How much to cast boolits?

[Dirtshooter]

Hi guys I searched but didn't find this. I am curious about how much does it cost to cast .38 cal 158gr bullets? I have free ww's so only cost is electricity and bullet lube. Was just wondering how much I am able to reload them for. Thanks upfront, Mac

[Eddie17]

Not counting my time, or electricity. I’m able to put together, 9mm, 38spl, 357mag. For about 5 to 8 cents a round. Depending on cost of primers and powder.
No able to replace my stock of 22lr cheaper then that!
Like shooting center fire more anyways!

[popper]

6$/100 for 165gr 40sw. ~150$ for casting equipment - pot, moulds, sizers, PC oven, etc.

[Winger Ed.]

Closest I ever figured was it cost about the same to load a cast, gas checked, .38Spec. in my brass, with powder and primers bought retail
is about the same price as buying premium .22LR like CCI Stingers.

[flyingmonkey35]

This is a hobby.

You do not count what your time is worth when youb do a hobby or it would not be worth it.

I powder coat or lube all of my boolits.

I can cast load all pistol rounds for under 10cents. Each.

What pays off is the exotic rounds. 45 long colt. 357 mag , 44 mag etc..

Rifle rounds i get all under 20 cents most in the 15 cent range.

Your real cost is in the primers and powder.

$ 35 for a box of 1k primers
3.5cents each

$ 30 dollars for a pound of powder.

About 3 cents per round.

Add 1 cents for over head / loss
8.5 cents



Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk

[Misery-Whip]

1lb of powder is 7000 grains. One charge of bullseye is 3 grains. Right there is about 2k rounds including some spillage. For $24-28

A good price around here is $30 for 1k primers. My local hardware store wants over $50

Lead can be free, if you look/work hard enough. I don't pay over $1 a lbs and it needs to be a big block at or under hardness for me to be interested. 1 lbs of lead makes 44 158swc. Shooting at a private range allows me to recycle my lead from a bullet trap. So that's free...until I get tired of shootin paper...

The equipment is priceless. If you can find it nowdays. It will pay for itself repeatedly. And you will shoot more. Win/win.

Most my gear is Lee and over 8 years old. Buy what you can afford, no need for the $$$$ stuff to get started.

[metricmonkeywrench]

So far the math isn't working out in my favor, I just can’t seem to keep from buying moulds, lead and other assorted goodies...

[dverna]

I buy in bulk. I buy when stuff is on sale. $3/box of 50.

I have over $1500 in casting stuff. You can start with $100. Using Ben’s Liquid Lube is a very cheap and effective way to lube bullets.

[TjB101]

So far the math isn't working out in my favor, I just can’t seem to keep from buying moulds, lead and other assorted goodies...

Same problem ... found a 45-70 Lee 340gr mold at a garage sale so of course I had to buy a new gun to go with it ... problems, problems

[jimb16]

You won't really save any money, BUT you will shoot a whole lot more for the same money!

[Texas by God]

Less than 1/3 the cost of factory ammo and more accurate. I’ve reloaded .38 Special for 45 years. My price is based on you already having the bullet alloy and fired cases.

[hickfu]

First off make sure that the wheel weights are the lead variety and not zinc...
Then you will need a good pot for smelting them in, along with the cost of propane.
Saw dust and bees wax for fluxing and reducing. muffin tin or ingot mold depending on how your going to cast the bullets.
Now you will need a mold and a way to fill the mold, are you going to ladle pour or bottom pour pot?
Then you need to think about lube (or powder coating) you can make lube or purchase it.
How are you going to lube? you can pan lube (very easy) or get a lubersizer.
you will also need a sizing die to make sure all bullets are sized to fit your cases
Are you going to go plain base bullet or gas check? if GC then you need to purchase GC's
cases, primers, powders...... oh my
Do you have a reloading press? Dies?

Yes you can load cast bullets a lot cheaper then buying commercial ammo but that is after the initial cost of every thing you need to get the job done...

Doc

[bangerjim]

Boolit casting and reloading.............."an bottomless endless black hole that seems to suck money continuously".

I do not even worry what it costs. It's a hobby (one of MANY I have and not nearly the most expensive either) and I spend whatever it takes to keep me and my guns happy.

In good old times (NOT NOW!) just a few Trump years ago, you could figure standard pistol carts would run you 6-10¢ per round, not including the energy to perform the tasks needed. And that is using range-pickup FREE brass. If you are buying new brass, the price could easily double.

Rifle boolits did run about 14-16¢ per round. Again free range brass. Rifle carts use a ton more powder than a little 38.

That is for me and my methods.......your results may and WILL vary.

The prices quoted above to not hold true now. Today, powder and especially primers, are getting rather scarce and expensive, like back during B. Insane O'Bummer's reign. Buy what you can when you find it and don't look back...or at your wallet or checkbook!

And then there are the MOLDS! Oh, yes......the MOLDS! Those money-grabbing evil little things we all love and cherish. When you own a ton of them like I have, you would scare yourself silly to add up the investment of money over time.

With 10's of millions of new gun owners now out there in the past few months (thanks to terrorist groups like BLM, ANTIFA, and Dam-o-crats) supplies AND most guns are becoming rather scarce. If you are just starting out, best of luck to you.

Nice thing about rolling your own, you do not have to drive around in circles trying to buy commercial ammo. The other day I needed some 45ACP's in a hurry for one of my 1911's and, since I had no cast ones loaded up, I tried to buy a box..........at FOUR different LGS's. OMG! the shelves were picked clean.

bangerjim

[farmbif]

don't forget gas checks, ive got several molds for 357, 38spl, and one of the best is the old one ideal which is now Lyman 358156 add 2.2 cents for gas check plus shipping

[brewer12345]

OP just asked about the cost of making boolits. I buy my lead in ingots from others who have smelted and I powder coat. I figure they cost me about 3 cents a piece in materials, etc. Time? Well, this is a labor of love for me. I take great pride in taking game with balls and boolits I made, and the ability to make what I cannot sometimes buy gives me great comfort.

[15meter]

My cost for 45 ACP is less than 4 cents each, including all the equipment.

I was lucky enough to stock up on components through my gun club. We bought in bulk. Primers less than
2-1/2 cents each. Powder, 12 to 19 dollars a pound depending on shotgun/pistol or rifle powder.

The lead is all scrounged. Pewter is Goodwill at less than $1.50 a pound.

I've been buying and selling casting and reloading equipment for several decades, profit from horse trading all the equipment paid for all my hardware and has subsidized a good share of my component purchases.

I've been EXTREMELY lucky in my dealings, doubt if I could if I could do it again as crazy as reloading stuff has gotten in the last 6 months.

[Dirtshooter]

Thanks everyone, Brewer 12345 got what I was asking for. I have been smelting lead wheel weights (no Zinc), I have been making cast bullets, and using a 450 Lyman lubrisizer. I thought someone would have put the pencil and calculator to it. No problem I was just thinking aloud.

[murf205]

267490 How much does it cost? I don't mean to give you an evasive answer, but I started out to cast and reload on a whim and this is what it has morphed into!(see pic) The best part about casting is that you can get exactly what you want. Believe me, with free wheel weights, you are the envy of a LOT of people here. Maybe the best part of casting/reloading is that you have independence without having to be the victim of shortages and goofy regulations that can change with every election cycle.

[44Blam]

It doesn't cost much to get into it... My first press was the Lee hand press (I still use it a lot in the living room watching TV).

But the cost is NOTHING compared to the amount you will save! Then you take those savings and it means you can buy new guns to cast/load for...

Not to mention, you can funnel your savings into making more boolits so you can shoot more! :D

[Landy88]

I have not been able to get free or low cost lead; but even buying it retail, from sellers here, my cost per bullet, depending on weight and gas checked or not, ranges from 3 to 10 cents. The assorted jacketed bullets that I load range from 31 cents to $1.10. The full cost per loaded round has too many variables to make a meaningful guess on your finished costs, but I can cast bullets for 1/10 of the cost of jacketed bullets. Cast bullets, despite conventional wisdom, can be superior to jacketed, depending on purpose - better for less, a hobby as bonus, and a little added self-sufficient independence.

[fcvan]

Age old saying "If you have to ask, you can't afford it."

The truth is, if you do what you love, it isn't working. I loved my work, and am enjoying being retired from it, but I do miss the friends I made while working. Reloading for me has and will always be enjoyable. I didn't enjoy it the last time the craziness caused the prices to get stooopid. So, I stocked up when the prices returned to normal. Then I loaded every case I had, and kept ordering supplies for times like these.

I do have some coffee cans of empties from earlier this year, winter is coming. Right now, yard work takes precedence. My favorite time to cast and load was always baseball season. Right now, I listen to baseball while whipping the yard into shape. This winter, I will likely find something else to listen to while I cast, load the empties, and cast some more. New to me rifle needs boolits to test extensively (code for shoot the heck out of it) and my handgun skills need tuning up.

The cost was always a consideration with regard to how much more I was saving over factory. Having a case of ammo that is not on a shelf anywhere to be found is priceless, having a bunch of ammo to train new shooters (nephew has a new pistol) is great to be able to share that time with family.

Sons in law are all shooters. 9mm is cheap to shoot in guns chambered for 40 S&W with drop in conversion barrels. Then, transition to shooting 40. I like to teach, they like to learn. Wife likes to teach as well, and she is better at getting some drills down with new shooters, and shoots very well with both hands.

Sometimes, it is just the Wife and I, time spent in the hills picking up brass from shooters who don't reload, and then shooting our own, which keeps the the shiny once fired brass separated from our own. (I still keep track of how many times reloaded, etc.)

I also enjoy going out with new shooters who (cough, cough) buy factory to shoot in their first new pistol. 'Put that away, save it' I say, and then let them go at it with my rounds. Once I explain that they could shoot more for less, they start scrounging for lead, picking up their own brass, and coming over to learn how to cast and load. Lots of 'teaching moments' evolve into a barbecue, and that's something you can't put a price upon.

[GregLaROCHE]

I would cast my own boolits, even if it cost the same as buying jacketed bullets. I just enjoy doing it!

[NyFirefighter357]

It's more than the savings, it's the ability of being able to make ammo when none is available!

[Hanzy4200]

I started out for about $50. Used a cast iron pot, old spoon $20 Lee mold $20 Lee sizer, and $10 bottle of tumble lube. Now 15+ calibers later, I'm guessing I probably have at least $4,000 in just equipment. And I'm a novice.

[fredj338]

Cost of equip, depends on what you want. I like a bottom pour pot, the Lee 20# works fine for like $70. If you like the Lee 158gr SWC design, then another $70 for a 6cav + handles. You can often shoot as cast, Alox lube, pretty cheap. For cost of a toaster oven & lee sizer, you can do coated for about $60. alloy is free, way ahead.

[reddog81]

Hi guys I searched but didn't find this. I am curious about how much does it cost to cast .38 cal 158gr bullets? I have free ww's so only cost is electricity and bullet lube. Was just wondering how much I am able to reload them for. Thanks upfront, Mac

The cost of electricity and lube is negligible. you can probably get 1,000 bullets for well under $1 in electricity. A $2.00 stick of lube will get you 1,000 bullets or more. Add those 2 amounts together and you're still under 1/3rd a penny. Of course it depends on your rate of casting (10 bullets per minute will cost twice as much as if you can drop 20 bullets per minute...). Does you mold have 1 lube groove or 2? Are you filling the lube grooves up 100%? Whats the size of the lube grooves? You could work out the cost if for those items if you want, but that'd be rather tedious.

Buying primers at $35/K vs $30/K will have a larger impact on you cost per round...

[AndyC]

It's more than the savings, it's the ability of being able to make ammo when none is available!
Ding-ding-ding.

Self-sufficiency is a wonderful thing - especially in these times.

[robg]

if you cast your only paying for powder and primers unless you need gas checks .free boolits easy cost saving especially for big boolits like 45-70.

[JonB_in_Glencoe]

You will save BIG money...Big Money I say [smilie=w:
I've put pencil to paper before, and it is almost is like someone is paying me to cast my own [smilie=w:

:lovebooli
:castmine:

[John Boy]

Dirt, calculate the cost per round and add the price for a Lee 158gr mold .... https://www.beartoothbullets.com/rescources/calculators/php/cost.htm

[Texas by God]

Due to gifts such as powder and primers and Lube from mentors, and free wheel weights from the tire shop, many times as a teenage reloader; my ammo that I loaded only cost me time- which I had plenty of! Now that I’m old; I shoot the dickens out of three rifle cartridges in particular that if I had to buy factory rounds for- a 50 round range session Each for all three would set me back around $200 or more.(30-40 Krag, 38-55 Win, and 44-40 Win).
My advice to a new reloader is to never turn down free components. You may not need them today; but they sit there not eating anything and some day you can use them or trade them.

[15meter]

Thanks everyone, Brewer 12345 got what I was asking for. I have been smelting lead wheel weights (no Zinc), I have been making cast bullets, and using a 450 Lyman lubrisizer. I thought someone would have put the pencil and calculator to it. No problem I was just thinking aloud.

Problem with asking for a hard number is the variable cost of components.

I paid less than 2-1/2 cents per primer less than a year ago, on gun broker they are going for 15 cents or more each today. Most locations are reporting you can't buy them locally or traditional online vendors. The scalpers have them on gun broker at inflated prices.

Pistol powders are almost as bad, double or triple the price from a year ago. Glad I ignored the buddies who said I was crazy when I started stocking up right after the last national election.

A year ago you could have come up with a semi accurate number, not today.

[fredj338]

Problem with asking for a hard number is the variable cost of components.

I paid less than 2-1/2 cents per primer less than a year ago, on gun broker they are going for 15 cents or more each today. Most locations are reporting you can't buy them locally or traditional online vendors. The scalpers have them on gun broker at inflated prices.

Pistol powders are almost as bad, double or triple the price from a year ago. Glad I ignored the buddies who said I was crazy when I started stocking up right after the last national election.

A year ago you could have come up with a semi accurate number, not today.

I have not seen that much jump in powder prices from last year, the supply line seems stable. Primers are always the issue for reloaders. They are used by manuf to make ammo, canister powders not so much. No one should be buying primers for $100-$150/1000 right now, you are just feeding the zoo animals. I shoot a lot, like9-10K rds of 9mm a year. I am still working with primers bought in 2010 that I paid about $25/1000 for OTD. When it settles down, prices wont drop back to $30/1000 but even at $35/1000, everyone should be a buyer. I keep 10K per size as my reserve. So I always have at least a years worth of primers. That will likely bump to 15K reserve. I see this lasting until at least this tome next year.

[white eagle]

Hi guys I searched but didn't find this. I am curious about how much does it cost to cast .38 cal 158gr bullets? I have free ww's so only cost is electricity and bullet lube. Was just wondering how much I am able to reload them for. Thanks upfront, Mac

Dirt
casting is not about saving money
it's about doing for yourself,independent from corporations and companies
build a better mouse trap so to speak
if I would add the money I have spent on casting I would certainly be buying boolits

[Kraschenbirn]

Like a quite a few members of this forum, for years I've maintained a reasonable inventory of components so it's difficult for me quote a price-per-round because some of my powder and primers were purchased 'in bulk' five or six years ago. Likewise, I've been reloading/casting for nearly 60 years and my reloading tools and molds have long ago paid for themselves. Running numbers off the top of my head, though, I'd say my .45s and .38s run about $.05-$.06 apiece and my .308s in the nieghborhood of $.12-$.18 each...depending upon whether my boolits are PB or GC and what powder I'm using.

Bill

[mto7464]

Ding-ding-ding.

Self-sufficiency is a wonderful thing - especially in these times.

Yup....all my idpa friends are crying for lack of bullets. Not me.

[Eddie17]

Sorry I didn’t read your question correctly.
Cast boolits cost me , time an electricity. I collect range scrap, lead is free, save for my time to collect.
Cost to to me as a hobby, a little time, an a little electricity.

[kenton]

I haven't done the measuring or math but if you are curious you could get something like this:
https://www.amazon.com/P3-P4400-Electricity-Usage-Monitor/dp/B00009MDBU

Measure the number of KW/H you use for a casting session (gonna be a small number) and compare that you the price of electricity and take the electrical cost/number of boolits to find your answer.

Of course spending $40 to find out will cut into you savings.... My old roommate had one and it was fun to play with to find the power consumption of different things but I'm sure we never made back the cost of purchase in savings.

[Walter Laich]

I would certainly hope you can find a mentor to get you aimed in the right direction.

I learned back in 1958 with my Dad. It isn't rocket science, is fun for many of us and getting someone to show you a couple of times will add greatly to the fun side of this

[GregLaROCHE]

Many people say you don’t save money casting. You just shoot a lot more. I think they are right.

[dragon813gt]

The OP asked an open ended question. The price everyone is going to vary based on component cost. I could load a round completely for free. Lead was pulled out a berm at the range, brass was picked up at the range and I inherited the components from my grandfather. Cost will vary greatly depending on when components were bought. Have primers that cost less than $0.01 up to almost current prices. The same goes for powder. Some cartridges I bought new cases. You can see where all this goes. One has to know their components cost to figure out cost per round.

[MaLar]

Number 5 above nailed it for me. (It's a hobby)

If you think this is costly, look into quilting. Don't forget to look at the time spent making a quilt also.
I like to shoot a lot. It's nothing to go to the range and send a hundred or more Boolits down range in a session.
I use equipment I bought in the seventy's. Molds will last as long as you take care of them.

[mdi]

Less than $100.00 for min. new stuff to $1,500.00 premium. You choose...

[robg]

my 45-70 loads cost about £12 per 50 .as uk prices for them are astronomical over here eg £120 per box .wouldnt have it if i didnt cast and reload.

[LinotypeIngot]

You can get a basic equipment setup for very little. Those six cavity Lee molds are dirt cheap and generally work pretty well.

Per round cost depends heavily on how much you're paying for lead. Since you're getting free WWs, I'd say you're a lot better off than most.

Personally I've always considered time to be the greatest investment when it came to casting.