9mm and 45 not worth reloading?

[jimb16]

I look at reloading as an insurance policy. When things go south and ammo is unobtainable, I've got plenty. I've never had any problem having plenty of ammo in any caliber that I shoot. I really don't give a tinkers darn if it is RN or hollow point or SWC. it works and I always have it available in quantity.

[BJung]

I agree. Same here. I reload and cast to save money to buy other components like powder and primers.

[TribunusSanGeorgii]

I can reload 9mm for $0.08/rd with cast boolits, $0.12 with some cheap FMJ I stocked up on. All components bought within the last 2 years also.
Even with the FMJ that's half price or better than factory 9mm.

.45 I'm loading cast boolits for $.08 or better.

Yeah that's totally worth it. YMMV

[billmc2]

I only started reloading a couple of years ago, I guess right about the time that the plague started. A little while after that I started casting. I'm doing it so I can learn how to do it. Other reasons are for when shortages happen I can still get ammo and I have it stuck in my head that reloading is cheaper than buying factory ammo (I can be perfectly happy living with my delusions). As for my molds, I'm aligned with the OP, I don't have a single round nose mold.

Its only recently that, because of hand loading, I'm starting to get an understanding of a particular cartridge's capabilities versus another cartridge and that within one cartridge's range, there's not that much of a performance difference (ie, a hot load vs a mild load).

I had to retire early do to health conditions. I can no longer do things I used to like doing (boats and airplanes). Compared to those past activities, this shooting stuff thing is relatively cheap. I'm not say that it doesn't cost to do, just that it doesn't cost to do as much as the other things do. I also can shoot just outside my door, so that helps as well. Age is bringing physical limitations that I'm still fighting against acknowledging, but so far I can still pull a trigger; don't see the sights very well, but can still pull a trigger.

[GhostHawk]

I have 9mm factory loads that I bought before the last shortage for 24 cents ea.

That does not mean I don't load my own cast boolit 9's.

With primers going so high I have curtailed my shooting. I have a good stash of lead, powder and primers and I'd rather not deplete it.

On the other hand I just picked up a new to me pistol in .32acp. So I sat down and cranked out 80 rounds so I can have a few to burn and a box of 50 to keep with the pistol.

Luckily enough I found 2 partial boxes of CCI SPP's. 50 in one and 30 in the other. Well done and done! Loaded them in the RCBS universal hand primer and primed them up.

Charged with 2 grains of Red Dot slip a .314 90 gr truncated cone over the powder and crimped them up. Call me a happy camper, felt good to be casting and reloading.

[GasGuzzler]

This question gets posted on every gun forum whenever a big price change or shortage happens. 9mm is actually easily available for less than $0.20 per round now. .45 AUTO is just over $0.30.

I didn't learn to reload to save money. I learned so I could make my own if/when we can't buy it any more. Also like to make better than OEM but that's not always the case with pistol ammo.

[HWooldridge]

I don’t have a 9mm so that’s off the table, but loaded 45 ACP for many years. I have a buddy who used to go through it by the boatload and he would pick up most of his brass, so he would usually give me a bag with 495 shells or something similar. Beggars can’t be choosers.

I also watch for special buys and got a deal a few years ago on a custom run by a small company - it was $100 for 1000 rounds of FMJ. I had to send the money ahead of time then waited several months before delivery; it eventually arrived and shoots just fine, but has an oddball headstamp so somebody probably bought a big batch of scrap brass and loaded them.

[charlie b]

I started reloading and casting over 40 years ago so I could afford to shoot my 1911. I could reload for about the price of .22LR (free milsurp cases, free wheel weights, pay for primers and powder).

I didn't shoot that much, maybe 1000rnds a year. After about 20 years I slowed shooting a lot. Reloading went into storage and got rid of casting stuff.

A few years ago (after retirement) I got the bug to shoot again, but, this time rifles. Bought a .223 cause of cheap ammo. It was cheap...and not very accurate. I am not interested in a rifle (or handgun) that is not accurate. For rifles that means MOA or less (sometimes much less ). So, I got out my reloading stuff, bought some dies and started back again. Then found that I liked the more expensive bullets.

I bought a .308 with the express purpose of shooting cast to save money on bullets. Got everything up and going. When political stuff started getting sketchy I bought molds for my pistols as well, just in case.

So, I can't afford to buy several hundred rounds of match rifle ammo every month. I can afford the custom bullets, so that's why I reload.

But, I also seem to enjoy the challenge of making accurate rifle bullets. The 6BR is fun making tiny little groups with the custom match bullets, but, it is just as much fun for me to make slightly larger groups with bullets I cast in the .308.

I haven't reloaded for pistols for several years. I haven't fired one for a couple years. So, if I wanted to go shoot for a day I'd just buy some ammo.

Bottom line is, everyone has a different reason why they reload and why they cast. For some it is simply money. Others it is performance. And some it is just a hobby they enjoy.

[Rapier]

I shot cast in competition for so long I would not know what to do with jacketed, so there is that and when I cast, I use one alloy that produces fully filed out and very consistent bullets by weight. If I just wanted to throw junk down range, I could throw rocks as accurate as half the shooters I see at the range. So there is that very real aspect of reloading, improved accuracy and improved performance.
Too many shooters think that just shooting, is real practice, and that is 100% false. The multiple controls required to shoot well are way more important than blowing rounds down range and in addition how do you begain to know what is wrong if your ammo does not perform well, you just do not know unless you have the best ammo you can, if every other aspect is OK.

[Daekar]

I must not have communicated my point very well.

I can buy 9mm 115 FMJ for .26 a round. I get that. I can load 9mm with MP 35 for less than that. Your value for your time is yours, not mine to decide.

I would rather have 1000 rounds of the MP bullet loaded when the time comes I need it instead of 1000 rounds of a plated RN.

Apparently I am in the minority. I'm not talking about "plinking" ammo. Why should all your ammo not be zombie apocalypse ammo since you control what boolit gets loaded?
Tony

This is really how I feel. I don't buy any molds that are not suitable for actual serious use, so everything has a defense/hunting grade profile, meplat, etc. The ammo I plink with is the ammo I carry, and after years of doing things the "normal" way I would never go back. All my ammo is useful, and it doesn't take any more effort to make it so.

I started reloading because I was sick of always having 7 different types of ammo in the same cartridge, none of which shot the same, to the same point of aim, etc. It was maddening. Now everything is exactly the way I want it every time.

[elmacgyver0]

Why reload when you can be drinking beer and watching tv?

[imashooter2]

I don’t load 9mm. It’s my only chambering I don’t roll my own. The pay off just isn’t enough to justify it in my position.

.45 ACP has always been worth loading. Even when I was younger and trading money for time, you could buy bullets and load for half the cost of factory.

[armoredman]

I take a different point of view: I cast bullets and reload ammunition because I like doing it. The economics of cast loads vs factory ammo never enters my mind. I try to spend my free time doing things I like, and it is restful and restorative to craft my own ammunition. Shooting is fun, but reloading is also fun. I don't reload as a necessity to go shooting; casting & reloading is a goal within itself. I reload lots of calibers, 45 acp and 9mm included, and even if it cost more to cast my own I'd still do it.

Exactly. While yes, I do save money by handloading, even with JHP in 9mm, I also enjoy it, so it is a hobby, and the amount of money spent really doesn't enter in.

[Electrod47]

I take a different point of view: I cast bullets and reload ammunition because I like doing it. The economics of cast loads vs factory ammo never enters my mind. I try to spend my free time doing things I like, and it is restful and restorative to craft my own ammunition. Shooting is fun, but reloading is also fun. I don't reload as a necessity to go shooting; casting & reloading is a goal within itself. I reload lots of calibers, 45 acp and 9mm included, and even if it cost more to cast my own I'd still do it.

We are soulmates my friend.....

[45_Colt]

OK, I'm confused. I thought we reloaded so that we could shoot more. Not to save money???

45_Colt

[GONRA]

GONRA started off with 9mm Luger & .45 ACP. (Range Brass, Cast Boolits! !!)
BUT - fIrst class reloading stuff..... (Hollywood, Redding, Lyman /Ideal) GO FOR IT !

[pworley1]

If I loaded only to save money, I should be breaking even any year now.

[imashooter2]

If I loaded only to save money, I should be breaking even any year now.

I wouldn’t say the object was to save money so much as it is to shoot more with the funds I have available.

[Harter66]

35 cal
380, 38 Short, 38 Special, 357 , 358 Win .
Across the 5 I have 3 bullets that are well shared and 2 that can be used in all 5 the 125gr is a little much for the 380 but drilled HP its good to go at 100 gr and the 95 is a little light in the 358 .

45 ....
Gap , ACP , S&W , Colts , and 460 .
5 cartridges , 6 bullets , 5 cross over for all 5 and there's enough twist for all 6 , but a 350 RF probably isn't a good idea even in the S&W let alone the autos .

Almost all of my brass is multiple cycles by me . I have a bunch of Colts that I've shot so much they are down to 1.265-8 , a far cry from 1.285 .
The brass is free .
Although it's very sad it took me a decade to burn that last 12# in the 15# can of Unique Dad gave me now I just have 10# of Herco and 20# of Unique left . I did pay 118 for the one 8# of Unique so it's not like it was all gifted .
The primer stash ........most of the boxes are stickered 32 to 40/1000 its unlikely I'll use them all but it could happen.
Most of my lead is range metal , free WW , and $100 worth of lino .


Now at 56,000gr in the 8# using 3.5 gr per round that's 16,000 rounds of 9mm for 118 + (16×36) ......comes out .043375 per round .

Now if I shift over to the 45s ACP , AR ,and Schofield get the same 5.5 gr under the 250 and 6 under the 200&230 ...... Nickle a round actually $0.049337 and that's long because I did it for the full 10k primers not the actual 9,739 rounds of 5.75 gr per .

I know I'm never going to buy 36/1000 primers again, nobody is every going to just give me 8# of 4831 , 20# of Unique, or 10# of Herco ever again. I'm 57 have chemical induced liver disease and as it stands today probably no heirs to the stuff so I may as well enjoy it for the next 498 Saturdays.

Even at double the price of powder and primers using my actual 4.0 for the 9mm thats still only a dime a round for either one and less for the 380 .

I reload to save money and shoot more ......only since the move 5 yr ago and my Dad passing away 7 weeks later I haven't done a whole lot of shooting. In fact I don't think I've fired 1000 rounds since then . I had really looked forward to that ......

To really save money reloading ..........12¢ vs 26¢ ,120/1000 vs 260/1000. Now I don't know it's up to you , is it worthwhile to save $140/1000 ?

Now I load a lot more 45 Colts and 45-70 than 9mm and 45ACP .
At 5600 rounds from the 8# and doubling what I paid it still only comes out 112.50/1000 at a paltry $0.1125 per round . Even if I add another $30 for lead at a buck a lb to the Colts and 60 to the 45-70 it's cheaper than buying fmj 9mm and way under the 135 I paid for the first 100 .

At a buck a bullet for TTSX , 50¢ for powder , and a dime for a primer beats $48/20 for 264 WM .......... 240/100 vs 160 .

Ok I'll cave a little.
$50 for dies
$100 for a good mould
$35 for a size die
So it's 185 bucks for a new to me cartridge in a new caliber . I have moulds for 17calibers from 22-50 and size dies for most of them . I don't size C&B or ML shot . No slug mould but I do have a .690 RB for 12 ga . So unless I practically steal a 6mm I don't want , 338 I'd kind of like to have but won't do anything the 358 will , or 40-60 Winchester I don't see me buying any more moulds I have a few wish book cartridges but they really wouldn't be useful here for the most part . As a result no more dies and really I have a dozen or more I could sell and never miss .


Maybe I'm missing something but BOGO has always been a selling point for.me .

[AlaskaMike]

I know that some folks count the cost of their time as part of the cost of reloading equation, but I don't. Same with bullet casting. I enjoy both activities. Just like I don't count the cost of my time while shooting, or any other fun activity.

Given that I picked up about 1000 lbs of wheel weights for free when I started bullet casting and I don't count my time, my bullets are free. I can load my target 9mm and .45 Auto ammo for less than the cost of .22 LR ammo, and as mentioned several times, it's much higher quality than most any commercial ammo. Even my high end 9mm and .45 Auto loads are a fraction of the cost of the commercial equivalents.

It will definitely continue to be worth it for me to reload 9mm and .45 Auto, certainly for the rest of my lifetime.