Home Forums Reloading Big Game Rifles To reload or not to reload?

Guys,

How cost efficient is it to reload? What do you save on a box of premium ammo such as Hornady Interbond or Nosler Partition? Any input would be appreciated.

Rough figures for a 308 Win. since that's what I load the most:

Lapua brass (expensive): $0.66
"Premium" bullet: $1
Benchrest grade primer: $0.035
45 gr. powder @ $20/lb.: $0.13

That's $36.50 box of twenty. The next time you load that piece of brass it'll be $0.33 for each of thew two loadings. So now the 40 total rounds cost you $59.80, i.e. $29.90 per box. ..... On the sixth loading the brass costs 11 cents for each of the loadings so now those six boxes of ammo cost you $153, or $25.50 each.

I overestimated on the bullet cost to give a worst case which you could almost always beat.

Bullet .80
Brass .10
Primer .03
Powder .15
-----------
1.08 each for my WSM and a good bullet.

.58 for practice rounds

The fun and experience is priceless. You certainly learn more about your guns.

Interbonds and Partitions are not a buck each. I never have seen a 35 cent primer. Most expensive around here Is Federal Match primers @ $4 per hundred

300 Win Mag
Federal Gold Metal Match brass .29
TSX 180 grain bullet .56
Federal GMM primer .04
76 gr. powder $16.90 lb .18

$1.07 per round or $21.40 probably at least a 50% savings.
I did get a good deal on the brass. TSX bullets were $27.99 per 50the last time I purchased them. Today they were $32.99

Sorry about that, I got in a hurry and slipped a decimal. I'll revise the original post. Thanks.

I have only been reloading for just over a year and haven't "saved" a penny, but I get to do a heck of alot more shooting for the same money.

First off, I don't shoot "premium" bullets. The deer and hogs that I shoot haven't been able to tell the difference. Corelokts are an excellent bullet for the price.

I buy my powder and primers in bulk to cut the cost.

The only component that I haven't found a way to cut cost on is Lapua brass, but I believe it is well worth the extra cost.

Others have posted some good advise. I will add that if you don't shoot much (i.e.: a couple of sight-in shots and then what ever is fired during hunting season), then you are not going to save any money. In fact, you will spend quite a bit more (buying the equipment to reload with).
However, you will be able to learn what your rifle likes in terms of loads, you will get a satisfaction that comes from "rolling your own"; and you will take one more step towards the classification of "rifle looney".

If you do shoot a lot, then you will definitely see a cost savings by reloading.

The answer depends on what cartridge you select. For my 338WM there is a LOT of savings. There is still a good deal of savings.
Most of the others gave you some good numbers, you will need to spend some money to get started and that may seem overwhelming.

Remember Handloading is not just a cost saving exercise� it is a hobby. There is quite the sense of accomplishment when you build the �ultimate� custom round. So while it may take a while to recoup the start-up cost once you add in the fun you will have and the product you will achieve, you will never look back.

On my 300WBY I figured .48 a shot minus the brass with Speer Hot Cores. Considering the factory loads are now over $45 a box for the Hornady loads it is quite a savings.

The saving are significant but for me, the satisfaction of loading my own out weighs the cost out put. It's just a whole lot more fun taking game with roll your own ammo. For practice ammo, you can load something like Nosler BT's for even more of a savings than the premium bullets listed here, not to mention being able to fine tune loads for your rifle.

In terms of both cost and performance, I could not imagine NOT reloading.

It takes some time to recover the initial cost but is worth every penny.

Travis

The first reason to reload is better accuracy.

reloading in my opinion is kind-of like a double-edged sword but in a good way. you have to shoot a lot to make it cost efficient, but then you get to shoot a lot since you reload!! someone who is just getting there gun sighted in for deer season, just needs to drop the $30-$40 on a box of shells and head to the range.

Every head of big game I have killed has been shot with a hand load. Can't see using factory ammo now. If I were to buy factory ammo for my .375 locally it woould run in the neighborhood of $55-$65 per 20 rounds. I like to run the Speer 270 gr. BTSP's through it so I can load 100 for what less than 40 would cost me.

I have yet to ever send a factory load down any centerfire rifle I own. I love reloading as a rewarding hobby that allows me to shoot more for less cost, although if I didn't reload, I wouldn't spend as much money. Bullets are not $1 a piece, even good bullets are at most $.70/piece, most of what I shoot are around $.30/piece (sierra matchkings and Nosler Ballistic Tips). Have fun, if you enjoy it, you enjoy it, but it's not something to jump into lightly either. I've tried to get a few friends started and they want to do it fairly halfway and aren't happy with the results, but don't want to go whole-hog either.

I loaded 100 custom rounds (charged the way his rifle likes 'em) for my brother-in-law's deer rifle for $45 my cost. He only supplied the brass. That includes the cost of primers, propellent (powder), and Hornady SSTs.

The last I checked you couldn't get 40 rounds of Hornady ammo for that price.

I'd rather have 3-4 good rifles and a decent loading setup than 10 rifles that I could only feed factory ammo.

Ditto

I own a Stevens M200 in a 30-06. In short, I was having a problem with my shots stringing high right. I called Savage and eventually sent the rifle to them. They replaced the stock (with a wood one) and was satisfied with their 1.3 and 1.4 inch groups using Federal Match ammo.

When I got the rifle back, (using 57grns of I4350, CCI BR LR, win brass, and 150gr Sierra GK SP) I was able to put 5 shots on paper and cover it with a quarter at 100 yards.

This is a $300 dollar rifle. Savage couldn't do it and I don't think I could repeat that with a factory load.

Depending on the brand of factory ammo (like Wolf), I don't save a lot of money reloading the '06, 308 or 22-250. But the 30-30, 270WSM, 300WSM, 338 Win Mag, and 7mm Rem Mag are hugh savings.