9mm Pain Point?

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My pain point is ~ 30 cents a round. Fortunately I have a decet sized stash of loaded ammo and components, so I don't have to buy at inflated prices.

I've been buying a few boxes of ammo every week for the past several years, as long as I'm willing to switch up cartridges now and then I could shoot for years.

I mentioned my ammo buying habits to a gun counter guy at a Big R store, and his comment was "it's hoarders like you that don't leave anything for the rest of us". I just shook my head, he didn't get it at all.

My goal is to accumulate enough to allow me to shoot after I retire without having to worry about buying ammo.
 
we passed my pain point in June. I've been shooting 45acp and magnums since. I won't go back to training with my 9s til this insanity ceases.
 
I guess I never understood why 9MM is so much preferred and why people obsess over the cost of factory vs. reloading. Nothing wrong with the cartridge, but of course there are plenty of others that do more or less the same thing. I only recently acquired a pistol chambered in the cartridge and it shoots well enough, but again, I am not sure why people think it is The One.

Pain point? Like every other cartridge I shoot. If I can easily and cheaply buy factory ammo that will do what I want, great. If not, easy enough to reload inexpensive ammo or stuff that can do what factory does not. I was happily buying 9 Makarov steel case ammo for my Commie pistols. It is now expensive and hard to get like everything else, so if my stash starts to run low I will load it up. Same with every other centerfire cartridge, so I suppose 9MM Luger will be no exception.
 
Bush Pilot said:
I wonder how many people dropped a bundle on a press and accessories just to come up blank on components.
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I started getting into shooting at the end of 2012. 2013 panic happened and I started reloading. It took sometime find all the supplies but calling the local and big box stores on a weekly basis eventually paid off.

Now I reload for a dozen or more rounds, cast my own bullets and have decent stockpile of all components. I’m sure some of the people staring up now will be similarly situated a couple of years from now.
 
I have a decent stock pile for the guns I have and shoot. I still have some $7.77 a brick .22 LR I bought on sale at Cabela's . I don't shoot 9mm or .223/556 . My bigger concern at this moment is the upcoming election.
 
Couple months ago I thought $400/1,000 was tolerable, not excessively painful...

But that was for 357 Sig / 40 S&W / 10mm ... not 9mm; I don't think I could stomach $20 / 50 rounds of 9mm. :evil:
 
CDW4ME said:
Couple months ago I thought $400/1,000 was tolerable, not excessively painful...

But that was for 357 Sig / 40 S&W / 10mm ... not 9mm; I don't think I could stomach $20 / 50 rounds of 9mm. :evil:
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I'd pay, but I'd kick myself and probably curse under my breath about it costing $6 per mag. I can't complain though since I knew the situation. I'd be worried if it was my only option though.
 
That's the problem. 9mm isn't my only option. I'm well set on everything else ... including 5.56. I even have a pretty good stock of .40 S&W. I enjoy revolvers more than semi-autos, even though my CCW is a 9mm. I need to shoot it enough to stay proficient. Since I don't shoot it a lot and I've always been able to buy it in bulk, I got caught flat footed in 9mm. Still have some from before the latest run, but wanted to add a bit to that stock. $20/50 was best I came up with. And it hurt!
 
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I have a ton but what it is now is about my point..$.55-$.60 per round.
.380 was about there 2 months ago..now it's twice that..way above my pain point for that..as well as .38Spec, 223/556....
 
For 9mm range ammo, my pain point is 20cpr, but this excludes SD ammo. At that price, it makes my reloading effort worthwhile even when accounting for my time and sunk costs.


Well stated, except the last two words. I'm not shooting less...yet.
jmr40 said:
I once said I'd never pay $1 for a gallon of gas or a burger. But I do, and consider either a bargain at $1 today.

Unless you already have a good supply of components hand loading isn't going to do you any good. Suppliers are out of bullets, primers, and powder just like they are out of loaded ammo. And if you have a good supply of loaded ammo bought at pre shortage prices you're in just as good of a place as the guys who stocked up on components. And components aren't going to be available again until supplies of loaded ammo catch up with demand. Loaded ammo will be back on the shelves before components.

And even though I have a pretty good supply of everything I need I'm going to do what most everyone else is doing. Shoot less.
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FFGColorado said:
.380 was about there 2 months ago..
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For a long time .380 has been seemingly-illogically expensive and now it has, along with most others, far exceeded what I consider to be the cuckoo-pricing line.

That is why I finally added .380 to my hand-/re-loading repertoire a few of years ago.

Good thing, as now in addition to the .380 cartridges already on-hand (milsurp, commercial, handloads), I have enough components for many thousands more. Just placed an order for another 1k; 100gr TMJs $66.39,delivered. :)
 
I got my CCW in 09 and all I had was a Browning BDA380, since it was only used for recreational shooting I wasn’t well stocked ammo wise.

So I bought what I could which included BB and WWB which was $26.00 for 50 fmj.

In 2010 I added a.45acp that ammo was $23.00 for WWB so to answer the question, $30.00 would be my Too much price for 50 rounds of practice, (.45C excluded).
 
DukeConnor said:
10 cents. That's what it costs me to load my own 9mm. (actually a little less)

of course that is with me casting my own bullets.
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You're doing something wrong then.

I cast my bullets, my 9mm costs me $5/100.

$0.03 for primer
$0.01 for powder
$0.01 for bullet

Brass is free. I pick up at least an extra 5 gallon bucket of 9mm brass a year at my club, however this year is going to be different.
 
Cannibul said:
You're doing something wrong then.

I cast my bullets, my 9mm costs me $5/100.

$0.03 for primer
$0.01 for powder
$0.01 for bullet

Brass is free. I pick up at least an extra 5 gallon bucket of 9mm brass a year at my club, however this year is going to be different.
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I was trying not to brag

And you forgot the cost of powder coat. :)
 
I used to trade reloading stuff quite a bit. I would buy entire benches and part them out keeping stuff I didn’t have and sold the rest. I amassed a decent amount of powder, primers, and die sets that way, with a virtually even outlay because I would sell off stuff to roughly break even. In doing so I wound up with a bunch of 9mm bullets and a couple sets of dies. I haven’t ever focused on loading 9mm but I have done it enough to find good loads. When ammo is $10 a box I grab some, and on the rare occasion I have time to reload anything I go crank out a couple hundred of whatever I’m low on. Next few runs will be 223, 9mm, and 38spl, but I’m nearly out of 223 bullets as I mis-remembered buying some a while back (was actually 6.8 bullets) so I’m in short supply and need to restock if I ever see bullets for a reasonable price again.
 
It hit $18 for a box of 50 fmj here.
Picked up a couple hundred for the kids to practice w the HK.
I like $15 and under.

Don't reload 9mm or .223.
Im not an operator, don't burn through tons of it.

Local club honked me off, so joined one about an hr away.
That drive, the gas..........whats a couple more bucks a box of ammo?

Pack a sammy and skip a drive through, it evens out.
 
Cannibul said:
I use Hi-Tek. The cost is rolled into the cost of the bullet/powder.
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I just ran some numbers for my 9mm and you are definately doing something righter than me.

i came up with
primer 0.03
powder 0.02
bullet 0.025

I have run out of free or almost free coww and have been buying lead and sweetners.
 
When it's cheaper to shoot my 10mm, it's time to reload 9mm.....which is a huge bloody pain, even with a progressive........
Winchester white box, $26 and yeah, ordered 4k bullets and started prepping the 45lbs of brass my buddies and i have accumulated.
 
well, certainly worth keeping brass that I used to just ignore and leave ... I don't have a mark, but I guess if I hit a minimum supply - then I would probably reload that brass if the market price for factory put a bad taste in my mouth.
 
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