700lh I'll second that.
Last week a friend stopped by to shoot his new/used Beeman 177 cal pellet rifle. I asked about pellet cost and he said about $15/per 1k for the kind he was using. about 1.5 cts ea. After awhile he came into the house for a break (cold and windy outside) we shot the [bleep] for awhile. He spotted my SW M10-8 HB 38 Special sitting on the counter and asked about it. I told him it was my new 22 pistol and he gave me a BS look and said how's that? I told him I'd been collecting lead for 35 years and for the last 10 yrs 95% of it went into the same reclaimable backstop, was reclaimed then recast into 158 gr swc .358". He knew that but didn't really think about it as I do. It's one of my hobbies I enjoy, some of that lead has been down the barrel many times. Casting my own is the only way I can keep some of my guns shooting period, obviously you can buy 38 cast bullets damn near anywhere but I don't have to, I do my own. Still wanting an answer to my new 22 comment I asked him if he remembered the deal I got on CCI-550 small mag pistol primers 5 years back at $8.50/1000? Yeah he remembered, I said well you were happy with 1000 of them and I bought the other 17K he had,.85 cts each. Then I reminded him of the HP38 I snagged at the spring gun show 3 yrs ago where I got the whole case for $50 and he told me to sell half for $50(10 ea) so I wouldn't have any money in the other 5 lbs. I reminded him that I said no way and kept it all. At 3.7 grs a load with 158 gr bullets that was almost 1900 rds to the pound and 19000 to those 10 lbs. Well I told him that figured out to .26 cts per round powder cost + the .85 for the primer and the bullet at no cost as it had paid for itself many times ago. So I said 1.11 cts a round and MY time, how long has it been since you bought 22 ammo for that price? Well he laughed and said well maybe when I was 12-13yrs old in the mid 60's. I asked if he got it yet about the new 22 and said yeah I do. Leaves extra cash for better beer and the other necessities of life. Just something I got out of Boy Scouts the "Be Prepared" when I was one almost 50 yrs ago. The point is there are still ways to shoot inexpensively if You spend some of your time as well. Magnum Man