Reloading cost breakdown spreadsheet

[TheDan]

1000 rounds of ammo after/if SHTF = PRICELESS !!!!! I reload and therefore I will have ammo and the means to make more.

So you can make primers and your own gunpowder? ...because if you can't buy ammo, I doubt you'll be able to buy components

Reloading is a fine hobby, but it's really just that. The experiance and enjoyment you might get from it can be personally valuable, but I just dont see the cost effectiveness of it.

 

[woolleyworm]

1000 rounds of ammo after/if SHTF = PRICELESS !!!!! I reload and therefore I will have ammo and the means to make more.

So you can make primers and your own gunpowder? YES, can make crude but workable primers and have mixed black powder in a cement mixer, it works and it's not rocket science. ...because if you can't buy ammo, I doubt you'll be able to buy components 10k primers stores pretty easily and lead bullets are easy to make if you HAVE the equipment before the SHTF and everything skyrockets in price.

Reloading is a fine hobby, but it's really just that. The experiance and enjoyment you might get from it can be personally valuable, but I just dont see the cost effectiveness of it.

You won't see the cost effectiveness until it too late then; my point was that it is NOT about cost effectiveness at all; it's about knowing how to DO things on your own and without the need to go to the store. You're damn right I can do everything except for the brass. I'll keep going about my hobbies while the rest of society tinkers on their Ipads and newest apps; we'll see which "hobby" pays off better.

 

[TheDan]

I'm prety handy with metal and could make the brass for you. Maybe when SHTF I can barter some brass for your homemade powder and primers

You've got me thinking now tho... Looking up how to make salt peter at the moment, becuase you gotta be able to make salt peter before you can make black powder. Nitrocellulose is also easy to make and more powerful than black powder, but in a situation where you have to make everything from scratch I'm not sure where you'd get the nitric acid.

Anything is doable. Not everything is practical, however.

 

[TexasRedneck]

That's the key here....knowing how to do it and having resources to do it with. Remember when everyone was screaming about no ammo to be found? Those of us that reload weren't having problems - because we had the materials to make ours. Yeah - powder, primers and such got scarce - but when ya buy 15k at a time, and your reorder point is 1k - ya can pretty much survive, especially if you up your reorder point to accomodate for the more limited availability. Hell - I was plinkin' with .380's at the range when folks were cryin' because they couldn't find any - all because I had the stockpile - and stockpiling components is pretty cheap.
Besides - if you're wanting to really get down to the maximum accuracy potential of a given gun, you ain't gonna do it with factory stuff. I typically load fairly light for range plinking, but the aim-point is equivalent to factory loads - so my sight picture doesn't change, yet the gun doesn't get beat about as badly. By the same token, I can take the loads on up if wanted/needed - it's all up to me, not some box of stuff in Walmart that has been put together in whatever way.
It's kinda like wrenching on my Harley - given what I charge an hour for my labor, it WOULD be cheaper to let a shop do it - but I enjoy doing it, and I know just how it's been done.

 

[randmplumbingllc]

That's incredible!

I've obviously been doing it the expensive way. Where do you get your components at that price?

Think that is good ? Cast or swage your own bullets and see what a box of 50 cost ya.

Knock that 11 dollars off of Texas1911s price, the cost of bullets, and you get $10.70 a hundred or $5.35 a box of 50.

I reload handgun rounds for about $4.00 a hundred or $2.00 a box.

Casting cost me about $300.00 for a complete setup, which includes EVERYTHING needed to cast. Can cast a few hundred bullets an hour, with just a 2-cavity mold.