My reloads are cheaper than 22!

[chris in va]

It's official. I calculated my 9mm LRN are cheaper than 21lr at today's prices. 50 rounds are about $3.

[TMenezes]

It's official. I calculated my 9mm LRN are cheaper than 21lr at today's prices. 50 rounds are about $3.

Same here except in my case its my 38/357, 44 special, and 45 Colt reloads that are cheaper.

[dudel]

Still not at that point. I bagged a 525 round box of Remington Golden Bullet for @22 at the local Walmart. Just got lucky. 50 rounds works out to about $2.09

[6bg6ga]

It's official. I calculated my 9mm LRN are cheaper than 21lr at today's prices. 50 rounds are about $3.

Unless your getting your lead for nothing I don't see that your figures add up. Lead@1.61 lb= 1 bullet at around .056ea primers at $32for 1K=.032ea and this isn't factoring in the powder or your time. It looks like .10 a shot with nothing in there for time.

[Lead Fred]

Everything I make is cheaper than store bought, but that is secondary to......

Everything I make is BETTER than any store bought, for they are made custom to fit one firearm

[gmsharps]

I've been scrounging lead for many years and have never had to pay for any of the lead unless you count the time involved. I am down to about 2 tons and I have had a shooting box built enabliing me to recove a fair amount of the lead I shoot in practice. I still keep my eyes open for oportunities to get lead though. You can never have enough.

gmsharps

[osteodoc08]

this is exactly why I'm looking for a new 357 mag wheelgun

[bedbugbilly]

Right now, Im working on "scrounged" lead as well - makes for some pretty cheap shooting in the 9mm, 38s, etc. I never thought I'd see the day when I could shoot 38s cheaper than 22s. I can still remember when a box of 50 22s wee 50 cents at the hardware store - but that was many, many years ago. Right now, all of my 22s - rifles and pistols - sit "un-shot". The ammo is gone as soon as it come in and I refuse to pay the price for it. If the supply doesn't improve in the future - I'll probably do away with them - if you can't shoot 'em, why keep 'em . . . .besides, I could always use the $$ to add another vintage Smith to the herd!

[Doc1]

If you are serious about reloading and are concerned about economy, you should always be scrounging and looking for bargains. As gmsharps said above, always be on the lookout for lead. Make it second nature. Also, look on craigslist and your local shoppers papers for yardsales with sporting goods and anything shooting-related. I have found primers, brass and powder at yardsales and estate sales.

I have bought reloading consumables so cheaply that most of my reloads cost less than .22 and have for years. This is especially true with cast boolets. In truth, the only thing I sometimes have to part with a little serious money for are premium jacketed defensive or hunting bullets. Even with the jacketed stuff there are ways to save. After Hurricane Katrina I found and was given thousands of rounds of flooded ammo. I'm not talking about ammo that was briefly splashed and then dried: I'm talking about cartridges that were submerged for days and or left in wet salt mud. I broke all of this down and was able to save 95%+ of the bullets and in many instances, good cases, as well.

If you make it a habit to collect things like this whenever you can, you won't get caught short during times of ammo shortages and your cost per round will go way down, as well.

Best regards
Doc

[jonas302]

Unless your getting your lead for nothing I don't see that your figures add up. Lead@1.61 lb= 1 bullet at around .056ea primers at $32for 1K=.032ea and this isn't factoring in the powder or your time. It looks like .10 a shot with nothing in there for time.

Sorry your calculator is broken lead at $1 a pound about 60 115 grain boolits to a pound = .016 5 grains of pistol powder 1400 loads per pound at 20 a pound= .014 primer .03 grand total .06 x 50 = 3 dollars a box

Prices are going to vary there are guys that have components on hand way cheaper than that and some that pay more time doesn't count unless you want it to its really the satisfaction of doing it to me and its just fun to add it up and see how much it comes to

[badgeredd]

Unless your getting your lead for nothing I don't see that your figures add up. Lead@1.61 lb= 1 bullet at around .056ea primers at $32for 1K=.032ea and this isn't factoring in the powder or your time. It looks like .10 a shot with nothing in there for time.

I haven't seen 22s for less than 15 cents a piece, generally, in my area for at least a year. Yes, some are out there, but trying to beat the hoarders would be a full time job. I prefer to shoot my centerfire pistols and rifles with smallish cases at a cost to myself of 8 cents plus labor and save myself the frustration and time. My lead has worked out to about $0.53 a pound including the propane to smelt it with.

Edd

[popper]

My 308 loads are still cheaper than 22LR. Full boat cast @ $28/100, including brass, Roto Pb.

[casterofboolits]

Since I cast my own boolits, my 9mm, 38 Super, 40 S&W and 45 ACP reloads are cheaper than 22 long rifle rounds. No longer do you find cheap rim fire at $.005 to $.01 per round.

Price shock really gets to us "Ole Farts" I still have several 500 round bricks I paid less than ten dollars a brick for and those are ear marked for teaching my grand kids to shoot.

I plan on teaching them the basics with an air rifle and pistol.

[Walter Laich]

my cowboy loads are way down on the price list. Plus I get to shoot with a bunch of great folks and get to relive my youth.

[Shiloh]

My lead is free execpt for gas and sweat equity. I shoot handguns cheaper than .22

Shiloh

[garym1a2]

It all depends on the value you put on your labor!
My lead is free, primers is 3 cents each and powder about 1 cent for 4gr of BE.
So 4 cents in material or $4 per hundred plus average of an hour of my labor per hundred.

[JimA]

Who puts a dollar figure on the time that you put in for fun/hobby? If I didn't like shooting,casting and reloading I would take up golf.:lovebooli

[jaysouth]

Using First in First out (FIFO) inventory valuation, I am now into my $65 per thousand large rifle and pistol primers. Lead is free and the 231 I am into now cost me $90 per 8 lbs.

By the time I get into the $169 231, I will be laughing about how cheap that was.

I too am teaching some grandkids how to shoot. We are using a 9mm STI Trojan for the handgun phase and a .357 MAX handi-rifle for the long arm. In addition to being cheaper than 22rf, the bragging rights for 10-12 year olds is much greater and the coolness factor is off the chart. Be cheap and keep your eyes open for bargains and have lots of good storage space.

[osteodoc08]

I am now into my $65 per thousand large rifle and pistol primers.

Ouch!

[Handloader109]

Sorry your calculator is broken lead at $1 a pound about 60 115 grain boolits to a pound = .016 5 grains of pistol powder 1400 loads per pound at 20 a pound= .014 primer .03 grand total .06 x 50 = 3 dollars a box

Prices are going to vary there are guys that have components on hand way cheaper than that and some that pay more time doesn't count unless you want it to its really the satisfaction of doing it to me and its just fun to add it up and see how much it comes to

Yep, that's what I thought too. I'm new to the casting game, but bought lead recently at $1.10/pound, my powder for the 9mm has varied from $22 to 33 a pound. Primers are a bit higher here, $38 /k So give him another penny and it is still only $3.50 a box, or even two still is only $4 a box and they are WAY more fun to shoot than a 22....... And talk about scrounging, 22s are harder to find than ANY of my reloading supplies.

[Handloader109]

Using First in First out (FIFO) inventory valuation, I am now into my $65 per thousand large rifle and pistol primers. Lead is free and the 231 I am into now cost me $90 per 8 lbs.

By the time I get into the $169 231, I will be laughing about how cheap that was.

I too am teaching some grandkids how to shoot. We are using a 9mm STI Trojan for the handgun phase and a .357 MAX handi-rifle for the long arm. In addition to being cheaper than 22rf, the bragging rights for 10-12 year olds is much greater and the coolness factor is off the chart. Be cheap and keep your eyes open for bargains and have lots of good storage space.

OUCH is right on the primers. BTW, just went thru Little Rock and the Pearl MS (yeah traveling), Bass Pro shops over the weekend and both had CCI large rifle primers for $3.99 per hundred. Bought 10 sleeves. They had other brands, but not as many on the shelf (remington)
My local Cabelas has pistol primers out the wazoo, but narry a rifle primer to be found. Go figger.

[mikeym1a]

Depending on the round, mine run from 6.5 to 8 cents per round. I don't include my time, because I'm not in the business of making ammo. It is a productive hobby that keeps me occupied. Even if I were in the business, I could still sell them and make a nice profit at $.30/rd. Let's see; 88gr boolit - .005ea, primer - .05ea, powder - .009ea. = $0.064/rd for my .32S&WL. My .45s would run about a penny extra. PLUS, I never have to hunt for them. You gotta count you gas into this. mikey

[popper]

bragging rights for 10-12 year olds is much greater and the coolness factor is off the chart. 10-4 on that. Leave the 22LR to gramps.

[35remington]

Those who claim their reloads are cheaper never figure the cost to get and haul the lead, the propane to smelt it, the cost of the lead pots and moulds and ladles and reloading equipment.

One thing that has been universally true in all these "I'm cheaper than .22's" threads is that actual costs of reloading are never completely and correctly accounted for. Way too much is improperly ignored when costs of reloading are suggested. The fact that it is ignored in accounting doesn't put that money back in your wallet.....it's still gone.

[tomme boy]

I have accounted for gas, propane, equipment. Time is the only thing I don't account for. I shoot for FREE. Everytime I go to the local range, I pick up brass and lead for free. I sell everything I don't use. That money alone is separated from other money and is only used to pay for everything I need to shoot. I come home with almost a 5 gal bucket of brass every weekend I go to the range. I'm also lucky as a local dealer trades brass for guns, equipment, powder, primers, or whatever he has. He only averages $0.035/ pc but it is nice when he has something I want. I sell a lot of brass on this site and I am usually always cheaper than everyone else. Not always but normally. I also have a local commercial reloader I can sell brass to when needed. He pays $0.03/pc. for 9mm, 40, 45acp. And $0.04 for 223/556.

[6bg6ga]

Sorry your calculator is broken lead at $1 a pound about 60 115 grain boolits to a pound = .016 5 grains of pistol powder 1400 loads per pound at 20 a pound= .014 primer .03 grand total .06 x 50 = 3 dollars a box

Prices are going to vary there are guys that have components on hand way cheaper than that and some that pay more time doesn't count unless you want it to its really the satisfaction of doing it to me and its just fun to add it up and see how much it comes to



I pay $1.61 per lb in finished ingots. Primers are running roughly $32-34 a thousand. Powder is running roughly $29 @ lb. You need to get with the current prices. When is the last time you purchased powder,primers and lead?

My prices..current prices show powder .021, primers .032, and lead at roughly .056which equals almost 11 cents a shot for 45acp and for 9mm 8 cents a shot.

If you wish you can add in an additional .08 per round for 45acp brass and an additional .04-.05 for 9mm brass.

[jcwit]

This is in regards to .30 carbine reloads.

Purchased many sleeves of 5,000 primers per sleeve a number of years ago for less than $40.00 a sleeve of 5,000, that's less than a penny a primer.

I cast my own bullets with free lead from the indoor range that I'm a board member of. I help to clean out the backstop.

Years ago I purchased pulldown powder from Jeff Bartlett, Welcome to Bartlett Reloaders - Jeff Bartlett for IIRC $10/$12 bucks a lb and spread the $20 dollar hazmet fee over 40 lbs. so total cost of a lb of powder came out to $10.50 to $12.50 per lb. There is 7000 grains of powder per lb. and being as I load 12 grains per round that comes out to $ .02 cents per round.

So I shoot 30 cal. carbine for a little less than $ .03 cents per round.

Now then I realize there is fuel involved in melting my bullets and I use white gas which is available here in No. Indiana Amish country from the pump for less that $5.00 a gallon. I usually purchase maybe 1 gal a year, more or less.

That pretty much covers it.

Oh Ya, I make my own lube from scrap bees wax available from a local bee keeper, mixed with candle was and mineral oil, works well for me, and I get NO Leading.

[jcwit]

Those who claim their reloads are cheaper never figure the cost to get and haul the lead, the propane to smelt it, the cost of the lead pots and moulds and ladles and reloading equipment.

One thing that has been universally true in all these "I'm cheaper than .22's" threads is that actual costs of reloading are never completely and correctly accounted for. Way too much is improperly ignored when costs of reloading are suggested. The fact that it is ignored in accounting doesn't put that money back in your wallet.....it's still gone.

Regarding to the price to smelt my lead and pour bullets. All of my equipment was purchased 50+ years ago and has long since been amortized as worthless.

I use white gas AKA Coleman Fuel to melt the lead, it available here at the pump "Amish country" for approx. $5.00 a gal. One gal of white gas will smelt hundreds and hundreds of lbs of scrap let alone casting bullets. Cost to go get the white gas? Station is 2 blocks from my front door.

Ya, like you say the money's still gone, but its been gone for 50+ years, don't even miss it today.

Cost to go get the lead? I'm on the BOD at our local indoor range and I'm required to be there anyway when the backstop is cleaned.

[dtknowles]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. If you wheel and deal, scrounge and finagle you can put together some cheap and nice reloads. Free lead is still worth a dollar a pound if it is worth shooting, free brass is still worth at least three dollars a hundred. As far as what it will cost to replace primers and powder in the future is anyone's guess. Labor and gas to find cheap .22's is significant and even .22's at 10 to 15 cents a piece are not all that easy to find.

I like shooting way more than reloading but I like shooting enough to cast and load my own so that I can shoot more and I really like shooting small groups so some of my handloads take a lot of effort.

Unlike some of the "Purists" here I do not have a problem shooting factory ammo and since I can't seem to get any of my cast bullets to shoot under half a MOA, gasp, I might spend 40 cents or more each for a quality jacketed bullets.

I reload for every centerfire cartridge for which I have a firearm but used to shoot more factory ammo than reloads. I had a lot of mil surp 30-06 and 7.62x25 and a lot of cheap 7.62x37 and I shot as much .22 LR as anything. Just because I claim to like to shoot a lot there was no spray and pray. Every shot is purposeful. A lot of the .22 LR was Match shooting or practice. I can afford good ammo and bullets but I still shoot about 50 to 100 of my own cast bullets or even more every trip to the range depending on what I bring to shoot.

Yes, I can reload for my firearms for less than the cost of .22 LR ammo but I was already doing as much of that as I care too before this crisis and yes I did stock up on primers following the Clinton crisis. I have paid more than 10 cents a round for .22 LR recently, I have paid more than that in the past but for Match ammo, better to save the Match ammo and shoot the overpriced bulk ammo.

What is the point of casting bullets and loading ammo if not to shoot. I get a kick reading about scrounging lead, smelting and casting ingots, it takes all kinds.

Tim

[jonnnyboy]

If we're going to nitpick nickels and dimes, please allow me to add just one more factor.

How much do I need to charge against the price of .22's the cost of my frustration, irritation and overall personal dissatisfaction over the time and gas I have spent searching for those ever elusive .22's???

Believe me (not the accountants), my reloading is a much more cheaper and pleasurable hobby than shooting .22's!

[John Boy]

My black powder 22LR reloads ... 0.053 per - 2.66 box of 50 [smilie=1:
Can load a box in about 20 minutes ... 900 in inventory
3800 primed empty cases left!

[mold maker]

If you are serious about reloading and are concerned about economy, you should always be scrounging and looking for bargains. As gmsharps said above, always be on the lookout for lead. Make it second nature. Also, look on craigslist and your local shoppers papers for yardsales with sporting goods and anything shooting-related. I have found primers, brass and powder at yardsales and estate sales.

I have bought reloading consumables so cheaply that most of my reloads cost less than .22 and have for years. This is especially true with cast boolets. In truth, the only thing I sometimes have to part with a little serious money for are premium jacketed defensive or hunting bullets. Even with the jacketed stuff there are ways to save. After Hurricane Katrina I found and was given thousands of rounds of flooded ammo. I'm not talking about ammo that was briefly splashed and then dried: I'm talking about cartridges that were submerged for days and or left in wet salt mud. I broke all of this down and was able to save 95%+ of the bullets and in many instances, good cases, as well.

If you make it a habit to collect things like this whenever you can, you won't get caught short during times of ammo shortages and your cost per round will go way down, as well.

Best regards
Doc

+1 Doc.
I"ve been collecting lead since the early 60s, even during a period that I didn't cast or shoot.
Even though I'll never shoot all the stash I have, I'll never run out.

[mold maker]

Those who claim their reloads are cheaper never figure the cost to get and haul the lead, the propane to smelt it, the cost of the lead pots and moulds and ladles and reloading equipment.

One thing that has been universally true in all these "I'm cheaper than .22's" threads is that actual costs of reloading are never completely and correctly accounted for. Way too much is improperly ignored when costs of reloading are suggested. The fact that it is ignored in accounting doesn't put that money back in your wallet.....it's still gone.

Ever think that if ya go that route, you have to also include the cost of the gun you shoot it in?

[dtknowles]

The girlfriend and I went to the range today. She shot a hundred .22 LR I bought for about 10 cents a piece, I shot 100 of my cast bullet 32-20 reloads and a few more .22 LR. We bought one target but brought some salvaged targets with us. It was raining so we went to the indoor range and we each had our own station. The range bill was $22 and change. Lets call it a $40 buck outing, if I could have pick up the .22 LR for half that price or if we had just stuck with my cast bullet reloads could maybe have saved $7. If the weather was nicer and we could have gone to the outdoor range where I have a membership, her admission would have been $6 so we could have saved $15.

We could have just stayed home and saved the whole $40 but sometimes you just want to get out and have some fun. The cost of .22 LR is not a big issue but it would be nice if it was easier to find. I don't even know where the gougers sell it except on GunBroker.

Tim

[Landshark9025]

I just figured it up and with the casting equipment, I will now be less than 22lr(aka- Unicorn Horn).
Primers- picked up 5k from Midsouth on special in January for .028 including shipping and hazmat
Powder- picked up 700-x from Bass Pro for I think $26/lb. Based on a 3.5g load, that is .013
Boolit- 140g from COWW I bought for $1.15lb - .023

Total Cost- $.064/round. Any time you can find 22lr for less than $.08 it is a major win.

[35remington]

Something has to be given for the other costs besides simply the items that have to be replaced in the cartridge or you are indeed overlooking some of your production costs. Cost of production is never as lacking in actual input cost as many here want to make it.

Allowing absolutely nothing for those other costs utterly fails Accounting 101, and no sound home or business accounting procedures dare work the same way. Ever.

[35remington]

Mold maker, costs of production is related to all the costs of all the items required to produce the ammunition. Since the cost of the rifle has nothing to do with cost of producing the ammo (you could be loading for someone else and trying to arrive at a fair price to make you break even or have a profit) the cost of the rifle has nothing to do with it.

Buying a cheap or expensive gun or having no gun at all is unrelated to the cost of producing ammo as the ammo still is ammo no matter what.

[dtknowles]

Something has to be given for the other costs besides simply the items that have to be replaced in the cartridge or you are indeed overlooking some of your production costs. Cost of production is never as lacking in actual input cost as many here want to make it.

Allowing absolutely nothing for those other costs utterly fails Accounting 101, and no sound home or business accounting procedures dare work the same way. Ever.

Full cost accounting is not required to understand this issue, we are not reporting to the board and shareholders we are just deciding whether we prefer to pay the price for .22 LR or not. I see the make or brake item as how you value your time reloading. For me personally my shop time is limited. I travel by Air away from home to work every other week and I work from home the off week. Being away means no shop time and more girlfriend time when I return. I still want to go shooting each weekend so if I want to shoot and not deplete my supply of reloads, I can shoot more if I can pick up some .22 LR as I have a few nice firearms to shoot them.

Tim

[quilbilly]

My 338 WM costs 23 cents a round and my 9mm costs 8 cents a round. Last week I paid one dollar a pound for a couple hundred pounds of dirty but pure soft lead which I will gradually turn into ingots. Every summer I check garage sales for partial bags of old lead chilled shot and usually find plenty at far less than a dollar a pound bringing the boolit price down farther (I use the shot to get the antimony and arsenic for hardeners in my alloyed boolit lead).

[35remington]

To fully understand the issue, make at least an attempt to address those other costs and include something for their value.

Of course, if time is properly accounted for producing center fire ammo yourself is never cheaper than buying 22's, and that's probably also true even if you work at Burger King.

[rintinglen]

To fully understand the issue, make at least an attempt to address those other costs and include something for their value.

Of course, if time is properly accounted for producing center fire ammo yourself is never cheaper than buying 22's, and that's probably also true even if you work at Burger King.

I once read a similar analysis which "proved" that prostitutes were cheaper than wives. Sweat equity only counts as dollars when you're doing something you don't like. Making boolits to me is fun, mowing the lawn isn't. Reloading lets me keep the connection to guns and shooting when I can't shoot, occupies my attention and gives me pride of accomplishment when my groups are better than the the guy next to me, who's shooting the "latest, newest" with ammunition that costs a buck a round. Mastercard's "priceless" ad campaign made that point perfectly.

It is also worth noting that one's time and money are finite, it is usually possible to spend one to save the other.

Oh and don't forget the health benefits! All that exercise bending over and digging up spent boolits from the range back stop, lugging the lead, propane bottles, turkey boiler out behind the shed, smelting, pouring, and stacking the lead ingots, why that's half the cost of a gym membership right there.;-)

[BruceB]

Hobby time by definition is FREE time.... OUR OWN time, to be spent as WE determine, and not at the direction of some foreman, boss or company.

To ascribe a "cost" to our own time is silly and incorrect, yet this ploy is frequently cited in discussions of this sort.

WE choose how WE devote the time we have for our own 'recreational' activities. If some of that time is spent in producing ammunition for our own use, that is a BENEFIT, not a "cost".

I refuse to consider time spent on optional pursuits of my own choosing, not devoted to making an income, as a "COST". Is time spent fishing a "cost"? Is sitting in a theater a "cost", beyond the price of admission? Is playing catch with your kids a "cost"?

Give me a break.

It just ain't so.

Therefore, my ammo is indeed hugely less-expensive in OUT-OF-POCKET price than is ammunition I decide to buy (virtually none). How does fifteen cents per round for .416 Rigby handloads strike you, compared to five or ten DOLLARS per round in pretty commercial boxes? That represents about THREE PERCENT of the price of the lowest-cost factory stuff.... some "cost" that is!

[Landshark9025]

If I can load rounds for $.02 less than I can buy them, they are in fact cheaper. If we want to add the equipment costs in, fine. It just takes x amount of rounds. What I spent to get set up reloading, including the initial run of components paid for itself in the first 1,000 rounds and I don't see that press wearing out soon.

What I ordered to get set up casting hits the break even over purchased bullets for reloading at 2,000 cast boolits. I am thinking that furnace, mold, other stuff are going to last more than 2,000.

And I agree with the others in that time can only be factored if there is a lost opportunity cost associated with it. If I have to take one Friday a month off work without pay, then you can factor time. But it it is casting boolits vs watching Seinfeld reruns, then there is no lost opportunity cost.

As long as the completed output is cheaper, then...its cheaper. Capitalizing expenditures and amortizing fixed equipment costs over their projected useful life has no business in a hobby. Just saying....

[35remington]

No need to get too riled about it. If you want to discount the value of your time, simply say so......but be sure in so doing you're not, say, paying the housekeeper 2 hours a week to pick up the place....when you're reloading two hours a week. Then your free time might just have a cost as well.

Maybe that's not your situation, and time spent reloading does not cause a time shortfall that you have to make up financially in another way. But at least give it some thought. Time is a cost that needs balancing because it is limited. Whether it has financial value depends upon what else is used to balance its passing. Maybe that means spending more on buying fast food instead of eating at home.

The time element is even harder to quantify on these threads and I generally ignore it like everyone else, but I don't agree with the notion that it always should be considered as free.

If you wish to discount time, be honest with yourself in so doing. And.......to say the cost of production is limited only to the cost of the items replaced on the reloading of the cartridge is obviously not correct.

[35remington]

And......hobbies have input costs too. Your bank account says so.

[ofreen]

Hobby time by definition is FREE time.... OUR OWN time, to be spent as WE determine, and not at the direction of some foreman, boss or company.

To ascribe a "cost" to our own time is silly and incorrect, yet this ploy is frequently cited in discussions of this sort.

WE choose how WE devote the time we have for our own 'recreational' activities. If some of that time is spent in producing ammunition for our own use, that is a BENEFIT, not a "cost".


The irony here is that those who think time should be factored into the cost of reloads are posting on an internet forum, one of most time sucking, unproductive activities there is.:grin:

[dondiego]

I have learned many things on this forum that have reduced my time spent and increased my level of appreciation of the task that I was doing. I have also wasted some time here but I have enjoyed it and the fellowship of the like minded individuals here.

[Kraschenbirn]

Hobby time by definition is FREE time.... OUR OWN time, to be spent as WE determine, and not at the direction of some foreman, boss or company.

To ascribe a "cost" to our own time is silly and incorrect, yet this ploy is frequently cited in discussions of this sort.

WE choose how WE devote the time we have for our own 'recreational' activities. If some of that time is spent in producing ammunition for our own use, that is a BENEFIT, not a "cost".

I refuse to consider time spent on optional pursuits of my own choosing, not devoted to making an income, as a "COST"...

+1 on that, Bruce. While I still do a bit of property inspection/evaluation work on a 'consulting' basis, I've been officially retired for a couple of years so the time I spend casting isn't taking me away from another, more productive(?), activity. So far as amortizing equipment costs; aside from my moulds...many of which were 'used' when I acquired them...sizers, and (1) bottom-pour pot, the rest has been purchased through various auctions, estate sales, yard sales, flea markets, 'salvage' shops, and gunshows over the last forty-odd years. Much the same goes for my 'operating costs'; I do my smelting, alloy mixing, and some ladle-pour casting on an old double-burner plumber's furnace (IIRC $20 from a builder's salvage yard) converted from propane to natural gas so my fuel costs are neglible and my casting bench is in my garage workshop which I use year-round, anyway, for home projects, bike maintenance, and just general 'tinkering'.

So far as lead and alloy material, 'bout the only things I ever actually buy are linotype and, occasionally, some damaged pewter or salvage solder (from a radiator shop). My lead comes from free range scrap...last time out, two of us raked over 400 lbs out of one earth berm in less than 3 hours...or wheel weights obtained in trade for range brass from a friendly recycler.

After casting, I figure my other reloading costs...powder, primers, brass, etc...are a wash-out between cast and jacketed. Last fall, after a bit of general restocking, I recalculated my cost for .30-06 and came up with $.0137/round...and those ain't piddlin' plinkers, either: full function in the Garand and more accurate than G.I. Ball out to 300M! Same story for .45 ACPs...slightly less than a nickel a round from my current stash ($33/K primers and $18/lb. Unique. I didn't include any costs for brass in either calculation 'cause I've got (literally) thousands of milsurp cases in both calibers.

Bill

[bangerjim]

And......hobbies have input costs too. Your bank account says so.

Told the wife, "You know this HOBBY that is going to save us hundreds..................is now costing us THOUSANDS!" :violin:

banger

[Smoke4320]

hey with some of the figuring going on here I need to bill castboolits for all my time reading this forum.. All those costs :) :)

[11B-101ABN]

What's a housekeeper?

[Vulcan Bob]

Yeah, aint it cool, fun too!

[Gliden07]

Mine too!! Kinda strange never thought I'd see the day!!


It's official. I calculated my 9mm LRN are cheaper than 21lr at today's prices. 50 rounds are about $3.

[GSCSA]

I don't know if my reloads are cheaper or not, but they are more available!

[USMCamp0811]

Yep.. I am about to try and sell my .22lr conversion kit I have for my 1911 here pretty soon..

[dakotashooter2]

My small town has not seen a box of .22 in about 2 years. That means I f I want it it's a 40 mile drive to the nearest town that MIGHT have some and if they do you can only buy a 100 rnds. I find some about every 5th trip I make there. That's about 6 1/2 hrs of my time for 100 rnds (granted I don't make the trip just for the ammo). Still I can cast a lot of bullets or load a lot of ammo in 6 hrs......... so for me it is still a lot cheaper.

I have wondered though.........if the price and availability of .22 stays the same for the next few years if some of the old .22 centerfire rounds (Hornet, Bee, Jet, Fireball and others) might come back into popularity...........

I do know that if current conditions continue I may start looking for pistol caliber rifles or rifle barrels so I can provide a steady supply of ammo for my grandson when he gets big enough to start shooting...

[45-70 Chevroner]

The irony here is that those who think time should be factored into the cost of reloads are posting on an internet forum, one of most time sucking, unproductive activities there is.:grin:
Now that really makes a lot of sense. But because I'm not a real time manager I think I will keep doing it. I think also that no mater what my time costs I will keep casting and reloading. I am quite sure I have been shooting ammo that is a lot cheaper than store bought for a long time.

[bbqncigars]

Ok, for one, I think that the cost of the gun must be figured into the whole cost thing just like a reloading press. You need both to shoot reloads. To ignore equipment costs is to live in a dream world. I bow to 35remington if he can shoot without a gun. Given current pricing, I can definitely shoot 25-20 cheaper than 22lr (if I could find some). My stash of MiniMags was bought before the recent idiocy, so I'm good until I shoot it down to my minimum (5K).

[35remington]

BBQ, that's obviously a nonsensical argument. Costs of production take into account all if the costs in making an item. We're not making guns, and as I mentioned before the ammo still has value as ammo. As in, say, loading for someone else.
Figuring in the cost iof the gun in the cost of ammo production would be like figuring the cost of the gas it will use in the production cost of a car

I agree that to ignore equipment costs is to live in a dreamworld. However, the gun is not needed to produce ammo, nor does it have an influence on the ammo's value. You can still sell it.

[dtknowles]

Yep.. I am about to try and sell my .22lr conversion kit I have for my 1911 here pretty soon..

Do you mean to buy high sell low take a loss to free up cash? Not the best time to sell a .22LR firearm.

Tim