cheap as .22lr centerfire load?

[troy_mclure]

can you load any of your centerfire rounds for the cost of a "quality" ($.05-$.07 a round) .22lr round?

if so what round/load?

is it a quality (accurate/reliable/etc..) round, or just a cheap plinker?

[pastorcurtis]

Pretty much all my center fire rounds fall in that range once you're on your second time through the brass and you have amortized all your equipment.

boolit: free (wheel weights)
brass: free (third or fourth time firing it)
Primer: 3 cents
powder: 2 cents
lube: .3 cents

[marvelshooter]

With boolits cast from scrounged lead I shoot all my CF pistols for about a nickel a shot. Primers are just over three cents and 4 grains of powder is just over a penny. My go to load in my target .45 is a 200 gr SWC over 4 gr of Bullseye.

[GRUMPA]

Pretty much what the other guys already wrote, that's why we "CAST" to save that $ so we can enjoy our sport more than most and develop a skill. Most of my loads and prices are from my old stock that I bought over 15yrs ago.
9mm
Brass-free
Cast boolit- free
Primer-.01 (bought in 93)
Powder- .01 5gr unique
TOTAL=.02 each

45ACP
Brass-FREE
Cast Boolit-FREE
Primer-.01 (again bought in 93)
Powder-.012 (w-540)
Total=.024 each

38spl
Brass-FREE
Cast Boolit-FREE
Primer-.01
Powder-.015 5gr Unique
Total-.025 each

357mag
Brass-FREE
Primer-.01
Powder..023 9gr Unique
Cast Boolit-.015 with gas check
Total=.048 each


And I can keep going on this but won't. I bought my stuff in quantity many years ago because I knew things just keep going up in price, sill I had to recently buy more supplies but I haven't had to use them yet either.

[garym1a2]

Depend on what your value of your labor is. Material is 4 to 5 cents round for 9mm, 40, 45acp... Figure time worth $5 per hour and about 100 rounds per hour gets me about a dime per round.

[tomme boy]

Brass free*
Lead free*
Powder free*
Primers free*
Reloading equipment free*
Guns sometimes free*

* Brass picked up and sold or traded for reloading stuff, gas for truck and burner to melt lead.
* Copper turned in from melting bullets picked up at range. Pays for guns and lunch sometimes also.

So I load and shoot for free. Minus my time. I bought 3 guns last year just off the copper.

[hydraulic]

(Figure time worth $5 per hour)

I figure I gain about $5 an hour for the recreation of casting and loading. Otherwise, my time is a wasted resource. Figuring my time while loading my own cartridges actually makes them free.

[Iron Mike Golf]

OK, here's some numbers given you buy the powder, primers, and lead. Wheel weights are made of unobtanium around here. I get recycled range lead locally, cleaned and ingotized. I use pewter for tin and get that for an average or about $5 a lb from flea markets. I also use monotype that I got for about $1 a lb. I can make alloy at about $1.30 per lb (not counting energy).

For my 380 auto loads (95 gr boolit over 3.1 gr Titegroup):

Boolit - 1.8 cents (I buy range lead by the ingot at about $1 per lb)
Primer - 3.4 cents (2.8 if on sale. I buy retail or at gun shows)
Powder - 0.9 cents (figure $20 a lb)

That's around 6 cents per round.

[frkelly74]

I always quote $.06 a shot plus labor.

[Alan in Vermont]

Depend on what your value of your labor is. Material is 4 to 5 cents round for 9mm, 40, 45acp... Figure time worth $5 per hour and about 100 rounds per hour gets me about a dime per round.

OK,, so you think highly of your hobby time. How long do you have to work to buy 100 rds of factory stuff?

I don't see how you can assign a dollar value to time you spend doing something you enjoy. Even if you only enjoy the shooting part of it it still coems back to either make it or work more hours so you can buy it.

[MT Gianni]

32 Long 100 gr boolits@ 50C lb 10.5 lbs 5.25 per 1000 recovering 1/2 lead paying $1 lb for balance
2.5 gr Red Dot 8 lb keg $140. 17.5 lb .28 lb, 4.90 per 1000
primers 5000 sleeve @ $120 + $20 shipping $28 per 1000 total $38.15

Fed 525 pack$20x2= $40-5%=$38. That is for the cheapest bulk pack.
30-30 w 7 gr Unique & 113 fp Lee plain-based will add $6 to that total. If you are really tight you can pick up your 22 brass and recycle it for $$. You should not leave it where it fell. Accuracy of cheapest 22 around and # of misfires, no reason to even go there. Cast wins all the time.

[stubshaft]

Depends on the cost of primers but usually they will come under what I pay for SK Match ammo $8.00 @ box of 50, and in the case of my K-Hornet give me better results.

[Dark Helmet]

Done dirt cheap:Fire:

[kweidner]

rounded to .03 with my .44 mag with free lead. rounded to .06 with bought lead. wouldn't have it any other way.

[ku4hx]

I've done the math and with all my equipment long since amortized, I'm way down into the single digit cents per round on most everything I load. But I find the exercise useless.

I wonder if an avid golfer calculates the cost for his passion on a cost per swing basis? Or a diver on a cost per dive basis ... or whatever?

Our particular hobby/diversion is one whose cost per unit is quite easy to calculate, but to me it's just an exercise in futility. I do what I do because I love it and will keep doing it as costs either increase or decrease. I bet most of the members of this forum do the same.

I once wondered what my two children were costing me. After the passing of the cold chill that ran up my spine I stopped doing that too.

[Lizard333]

I shoot my 45 acp for .04 cents a round. I don't include my time as money because I enjoy reloading and casting. This is because my lead is free, the primer is 3 cents, and the powder a penny. I can load 400 rounds an hour in my Dillon 550b, so I make short work of 45's.

[EMC45]

Just about all my revolver/auto shooting is done cheaper than rimfire. I rarely shoot .22 anymore. Not for 22 bucks a brick. I also don't assign a dollar amount to my reloading time. I enjoy it and don't think of it as a chore.

[jonas302]

For 4 cents you can put 10 gr unique and a wolf primer in a 30-30

I do sometimes apply a dollar amount to hobbies it helps with convicing myself how much money I save(:

[idahoron]

My time casting is worth a pile of money. I turn on the radio to the oldies station and I can feel the stress leave. It would cost a pile of money for me to relax and lower the blood pressure another way. I think about hunting with my boolits, and shooting the boolits. WHen my mind is on other stuff than work stress I am happy. Ron

[odfairfaxsub]

i don't figure my labor into it but i always say retail. i can load my rounds at retail for this. worst case senerio was i had to pay 1.00 dolla dolla bill yall a lb for ww as lead (i have tons of free pure lead i mix anyway and anyway i catch my lead) and 30 dollars a lb for powder (i get it for 108 dollars 8lbs after tax) primers at 3 dollars a 100 (i buy em online in ultra bulk on ultra sale when i find em) and i never factor in brass for whatever reason. the other day at worst case retail i was still shooting for less than half with 357's like 40 percent retail

[Larry Gibson]

Well handgun loads seem fairly well covered but I load my .30/.31 cal CFs with the primer and 2.7 - 3.2 gr Bullseye under the Lee TL314-90-SWC wihich is cast of scrounged free range lead. Cost runs the price of the LR primer and less than 1 cent for the powder. The cases last forever. Cost is comparble per shot to the cheapest of the cheap bulk .22LRs on sale. Accuracy is equal to the cheap .22LR and on target performance is superior. With the 6 cavity Lee mould it takes little time to cast 1000+ and they are easily TL'd with LLAand sized with the Lee kit (.311 for .30s and .314 for the .31s). Loading can be done with the most rudementary of tools.

Larry Gibson

[fatelk]

The time thing is an interesting discussion. I was talking to an acquaintance a while back about reloading. He asked how much money it would save him. I told him it all depends on how much spare time he has and how much he would enjoy it.

For example, years ago a friend wanted me to load him a thousand rounds of .38 special, on my single stage press. At the time, overtime was readily available at work, at about $35/hr., and factory reloads were available at gun shows for 10 cents/round. Aside from the obvious concern about loading for others, there was absolutely no way I could afford to do that.

What your reloads cost you depends all on how you value your time. If you're a busy person and casting/reloading isn't something you enjoy, those are some darn expensive reloads.

I talked another friend out of even getting started. I know how he is. He would buy the equipment, and it would sit in his garage gathering dust. If he did try to load a few, he would be in too much of a hurry to do it right. I told him with his busy schedule and how little he shoots, he's money ahead to buy factory ammo.

[Lizard333]

Talking about saving money.. With my 550b it costs me 200$ for a quick change setup, the first hundred rounds I load with that setup cost 200 plus material. After that first hundred, the rest are really cheap!! This reasoning helps to justify me "saving" money.

[Shiloh]

Years ago, it used to be if you cast your own and reloaded, you could shoot a .38 pistol for about the same or LESS than the price of .22 LR ammo.

Ask folks that have been casting and loading for a long time. Lead was free and plentiful, bulk powder for next to nothing, and primers cheaper than dirt.

Shiloh

[dbarnhart]

I'm not using cast boolits but my .223 reloads are 11.8 cents/round.

[captaint]

When I calculated my 45ACP round cost I figured on 20 loads per case. Free lead, cause I rarely pay for alloy. Cost per box of 50 was like 3.10. I don't figure my time in as a cost. It's not like I would be making money doing something else then. I consider it more like R&R. enjoy Mike

[woody1]

Guess I never really cared too much about cost. Reloading and associated activities allowed me to spend more time doing "gun stuff" including shooting, for the $ I had to spend on it. I sometimes think I shoot so I can reload and as I've always told my wife, "It keeps me out of the bars and houses of ill repute!" Regards, Woody

[nanuk]

[QUOTE=Larry Gibson;1556475.....I load my .30/.31 cal CFs with the primer and 2.7 - 3.2 gr Bullseye under the Lee TL314-90-SWC wihich is cast of scrounged free range lead. Cost runs the price of the LR primer and less than 1 cent for the powder. The cases last forever. ..... With the 6 cavity Lee mould it takes little time to cast 1000+ and they are easily TL'd with LLAand sized with the Lee kit (.311 for .30s and .314 for the .31s). ...
Larry Gibson[/QUOTE]


too bad those are not available today in a 6C.

what replacement would you recommend?
one of the RanchDog's TLC313-115-RF, or the TL314-75RF?

up here, 3gr BE would run about $0.015 that is some cheap plinking!

[Larry Gibson]

too bad those are not available today in a 6C.

what replacement would you recommend?
one of the RanchDog's TLC313-115-RF, or the TL314-75RF?

up here, 3gr BE would run about $0.015 that is some cheap plinking!

I really don't understand why they quit the 6 cavity moulds in TL314-90-SWC:???:

Those RDs should work well but one is a GC and the other a bit light but it might work ok.

Lee still makes the 311-93-1R in a 6 holer. For .30s it would work fine and, depending on the "as cast" diameter it would work in many .31s as well.

One can turn out a lot of TL314-90-SWCs with a brace of 2 cavity moulds alternately casting with them at the same time.:grin:

Larry Gibson

[TJF1]

+1 on shiloh
when i started loading and casting back in the late 50
primers were 6$ 1000 powder 3$ pound lead free lube free so
about .90 a hundred. Now days about .06 cents a round.
Terry

[Texantothecore]

My .457 ball rounds cost about .04. I am saving my 22lr rounds because they are too expensive to replace.

[Forrest r]

Good question, it’s hard to rival the quality/accuracy/price of the 22lr’s. I’m going to assume you’re asking about pistols, since rimfire rifles are easily out distanced by centerfire rifles.

It’s easy to get a good quality, accurate load for centerfires in the 5 to 7 cent range if you cast your own boolits.

The real issue with comparing the 2 (rimfire VS centerfire) is the quality of the firearm. It’s easier/cheaper to produce an accurate rimfire pistol than it is to produce a centerfire pistol.

Rimfire VS Centerfire:
25ft & 50ft = they go head to head
25yds= You better have a good load for the centerfire.
50yds= You better have a good pistol for the centerfire.

[aarolar]

Good question, it’s hard to rival the quality/accuracy/price of the 22lr’s. I’m going to assume you’re asking about pistols, since rimfire rifles are easily out distanced by centerfire rifles.

It’s easy to get a good quality, accurate load for centerfires in the 5 to 7 cent range if you cast your own boolits.

The real issue with comparing the 2 (rimfire VS centerfire) is the quality of the firearm. It’s easier/cheaper to produce an accurate rimfire pistol than it is to produce a centerfire pistol.

Rimfire VS Centerfire:
25ft & 50ft = they go head to head
25yds= You better have a good load for the centerfire.
50yds= You better have a good pistol for the centerfire.

So your saying that a rimfire handgun is inheritently more accurate than a center fire hangun?

[Rangefinder]

All of my handguns run in the range of $0.04 to $0.06 a pop. Rifles shooting cast is a few cents more just because of powder charge. Nothing shooting cast runs me over about $0.20 a shot. You know you're doing good when a great performance hunting boolit/load is only costing you 10% or less than the cheapest factory plinking load from the store. That's about where I am.

.32 Win Spl. using paper patched 150gr. boolits over 30gr. H335 run me about $0.16 a pop and will run in the range of 2250fps making any deer within 100 yds DRT. That's about $16 per hundred. A box of 20 Winchester Factory Soft Points are about $25 ($125 per Hundred) for the same kind of performance. My PP loads are more accurate as well. At $16 per Hundred, that's less than 13% the cost of factory hunting ammo. Pretty tough to beat.

[BLTsandwedge]

I wonder if an avid golfer calculates the cost for his passion on a cost per swing basis?

Yes. If you suck out loud at golf, you can justify $125/round by thinking you've gotten a bargain compared to the guy in your foursome that shot 77.