The real cost of hand loading,

[passgas55]

Just like deer hunting.The cost per pound is more than a good steak but being in the woods on a cold crisp day can't be measure in dollars.

[GhostHawk]

I consider most tools an investment in one of my favorite hobby's.

Good tools taken care of last a long long time. Someday I hope one of my grandchildren or one of their children will treasure my tools. And if not them someone somewhere will find use for them.

But while I am alive and able to shoot they pay their share of the rent.

Typical Lee 2 cavity mold costs around 20$ and in many calibers you can not buy 100 boolits for that.
That same mold with a little care, consideration, some maintainance may turn out thousands of usable boolits. That is to me the very definition of a good investment.

Look at the cost of entertainment nowdays, 60-80$ a month for fast internet, same again or more for cable tv. Cost of Movies has gone sky high, even matinee's.

Look what a couple hundred will do for you entertainment wise in casting and reloading!

I won't say I have actually saved any money. What I can do is pretty much shoot whatever I want as much as I want whenever I feel like it. From 9mm up to 12 gauge, low speed to high, small bore to big.
The whole gamut lays there at my feet. All I have to do is feed it, little powder, primers, some lead.

I don't need to make lots in a hurry. I can take my time and put plenty of love and attention to detail into each one.

Last week I had a night where neither my wife or I could sleep. At 2 she went back to bed. I went down and loaded a box of 12 gauge #1 buckshot loads. Within 5 rounds my mind was quieting down. I was thinking about the job at hand. One step at a time. Take a new primed hull, drop 20 grains of Red Dot, add wad, pick up buckshot out of a dish 3 at a time, drop them in where they nest perfectly by themselves. Add a scoup of cornmeal for buffer, an overshot card to keep the cornmeal in and because it makes the crimps come out perfect. Start and finish each crimp then place it in the block and grab the next. By 2:45 I had finished that 25 rounds and slipped into bed and was sawing logs. Secure in the knowledge that my stash of "varmint killers" had just grown by a box. Slept like a baby not a care in the world.

And what is THAT worth? As I see it that peace is worth every penny I've spent in the last 3 years when I decided to get back into shooting. YMMV

[JohnH]

Don't count. Keep your head down, cast boolits, load ammo, go schutzen.

[WRideout]

[QUOTE=gwpercle;3800642]That $9.99 Lee loader was just to get you hooked . After that , you was on a downhill slide into full blown reloading addiction.

Hey, I don't have a problem, and I can quit any time!
Wayne

[Wayne Smith]

That $9.99 Lee loader was just to get you hooked . After that , you was on a downhill slide into full blown reloading addiction.

In 1968/69 that $9.99 was worth a lot more than it is now, too. It was an investment.

[Shiloh]

You get the satisfaction of being independent from factory ammunition. You can tweak a load to your own preference.
You get a LOT more shooting for your dollars spent.

If you cast, you can create ammo that you cannot buy. Try finding factory rifle ammo with cast lead bullets. You can size boolits to fit a specific firearm.
Most of all it is pure satisfaction and relaxation to load your own ammo.

SHiloh