Looking at reloading 9mm and it just doesn't seem to be worth getting set up for it.

Thoughts?

Not worth it.

Assuming practice ammo, you can buy it for around $.19 per round and it costs about $.13 per reload, and that's assuming pickup brass at no cost. That assumes you have basic reloading gear and just have to add the cost of 9mm dies, maybe shell holders, etc., which also have to be amortized. Figure what your time is worth.

If you don't already reload it's definitely a non-starter.

If you really enjoy reloading, go for it. I'd rather spend my time doing something else, like shooting.

Paul

It's not worth it to me.

If I figure a practice match once a week, and an actual match once a month, that comes to just under 500 a month. And even at Bass Pro prices that's only $100.

Factor in brass collection, buying components, and standing in front of a Dillon? Just not worth it IMO.

We'll damn, at least tell us what you bought?

A 9mm bro.

Kahr cw9 and a Tucker pancake.

I have dies and components for virually all my guns except the .22's, and IMO it's not a bad thing at all to at least have the capability to put some ammo together. A few years back there was an "ammo shortage" that included rimfire and in certain areas I understand some centerfire as well. Remember having .22's rationed? Remember waiting to see if your _____ gun had ammunition delivered?

With the way the Democrats feel about how trustworthy YOU personally are with a firearm to begin with, I perfer to have the capability to reload. And aside from that, I shoot a falling plates competition which I find my scores improve with handloads, my .357 Magnum deer loads more accurate, and the wife's .380 does better with them as well.

At today's prices, no, not unless you just enjoy doing it & have the time to put to load enough to make a difference.

MM

I was already long ago set to load up for a 9mm, made it easy when i bought Wife a P365, the 115 xtp's and 125gr Barnes' at 1100 fps each are easy for her to shoot well and function fine in her pistol, and both are plenty accurate at leave me alone ranges, both expand and penetrate really well in metal coffee cans filled with water shot lengthways, both bare and covered with denim fabric, it's a fun little round.

Nope.

Reloading is an enjoyable hobby for me. I reload 9mm.
I like to Taylor my loads to my handguns. Just like I do for rifles.
Reloading is not a money saving proposition for me, it’s a hobby. Hasbeen

I can buy Blazer Brass 9MM for just under $9. on sale locally.

At this price it's cheaper to buy than reload, if you value your time.

I'm set up to reload, and save all my brass, but it's just not worth the time to me.

I buy a few boxes every time it's on sale and stock pile for when I need it.

Same with 5.56

I'm just too busy enjoying retirement to spend time reloading.

Besides having a bad back that just won't stand setting on a loading bench for long spells.

Virgil B.

For me, reloading is an end unto itself. I see it as the man's answer to knitting.

I try to have projects for the winter and the hottest part of the summer. 9mm is one of them. I can crank out 200 rounds an hour on my progressive once it's set up, and it is the perfect thing to do for a couple hours when I'm stuck at home on the weekend.

Of course, I'm not just loading. I'm also casting. I'll cast up 1000 rounds of bullets when I have a chance, and then save them for the dark of winter.

I've got an upcoming small 9mm project upcoming, and then I'm switching over to .223 Rem.

I remember the ammo shortages. So I can reload 9mm if I need to, or I want to play with a loading.
Ammo is plentiful now, but back when Obozo was POTUS the DHS was stocking up to kill us, and there was no 9mm ammo to be found.

I can load 100 rounds in 10 minutes on my Dillon SDB, components are as cheap as the loaded ammo if you shop around and buy in bulk, it's cheaper to load.

I still buy loaded ammo but I too remember the days of nothing on the shelf. I'm gonna have options...

It comes down to how you view reloading: If you have the time and enjoy the process, like Shaman, do it. It does save money, but not much. If reloading is just another chore to get done so you can go shoot, then just buy factory ammo.

Your powder and primer will cost you about 5 to 6 cents per round. Projectile prices will be unique to you. Local source vs. shipping costs, etc. If you can get projectiles into your hands for about 8 cents each, you've done pretty well (I think). Coated 115 gr bullets from Missouri Bullet Company will run you about that. So you're rolling your own for about 13-14 cents each. That presupposes that brass is free, which it basically is if you're willing to bend over and pick it up. So your total price runs $6.50-$7.00 per box of 50 rounds.

I can buy steel case ammo for $6.43 box (plus tax for my home state of Washington). Blazer brass 115 gr FMJ is $8.27/box. If you sell the brass at the gun show (about $15 per 1000), that brings the cost down to about $7.52/box.

I still have kids at home who show horses. I have a wife who isn't into guns. I work more than full time. Reloading is just another "to-do" for me at this stage of my life. I'll gladly pay somebody 50 cents to $1 per box to load my ammo for me. I'm only shooting about 250 to 400 rounds of 9mm per month. Someday I'll load for 9mm--either when it's financially more advantageous or when I'm looking to kill time. But, today is not that day.

I once timed myself on how long it took me to load 100 rounds on my Dillon (550b). When I factored in the actual time it took, it was closer to 20 minutes for me. My time measurement started with me going to the cupboard and getting a box of 100 primers, putting on shoes and a jacket, going out to the shop, pulling the cover off the press and checking the setup.

Then it was all the usual steps of reloading: stabbing 100 primers off the flip tray and start pulling the handle. I manually weigh a powder charge about every 25-30 rounds just to make sure Dillon isn't trying to kill me. I also measure the OAL on those rounds. Then, my process includes putting a green and blue "X" on the bottom of each case so I can have my brass back at the end of a match. I typically reload 200 rounds in a session.

If you tumble brass (which I do), that process (including the sorting) has to be factored in as well. When I'm done, I have to close down the shop and go back into the house. That is all time actually spent in order to reload.

I appreciate that pulling the handle doesn't take that long, but for a guy who is wondering if reloading 9mm "is worth it," if time is a major consideration, these things are worth considering.

I usually load either 400 or 1000 rounds at a sitting. 400 because thats how long before I'm bored, 1000 rounds because that usually finishes off my bullet stock.
I don't shoot as much anymore, so 1k rounds is good for at least 6 months. An afternoon or two and I've taken care of my 9/40/45 needs for the year.

Those were miserable times. I had difficulty finding decent duty ammo for a PD, from dedicated LE supply houses. I fared better personally because I reloaded. I had stocked ahead on powders and primers and was glad I did. W231 and pistol primers got scarce too.

I've been loading a long time. I can make as good or better ammo, for my purposes, and never run out of those loads; which might be discontinued or under-stocked if they were factory loads. When you are your own ammo manufacturer, there are no shortages.

But I am getting old and lazy and I intend to cut back on my loading. I shoot a lot of 45 ACP. I am seeing bulk steel-case hardball for 10-12 bucks a box and it will do for 90% of my shooting. And I wouldn't miss picking up brass.

Waders is spot on.

I bought a bunch of 9mm bullets to load a few years ago when I was still working and remembering ammo shortages. Never got around to loading them, because time was scarce and cheap factory stuff was not. I just got done loading them recently, because I'm retired, weather's been sucky, and I wanted them the heck out of the way. Probably not going to load any more until I'm out of other things I can do, or the cost difference makes a lot more sense.

Waders explained it perfectly.

I used to reload bulk 9mm. I have a Lee Loadmaster all set up for 9mm.

The price of cheap FMJ is low enough, it's hard to really save much in the way of money, and certainly not the time.

So I find myself buying bulk FMJ ammo, and a few boxes of good carry ammo.

I'll still handload a few if I'm curious what bullet A with powder B, will do in barrel length C. Stuff like that.

Not worth it unless you are trying to achieve a specific result. Pretty much all the bases are covered for me with factory 9mm. This is not true with the 38 special which is worth reloading to me.

CW9 is a nice little pistol. I'm wearing mine right now, in a DARA IWB kydex holster. I put a Hogue grip sleeve on it, and it fits the hand just perfectly for a smaller piece.




100 rounds at 20 yards, just sawing on the trigger, getting in some of that 200 round break-in Kahr suggests. I didn't have a single stoppage.

I'm with the shaman on this. 9mm is easy to load, and inexpensive. You can load if for about the same price as .22LR costs, if you cast your own bullets. All you buy is powder and primers, right? Cheap enough.

That's SO very true...

I gave up on the 9mm long ago.. The high variations of available ammo now makes reloading more costly than not..

The worst part of not reloading it is leaving all of that once fired brass on the ground. It violates decades of Pavlovian conditioning...

What I like most about cheap bulk ammo is several shooters at our gun club just leave their brass lay. I pick it up, tumble it, resize, and bell it. I put it in quart zip lock bags. Sure, we can buy FMJ ammo cheap. Last week I loaded 300 rounds of 124gr HPs with bullets from RMR. Far cheaper than loaded HPs cost even in bulk. I also load plated bullets for steel targets for safety.

I was told when I started asking about 9mm that reloading was well-nigh out of the question, because it was so small. It's really no different than trying to load 38 SPL or 45 ACP. Now, I will say that pistol rounds on a single stage press are somewhat of a bore, on a progressive they're just fine. I do most of my pistol rounds with an expander die and a factory crimp die at the end. Two extra operations per round over a rifle round can be tiring on a single stage. On a progressive, it's all done in one pull of the handle.

I also heard that 223 REM was too hard to load-- Hmmmph! Folks get strange ideas in their heads.

So true! I can't do it either!

In fact, I save all my 9mm brass and give it to guys who do reload. I even go through the bin at the gun club and pull brass for people I know who will use it.

Stop hanging around idiots.

I pick up my brass so I guess I got to count that in but I throw it in a tumbler and go do something else. Came in tonight and pulled brass out of the tumbler, dumped it in my 1 gallon ice cream bucket, loaded a primer tube and checked the clock. Then I noticed I was low on powder so I added a little powder and started loading. 9 minutes later the beeper went off that told me I only had 4 primers left, which is where I started from. I still had a little brass left so on the clock I loaded another primer tube and loaded another 80 rounds or so. 12 minutes.

For me it's worth it.

Are you able to buy 9mm locally, I.e. Walmart? The local Walmart stopped selling the cheap win. White box ammo.

Sportsmans Warehouse has a bunch of cheap stuff, I just have to get my Drivers License updated and pay an extra $1 on each purchase to the .gov for being an evil gun lover.

I'll stock pile while in MT this summer.

Ahhh the real I.d. Bs

I’m going to make a run to hunningtons. I will probably run up to sportsman’s and grab some.

For plinking no. For my bowling pin matches, hell yes...... It really depends on what you want to do with your 9mm...

i haven't loaded 9mm for a long time, mainly because i have a lot of it loaded. I for sure can load it cheaper than some of the specialty ammo prices.
having said that, since i scrounged the brass, didn't pay for it, bullets were cast by me out of lead i didn't pay for in most cases, my cost is a primer and a little powder on a dillon, where i can knock out a lot of them fairly quickly. At about 2.50 a box.

If memory serves me, I got the advice on this august campfire. Go figure.

Not unless you're shooting it an awful lot. Walmart had the best prices, day-in and day-out, unless you were buying in extreme quantities. They were supposedly going out of the 9 and other service type round business after the last time the government shot up a church or school or something. I don't know if they actually did or not since Walmart is actually pretty big on turning a profit despite being scum sucking globalist f u c ks. Anyway, not worth getting set up for unless you've already got a reloading outfit. If you do, go ahead and buy the dies, just in case. Why not?

I load for 8 different calibers/cartridges, one being 9MM. The short answer to your question is for 9MM generic hole punching ammo, it is no savings to reload them. Having said that, as several have mentioned, if you are set up to reload and have laid in a good supply of components, you will have ammo come what may as to shortages, political issues, etc. Additionally, there is significant savings in loading your own "business" and hunting ammo, especially in larger calibers. For instance, I can load .44 Mag with recycled brass, my own or range pick up, for about $8.00 - $17.00/box depending on what bullet I choose. Compare that to $35 -$45/box for store bought. As a plus, I can tweak my loads to my specs instead of just accepting what is offered for sale and it can be a rewarding hobby. Kinda like knitting, as someone mentioned.

Additionally, you can spend a lot of money on what I call semi-commercial or commercial equipment that can turn out copious quantities of ammo, or you can get a basic single stage press set up. A lot of difference in investment costs. Of course, you will always find that there are items you need and want that are not included in the "everything you need starter kits". What route to go will be determined by how much money are you willing to spend to get set up and how much time will you have to devote to using the equipment.

neighbor stopped by a little while ago, has to start reloading 9mm this coming week. loaded about 4k rounds two months ago, already out of it.
i a few years ago priced new brass, new primers, powder, and new jacketed bullets.
given the time element to reload, it seemed better to just buy that factory stuff at ten dollars a box, and save the brass.
having said that, if you make your own bullets, you can roll it pretty cheap.
i have tended to cast 9mm bullets in quanity, so supply is never a problem