G144000 wrote:
Hey GLShooter what calibers do you load most frequent? and how much do you save doing it yourself? thanks
Main emphasis for me is 223, 204 Ruger, 20 Tactical, 6X45, 38, 45 ACP and 9X19 and 9X21. I shoot IPSC and 3 Gun off and on and starting to do more PPC.
My rifle stuff for 3G is 95% 6X45. The other rifles are used for PD's and just plain fun. Of course there are other calibers that come across the bench on a periodic basis like 243 and 308.
Got into shotguns thanks to Sporting Clays and 3 Gun stuff. I load for them but the last two years have been shooting a 28 gauge S X S (CZ Ringneck) and with those you have to reload unless you want the gun to rust in the safe!! One dove season would drain my retirement!!
Cost savings on the PRIMO 223/204 stuff is about 45 to 75 cents/round. There is no 20 Tactical commercial stuff(I use 223 cases tat are free for that) so they cost about 30 cents to load each. The 223 is one of those things that the price of the bulet can determine the savings as the factory FMJ's stuff coats about 305 cents each and I can load it for about 22 cents. Not much savings but if my time is worth $35/hour, like when I worked, then with a Dillon 650 I can make that by reloading. Now on the GOOD stuff I can make back a lot of it in a hurry.
I load 25 WSSM for an AR and that stuff is like GOLD!! A box of 20 is around $28.00. New brass is what eats you up as I paid 30 cents for each piece of it when I got started. Loading them the first time cost me 67 cents each so the savings there is only around $15/20 rounds . The second firing though the savings is about $21.00. The big deal there is that you can stuff a super bullet like the TSX in it that cost lots of $$ that you can't get from the factory and know that you are GTG on special game chores.
Quality 28 gauge is about $11 to $19.00/box. If you have the hulls then it gets to be 20 cents/round so the savings on the lowest price stuff is about $6/box but I'm loading a shell that is equivalent in quality y IMHO to the $19/box so at that point I'm saving $14.00 !!
Reloading figured on a budget basis saves money. The tooling can be mild to wild so you have to look at that. My Dillon 300's, that are dedicated, 223, 45 and 38, in my pic cost about $200 back in the 80's. They have loaded tens of thousands of rounds. Very cheap. The AA Turrets you see cost me $90 for a new one and $50.00 for a used one. The 550 and a BIG Dillon tumbler with $500 of extra goodies cost me $100 out of a local paper.
I shoot more because I load and could never afford to compete heavily if I did not. When I got into PPC in 1980 the first match I shot I burned 21,000 rounds in 21 days getting ready.And, yes, I won that one and the next two. It lets me relax and when I shoot a match, plink or hunt I know that on this day, this ammo and this firearm are set up the way I want it and feel that that aids in my enjoyment a great deal.
Greg
PS: The wife is a shooter too so she expects quality ammo and doesn't begrudge the time in the reloading room.
