The darndest thing just occured to me

[anachronism]

Remember how bullet casters got the reputation as being cheap? I just sat down & did the math. 22LR ammo here is running about $20-25.00 for 500. That's about five cents a shot. Primers are about $25.00 for 1000, that's half the price of 22LR. Add in the bullet, which is almost free in most cases, and about one cent to 1.5 cents for powder & compare. It's finally cheaper to shoot cast 38 spls than it is to shoot .22 LR.

I am ignoring the cost of my equipment, which was paid for many, many years ago, many times over. If I added that in, then I'd have to add the cost of the car & the gas I usewhen I drive to buy 22LR ammo. If I do this, the savings really add up!

Go tell your wives how much money you're saving!

[Rocky Raab]

Even if you pay a dollar a pound for lead, a 158-gr .38-cal cast bullet runs less than 2.5 cents.

[Three-Fifty-Seven]

My small pistol primers I just got from Cabela's were $30.99 per 1000 (I got 5,000) + shipping+tax+haz-mat = $188.63 = $0.0377 each!

Thats about 4 cents per primer . . . + powder . . .

Just bought a 4lb jug of Bullseye $79.17 including shipping/hax-mat! = $0.01046 per 3.7 gr load . . . than of course you need a boolit . . .

So if you get you lead for free, and can manage to melt it for free, and get your lube for free, than it is about the same cost as a .22 . . .

[anachronism]

My lead was really free. I have several hundred of lbs of range scrap that I use for low velocity loads. Your primers are more expensive than they are here. If I wanted to be unfair, my small pistol primers only cost me $12.00/thousand, I stocked up while the world slept. My Bullseye was $14.00/lb & I have Red Dot & Tightgroup that was cheaper yet. There's a lot to be said for buying supplies pre-need. We can buy primers & powder off the shelf here, so we have no shipping & haz-mat to drive up the cost. Powders now about $18.00/lb here. You must live in a pretty tight area. I could reman the primers, making them for less than a penny each and it gets even cheaper. It's nice to have options.

[2ndAmendmentNut]

Unlike most reloaders I factor in my time. I am pretty quick now and according to my calculations a 38special costs about the same as a 22lr. However I have no shortages of primers which means no shortage of 38specials, wish I could say that same for 22lr.

[Ricochet]

How much do you pay yourself per hour of casting and loading?

[dubber123]

How much do you pay yourself per hour of casting and loading?

I just think of how much a defence lawyer would cost if I DIDN'T cast and reload. Keeping you sane has to be worth something.... ;-)

[anachronism]

How much do you pay yourself per hour of casting and loading?

Nothing. It's cheaper than drinking & I don't have a hangover the next day from binge casting.

[StarMetal]

You're way off the price on say Federal 550 value pack. It isn't cheaper to load 38's. You can never discount what Ricochet said too...your time doing it. Don't forget to include all the costs...like gasoline used in getting your alloy for casting, total electricity (you included some for melting the alloy) like lighting. Might even throw in heating and ac costs. With the 22's you're driving to the store to buy them and back home, then load your rifle and shoot.

Joe

[Nrut]

How much do you pay yourself per hour of casting and loading?

Ricochet, I actually enjoy casting...so casting is not an expense for me..
However I find reloading boring once you have figured out your load...but I won't be getting paid for doing something else during that time so it is not an expense either...

So my question is this...How much do you and Joe pay yourself to do cast and reload?

[anachronism]

You're way off the price on say Federal 550 value pack. It isn't cheaper to load 38's.

Joe

Not around here. Also, we have a serious shortage of 22 LR ammo going on. I have seen Federal 550 packs, but they're about $22.00 or so. Since I've had issues with some older Federal 22LR bulk ammo failing to fire, I've steered clear of it for a couple of years. The Winchester & Remington ammo stored with the Federal ammo has never failed me though.

I have never "charged" myself for reloading or casting. Or for mowing the lawn, cleaning the house or anything.

[Tom W.]

If I factored in all of the gas money, wear and tear on my vehicle and equipment, as well as the cost of components, electricity and machinery, it would be cheaper to never get out of bed.

However..... If I worried about the cost of my time, it wouldn't be a hobby anymore, but rather it would become a job.

I do it to relax, not necessarily to save money.

[theperfessor]

Comparing the cost cost of apples to oranges (rimfire vs reloaded centerfire ammo) is interesting, and I'm sure the analytical types could figure what all the costs are either way. I'd rather compare apples to apples. Went to gun show yesterday, .44 mag ammo was $40-$45 for a box of fifty. That's $0.80/ round. I can make better .44 mag ammo for $0.12-$0.15/round. Even cheaper for .44 spl, .38 spl, .45 ACP, etc.

And the cost of consuming that ammo? My nephew is a golfer - his clubs cost as much as a good revolver, his greens fees over the course of a year are more than my gun club membership (without including cart rental), it costs him more to buy new balls than it does for me to replace worn out cases, etc. My half day at the range costs less than his half day on the course.

Same with another friend that is into off road motorcycle racing and riding. Equipment costs, fuel costs, entry fees, etc. His half day on the track costs more than mine at the range.

Nothing wrong with golf or motocross. But nobody asks them how much they're paying themselves for recreation!

[anachronism]

LOL... I had a friend tell me how he was going to order a box of Federal "Cast Core" 44 mag ammunition a few years ago. As I recall, it was a 300 gr LBT bullet at 1300 fps, or something like that. I believe the cost was something like $25.00 for 20 rounds, back when that was really expensive. We had a long talk that day & I gave him 50 LBT 300 grainers from my stock, free. All he had to do was load the ammo. We gained another caster shortly after that. I have another newbie waiting for his casting equipment to be delivered. Then we'll get him producing too.

[lead-1]

My cousin called this afternoon and asked if I needed any primers that a shop in the next town got some in, $4.59/100 with no discount for bulk, $45.90/1000.
Still the same old same old here.

[Lunk]

Looking at it from an economical standpoint I would imagine that casting is far more expensive for the hobbyist than buying jacketed and reloading those. I'm still working on getting all the equipment together but for starters I'm going at it cheap. I figure I should be able to reload cast for between $.08 and $.13 per round and buying new is $.45 to $.80 depending. Reloading jacketed looked to be about $.18 per so I'm saving some. The biggest thing that attracted me to casting was I can make my own. I'm beholden to no one for ammunition so long as I have the raw materials on hand. I don't have to worry about shortages (as long as I have primers and powder) and I'm naturally a cheapskate so spending the time to save that $.05 to $.10 per round is worth it to me. I have time for a hobby, just not allot of money. After hanging out on this forum for several months I also learned that I can work at tailoring a boolit and powder load to my firearm to increase accuracy. I never considered that aspect of it but I look forward to experimenting this coming year.
If I wanted to just stay cheap I would have just kept using my .22's and not bothered to go acquire a new center fire rifle. But I also like the idea of having a tool that can help make me more self sufficient if the need arises.
Meh, I guess when you boil it all down I just like doing things myself.

[Rocky Raab]

The perfessor is wrong about golf. It's MUCH cheaper than shooting. Neither is cheap by ANY measure, but at least golf only requires one set of clubs. Most of us a safe full of equally-priced guns. And there's only one "caliber" and weight of golf ball to buy!

Lots of shooting ranges charge about the same amount to shoot as a driving range charges for a bucket of balls. Ditto for a round of golf versus four hours at an indoor range. (The courses here in Utah run about $25 for 18 holes, which I admit is a lot less than some places.)

Clubs, shoes and balls; that's about it for golf equipment. No scopes, no holsters, no presses, no tumblers, no case trimmers, no furnaces, no sizers, no dies, no scales, no measures ...

I do both (and fish!) so believe me, I speak expenses! But if you're talking full cash outlay, golf takes a lot less of it than shooting. Really.

[theperfessor]

Rocky -

You're probably right. I guess the point I was trying to make was that when you call something a hobby or a means of recreation and it requires equipment in any form there will be expenses involved. Like you I have spent for more on handguns than my nephew has spent on clubs, etc.

I have known people who enjoyed drag racing and sprint car racing, and that's not cheap. My (grown) son enjoys off-road bicycling and has over $2000 in his bike, and its at the low end of the spectrum for that sport. Same thing with a bud that is into photography.

None of it is cheap, but casting, shooting, etc. is comparable in cost and yields a lot of pleasure for the money involved. And if I can afford it is just a choice in hobbies. I personally enjoy the complete process of smelting, casting, loading, and shooting, so the hourly cost of doing something I enjoy is really pretty low.

Same thing with machining - I have a machine shop and have more than paid for my equipment by doing subcontract work, but I got the equipment primarily because I enjoy making things. I don't even think of what I'm not paying myself by making something I want instead of making something for a profit. It's all recreation. (And a good way to make new friends.)

[Rocky Raab]

Amen to ALL that.

[tomf52]

There is no expense factor for gasoline in purchasing .22's. I pick them up while enroute doing other errands.

[Alchemist]

None of it is cheap, but casting, shooting, etc. is comparable in cost and yields a lot of pleasure for the money involved. And if I can afford it is just a choice in hobbies. I personally enjoy the complete process of smelting, casting, loading, and shooting, so the hourly cost of doing something I enjoy is really pretty low.

theperfessor said it better than I could.

Add to that the entertainment of seeing the reaction of others when you find a WW in the gutter and get so excited that you nearly get run over trying to retrieve it. [smilie=l:

[nekshot]

One more thought. Our guns generally increase in value. The golf clubs I bought 20 years ago I am sure are worth didly squat. When I bring another gun home my wife says "what do think that will be worth in a few years? I am sure after all my shooting in this life is over, the increase in the gun value will be more than my expenditures for my shooting and hunting.

[qajaq59]

Boy, I just made a fortune. I decided to bill myself $90 an hour for going fishing. I sure hope the wife pays the bill. I can use the money to buy more loading stuff.
Sounds silly doesn't it? Well so is worrying about how much your time is worth when you are loading. Or cutting the grass for that matter!!

[mroliver77]

I am glad I dont charge for mowing the lawn. I got fed up with it (again) and have not mowed it since July or so. :) I am planning on fencing it and running cattle. And yes people have asked if they could hunt in my yard.lol.
Jay (ohio redneck)

[BD]

Currently it costs me about $1.50 to load a 50 ct box of .45acp. That's about 3 cents a round, or just about what a .22 costs me out of a $17.00 550 pack. This will hold for about the next 20,000 rounds, until I run out of Surplus HPC-18, and the large pistol primers I bought in bulk three years ago. After that we'll see. I'm hoping that primers will start showing up in garage sales by then :)

If I want a real financial argument for rolling my own, I just need to look at the price of a box of factory .270 WBY loaded with Nosler Partitions.

In any event, I like casting and loading. It's easily worth the cost of a movie to me, so I think the true "cost" analysis factor would be negative in my case.
BD