Modern progressive press reliability?

[Smk SHoe]

9mm is the round with the longest payback. It's dirt cheap to buy the stuff. If you cast your own bullets you'll be paying $0.07-$0.10 per round. One can pick it up for $0.14 a round or cheaper if ya take your time.

A Hornady LnL AP and accessories is going to run you around $600 at a minimum. At your best savings, casting your own bullets, you'll have to load 8600 rounds before you start "saving" money. That's IF you already have the equipment to cast the bullets.

Plated bullets are $.07 each. You'd be saving $0.01-$0.03 per round max.

IMHO loading for 9mm is not really worth it unless you consider it a hobby.

If the only thing you are going to reload is 9mm and you want a progressive get a Dillon Square Deal. They are a pretty bullet proof machine.

My math is different.
3.59$ per hundred of primers
1.25$ per 100 rds of 3.7 grains of bullseye
2.50$ for 2lbs store bought lead for 124 grain TC

Comes up to 7.34$ per 100 or 3.67$ per 50. Please let me know where I can buy factory at that price and I'll go cash I'm my savings bonds to stock up. ( just knocked out 530 rds of 9mm in about 1 1/2 hours on a Dillion 650 taking my time)

[TexasGrunt]

My math is different.
3.59$ per hundred of primers
1.25$ per 100 rds of 3.7 grains of bullseye
2.50$ for 2lbs store bought lead for 124 grain TC

Comes up to 7.34$ per 100 or 3.67$ per 50. Please let me know where I can buy factory at that price and I'll go cash I'm my savings bonds to stock up. ( just knocked out 530 rds of 9mm in about 1 1/2 hours on a Dillion 650 taking my time)

My guesstimate was $0.0-$0.10 per round. You're right there at $0.0734 per round. Ya still have to load a lot of 9mm to pay for that 650.

You're saving $0.07 per round. Take that into the the TOTAL cost of equipment, 650, dies, scale, all those fiddly bits.

[Smk SHoe]

Around here for cheap 9mm is running about 16$ for a box of 50. that 32$ for 100. works out to a 24$ saving per 100 rds. I agree it does take some time to recoup to initial $$$. But ammo prices are not going down. ( I also load a lot of ammo, 9mm, 40 S+W, .45 ACP, .223, and 6.5 grendel) on the 650 so it did pay off earlier for me.

[Smk SHoe]

TexasGrunt, You a old dogface Grunt? Me, a old Army Muzzle Maggot

[1bluehorse]

How's the "return on investment" of that last pickup/car you bought. Or that flat screen TV, set of wrenches (if you're not a mechanic), jigsaw, table saw, and on and on. ROI is, in my opinion, a poor way to gauge the worth/value of reloading equipment. It's a hobby, it's fun, it's personally satisfying, it also allows you to be "independent" of the whims of ammunition manufacturers (perhaps the most valuable reason of any). And, considering the engineering marvel that a progressive press is, they are exceptionally cheap for what you get. Now, that's just my opinion of course.

[Kevin Rohrer]

I have wondered as well if more people unwilling to do it right and having an Internet connection are getting into reloading?

What progressive would you recomend?

Another question that has been asked HUNDREDS of times here. The answers are always the same when the Search button is pressed.

[JohnH]

How's the "return on investment" of that last pickup/car you bought. Or that flat screen TV, set of wrenches (if you're not a mechanic), jigsaw, table saw, and on and on. ROI is, in my opinion, a poor way to gauge the worth/value of reloading equipment. It's a hobby, it's fun, it's personally satisfying, it also allows you to be "independent" of the whims of ammunition manufacturers (perhaps the most valuable reason of any). And, considering the engineering marvel that a progressive press is, they are exceptionally cheap for what you get. Now, that's just my opinion of course.

^^^This. I never got into reloading thinking I was gonna save any money. I got into it because I couldn't shoot as much as I wanted buying factory ammo. I shoot at least twice as much for the same dollar. I got into casting because the gun rags in those days had lots of articles on the subject, I found it intriguing and was given about 200 pounds of lead for free. In those days Lyman sold a starter kit that had a single cavity .38 caliber 148 grain wadcutter mold, a small cast iron pot for ten pounds of lead a 450 and a 358 sizing die. Gun store I did business with at the time had a clearance on about 6 of these kits for about $60.00. I've never saved money reloading, don't expect to. Reloading is about shooting when I want to, not when my wallet says I can.

[Handloader109]

I buy lead here, I've a ton of free 9mm cases, I been buying primers below $30 per k.depending on powder, it is now cheaper than a lot I've bought in past couple of years, but adding these costs up, I make 9mm at $7 per hundred. I can find cheap location at about $12 a box tax here is 9.9%...... so $24 a hundred. That's $17 a hundred less. And I have FUN doing it! Priceless! Oh, my Dillon cost me nothing.... I got in even trade for a gun I didn't like. Even better!

[dverna]

BTW, in any ROI determination keep one thing in mind. The equipment used DOES NOT depreciate appreciably and in some cases increases in value. If you buy used equipment, you will never lose a penny on it.

I reload for a number of reasons but the big one is to save money. Yes, even on 9mm. If are not saving money, you are not shooting enough to buy components in bulk. Simple as that.

[BNE]

You fellas keep emphasizing 'return on investment'...I never looked at these tools that way. They are tools, they allow you to create something you couldn't otherwise. When you buy them they will last your lifetime. If you worry about the day in the future that the press will finally pay for itself in savings I think you are focusing on the wrong point. It's about making quality ammo, safe and in whatever quantity you want. Never having to worry what is in stock at the gun store...your independent for life.
I'm not trying to be argumentative about this payback issue...just never could worry about that part.

+1 OS OK.

I have never heard someone talk about "payback" when golfing or going to a sports event. This is my hobby....

[Rio]

Return on investment,, your talking to a guy who doesn't own a vehicle with less than 100k on it and I kept my Corolla to 450k lol

but i am really not that frugal I just use stuff till it's used up.

Lot to think about. Here 10.00 a box of 50 is a safe bet some as low as 8.50 but it's gonna be steel cases.
My thing is kick forward to another time when ammo is politically bad or scarce and we can't get it. This way I could build over time by reloading more than we shoot. I could of course buy it while it's available. Guess there is an argument to every side of this.

[JohnH]

My thing is kick forward to another time when ammo is politically bad or scarce and we can't get it. This way I could build over time by reloading more than we shoot.

I'm not an end of the world thinker in all this. I figure we'll be in a shootin' contest before anything could be banned at that kind of level. At that point two things will happen, you'll make every shot count and those won't be at paper targets, and there'll be plenty of stuff laying in the streets free for takin' if you got the gonads to step out and go get it. As to loading up more than you shoot to build a stock pile, that's not a bad plan, just that if things go south you gotta be able to keep it. The nature of urban warfare tends to put a damper on that idea. Everything wood tends to burn down and everything masonry
tends to be hollowed out and shell pocked. Civil war is ugly. Everybody looks alike, speaks the same language and lives in the same place. Hard to tell who the enemy is when the shootin' is about ideologies and nobody wears uniforms.

Edit: And remember, it doesn't take a civil war, an event as natural as a tornado can blow everything you've worked for into the next county

[Rio]

Ya John I may have came across wrong on that I just mean weathering a instance like we experienced the last few years. I am not looking towards chaos in the streets. Just want the kids to be able to shoot should the ammo stream slow way down.

[Reddirt62]

When you're in love cost has little meaning....💖

Sent from my SM-N920V using Tapatalk

[mold maker]

When I started reloading, every nickel spent had some question about where it was most needed. It was a means to having cheap meat on the table so it counted as a positive. As years passed and i added equipment, it became more of a hobby, and money wasn't as tight. I still have and use the first pieces from the 60s. As an investment, every piece has earned it's way and helped pay for improvements.
No I haven't improved my bank account with it, but that was never the intent. I have never had to curtail my shooting because of the lack of ammo. I load for many guns that are purely shot for fun.
I still load with a single stage RCBS press for many calibers but a Piggyback was installed many years ago. Next was a 2000 and they still get regular use. Having loaded for well over half a century I don't regret a single piece of equipment I bought. I don't play golf, smoke or drink. That has provided more than enough savings to pay for the casting/reloading hobby.

[OS OK]

mold maker...I don't play golf, smoke or drink. That has provided more than enough savings to pay for the casting/reloading hobby.

Boy you said more than a mouth-full there...you'll prolly live a lot longer to enjoy it too!

[jmorris]

The quality of reloaded ammunition is still controlled by the operator.

If if they don't pay attention on a single stage a progressive with powder check/ lockout die might save them from themselves. If you don't have one of them and don't pay attention you can load the same ammunition on either, just less work and a lot faster on a progressive.

[lefty o]

it doesnt take all that long to pay for something like a 650xl with a casefeeder, even just loading 9mm. heck even using plated bullets your at $10-11 per hundred, on sale factory ammo is $20/100, 25 or more if you dont catch it on sale. if you shoot a few thousand rounds a year, your 650 is paid for in approx 1 year, after that it is saving you time and money. load 40's, 45's, or 10mm's, its paid for much faster.

[WJP]

Another question that has been asked HUNDREDS of times here. The answers are always the same when the Search button is pressed.

Yup, the same way there is always one person that has time to read it, yet not add anything productive or informative.

ROI depends on a lot of things. Use, enjoyment, savings, return when sold, etc. I've used mine, saved money, spent money, enjoyed it, and won't loose much if any when I go to sell it. Think of all the $180 square deals that were sold 20 years ago, used, abused, rebuilt, and resold now for $250. Look at the big picture of what you're going to do with it and for how long.

[Iowa Fox]

Yup, the same way there is always one person that has time to read it, yet not add anything productive or informative.

ROI depends on a lot of things. Use, enjoyment, savings, return when sold, etc. I've used mine, saved money, spent money, enjoyed it, and won't loose much if any when I go to sell it. Think of all the $180 square deals that were sold 20 years ago, used, abused, rebuilt, and resold now for $250. Look at the big picture of what you're going to do with it and for how long.

You beat me to the punch as I came down this thread WJP. I will purchase a Dillon press with all the Parts it shipped with for what what you paid for it 20 years ago. 20 years of no cost use.