The myth on not saving when hand loading 9mm ammo.

[MarshallDodge]

It is a hobby their no taxes on your labor. Do you tax yourself when taking a dump?

That is what I said. There are NO taxes on my labor, therefore it is an additional savings.

 

[n2omike]

A person can buy bottom dollar 115 grain 9mm FMJ for about the price you can load it for. Where the savings come in, is loading specialty and higher end rounds. Let's say you want 147 grain subsonic? Can load it for about the same price as 115 grain. Let's say you want +P, same thing. How about hollow points? Buy RMR Nukes for a penny or two more than cheap FMJ's, and load them for pennies on the dollar compared to factory ammo.

Other calibers are where the big money is saved. 9mm is produced/sold as cheaply as possible per round for bottom level 115 grain FMJ. Once a person starts shooting less common, bigger and magnum calibers... the savings go through the roof! No way I could afford to shoot my Desert Eagle 50 AE without reloading. Factory ammo is over $3/round! ...but can be reloaded for less than half that... and that's with a Hornady 300 grain XTP! They run flawless in my gun. Still hard to stomach paying $1 just for the projectile, but it is what it is. But, it's not something a person shoots every day.

Enter rifle... especially Magnum rounds... Save a TON of money reloading, and no worries about the store not having what you want, or if the load has changed.

 

[Jonny2guns]

HAZMAT fee

Wait, there's a HAZMAT fee for taking a dump? Well now that throws a wrench in my cost for reloading....

 

[AJC1]

Not singling out anyone here but when I hear "my time is worth so much more than I would save by reloading" I picture a dude sitting on his couch, eating potato chips, watching Charlie's Angels re-runs.

How can one afford to sleep or take a shower....

 

[higgite]

Unless you're losing income during the time you're reloading, your reloading time is worth exactly nothing monetarily. It adds zero to the cost of a round of reloaded ammo.

As for OP's claim, he's comparing bulk component costs to the cost of buying one box of ammo. I recently bought 1000 rounds of 124gr 9mm Blazer Brass for $294 delivered to my front door. That's 29 cents a round. Far different than OP's 52 cents a round. He's actually paying more to reload. The myth is no myth.

 

[1KPerDay]

That's 29 cents a round. Far different than OP's 52 cents a round. He's actually paying more to reload.

Only if you buy 9mm brass, which nobody does except sociopaths.

 

[kidneyboy]

The cost of labor? Seriously.

Cost of labor is relative and subject to change without notice. For most of my working life I was told my work wasn't worth what I charged for it

Does the reloading cost formula work for the custom fishing rods I made? What about the bicycle I made from a pile of tubes and parts? How about that wood carving hobby and all the time and money spent on race cars when I was younger. Oh, don't forget RC planes and photography and the couple of years I spent trying to learn how to make quilts.......

If it's necessary to break the costs of a hobby down to pennies you're doing it for the wrong reasons.

 

[rhino465]

It is easy to claim savings when a critical component (labor) is assigned no $ value or costs.

What you save in actual dollars costs you in time, effort, knowledge, wear and tear, etc.

For me, my time is worth more than any savings of reloading.

Amen. Time is the only commodity that we cannot replenish, can't borrow, can't buy, and can't create. It's far, far more valuable to me than perceived savings from reloading. Now, if someone enjoys reloading and it's a hobby for them, it changes things significantly, but that's not the case for me.

 

[GeoDudeFlorida]

Bottom line is, if you feel like you need to count the cost of reloading, stop! It will leave more critical components for me.

 

[WestKentucky]

It is a hobby their no taxes on your labor. Do you tax yourself when taking a dump?

There’s a charge for paperwork

 

[n2omike]

Amen. Time is the only commodity that we cannot replenish, can't borrow, can't buy, and can't create. It's far, far more valuable to me than perceived savings from reloading. Now, if someone enjoys reloading and it's a hobby for them, it changes things significantly, but that's not the case for me.

Most people who reload don't hate it. They go to the reloading room while the wife watches TV and enjoy a little quiet time. lol
If you hate, or even dislike reloading... it's probably time to find another hobby. Either that, or a part time job at Lowes.

 

[.308 Norma]

Most people who reload don't hate it.

That's more than likely true.

They go to the reloading room while the wife watches TV and enjoy a little quiet time. lol

That may be true for "most people." Not for me though - my wife is my hunting, shooting and handloading partner. And as I've posted before, the only time my wife and I got to where we were not enjoying handloading was back in the '80s when we were each going through a couple of hundred rounds of handgun ammo every week in IHMSA matches and practice for. So, we quit IHMSA, and handloading became enjoyable again.
BTW, there's a certain satisfaction to be had from cleanly taking down a head of big game (or tipping over a 200-meter steel ram) with one of your own carefully crafted handloads.

 

[GeoDudeFlorida]

Most people who reload don't hate it. They go to the reloading room while the wife watches TV and enjoy a little quiet time. lol
If you hate, or even dislike reloading... it's probably time to find another hobby. Either that, or a part time job at Lowes.

My favorite part is load development. I start with the question, “What do I want to put a hole in?”

Take an unknown bullet and find a load that does what I want. That’s fun.

 

[nettlle]

Posting a comment on a reloading thread that your time is more valuable than reloading isn't really contributing much.

 

[crestoncowboy]

Amen. Time is the only commodity that we cannot replenish, can't borrow, can't buy, and can't create. It's far, far more valuable to me than perceived savings from reloading. Now, if someone enjoys reloading and it's a hobby for them, it changes things significantly, but that's not the case for me.

I hate reloading. I done it to save money and to get ammo that was rare. I've loaded 10s of thousands. I was loading some 300 mag the other day.....50 dollars a lb for h1000. 10 for primers. 41 dollars for 50 nosler ballistic tips. And it took me an hour to make 75 rounds weighing every charge. Brass was already trimmedand primed. Time? I wouldn't count my real job because I don't work over. I take my time off BUT at my shop I make 75 an hour and can have an endless supply of atv, side by side, motorcycles, saws (hate saws) and cars and trucks. And I enjoy that. So it's hard to reload, even 300 mag, and claim to do it to save money.

I DID show my 14 year old girl how to make good hunting ammo. So at least there is that.

I replaced my powder and FINALLY felt the price increase from the past 4 or so years. Over 50 a lb for powder. They wanted 20 for primers so I left those.

They did have a LOT of powder. No rl-22 nor v-165 though

 

[PWC]

I don't understand the cost of time in reloading.

Time....as said in the posts above, is what you value it at. I never loaded during my paid time. My "free" time is time I never get paid for, it so there is no $$ value to it. I'm retired now, so none of my time has a $$ value. I "spend" my time doing what is intrinsic to me. If not reloading, I might be reading a book, working in the back yard, something with my wife, or some other non-"profitable" venture.

For my reloading, time is free and is not figured into the cost of reloading, no matter morning, afternoon, evening or late at night when other "profit" seeking individuals are asleep.

I enjoy reloading. When I worked, I may have come home able to chew nails. After doing some brass prep, or reloading for awhile, I became a mellow fellow.

So, unless you are loading during the time you would be doing work for which you were being paid, I don't see how you can put a $$ value on your time. People do what they most want to do (prioritize) with their time.

 

[bullseye308]

Imagine the cost of that deer or bass you got. What did it cost per pound after the license, boat, depth finder, rods, reels, lures, etc.?
I am disabled and have plenty of time. I enjoy my time at the bench and never once thought to value my time reloading. I figured if I wasn't loading I'd be doing something that cost me money or watching the idiot box. I have also been loading 9mm for 25 years, mostly on a Lee single stage. The prep work gets done in batches, usually of 1000 at a time, and I usually shoot about 16k/year of 9mm. I also mine the berms for lead and cast and coat my bullets. I do this because it keeps me busy, and I'm super cheap. My component prices will be different from many of you because I stocked up many years ago and learned that every 4 years there is a shortage of something and I needed to keep at least 5 years worth of components to get through it. My last major primer purchase they ran me 0.032C/per for 20k, and my powder was 17.50/lb in 8lb jugs that I picked up while visiting family 4 miles from Midsouth Shooters Supply, so no shipping or hazmat.

My 9mm, 38, and 357 cost me about 42-45.00/1000 all day long and probably will for the rest of my life, with my loads being tailored to each gun for accuracy. 357 has been $1+ a round as long as I can remember, and I have never bought factory 357 yet fired many thousands of rounds of it. All my brass is range pickup from 30 years of collecting every piece I could find. I trade or sell the brass I don't need for brass, primers, or bullets I do need. I've said for decades you can save money loading 9mm, and it isn't that hard. Another plus is after a Sandy Hook type of event, ammo isn't available, and being able to crank out however much I want and shoot with no limits is darn near priceless.
Remember this during the next plandemic, and you can't get ammo to shoot and you don't have components to load it because it is too cheap to bother with. I'll be at the range with an ammo can full of 9mm, and you may only have your 2 box limit, if that. It's worth it to me.

 

[N555]

This the big thing for me as well. Im either shooting 147s at 980fps or 124s at 1200fps. General run of the mill loadings from wherever are not what Im looking for and are not inexpensive when you want certain things. The thing is? Even the loads I want and I load are still cheaper than cheap ball ammo.

You can buy once fired 9mm brass for 2-4 cents a pop all day long depending on how much you want. And if you shoot at the right range, you can get all you can pickup for free. Thats how I built my stash of 20000+ 9mm cases, picking them up one at a time for about 5 years. Thankfully I had young kids that liked shooting. The real killer is primer prices right now. 10 cents a pop used to be what I was loading an entire round for 4-5 years ago. Bullets have gone up, but RMR and HiTek coated bullets are still decently cheap and accurate.

Time? Time is what you value it at. I can tell you right now Im not loading pistol ammo on a single stage, guys do it, I simply cannot. I would estimate that just my 9mm reloading alone has paid for my LnL AP (with case and bullet feeder) and Lee APP twice over. We wont even talk about 1000s of rounds of 300 BO subs, MK 262 MOD-1 clones, or M80 ball clones I load every year in that equipment payoff estimation. Im not fully automated, so I still pull the handle for every round, but Im loading at 600 rounds an hour pretty easily on the LnL, and decapping at 1500 or more rounds an hour on the APP. Lets say I value my time at $30 an hour which works out at about 5 cents a round when loading, and 2 cents when decapping, Im only "spending" 7 cents a round on each loaded round.

The math works out like this if you include once fired brass and time at $30 an hour:
7 cents for labor
3 cents for case
8 cents for bullet
10 cents for primer
4 cents for powder

32 cents a round for either a 147 sub or a fast 124 that you might be able to buy for double that price if youre lucky. I am probably seeing savings of a minimum of 20 cents a round and 70 on the top end as Im looking at +P 124s, or subsonic 147s.

The point here is that if you want to save money on 9mm? You cant do it on a single stage if you are going to start factoring in time as a value in the cost equation. You probably need to be able to load at least 300, maybe 400 an hour to make it pay. If you start loading 9mm at 600+, you will definitely pay off the equipment needed based on how much you shoot per year.

I loaded up on genix spp from republic arms for about 6 cents delived.

 

[tmd16556]

I still keep supplies to load 9mm but I was able to pick up a 250 round box of 115 fmj at 0.24 a round today. I can get those down to 18-20 cents reloading. I can load 38 special for the same cost, but cheap fmj costs 0.64 a round. The 38 gets the priority for my small pistol primers right now.

 

[CQB45ACP]

Reloading 9mm doesn’t cost me anything at all.

Like many of you I enjoy reloading so much that my time, projectiles, powder, cases, and primers are expendables I wouldn’t be using otherwise. But have to also say, after I load one round or one hundred rounds I have less of each expendable than I began with. Hmmm, isn’t that a cost?

 

[cfullgraf]

I enjoy reloading.

My 9x19 reloads are better than the cheap stuff available on the internet and are less expensive than the "designer" ammunition manufacturers are pushing.

Since I reload, it is easier to keep loaded ammunition on hand. I can source bullets, powder and primers from wherever as opposed to hunting for loaded ammunition from a limited variety of sources.

But, I understand, many do not feel reloading is a worth while endeavor. If so, when coming to find ammunition to shoot, you pays your money and hopes for success.

If you reload, you have lots more options to explore.

 

[KYregular]

Depending on what you load you can save on loading 9mm. I have made a calculator in excel. Initially you save .16 cents per round then when you re use the brass already paid for you save .32 cents per round. Time is not a factor and if you get range puck up you also can save .32 cents per round.

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I still remember a 50 round box of Blazer going for $60. And I don't think that will be the last time.

 

[higgite]

For those of you who add the cost of your time into the cost of reloading, how much do you add? And how do you arrive at that number? Asking for a friend.

 

[CQB45ACP]

For those of you who add the cost of your time into the cost of reloading, how much do you add? And how do you arrive at that number? Asking for a friend.

It depends on how accurate or realistic you want to be. I’m retired. I pick $25/hr.

Costs don’t have to be monetized. But without question time has value and “spending“ it on one thing instead of another is a cost (opportunity cost). It would be both inaccurate and unrealistic to say your time reloading has no cost.

Answering for a friend.

 

[lordpaxman]

And then there’s all that time and equipment used for us Brass (Chickens, Monkeys, Hyenas, Jackals, pickers etc) to collect, inspect, sort, clean BEFORE we even start reloading!
And some even trim, chamfer, deburr, and can you believe it, ream primer pockets???? Yegads!
Just pretend from start to finish it’s a true labor of love. Especially when it goes bang.