Need a reason to cast boolits?

[Thumbcocker]

139027

[Artful]

Ouch, I flinch everytime I buy something in a store anymore.

[FergusonTO35]

Yep. As long as people are willing pay that the price will never go down. I will say, even if the cost was the same I would shoot my own reloads with boolits.

[pworley1]

Cost is a consideration for handloading, but being able to get a bullet to do just what you want it to is a much more important reason for me to handload.

[Fergie]

That was the main reason I got back in to reloading and am getting stuff together for casting.

I had just picked up a .44magnum in trade, shot the box of ammo that came with it, and then went to purchase another box. I just about keeled over when the price was more than $1/round for the stuff...and that was the cheap end!

Aside from a random 22LR purchase here and there, everything is reloaded now.

[white eagle]

I haven't bought any ammo in so very long that
I wasn't even aware of the price
that's crazy the amount they get for it
decide a long time ago that if they can make it so can I
and not only are my handloads custom for the firearm they are intended for
they cost less and are by far more accurate

[tryNto]

Also just got a .44 Mag and couldn't wait to shoot it, So picked up a box of S&B Mag rounds @ $35, others were $46 including Blazers.
First store bought ammo in 9 years for me.

[butch2570]

Wow... I still have some of those very factory loads bought back in the mid 90s' when I bought my Anaconda, I think the sticker on them was about $ 20 . That's just ridiculous. The percussion revolvers are looking better all the time for plinksters , powder ,cap and lead , good to go..

[Kraschenbirn]

Other than .22s and a couple boxes of +P JHPs for my 'carry', the only factory rounds I can recall buying in the last 10-12 years were 200 rds of Privi 7.62x54R from Grafs because, at the time, it was the only source for reloadable brass.

Bill

[Silver Jack Hammer]

Were I not technically challenged I would post pics of trays I made which are full of cast boolits which I cast.

[jeepyj]

I guess I can see why they are still on the shelf. I guess I'm glad I'm out of the ammo price loop. Other than a very few oddballs I'm all cast.
jeepyj

[Mk42gunner]

Wow, I remember when Federal brought out the American Eagle line as a cheaper source of factory loads. I think I was paying somewhere around $12.99 a box for .44 Magnums, times do change.

Robert

[quietmike]

Bought a box of 45-70 for $30 to try out the new rifle while waiting for components to arrive.
Aside from. 22s, the only ammo i've bought in years.

[1Shirt]

With the exception of one box of 25 380's, about 2 years ago, can't recall buying any centerfire factory ammo in well over 10 years.
1Shirt!

[rondog]

The cost of freakin' EVERYTHING has gone out of sight! Not just gun & ammo stuff. Wife was telling me about a piece of watermelon the other day, priced at $5-something. Not a whole melon, a piece!

[BNE]

I just did a quick calculation and came up with about $6 per box if I make my own. Of course I'm more likely to spend the $64 and make 10 boxes!!

[GhostHawk]

I've bought some factory ammo, but I don't anymore.

Cheaper to buy brass here and load my own. And my range has very reasonable prices on Handgun brass. 5$ a Hundred and they have boxes of 9mm and 45 ACP brass.

Rifles are a bit harder to come by but I did get 200 rounds of .223 and 50 of good 7.62x54r for the Mosin.

At a dollar a pound or a minor fraction over, most of my bullets are under 2 cents each.
Just scored 5 fresh pounds of Red Dot from Ballistic Products. 20$ a pound before hazmat and shipping. With hazmat and shipping added in it was still cheaper than that from Bass Pro shops before the hazmat and shipping.

At 4-5 grains of red dot per load, I can load a LOT.

[quickdraw66]

I reload for 13 or so cartridges. Many of whom are either super hard to find, impossible to find, or super expensive to buy. Reloading has made it possible to shoot these old guns, and casting has made it much cheaper to do so.

[Cornbread]

I shoot 454 Casull a lot sometimes five days a week but more often it's once to twice a week. I have a range out to 100 yards built at my house so I can test loads etc. Go price a box of 454 Casulls and you'll see right away why I cast and reload. I buy my alloy of jetsfan-24 here on this board but I sell just enough bullets from each order to some local shooters where I live to pay for it and I use the remainder for myself so my lead ends up being free. I buy powder and primers in large bulk, same with brass. Costs me less than $20 to make 200 full house 454 Casull rounds of very high quality. If I were to buy the same quality of rounds from a place like buffalo bore or someplace else that makes high quality ammo for 454 it would run me $384 for the same amount of ammo. No joke, you can Google up the buffalo bore ammo prices and check my math if you like :) For me to shoot 200 rounds in a week isn't abnormal but with casting and reloading I am able to do it cheaper than I could take my kids to see a movie.

[Bigslug]

What is this "Fak-toe-ree" ammo you speak of?

Scrounged range lead and scrounged range brass. . .I think my .45ACP costs less than .22LR these days. . . at least, once the pot, PID, dies, molds, presses get paid off. . .[smilie=1:

[ejcrist]

Good Lord, I had no idea it was that much! Makes me feel pretty good about casting and handloading. Originally I started casting because I could make the boolits shoot a lot better than commercial jacketed or cast, and I'd continue to do so even if the stuff on the shelf was cheaper. I didn't realize the difference between handloading boolits and commercial was that big though. Thanks for the picture - it's certainly speaks better than 1000 words.

[dragon813gt]

Now go look at a box of 375 H&H :eek:

I honestly wonder how the manufacturers are expecting to maintain a customer base at current prices. There will always be people that have the money. But there will be less and less as the years go by.

[FergusonTO35]

I don't see why Federal keeps the American Eagle brand, it has never even been their cheapest line of ammo. The regular red and blue box Federal is their cheapest offering here. Anybody remember the American Eagle 40 round "value" boxes of .22, that actually cost more per round than the usual 50 count boxes? Did they really think people are that dumb?

[berksglh]

Price was my reason for getting into reloading back around Y2K. But when i got my concealed carry and started purchasing 45ACP, I quickly got into casting and fell in love with it.

Even component prices have gotten crazy. I use to burn my cabellas bucks on 100 rnd boxes of Sierra 223 to stock up for a prarie dog shoot that never happened. 10+ boxes purchased at $10 a box, and now the same cost you 20-30!

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

44mag got me started , I had had my 44 for 11 years and hadn't put 4 boxes of ammo through it in those 11 years started reloading and I could make premium hunting rounds the for around 27 cents a round then I started casting and saved even more , well except that I shoot a lot more now

[Butchman205]

I say the whole discussion should hinge on the type of person we're discussing.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE casting my own boolits, cleaning used dirty brass, toying with different loads from many powders and boolit weights.

My brother, on the other hand, could care less if he gets 1/2 MOA vs 2 MOA. He can still kill a deer effectively at his self imposed range max of 200 yards. He prefers to spend his time scouting. Furthermore...he uses a cheap .308 H&R rifle with a high end Swarovski scope on it. His wall of monsters prove he isn't doing to badly.

If you enjoy a good "focus hobby" and shooting is what you dig...go for it. If not, find something else you really enjoy.

Myself...I can't get enough boolit moulds, lead, lube recipes, etc!!!

Anybody have another old boolit mould to share with a boolit addicted brother?!?

[Garyshome]

Nope, it's just something that I do anymore. The only time I buy ammo is 22lr at a good price, everything else is home grown!

[Butchman205]

I'm with you Gary. If it isn't .22LR...I make my own.

[rking22]

Me too, dont' have a gun I can't load for, shotgun,rifle, or pistol. Only one I cant cast for is a 256Win contender barrel. I thought 44Mags were outragious when they cost 20$ and I needed some brass! I did buy 50rnd of 9mm HP to stuff in the TZ75 fer just in case. Bought some 16ga factories to get the hulls, hulls cost 80% what I paid for the Game Loads!