The most expensive money saving hobby there is

[FISH4BUGS]

Not that it matters, but I was thinking.............I got into casting bullets because it could save me some money. But now that illusion is no longer real. By way of comparison, I had a small (14' Amesbury skiff) lobster boat and 25 traps. I caught an average of 10-15 pounds of lobster a week and we ate every bit of it every way you could imagine. By the end of the summer, I guess lobster actually wound up costing me, well......about $45 a pound.......blown outboard motor, lost or ruined gear, bait, fuel, insurance, emergency room bills for a smashed finger, and on and on. It would have been cheaper to just buy 10 lbs a week wholesale......but that isn't the point.
Casting is also like that. Gotta get set up: buy a big 75,000 btu burner ($100 with freight from Buffalo Arms) to melt WW's, a propane tank, a cast iron dutch oven, linotype at $75/100 lbs, WW's at $10 a bucket (or a case of Harpoon Ale per 2 buckets), skimmers, Rowell ladles, ingot mould, propane......and now let's talk about the 10 cavity Hensley & Gibbs moulds, the Hensley & Gibbs 4 cavity ones, the Lyman 4 cavity moulds, the Saeco 4 cavity moulds, the moulds I haven't even bought yet, The Star Sizer, the casting pots, the sizing dies, the gas checks, the Dillon 550, the 3 guns that I just HAD to buy because now I had cool moulds to cast with, I buy primers in 5,000 lots and jugs of 8lbs of powder, and now I shoot my subguns and handguns three times as much as before because it is so CHEAP to shoot........yeah, right.........
But that's not the point. Like most of you, I wouldn't trade this hobby for anything. As only WE fellow loonies understand, the never ending quest for more wheel weights and linotype lead (even though we have buckets and buckets of them already), making ingots, casting, sizing and lubing, reloading, and shooting them up is what makes it all work.
I would hate to think what this ACTUALLY costs..........but that's not the point. It sure is fun, though, isn't it?

[357maximum]

Man I love being in the asylum, too.

I ran out of things to do with lead, short of buying new guns to play with, so I started playing with wax, man I love my sickness most the times anyway.

My lab/shed/attic all look like a pharmacy/health food/ napa store plumb blew up. With all the essential oils, synthetic oils, and vegetable oils I could slide across the country and back on a slip and slide.

I know somewhere in one of the corridors of my mind I realize the perfect lube is out there, but more than likely one of the dozens of concoctions I have made is already perfect, and they all "WORK".

playing with lead and wax somehow soothes my mental state, maybe its the fumes.

As far as saving money, well there ain't much chance of that now is there , the more I make the more I shoot. The more I shoot the more I make, it's a viscious cycle.

You gotta love it

[Bman]

A college student friend of mine was thinking about getting into reloading. Trying to convince his wife that he would save money. I suggested a different tactic since I have not saved one penny. I just get to shoot more with the dollars I spend.

[Beau Cassidy]

I'll bet you got into reloading to save money, too didn't you. Yea right. It's like your wife buying something on sale "just to save money" except it's us doing the buying!

It does give us a good excuse to be the masters of our own destiny so to speak. As for myself, well casting just doesn't save money. An average 4-cavity mold costs, what- $100 to $150? That's a lot of bullets. How much are lead .38's store bought? 35/K? That's not so bad except I always see another mold I JUST have to get and probably never recoup the cost of the previous mold.

And let's not even go into the cost of sizers, dies, pots, and handles.

I guess the only way to save money is to have just one mold of each caliber and shoot it forever. One of these days I am going to take an inventory of just what I have...

Somebody will save me money when they sell everything off after I am gone. Lets hope that's gonna be a while.

Beau

[Blacktail 8541]

I deffinatly know what the never ending purchases are like. I got into casting to get a boolit that would fit the short cylinder of my SA because I didn't like any that were available on the market . That just led to more moulds and more Ideals and so on. But the enjoyable pass time is pricless!

[JohnH]

ROFLMAO! Save money? Where'd you get such a ridiculous idea as that???? You been talking to a salesman again ain't ya :)

[Flash]

Do you always go through life looking at the negative side of things? I get soaking wet sometimes while deer hunting, blow three or four vacation days, been known to buy a new rifle just for the occasion, $50 plus in gasoline, about 40 hours total invested in preparation and clean-up but............I enjoyed every minute. I have invested thousands of dollars in casting and reloading gear over the past 30 years but again, enjoyed every minute. I probably spent triple or quadruple that in some state or federal tax and that's the costs that get under my skin.

[rbstern]

It depends how you approach the problem. I cast "small," meaning, I don't have a big production setup. An 1100 watt hotplate, aluminum pots and muffin molds for ingot making, utensils, etc., all from the Walmart kitchen isle. A used, Lee bottom pour. A half dozen Lee molds. A few other minor doodads. If I have more than $200 tied up in casting gear, I'd be surprised. The boolits I shoot are mostly .30 cal and .356 through .358. Not terribly expensive for commercially made stuff, perhaps $25 per 500. My break even was probably about 5000 boolits, which was easy to accomplish on even a small setup.

When I load a box of 38 special, it costs about $1.25. The local range has reloads for $10. When I load a box of .357 magnum, it costs me about $1.50. The local range has reloads for $12.

When I go shooting with some friends, I think nothing of bringing hundreds of rounds for them to blast away with. They enjoy it, and we would never shoot that much if we were shooting store bought ammo.

Well worth it, even if no money were saved and lots of time is spent. There is satisfaction in learning, making your own ammo, making the boolit, and having it tear out the bullseye.

[imashooter2]

As my buddy slughammer always says, "It's cheaper than drag racing."

[Frank46]

When I first got into reloading many years ago I had an old '17 enfield in 30-06. Well the local range let me pickup the spent cases from the local matches. Ok no money spent there. But now I had to buy powder, primers, bullets and something to load 'em with. Years later my inventory of dies numbers close to 45 sets of dies, three presses, I don't know how many freezer bags of brass, bullet moulds,
boxes of primers, cans or jugs of powder and one heck of an assortment of reloading tools. Ain't we having fun now??. I didn't mention firearms but you get the picture. Frank

[BigSlick]

Save money ? I wish.

I've been reloading for 25 years and have always at one time or another been afflicted with the 'just one more' bug.

I haven't bought a gun in quite a while. I bought what I felt I needed over the years, and have spent the last several years loading, trying to get newbies into reloading and shooting.

The only thing I need (like a hole in the head) is my first bucket of wheel weights. All my gear to do the smelt is here, bottom pour, a couple of molds and some of the miscellaneous stuff for a minimal setup.

I have been involved with this stuff for years because it is the one hobby that I can think of that holds my interest. Always something new, I can enjoy loading (and hopefully casting) without a designated driver, bait or a new set of golf clubs every year.

I like it in part because it is a little solitary down time, and the fact that I find it satisfying as can be to shoot ammo that I know the components and have tuned each load to a specific gun or purpose.

Recently, I have found myself wanting to take it one step farther and I am ready (I may be delusional here) to start playing amatuer metallurgist and cast my own.

I wouldn't even think of implying I am anywhere near what one would call a 'pro' at reloading, but I pretty much have most of the loads I like worked out (except two or three) and I'm looking for something to build on the stuff I've learned in the past.

I have always been somewhat of a hands on type, with an interest in detail oriented things. Reloading and casting fits this to a T.

The cheap bastard in me, says do it for less, or don't do it at all which isn't an option.

I convinced myself long ago, that loading your own is the only way to get a bigger variety of better ammo. Wally World is open 24hrs, but they just never seem to stock what I want to shoot. Maybe some of you have a bunny fart 200gr SWC load available from your local ammo emporium, but mine doesn't, and I find it impossible to find off the shelf ammo suitable for a Garand without possible op rod damage.

Now, I want to make my own bullets, to go with the info I have. I've got the presses, got a pretty good idea of what I want from a bullet and a shooting habit that won't let up.

I don't take gun rags anymore, I don't like shooting indoors and really don't have anywhere to shoot at night. That leaves all the time from sundown to sunup to persue another aspect of shooting. I've read just about everything that interests me (except casting info, which I'm gathering as fast as I can) so, instead of getting into a MUCH more expensive hobby, I'm trying to take this one to the next step.

Maybe not cheap, but cheaper than most, and it's what I enjoy.

BigSlick
________
Hd starcraft replays (http://screplays.com/replays)

[Bass Ackward]

It never ends either. Funny how the mind starts to justify things when reloading time elongates or becomes inconvienient.

I just set up an old Lyman 45 for my newest bullet .... lube for barrel break-ins. Beeswax and JB Bore paste. I shoot so many guns here that it will save me time hand lubing and do a better job. Keeps the mess inside the press too.

Is it needed? Heck no. But I can either resell it later or use the press for parts.

If you look at the quality, name brand, reloading stuff, most of my stuff has doubled in price from when I bought it. And with the prices you are going to start to see on bullets, expect another jump as reloading makes a comeback.

[44man]

There is one thing all of you missed! Every single fellow worker of mine that had no hobbies, just sat watching TV after retirement until they died. SO KEEP ON CASTING AND SHOOTING! The money you expend could prolong your life and it make a good excuse to the wife for new guns.
Of course, if she refuses, you should know she is tired of you and wants a younger man.

[August]

When I was in high school (many, many moons ago), I got a lee loader, which at that time cost about $7.00. It was the only way I could afford to shoot my Colt Trooper. I'd bang away at that thing with a plastic hammer for hours. I had a total of about ten dollars invested in "reloading equiprment." I saved a lot of money.

Of course, today is a different story......

[rusty marlin]

As my buddy slughammer always says, "It's cheaper than drag racing."

Its cheaper that women, whiskey and golf too, and you can bet your butt I remind my wife of that every time she starts to complain. "At least you always know where I am Dear."

I can't believe you guys would publicly post such blasphamy about not saving money! Do you have any idea what'll happen if the women folk stumble across this thread on accident. :!: LOL

[imashooter2]

Its cheaper that women, whiskey and golf too, and you can bet your butt I remind my wife of that every time she starts to complain. "At least you always know where I am Dear."

I can't believe you guys would publicly post such blasphamy about not saving money! Do you have any idea what'll happen if the women folk stumble across this thread on accident. :!: LOL

Now there's a problem... I'm a golfer too! Her Majesty never complains about my shooting, it's the golf that gets her reved up. I usually play some of the cheaper local courses, but every now and again I play someplace nice. That always earns me the old "$15 an hour to walk in a field." head shake.

[454PB]

I think we would all be smarter to sit in front of the TV (or computer) and while away the time. All that saved money goes into your estate, then the kids can each get a Corvette when we tip over.

I bought a lot of moulds (when I really should have been investing in mutual funds) for $10 each. I bet if I post all of them for sale in the swappin and sellin I can can my $10 back, plus I got to use them for all these years.

Of course boats and RV's are a good investment too..........

[stocker]

A fellow has to do something productive with his time whether it's golfing, fishing, hunting, tying flies, reloading , building stocks or whatever. I rarely watch TV anymore, spend a bit of time at the computer and the rest is productive time by my standards at least.

I'm now in the category where I get an itch to try a cartridge I haven't used during the last 55 years of shooting. I order the casting equipment months before I either acquire or build up a rifle for the project. Sometimes the mould even gets here before I have the rifle and at that point there is no turning back. So I can't say the hobby saves me any money by a long shot.

The plus side is a lot of fellows that have never tried cast have been given boolits to try; some either get into the hobby or may ask me to keep them supplied. Nobody has ever stiffed me on trade goods in return whether it be W/W or brass or reloading tools or whatever. And, I've never asked for any of it; it's simply been given to me. I've met some pretty decent people through the process and it keeps faith in the human species confirmed.

[KCSO]

This year I spent $450.00 on relaoding and ammo. No given that I have been at this some time and I have about 3 of everything that's still pretty cheap when you figure I gave Uncle Sugar over $5000 to piss away. That $450 total lets me shoot as much as I have time for for a whole year and most of that is powder, primers and gas checks. By the same token a non reloader I know spent $250.00 just to go to one cowboy shoot. I think I save money. I probably have $5000 dollars invested in reloading equipmet over the span of 40 years and I have loaded over 150,000 rounds of ammo. Now if I can arrange to live another 20 years I may really save some money!

[nighthunter]

Can you guys imagine what it would be like to go to work and then go home till it was time to go to work again and then go home again till it was time to go to work again? Everyone of us needs something to do other than the 2 previous mentioned activities. Sure ... its gonna cost some money, but have you checked out the cost of a few days on the third floor of the local looney bin? Its gotta be more than I spend casting and shooting. Its a hobby that I love and a hobby that I am totaly commited to. It keeps me out of a lot of trouble that I could get into otherwise.
Nighthunter

[Blackwater]

Back when I was in college, if I wasn't working or studying or going to class, I was casting or loading or shooting, or maybe going hunting for WW's. Shot many thousands of rounds my last 2 years there. Used the stove, a SS 2 qt. cooking pot, and only things I bought were a few Lee moulds and a ladle .... oh yeah, learned to buy primers en masse, too. Used 700-X to get more shots per lb. of powder, and they shot FINE!

Now THAT was some pretty dang cheap shootin', but ..... well ..... it's been all downhill from there. Seems to be a pattern, doesn't it?

[buck1]

I did not want to cast(only before I started , I now love it big time!).
But I could not buy a GOOD 444 marlin bullet. Everything just blew up on game.
But MY cast not only out shot the jacketed on paper in the 444, 44 mag,45LC, and 454, but they out do them on game also.
I cant buy that good of a bullet in the store for $20.00 a box.
Jacketed pistooool bullets , YUK! and 500 is $100.00 or more.
I DO save money, and make better boollets than I can buy.
NOT TO MENTION....How much is doing something you enjoy worth? ....Buck

[azrednek]

Shooting, hunting, reloading and bullet casting is the best investment I ever made. Compared to the cost of my earlier in life passions of fancy cars, chasing *****, bar room fist fights and a few other things I don't like to brag about. I'm saving tons of money.

[JBMauser]

Time to set this topic straight and for some to make some admissions. First, you can reload cheaply and save money and shoot more. A lee loader a can of powder and a box of bullets and primers will get you a ton of shooting for way less than over the counter. Second, we do not need $125 presses and $40 die sets but they are nice to have. But they are not nessessary to produce some very good ammo. We all buy stuff because STUFF is fun and Neat to have but face it. We don't need but 1/4 of the stuff we have to load great ammo. Yes I have two SAECO sizers that I bought used, but I could survive with a simple lee push through die and liquid alox. I will give you an example of savings. I picked up a Krag sporter at a gun show. I had a stock of .303 brass which I grabbed and necked back with my .308 die. I fire formed them and then neck sizing with the .308 die and seating with my .303 die I fired over one hundred rounds getting less than 2 in. at 100 yards with my best brew(neck lengths were short and all over the place). Since this gun looks to be a keeper I then bought proper brass. $27 - near the price of one box of factory ammo. I have also picked up a used RCBS die set that I stumbled on for $16. If I had not the .308 die seems to work fine. My point is we all like to buy STUFF and we load our bench with it. But sometimes we need to realize that a hammer and nail to knock out the primer and put a ding in the neck to hold a new bullet in place will shoot! A empty case with a paper clip handle will make a dipper, a piece of paper will make a funnel. I remember reading about an old fellow who had a rusty piece of scrap iron with a worn hole in it that he had in a vice and he would wack his cast bullets through it to size them up. worked for him. What we need to reload and what we want are two entirely different things. Precision is a factor in accuracy that does come at a cost. It is not the cost of reloading. Do not confuse them or their costs. Then there is the joy and satisfaction we get (at another cost) of manufacturing someting with our own hands. Be it our own bullets or loaded ammo. This is not a cost of reloading. I recently bought a used Mini lathe. I have built my own M-die spuds for my cast bullets. Great fun, great satisfaction, great expense - not needed to reload! But I am happy! JB

[FISH4BUGS]

Time to set this topic straight and for some to make some admissions. First, you can reload cheaply and save money and shoot more. A lee loader a can of powder and a box of bullets and primers will get you a ton of shooting for way less than over the counter. Second, we do not need $125 presses and $40 die sets but they are nice to have. JB
I agree with you completely. The problem for me lies in owning submachine guns. You can burn up an awful lot of 9mm, 380 and 45 in a sub gun. People that shoot a lot with pistols kinda know what that means. 100 rds a week is not too hard to do with a pistol if you compete. Try 1000 rounds every time you go out with a sub gun just for fun....
Casting with Lee hand tools would not allow me to have a job....I'd spend all of my time casting, sizing and reloading. I am always looking at increasing output. Shooting cast lead bullets in my sub guns allows me to shoot them a lot......and that is the bottom line. I couldn't shoot them as much if I had to pay $120-195 per thousand for a case of 1000 rounds....the 380 MAC is really the most fun a human being should be allowed to have...a 1200 round per minute buzz gun.
My original thread was said kind of tongue in cheek. I know full well that I'm not saving any money given the investment of equipment, but that is also what we all do with our hobbies. Never try to cost-justify a hobby.............an impossible task.
The bottom line is the knowledge and satisfaction of making my own ammunition. I know I make better stuff than the factory, at least for my particular guns....and if things ever DO get really bad, then hey.....this could be a valuable skill to have!

[buck1]

A box of 20 444 marlin ammo costs 27.00 here. 100 rds of ammo pays for the press.
I find the most high dollar shooting I do now is Rimfire!.....Buck

[BruceB]

[QUOTE=nighthunter]Can you guys imagine what it would be like to go to work and then go home till it was time to go to work again and then go home again till it was time to go to work again?"

Can I imagine? Damned straight, I can imagine! Night or day, and that changes every week, I get up at 3:30 (am or pm) and go to work, arriving back home at 7:30, am or pm, sixteen hours later. That includes a 100-mile commute, to the mine and back. In bed around 8:30-9:30, up again at 3:30 to do it all over again.

The great saving grace in my situation is that I get fourteen days off in my 28-day schedule, which includes an 8-day "weekend" once in each 28-day cycle. On workdays, there's obviously no time for much other than eat-sleep-work....but I rarely ever work more than four consecutive days (or nights), and the overtime shifts are usually optional. By and large, it's a good routine. Also, it pays rather well, and with two wimminfolks, two horses, two big dogs, five CATS and four vehicles, that's a good thing! Plus the hobby, of course....

It's really an almost unheard-of thing, for me to spend money on factory loads. I just can't bring myself to do it, barring VERY strange circumstances. I'll modify that statement, to say that I do buy my concealed-carry ammo, which I try to shoot up about every six months to ensure the carry ammo in the guns is fresh. Compared to what I spend on primers, powder and gaschecks, the money spent on factory stuff isn't much. (My gascheck order with Felix's group buy was about $130.)

Without this hobby, I really don't know what my life would be like.

[sundog]

Bruce, 'factory loads', what are those? sundog

[waksupi]

Bruce, 'factory loads', what are those? sundog

Corky, I'm sure you have bought some of those. They are generaly labelled,
".22 Long Rifle".

[sundog]

oh..., then why didn't he say that? Yea, bought alot of'em. sundog

[BruceB]

oh..., then why didn't he say that? Yea, bought alot of'em. sundog

Dang it, I didn't "say that", because I don't carry rimfires for defensive use. I buy Cor-Bon 9mm HPs (115 @1270 from my Firestars' 3.25" barrels), Federal Hydra-Shok .45 230s (880 fps) and Federal 129 JHPs in .38 Special for snubbies.

I have to confess to buying 80 rounds of Winchester white-box .223s BEFORE finding my new Interarms Mini Mauser last month at the Big Reno Show. I can guaran-damn-tee that was the FIRST purchase of factory rifle ammo in many years!

Thinking about the .22 rimfires, it seems that mine see very little use at all, mostly because the cast-bullet loads are inexpensive and a LOT more fun to shoot. We have several top-quality .22 target pistols and a couple of dandy .22 rifles, but mostly I look at them and mutter to myself about how I REALLY OUGHTA take them out for some exercise....but the centerfires always get the nod instead. This is about the only reason I haven't sprung for a S&W Model 17 or 18....I just don't think it would get much use.