I live 1/2 mile from the (private club) range, so range trips aren't a big deal. It was a buying point for this house. I'm still loading stuff bought when it was cheap. Just finished a brick of Remington 2 1/2s that had an $11.50 price tag on it, with Unique from a cardboard can that said Hercules on the label with a $10.98 sticker, & Acme cast bullets that cost $22/500... so less than $3 for a box of 50. Add a nickle to 10c a round for JHPs. Much of the rifle ammunition I load with similar vintage components as well. Even with a magnum rifle at a penny/primer, 70 gr of $10/# powder is a dime, & Speer, Sierra, Nosler, or Hornady bullets at c.10c each makes for 21 cents a round. Add 30c to that for Partitions, so that's 51 cents apiece x 20 =10.20 a box for premium ammunition. Smaller cartridges probably cost 15 cents... so that's $3 a box. I shoot a few wildcats & obsoletes that there is no factory ammo for. Even using recently (pre covid insanity) purchased powder & bullets it's still much cheaper than a new boat or maintenance on an older one. Wanna talk about fast/classic cars?
I downsized the loading bench to about 1/2 the size of the old one when I moved here. It has its own corner in my library/office & it works just fine with a 2'x6' footprint. Will be better when I get the wall shelves built for die storage. I shoot 80 to 200 rounds of rifle a week from barrel burning 22s to a few magnums, & a few 100 rounds more when my buddy comes over & we go to the pistol range. Not sure if I reload to shoot more or shoot to reload more. It's a hobby that I enjoy immensely even when I was working 50-60 hours/week plus all the normal chores.
Other than bulk pistol, the last factory ammo I shot was some S&B @ $15/box for the brass but it was unusable because primer pockets were too shallow & I'm too lazy to measure the web thickness & maybe cut them deeper... yet. Maybe a total loss except for barrel break-in.
The daughter & her kids were just here for a week. We bought the oldest one a Ruger rimfire & burned up a brick or 2 of orange box PMC Zappers. Remember them? The same grand daughter (with supervision) happily loaded a couple 100 rounds of 9mm for her mom & some 45s for me. She chased her mom off the stool at the bench so she could do the reloading. She has the bug now too. Three generations in the same house at once & at the range was a thing of beauty.
