The economics of 9mm ammunition

[Pointman91]

unless you have components bought a long time ago, is it worth the trouble to load 9mm right now ?

Just curious as my son and I both have been having good luck with steel case ammo in our three Glocks and his CZ Skorpion. I used to load all my own 9mm range ammo but at under 15 cents each delivered it just doesn't make sense to me right now.

 

[TheMailMan]

If you cast your own bullets you can get your price down to less than $0.06 per round. That's with current prices.

I'm in the $0.04 range right now on my 9mm loads.

Current pricing

CCI primers $28/1000
WSF Powder $24/lb 1555 loads per pound
Lead $0.75/lb 56 bullets per pound

Primer $0.028
Powder $0.015
Bullet $0.014

Total cost $0.057 or $5.70/100

If you buy bullets your cost would be $0.12 per round or $12/1000

I just bought a new $80 mold. At a savings of ~$0.06 per bullet it took me 1333 bullets to break even.

Since my current lead cost is about half the above example it took me around 700 bullets to break even on the mold. After that it's free money. Since I've cast 2000 bullets with that mold in the last week I've "saved" a ton of money.

 

[ZX9RCAM]

What do you "charge" for your time to reload, what's the hourly rate?

If you work for free, I've got some stuff I need done around the house.

 

[TheMailMan]

What do you "charge" for your time to reload, what's the hourly rate?

If you work for free, I've got some stuff I need done around the house.

I don't charge for my time. That whole idea is ridiculous. It's my hobby time.

 

[Hill Billy]

I admire those who reload. But, it's not my cup of tea. Maybe it's because I already have so many 9mm rounds and .45 rounds. Not to mention .22 rounds.

 

[TheMailMan]

I've got somewhere around 3k 9mm loaded right now. About the same in .45 Long Auto. I'm closing in on 50k rounds of rimfire.

I need something to do. I also make lures, but a guy only needs so many of those. I'll go out and cast bullets or load ammo. I want to hit the range but this rain makes it hard. The range gets all muddy and I can't recover my brass. I can't fish every day either.

I've got close to a full 5 gallon bucket of 9mm brass, over seven gallons of .45 Long Auto, plus the .38 spl, .357 mag, and 10mm. Then there's all the rifle brass.

The Dillon has been set up for small primers all summer, getting close to time to switch it to large primers.

Being broken and retired has its pluses and minuses.

 

[Charlie]

The one factor left out (I think) in your equation is ............ how much do you shoot?

 

[Moonpie]

As the others have said, What is your time worth?
Calibers such as 9mm or .223 I don't bother to reload.
Its easy and inexpensive enough to buy it cheap and stack it deep.

 

[Mowingmaniac 24/7]

The man said it's his 'hobby' ...why all the criticism?

 

[ZX9RCAM]

 

[Charlie]

I wasn't criticizing, just curious as to how much you shoot.

 

[Darkpriest667]

The more ya'll talk about this the more it makes me interested in reloading.

 

[robertc1024]

As has been said many times, it makes no sense of you're shooting common calibers in reasonable quantities.

 

[Younggun]

Way too many variable. Will you buy a $100 press or a $600 press?

Do you enjoy the process or despise it?

Will you buy expensive bullets $100 at a time or order plated billets by the thousands?

I shoot 147gr subs. Load them on a lee press and use cheap plated bullets. I paid off the investment pretty quickly.

The match is easy if you want to determine savings and time to pay off the investment.

In truth, you will usually just shoot more and save nothing.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[TheMailMan]

As has been said many times, it makes no sense of you're shooting common calibers in reasonable quantities.

Common caliber like .45 Long Auto or .357 Mag? You can pay off the equipment pretty quick.

Let's take .45 Long Auto 500 rnds shipped is going to run ~$125 for steel cased. That's $0.25 per round.

Current component prices for cast bullet handloads would be $14.80/100, that's buying cast bullets.

A difference of $38/500.

If you shoot 500 rounds a month you'll save $456 a year.

If you cast your own bullets you'll be at the $0.06 per round or $30/500. A savings of $95. That would be a savings of $1140 a year. That would pay for a Dillon 650 setup and casting equipment....EVERY YEAR.

If you shoot 50 rounds a month just buy ammo. I try to shoot 400-500 rounds a week. I don't actually save any money because if I had to buy ammo I'd only shoot 100 rounds a month.

 

[baboon]

I have owned 9mm since my teens & never loaded for them. Had .45 acp's just as long but will reload them. I can easily burn through 1K of 9mm in a day in the MP5K, but quality surplus is what I feed it.

 

[m5215]

I considered going the reloading route but from reading these posts I think I would be better off just buying my ammo.

 

[Moonpie]

Its one of those circle things.
You reload to save money but you end up shooting more so you spent just as much or more.
The trade off is time.
Common calibers shot in moderate volume doesn't really pay. Its much easier to buy outright.
Now......if you're going to shoot 11.8 x 213mm ElephantBlaster Nitro Express using Titanium tipped bullets with solid gold cases then, yeah, rolling your own is the way(sometimes the ONLY way) to go.
If you enjoy it, go for it. Have fun. But I gotta tell ya sitting there hand assembling 2000rds of 9mm pistol ammo sucks ass. Trust me.
Get a progressive machine. You can thank me later.

 

[TheMailMan]

Its one of those circle things.
You reload to save money but you end up shooting more so you spent just as much or more.
The trade off is time.
Common calibers shot in moderate volume doesn't really pay. Its much easier to buy outright.
Now......if you're going to shoot 11.8 x 213mm ElephantBlaster Nitro Express using Titanium tipped bullets with solid gold cases then, yeah, rolling your own is the way(sometimes the ONLY way) to go.
If you enjoy it, go for it. Have fun. But I gotta tell ya sitting there hand assembling 2000rds of 9mm pistol ammo sucks ass. Trust me.
Get a progressive machine. You can thank me later.

2000 rounds on the 650 is an afternoons work. If ya got someone to fill primer tubes it's really pretty quick.

 

[ZX9RCAM]

So, now you're calling your hobby work?


Like I said, time is money. ..