Cost per Round

[Equitum]

I'm looking to get started in reloading soon, and I wanted to look at how much it would cost per round for a small batch (about 200 rounds).

At the cost of components from Midway (bullets and brass) and Cabela's (powder and primer, locally so I don't have to pay Hazmat), I come out to about $0.84/round, with extra powder and primers left over.

What I'm using to get that number:
Bags of Winchester brass, 50 per bag- $18.49 ea. , $73.96 total = $0.3398 per case

Hornady 178 AMAX, boxes of 100- $29.99 ea., $59.98 total= $0.2999 per bullet

Varget powder, 1 lb- $25.99 ea., assuming a load of 45gr (pretty low estimate from the .308 load depot thread) at 7000gr/lb, I'll need at least 2 lbs, so $51.98 total=$0.16708 per load (probably lower than it would really be at a developed load probably anywhere from 0.2-1.0gr higher)

CCI primers, per 1000- $29.99 total= $.02999 per primer

Add it all up= $0.8367685714285714 per round


Does this seem like a normal cost/round for reloading? It seems like it is pretty close to what factory bulk ammo costs. Could I get a better cost/round with a larger batch at bulk price components?

Thanks in advance.

Edit: I just realized that would be only the cost/round for the first batch. The brass' effective cost would be less per reload I used them for. New estimate for cost/case = (at an estimate of 8 total uses) $0.046225, New cost/round at 8 total uses= $0.543195, which is a lot closer to what I would have thought.
The cost per round would be even lower if I wanted to buy all the bullets, powder and primers for all 8 loadings would probably be lower, because I would need at least 11 lbs of powder and all 1600 primers and bullets, so I would buy in bulk and save money that way.

 

[azhank]

Re: Cost per Round

You can reuse the brass.

 

[MtnCreek]

Re: Cost per Round

Your savings will come when you Re-Load. You'll get 10+ reloads from the newly purchased .308 brass.

Edit: AZHank beat me to it

 

[lethal93ta]

Re: Cost per Round

that and you can find powder and primers cheaper at places other than cabelas, Im paying around 21 per lb of powder and 24 for a box of 1000 cci, mag primers I do pay around 28 for but I only use mags in my grendel load all my other loads use standard primers, bullets if you get a C&R FFL midway gives you a deal, and grafs is even cheeper, I normally pay around 20 per 100 for bullets from them. look around you can find good deals at diffrent place's, and once you find the load you like you buy bullets in bulk orders of 1000-2000 bullets and get even better deals.

 

[doc76251]

Re: Cost per Round

Do the math for 500 rounds all at once then compare to a 500 rnd case of Black Hills or FGMM. THEN, subtract the cost of 500 rounds of brass and compare against the same 500 of BH or FGMM. Repeat the last step 14 more times (A$$uME'ing 8000 round barrel life and 15 reloads). I bet you made money

Cheers,

Doc

 

[leadbullet]

Re: Cost per Round

there are way better places to buy components than cabela's, they are the most expensive in my experiance, once the initial brass cost is absorbed, you'll only pay for the bullets, powder and primers. Yoou will also make way better ammo than bulk loaded stuff.
so .84 minus the .34 cents for the brass is .50 cents on the second shot and on and on. That is $34 savings every 100 rnds fired or fifty bucks a hundred, the more you shoot reloads the more you save and buy good equipment and components.

 

[Wolfish365]

Re: Cost per Round

Consider buying the brass a one-time investment that makes your round cost on the first shooting the highest. For all other reloads after that your cost is significantly less. When you have worn out all the brass and have to scrap it, your hobby should have paid for itself - press/dies and all.

 

[Equitum]

Re: Cost per Round

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: lethal93ta</div><div class="ubbcode-body">that and you can find powder and primers cheaper at places other than cabelas, Im paying around 21 per lb of powder and 24 for a box of 1000 cci, mag primers I do pay around 28 for but I only use mags in my grendel load all my other loads use standard primers, bullets if you get a C&R FFL midway gives you a deal, and grafs is even cheeper, I normally pay around 20 per 100 for bullets from them. look around you can find good deals at diffrent place's, and once you find the load you like you buy bullets in bulk orders of 1000-2000 bullets and get even better deals. </div></div>

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: attherange</div><div class="ubbcode-body">there are way better places to buy components than cabela's, they are the most expensive in my experiance, once the initial brass cost is absorbed, you'll only pay for the bullets, powder and primers. Yoou will also make way better ammo than bulk loaded stuff.
so .84 minus the .34 cents for the brass is .50 cents on the second shot and on and on. That is $34 savings every 100 rnds fired or fifty bucks a hundred, the more you shoot reloads the more you save and buy good equipment and components. </div></div>

I'll probably still order from Midway for the bullets and brass (unless I find the Winchester brass at my local Cabela's or other component supplier is cheaper) because of the Midway discount codes you can find around SH and elsewhere, but for the powder and primers I'll have to look for a local reloading components supplier around. Maybe I'll look at Bass Pro or the range/gun shop I'm going to right now. I've also go the Fort Worth Gun Show coming in town in a little less than a month, so I'll definitely look there for a deal.

Edit:Just looked at Bass Pro's website. Even more expensive than Cabela's, so they're out of the picture.
Anyone know where you can reasonably priced reloading components in the DFW metroplex?

 

[leadbullet]

Re: Cost per Round

www.powdervalley.com has good prices and ships powder and primers in one package, I shopped there for over 8 years and never had a problem.

 

[wburke2010]

Re: Cost per Round

There is a reloading store in mesquite, but their price and selection is no better than cabelas. I have bought from a store in Plano but it wasn't too much better than cabelas. I have just started looking again because I need to buy more powder and primers, the best thing to do is order from powder valley, and order enough to hit the 48lb limit so you only pay one hazmat fee and you will save a bunch over cabelas or any local store.

Walter

 

[vinsonr]

Re: Cost per Round

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: attherange</div><div class="ubbcode-body">www.powdervalley.com has good prices and ships powder and primers in one package, I shopped there for over 8 years and never had a problem. </div></div>

Your link is the wrong site. http://www.powdervalleyinc.com/

 

[Equitum]

Re: Cost per Round

Yeah, I read about Southwest Ammo Supply in Mesquite, buy I'm in Benbrook, on the west side of Fort Worth. I'd have to drive all the way through Arlington and then Dallas through all of that construction... Google maps calls it a little longer than an hour and 15 minutes, so it'd take at least 1.5 hours to get there; any savings off Cabela's I would lose in gas.

Since right now I'm shooting at Alpine Shooting Range (about 15 minutes south of Fort Worth), and I read on some other forums they have decent prices, so I'll check out what they have. If I don't find a better price, I'll just go to Cabela's and try to source at least some from the Fort Worth Gun Show, since it will probably be at least the same price as Cabela's and maybe cheaper.

 

[Equitum]

Re: Cost per Round

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: attherange</div><div class="ubbcode-body">www.powdervalley.com has good prices and ships powder and primers in one package, I shopped there for over 8 years and never had a problem.</div></div>
They have better prices on powder and primers if I don't count in the Hazmat fee, so if they have any kind of special where they have like free shipping and Hazmat for a certain order amount, I'll probably order from them.

 

[Dickn52]

Re: Cost per Round

New here. I too started from scratch with Lapua brass and Win .308's. Varget powder, Fed primers etc. Worked out to .81 cents each and like you stated, will become cheaper as I get into the reloads. Looking forward to shooting this weekend to see what I made. Hope it all works out right.

 

[gunsnjeeps]

Re: Cost per Round

Powder Valley has a $27.00 hazmat fee. If you can find someone too split the fee with it isn't bad, or as mentioned make a really big order.

 

[Equitum]

Re: Cost per Round

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Dickn52</div><div class="ubbcode-body">New here. I too started from scratch with Lapua brass and Win .308's. Varget powder, Fed primers etc. Worked out to .81 cents each and like you stated, will become cheaper as I get into the reloads. Looking forward to shooting this weekend to see what I made. Hope it all works out right. </div></div>
Whoa! How'd you get $0.81/round with Lapua brass? What bullets are you loading at what load? Did you buy at bulk to get that price?

 

[mike-c]

Re: Cost per Round

equitum, check w/ bj bailey at 3rd generation shooters supply in okla,i think they del weekly to the shotgun club on i20. good prices,no tax,no hazmat fee

 

[turbo54]

Re: Cost per Round

Don't forget to amortize the cost of reloading equipment, which is generally at least $500, to have everything you NEED (not want), and of solid quality (not top notch).

Also consider your time, and its associated opportunity cost. Rocking a single stage press and beam scale, figure on at LEAST 30 minutes/20 rounds. Very VERY conservative estimate.

If you're time rich and money poor, maybe the time won't matter.

 

[Equitum]

Re: Cost per Round

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: c-3</div><div class="ubbcode-body">equitum, check w/ bj bailey at 3rd generation shooters supply in okla,i think they del weekly to the shotgun club on i20. good prices,no tax,no hazmat fee </div></div>
Thanks, I will!
<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: turbo54</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Don't forget to amortize the cost of reloading equipment, which is generally at least $500, to have everything you NEED (not want), and of solid quality (not top notch).

Also consider your time, and its associated opportunity cost. Rocking a single stage press and beam scale, figure on at LEAST 30 minutes/20 rounds. Very VERY conservative estimate.

If you're time rich and money poor, maybe the time won't matter. </div></div>
I am very time rich and money poor (right now at least - jobless college students over the summer tend to be!), so I can spend as much time as I want loading my own. I've looked at how much it would cost for my setup... $150.98 for the Lee Challenger Breech Lock Single Stage Press Kit and Collett 3-Die Set; $254.95 for the Thumler Model B Rotary Tumbler, 5 lbs. of steel media, a media seperator, and some Lemishine; I'll get at least $15 off the order for the Lee kit and dies, and $10 off the brass cleaning kit, so that should cover a good deal of my shipping --- All in all, about $405.

I didn't factor that into my round cost and I won't because I view it as a start-up cost that I'll recoup over time. If I say $0.543195/round to load 8 batches of 200, that would cost $869.112. If I ordered 200 rounds 8 times from Southwest Ammunition (the factory ammo I have on order right now) at $210.99/200 round case or $1.05495/round, that would cost $1687.92. I'd recoup the cost far before the initial brass wore out - in fact, by solving the simple equation 1.05945*x - 0.543195*x=405, I figured out I'd recoup the cost after 786 loads, or after my 4th batch. Not bad!

 

[TenZero]

Re: Cost per Round

Curious about your reasoning buying a budget press and the most expensive brass cleaner. IMO, the press will have a more noticeable effect on the quality of the ammo you make than how shiny your cases are. Not that the Lee Challenger can't make good ammo, (I used one myself for months before the linkage broke) Instead of a $260 tumbler, you can definitely spend your money better elsewhere. I'd pop for either a Lyman case prep center ($120) or a chargemaster type scale. Both of those items will significantly improve your process. You can get a cheap vibratory media cleaner for $65 that works just fine.

 

[Equitum]

Re: Cost per Round

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: TenZero</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Curious about your reasoning buying a budget press and the most expensive brass cleaner. IMO, the press will have a more noticeable effect on the quality of the ammo you make than how shiny your cases are. Not that the Lee Challenger can't make good ammo, (I used one myself for months before the linkage broke) Instead of a $260 tumbler, you can definitely spend your money better elsewhere. I'd pop for either a Lyman case prep center ($120) or a chargemaster type scale. Both of those items will significantly improve your process. You can get a cheap vibratory media cleaner for $65 that works just fine. </div></div>

I guess my reasoning behind the stainless media and rotary tumbler is a little bit of "buy once, cry once" - with any other media and tumbler, I'll have to keep buying and eventually throwing away media for an inferior case cleaning process. I thought $254 was actually pretty cheap considering I would be using this cleaning setup for pretty much forever.

When it comes to the Lee kit... I don't see it as a cheap or budget press. It's exactly the press I need at this stage, i.e. just starting to reload. I don't need a turret or progressive press, and Lee seems to have good quality products for the price. If I notice the powder measure/scale are finicky or inconsistent, I'll replace them with a better product. The Lee kit includes much of what the case prep center you mentioned has - a chamfer tool which I can use to decrimp and deburr primer pockets, a primer pocket cleaning tool, and a case trimmer. I might need a primer pocket uniformer later, but that will be later and not necessarily what I need now. I really view this kit as pretty much everything I'll need for a pretty long time, at least until I understand by actually working with it what else I'd like or need to improve my reloading process.

Thanks for your input, though! It made me think about all the individual tools in the kit a lot more and how I would use them to start out with.

 

[gunsnjeeps]

Re: Cost per Round

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: turbo54</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Don't forget to amortize the cost of reloading equipment, which is generally at least $500, to have everything you NEED (not want), and of solid quality (not top notch).

Also consider your time, and its associated opportunity cost. Rocking a single stage press and beam scale, figure on at LEAST 30 minutes/20 rounds. Very VERY conservative estimate.

If you're time rich and money poor, maybe the time won't matter. </div></div>

Most of the time you pay off your first kit in your first thousand rounds or less. Then you'll buy something else that you want to that saves you time but costs a little more.

As far as time goes, how many of us get paid to watch TV every night? I get paid eight hours a day the other 16 are when it gets spent. When I got paid 24 hours a day the pay wasn't that good and and I wasn't home long enough to spend any of it.

 

[doc76251]

Re: Cost per Round

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Gunsnjeeps</div><div class="ubbcode-body">

As far as time goes, how many of us get paid to watch TV every night? I get paid eight hours a day the other 16 are when it gets spent. When I got paid 24 hours a day the pay wasn't that good and and I wasn't home long enough to spend any of it. </div></div>

Amazingly that is the first time I've seen that quote but it is sooooo true.

Cheers,

Doc

 

[aloreman]

Re: Cost per Round

You also dont factor in the total cost of the equiptment. Its an investment. once you buy it its value doesnt go away. If you ever look on ebay you will see that clowns will pay almost full retail for used stuff. So you only really factor in 20 percent of the equiptment cost to break even. I find it funny you would Cry once on a tumbler but buy a press you know ur guna replace. Buy a rockchucker or a redding and when you die your grandkids will thank you

 

[adam3999]

Re: Cost per Round

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: aloreman</div><div class="ubbcode-body">You also dont factor in the total cost of the equiptment. Its an investment. once you buy it its value doesnt go away. If you ever look on ebay you will see that clowns will pay almost full retail for used stuff. So you only really factor in 20 percent of the equiptment cost to break even. I find it funny you would Cry once on a tumbler but buy a press you know ur guna replace. Buy a rockchucker or a redding and when you die your grandkids will thank you</div></div>

+1

Came here to say this -- the high resale value of firearms and reloading equipment was a pleasant surprise to me when I first got started.

 

[RobG]

Re: Cost per Round

Try and find some shooters you know or are nearby to make large purchases of powder and primers to help split the hazmat fees.

 

[Equitum]

Re: Cost per Round

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: aloreman</div><div class="ubbcode-body">You also dont factor in the total cost of the equiptment. Its an investment. once you buy it its value doesnt go away. If you ever look on ebay you will see that clowns will pay almost full retail for used stuff. So you only really factor in 20 percent of the equiptment cost to break even. I find it funny you would Cry once on a tumbler but buy a press you know ur guna replace. Buy a rockchucker or a redding and when you die your grandkids will thank you </div></div>

I don't really get your reasoning... I factored in the full retail MSRP cost of the setup I proposed, and how long it would take me to make back the cost of the setup. If I resell any of the equipment, it would likely be after I already recouped the cost for it, and I would only sell it to get a new piece of equipment IF I wanted to replace something, which I don't believe I will. The only things I could see myself replacing are the powder measure, scale, and MAYBE the press. Not because the Lee press won't last as long as I'd ever use it, but because I might want a progressive or turret press.

If I wanted to sell them, it'd be an extra bonus to get me closer to that new piece of equipment. Even when calculating how soon I would recoup the cost of my setup from the view of full MSRP instead of an investment, it wouldn't take but around 800 rounds. In the scheme of reloading, that's not that much.

 

[TenZero]

Re: Cost per Round

The Challenger is a barely sufficient press for full size (308) rifle ammo. Use it for pistol ammo and 223, and it will be fine. Mine broke the linkage within a couple of months while cranking on it to resize a 308 case. You would understand the difference if you had ever run a press before. This is why several people here with have advised you to buy a good press, instead of spending your limited money on an unnecessarily expensive case shining machine you don't really need yet. This is one of those hobbies where you should probably listen to the experience being offered to you.

On a budget, the Lee Classic cast is 10x the press for an extra 40 bucks. And, my limited personal experience tells me that case prep sucks ass without some kind of powered prep center. If you buy a stainless tumbler and intend to do all your prep by hand, you are not going to last very long at this, because it will be no fun for you.

 

[aloreman]

Re: Cost per Round

when you buy a press and you load 200 rounds the press isnt used up or gone. Therefore you still have the value of the press minus depreciation. Since as you stated you could sell these things to buy new things its value isnt gone as if it were a reloading component or a consumable. Therefore only the value of the depreciation which is roughly 20 percent needs to be factored into your payback time on your investment.