also, 9mm and .45 are the only calibers where I still shoot range pick up brass. Fortunately a lot of folks leave their once fired factory brass lying around, or will give it away if asked. If going for accuracy I have my known lots of brass but for general blasting mixed headstamps of unknown vintage is the order of the day.
But you already seem to have most of the economy tips down. Powder and primers are going to cost pretty much the same per shot so shooting cast bullets is the only other area besides cheap brass where there is much room to save money.
