I calculate I can cast and load light .38 Special cheaper than CCI .22LR prices here

[Tallbald]

Considering cost of primers, powder, home cast and sized 125 grain slugs , but not worrying about my time because I enjoy my hobby, I calculate I can load modest .357 and .38 Specials for about 6 1/2 cents a round. Why bother sweating the hunt for .22 LR? And having this hobby, along with leather crafting, keeps me from running wild in the streets with the other old people. Just saying. Don

[seaboltm]

I came to the same conclusion months ago. With 22LR 10 cents a round, I can load 38 special much cheaper. 3 grains of Bullseye, 7000 grains in a pound. That's easy math.

[rexherring]

Been doing the same here, Bullseye or Titegroup makes a lot of loads. 2.2 grains in my .380 of BE. Home cast and a lot of range scrap makes for cheap shooting in my .380, .45ACP and .38 Specials.

[popper]

About anything is less, plinking rifle included.

[abqcaster]

I load 9mm even cheaper. So that's what I do.

[mdi]

Costs aside, it's also much more fun casting/loading/shooting than driving to a store, plopping down my hard earned cash, then shooting...

[williamwaco]

Me too.

[xacex]

Same here with the red-dot 9mm loads. Last time I added it up it was about 5 cents a round. With the Mihec 359-125 hollow-point the load is a blast going 1300 FPS out of a 10.5" 9mm AR pistol. I have had days where I go through 500 rounds shooting jugs, cans, and clays at 50 yards with friends and family. Even when the price of .22lr comes down to below 5 cents a round, you wont have this much fun with a .22.

[abqcaster]

Same here with the red-dot 9mm loads. Last time I added it up it was about 5 cents a round. With the Mihec 359-125 hollow-point the load is a blast going 1300 FPS out of a 10.5" 9mm AR pistol. I have had days where I go through 500 rounds shooting jugs, cans, and clays at 50 yards with friends and family. Even when the price of .22lr comes down to below 5 cents a round, you wont have this much fun with a .22.

I wholeheartedly concur!

[texassako]

Everything uses a primer; so pretty much any load with a small amount of powder and lead is cheaper than .22 LR component cost wise. Unless you bought some of those high dollar primers in the middle of the scare. .25 ACP will really stretch things out, 1gr powder and 50 gr lead, and it has been easier picking up my brass this year with a lot less .22 cases around to hide amongst.

[tazman]

I wish somebody made an inexpensive single shot or bolt action rifle in 9mm. This would be a great fun/light game gun.

[texassako]

I wish somebody made an inexpensive single shot or bolt action rifle in 9mm. This would be a great fun/light game gun.

I shoot a couple of little Destroyer carbines, and use cut down .223 cases for brass. Cheaper and helps with the long chambers in mine.

[Char-Gar]

I figured out I could cast and load 38 Specials cheaper or for the same price as 22 Long Rifle rounds in 1959. That is what got me into the sickness.

[Tallbald]

Tazman I agree about the single shot 9mm rifle. Closest thing I have is my Ruger 77/357. I had seriously thought about a Handi Rifle in .44 magnum myself.....Don


Just realized how unrelated my comment was to your wish for a 9mm rifle.......what I meant to get at was that I reload cheaply for .44 mag also, and wish I had a fun rifle in that caliber just as you wish you had a 9mm carbine, the caliber you reload. Don

[fecmech]

I figured out I could cast and load 38 Specials cheaper or for the same price as 22 Long Rifle rounds in 1959. That is what got me into the sickness.

Same here but I started in 1969.

[bangerjim]

Been doin' it since 22LR's disappeared from the shelves.

9mm/30/38/40/45. All are cheaper than 22LR's in almost every case wheb you roll you own.

Your mileage may vary depending on your cost of lead, primers, powder. I consider the brass as a wash in $$ because I always come home with more than I go with!!!!!!

And it's fun to shoot a real gun that is quieter than a stupid 22!

Plinklin loads.

banger

[35remington]

What killed centerfire pricing in the "I can load cheaper than a .22 sense" WAS the primer. At around three cents, it alone costs what the .22 long rifle round used to cost before the panic and was priced at three cents per primer a few years ago, but primer costs have risen with the panic as well. So the "I can load cheaper than a .22" comparison really wasn't relevant until fairly recently because we couldn't reload cheaper than .22's until the cost of 22's skyrocketed. That is, if all the costs of reloading are properly accounted for.

Given that .22's were around 55 cents or less for a box of 50 in the seventies......the .22's were always cheaper than reloading centerfire, faulty memories notwithstanding. As mentioned, the primer was (and still is) the fly in the ointment as the powder charges in pistol rounds were always small and cheap.

If and when .22's ever return to "normal" pricing.......they'll be cheaper to load than centerfires.......again.

[Shiloh]

Been doing the same here, Bullseye or Titegroup makes a lot of loads. 2.2 grains in my .380 of BE. Home cast and a lot of range scrap makes for cheap shooting in my .380, .45ACP and .38 Specials.

Bingo !!

Many years ago, when .22 was available AND cheap, it was even cheaper. One of the shooter who gave my first knowledge of cast boolits shot his pistols as cheap as shooting .22's. Free lead, cheap surplus powder available at gun shops and ranges, cheap primers and virtually free brass.

Shiloh

[Big Boomer]

When I got into loading center-fire ammo, I gave all my .22 rimfire rifles and handguns to my son and grandson. Back before costs went spiraling upward, I was already shooting center-fire cheaper than rimfire. I cast all my own boolits for 9mm, .38 Special, .357 Mag., .41 Mag., .44 Mag., .45 Colt and 45 ACP handguns, plus I cast for my .223s (rifles & handgun), .243 and .30-06 rifles. Too, I use wood backstops to catch and recycle most of the lead I shoot, at least in the handguns that can be done. I also stocked up on the primers I thought I would need for my final years and am still well stocked and haven't bought any for a long time. Shooting would be too expensive for me if I hadn't prepared years ago. Big Boomer

[Motor]

Started doing the math in about 1976. I don't think it was possible until recently. Free lead does help though.
BTW: 22lr will be on the shelves for under $3 for 50 sunday morning. Don't ask.