Reloading Questions

I am just looking for some basic numbers from all the gurus out there that are already reloading.

1. What is the best place to get brass, bullets, primer's and powder?

2. What is a decent price for 1k new .223 brass?

3. What is a decent price for 1k once fired .223 brass?

4. "" 55gr FMJ .223 bullets?

5. "" 62gr FMJ .223 bullets?

Just looking for some general numbers so I can put some math to this for myself and my wife. From my understanding and all the reading that I have done a competent re-loader should be able to reload brass about 10x, correct? That will obviously make the brass cheaper per each time fired, ie. you pay $100 for 1k new brass = $.10 per piece of brass divided by 10 reload's = $.01 true cost per round.

If I am wrong, please let me know. I am just trying to get started and would like some raw data.

I did the math, and unless you are loading match ammo or with surplus supplies, it is cheaper to buy 1k rounds of brass case .223, blast it, sell the brass, then rinse and repeat.

A good place to get brass is brass connection in New Orleans. They have the best prices around for once fired, well unless you can get some for free. Hammar here on the forum.

If you were local, you could get most of your stuff at LA gun and reloading. I have personally had good luck with Grafs, Wideners and Powder valley for supplies. I use to buy powder at Cabelas, they use to have good prices on the 1lbers, but prices have gone up at least $5 a pound on all of their powders for some reason.

Is $54 a good deal for 1000 brass casings? It is military once fired.

TTT for the night owl's.

I have never ordered from them but http://www.gibrass.com/index.html

Here are some numbers I came up with. What do the experienced re-loaders here think, is it close or not?


Round_______Total cost per round
9mm 115gr______$0.12339
.40 S&W 180gr___$0.14678
.45 ACP 230gr____$0.17037
.223 Rem 55gr____$0.19579
.308 Win 147gr___$0.33846

If those numbers are pretty close then the only round that doesn't give a decent savings is .223. The rest seem to save a great deal of money, especially in bulk.

Research

I have spent about 10hrs today doing research on the items needed to make a complete bullet while reloading. I have searched for powders, primer, brass and bullets. I tried to keep everything as simple as possible like using one type of powder for pistol calibers and one for rifle calibers, I know, you could make better rounds with other types. I am trying to simplify this as much as possible. I tried to do everything in roughly bulk amounts, to me maybe not you, I understand. Here is the list that I came up with.

Powder Winchester 231 8lb canister
Bullet__________Grains of powder________Total rds per 8lb_________Cost per rd
9mm 115gr______4.5___________________12,444_________________$.0113
.40 180gr_______6_____________________9,333__________________$.0150
.45 230gr_______5_____________________11,200_________________$.0125

Powder Accurate 2230 8lb canister
Bullet__________Grains of powder________Total rds per 8lb_________Cost per rd
.223 55gr_______23____________________2,435__________________$.0575
.308 147gr______40____________________1,400__________________$.1000

Brass all once fired from Cheyenne Brass
Bullet__________Number of cases________Cost of cases_________Cost per rd
9mm___________2000__________________$72.00_______________$.0040
.40____________1000__________________$49.00_______________$.0054
.45____________1000__________________$84.00_______________$.0093
.223___________2000__________________$108.00______________$.0060
.308___________500___________________$97.50_______________$.0217

Bullets from Top Brass INC
Bullet__________Number of bullets________Cost of bullets_________Cost per rd
9mm 115gr RN_____1000__________________$83.15________________$.0832
.40 180gr FP______1000__________________$101.35_______________$.1014
.45 230gr RN______1000__________________$119.55_______________$.1196
.223 55gr FMJBT___2000__________________$209.00_______________$.1045
.308 147gr FMJ____1000__________________$189.00_______________$.1890

Primers Winchester from Natchez Shooters Supply
Primer__________Number of primers________Cost of primers_________Cost per rd
WLP (.45)________1000__________________$24.99________________$.0250
WLP (.40)________1000__________________$24.99________________$.0250
WSP (9mm)_______1000__________________$28.99________________$.0290
WLR (.308)_______1000__________________$27.79________________$.0278
WSR (.223)_______1000__________________$27.79________________$.0278

Booseman said:

Is $54 a good deal for 1000 brass casings? It is military once fired.

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If Lake City, I would say yes. But be careful when you purchase once fired military brass. The primer may have been crimped in. You can tell by looking at the primer there will be a small indented ring in the brass around the primer. It makes removing and repriming a little tougher. Or you can buy a tool that goes on your press that removes the crimp after you deprime.
The life of your brass will all be dependent on a few factors. Manufacturer of brass, for one. The better the brass manufacturer, the longer the life.
For another, what you're shooting it in. Brass shot in a semi-auto will have less life than that shot in a bolt rifle, due to the stressing of the brass in the semi-auto. You have to bump the shoulder back each time you load it. I use Lapua brass in my bolt gun (20+reloads) and Lake City for my semi-autos (around 6-7 reloads and check for stress cracks each time). Annealing your brass will also increase the life.
One last thing is how you plan to shoot. Plinking, Tactical, Precision? For plinking, any cheap ammo will work. But if you plan to shoot for accuarcy, reloading is the way to go, IMHO.
My personal recommendation- 24 grains Varget powder ($139/8 lbs. or 2333 loads), Wolf Small Rifle Magnum Primers (~$16/1000) and I use Hornady 75 grain BTHP loaded to 2.250" in my AR. 2871 fps. YMMV

chaser2020 said:

If Lake City, I would say yes. But be careful when you purchase once fired military brass. The primer may have been crimped in. You can tell by looking at the primer there will be a small indented ring in the brass around the primer. It makes removing and repriming a little tougher. Or you can buy a tool that goes on your press that removes the crimp after you deprime.
The life of your brass will all be dependent on a few factors. Manufacturer of brass, for one. The better the brass manufacturer, the longer the life.
For another, what you're shooting it in. Brass shot in a semi-auto will have less life than that shot in a bolt rifle, due to the stressing of the brass in the semi-auto. You have to bump the shoulder back each time you load it. I use Lapua brass in my bolt gun (20+reloads) and Lake City for my semi-autos (around 6-7 reloads and check for stress cracks each time). Annealing your brass will also increase the life.
One last thing is how you plan to shoot. Plinking, Tactical, Precision? For plinking, any cheap ammo will work. But if you plan to shoot for accuarcy, reloading is the way to go, IMHO.
My personal recommendation- 24 grains Varget powder ($139/8 lbs. or 2333 loads), Wolf Small Rifle Magnum Primers (~$16/1000) and I use Hornady 75 grain BTHP loaded to 2.250" in my AR. 2871 fps. YMMV

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Thank you for the input, it is very appreciated. I just want to make sure I am considering everything before I drop money on reloading equipment.

I see we have come to the same conclusion. If you want to blast .223, just buy the cheapest brass cased boxer primed ammo you can find, blast it, save your brass, then sell your brass.

You can greatly reduce your reloading cost by casting, but I have my 9mm below $.10 a round without casting, but I use my resources to get reloading components at a nice discount. If you cast you can cut your reloading cost in half.

Booseman said:

Here are some numbers I came up with. What do the experienced re-loaders here think, is it close or not?


Round_______Total cost per round
9mm 115gr______$0.12339
.40 S&W 180gr___$0.14678
.45 ACP 230gr____$0.17037
.223 Rem 55gr____$0.19579
.308 Win 147gr___$0.33846

If those numbers are pretty close then the only round that doesn't give a decent savings is .223. The rest seem to save a great deal of money, especially in bulk.

Click to expand...

kcinnick said:

I see we have come to the same conclusion. If you want to blast .223, just buy the cheapest brass cased boxer primed ammo you can find, blast it, save your brass, then sell your brass.

You can greatly reduce your reloading cost by casting, but I have my 9mm below $.10 a round without casting, but I use my resources to get reloading components at a nice discount. If you cast you can cut your reloading cost in half.

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I can imagine, but that is a lot more work that you have to do. If I was doing this for about 100k rounds a year, that would be a different story. The thought of the idea of having to track down the lead then cut it with some kind of hardening agent then the molds and everything else, ehhh I will pass!!!

Booseman said:

I can imagine, but that is a lot more work that you have to do. If I was doing this for about 100k rounds a year, that would be a different story. The thought of the idea of having to track down the lead then cut it with some kind of hardening agent then the molds and everything else, ehhh I will pass!!!

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You can buy lead, cleaned and alloyed for around $1 a pound shipped. 7000 grains in a pound Do the math for a 120 g 9mm bullet or 62 grain .223 bullet, or a 150 grain .308 bullet, then go look at the cost of bullets. The real savings is in making your own boolits!

kcinnick said:

You can buy lead, cleaned and alloyed for around $1 a pound shipped. 7000 grains in a pound Do the math for a 120 g 9mm bullet or 62 grain .223 bullet, or a 150 grain .308 bullet, then go look at the cost of bullets. The real savings is in making your own boolits!

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Ok, you might be right about that. That is crazy!!! you can make 127 55gr .223 rounds with a pound of lead so for $8 you can get roughly 8lbs and make over 1000 boolits!!! That is 7% of the cost of 1000 already made boolits!!! DAMN YOU!!!!! you just added another step to my reloading formula's!!!

Booseman said:

Ok, you might be right about that. That is crazy!!! you can make 127 55gr .223 rounds with a pound of lead so for $8 you can get roughly 8lbs and make over 1000 boolits!!! That is 7% of the cost of 1000 already made boolits!!! DAMN YOU!!!!! you just added another step to my reloading formula's!!!

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Doesn't it drive you crazy. You will need gas checks for .223, which are pretty cheap. I would start out with regular reloading, then as you get comfortable with it start trying some of your calibers with lead. castboolits is a good resource to learn how to cast, and they can tell you the tricks before you go and mess something up.

I don't reload for all calibers I own say like for 7.62x39 because I can get cheap factory rounds.for pistols I find cheap once fired,because when I pick my brass back up at the range I'm not for sure that'll the brass I pick up is actually mine.usually buy 100 rounds once fired pistol for bout 6-8 per 100 rounds

For my rifle I buy new quality brass.in my eyes brass and bullets are the most expensive thing.once u start saving your brass that's a big cut down on price Per round.

On pistol I'm really not saving a buttload but am saving some.and multiply that over a lifetime since I'm 28 and that'll b alot of coin saved over sum years.

U end up really saving on bigger cartridges say a 300win mag,even my 30-06.couple years ago the load I was shooting from the factory was about 36 bucks for 25 I can cut the cost way down.

I see it as once I start saving brass I'm makin money.alot more shooting time for my money.but caliber and component choices also come into play

New source for once fired brass

I haven't ordered anything from him yet but, this is a guy that just retired and is starting this .com business. I know him and believe he is a straight up guy. For my money I'd rather pay a little extra and have all the prep work already done.

http://5.56oncefiredbrass.com/index.html

If you want to start reloading just to save money you are going to be disappointed. In most cases for the popular calibers, there is no savings and it might even cost more. But what you can't do with store bought ammo is taylor it for optium performance in your gun.

There are lots of reasons to start reloading;
Obsolete calibers
Custom ammo for specific uses / specific guns
It's relaxing
The satisfaction of knowing you built the ammo that won the match to name a few

But saving money isn't one of them except in certain cases

I started reloading 9mm and I can make rounds for 11 to 12 cents a round. A box of 100 at Walmart is about $21. Next I reloaded some m1 carbine but the bullets are hard to find. I still have everything to do it and I make some here n there. For the last month or so I have been reloading 223. I started then again to learn plus I have a service rifle and 77 gr ammo is friggin expensive. I also make 55 gr rounds for my carbine to plink.

In the last week I have bought two .45 cal pistols (1911 and HK) and that ammo ain't cheap. So yesterday at LA Gun & Reloading I bought the .45 cal conversion kit and .45 cal dies for my 550.

A wise short man once told me if you want to save money with reloading you have to buy in bulk. I just got 5000 primers and getting ready to order about 6000 bullets. Try and go in on orders with others to save on shipping and Hazmat fees. You might pay more locally for primers/powder but you save on the Hazmat fees.

I have fun trying different loads and talking to other people about reloading. It was pretty cool yesterday Dantheman and I went to Sherburne and other then the 45s everything else I shot was ammo that I made and did not have any hiccups.

I tell my wife it is a hobby that supports another hobby. I am starting to acquire too much stuff and it is busting out of our office where I reload.

And I have only been doing it about a year.

I started reloading because i remember how hard it is at time's to buy the more popular ammo...Like right before a storm..or election...

Gator 45/70 said:

I started reloading because i remember how hard it is at time's to buy the more popular ammo...Like right before a storm..or election...

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No truer words...