LiveLife
Member
From time to time, I see members bemoaning the cost of shooting/buying reloading components and wanted to share ways I decrease the reloading cost as low as possible.
I am finally getting ready to retire on July 5th (In celebration of 4th of July each year but for my independence from work) and have used this "Optimal Cheapest Way"
to buy/stock up on reloading components the past several years to reduce the overall "cost per round". My buying/stocking up on reloading components I have done for retirement so far could easily last an average person the entire retirement of 25 to 30 years. Factoring price increase we have seen in past decades, cost savings could be over tens of thousands of dollars.
Believe me, during our lifetime of shooting/reloading, ammunition/component cost will far exceed the total cost of firearms and reloading equipments many times over. For my 28 years of shooting/reloading, total cost of over $170,000 was MOSTLY SPENT ON RELOADING COMPONENTS! Surprised? That's less than $6,000 a year or $500 a month. A large family or match shooter can approach/reach those levels depending on how much they shoot.
So, lowering the cost of reloading components can be the "OPTIMAL" way to save money on total cost of shooting and reloading.
FYI, Cheapest 22LR ammunition thread (Recently under $15/500 shipped for copper plated HP) to stock up to reduce shooting cost (More on use of 22LR to lower cost of shooting below) - https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...30-for-500-rounds.825048/page-7#post-11141640
My "Optimal Cheapest Way" to save on Shooting Cost/22LR :
I am finally getting ready to retire on July 5th (In celebration of 4th of July each year but for my independence from work) and have used this "Optimal Cheapest Way"
to buy/stock up on reloading components the past several years to reduce the overall "cost per round". My buying/stocking up on reloading components I have done for retirement so far could easily last an average person the entire retirement of 25 to 30 years. Factoring price increase we have seen in past decades, cost savings could be over tens of thousands of dollars.Believe me, during our lifetime of shooting/reloading, ammunition/component cost will far exceed the total cost of firearms and reloading equipments many times over. For my 28 years of shooting/reloading, total cost of over $170,000 was MOSTLY SPENT ON RELOADING COMPONENTS!
Surprised? That's less than $6,000 a year or $500 a month. A large family or match shooter can approach/reach those levels depending on how much they shoot.So, lowering the cost of reloading components can be the "OPTIMAL" way to save money on total cost of shooting and reloading.
FYI, Cheapest 22LR ammunition thread (Recently under $15/500 shipped for copper plated HP) to stock up to reduce shooting cost (More on use of 22LR to lower cost of shooting below) - https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...30-for-500-rounds.825048/page-7#post-11141640
My "Optimal Cheapest Way" to save on Shooting Cost/22LR :
- Establish Shooting/Reloading Component Fund by doing a monthly reloading budget - This is by far the most important step which will allow you to buy reloading components when they are at lower/lowest price. Look back on the past year (or years) of shooting and do a monthly cost calculation (Take the total annual cost of shooting divided by 12). This is your monthly shooting budget you are going to save/set aside each month to build up a Shooting/Reloading Component Fund to buy when you should, not when you need. This way, you always have several hundred to thousands of dollars on hand when good sales, promotions (free/reduced shipping, HazMat) and rebates take place to buy/stock up. One can often start with a tax refund to kick start the fund.
- Buy in bulk - This is the second most important step. Many reloaders buy what they shoot month to month based on available funds. This often means buying in smaller quantities and paying more, which increases "cost per round". Having a Shooting/Reloading Component Fund allows you to buy in bulk at lower price. Many vendors offer increasing bulk discount based on quantity (More you buy, lower the cost). If you buy 12,000 RMR 115 gr FMJ, you will lower the cost of each bullet by 6 cents over buying 1,000 and that's before the 5% THR discount or any other promotional discount.
- Do group buys - You say can't afford 12,000 bullets? Consider doing a group buy with other reloaders to split the cost 2 or more ways. Even online HazMat and shipping charges for powders/primers will become negligible if the group is large enough. During the last two component shortages, I got together with a group of reloaders so when I saw a good sale or popular items in stock, I was able to email/text to get the OK to place an order. Even for $20 HazMat fee, a group buy of 4 will reduce the cost down to $5 and for price of 8 lb containers of powder and 5,000 sleeve of primers, becomes more than reasonable.
- Use 22LR ammunition to lower shooting/reloading cost - I use CMMG 22LR conversion kits in my ARs and GSG 1911 22LR for range/point shooting drills instead of using .223/5.56 in ARs, 9mm in Pistol Caliber Carbines, 40S&W in Glocks and 45ACP in Sig 1911. While there are shooting drills that require the full power of caliber specific loads, there are plenty of other shooting drills that don't and using much cheaper 22LR will significantly lower the shooting/reloading cost over .223/5.56/9mm/40S&W/45ACP. Recently, price of 22LR ammunition fell from $30/500 down to below $20/500 and even below $15/500 for copper plated HP (Of course, having a Shooting/Reloading Component Fund will also allow you to buy/stock up on 22LR ammunition when lowest priced sales take place ) - https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...30-for-500-rounds.825048/page-7#post-11141640
- Use manufacturer/vendor provided forum discounts - Different manufacturers/vendors offer percentage discount to different forums: Missouri Bullet Company provides 5% THR discount (PM a member for discount code as requested by MBC), Optics Planet provides 5% THR discount on $50+ orders with THRFORUM code, Rocky Mountain Reloading provides 5% THR discount with thehighroad5 code (and THR ID in the order comment box).
- THR Reloading Components On Sale thread - This thread is a THR group effort where reloading components going on sale are listed. Often, members post on the thread when they discover a sale/promotion/rebate or receive an email from the vendor. If you follow/subscribe to the thread, you will be notified even before search bots like gunbot will update (And many search bots won't list all the available vendors/manufacturers as shown on the following list)
- List of Reloading Components Manufacturers and Vendors - When I am shopping around for reloading components, I will reference manufacturers/vendors from this list to see if they are running sales/promotions/rebates- https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...ponents-on-sale.707473/page-177#post-11143065
- Subscribe to manufacturer/vendor's mailing list - By subscribing, you will receive email notifications when they offer sales/promotions.
- Buy on Black Friday or major holiday sales - Thanks to this annual tradition, many vendors often offer their lowest price sales during Black Friday. I always make sure I have enough funds on hand just in case I see a screaming deal to buy/stock up during Black Fridays.
- Alliant Powder's current rebate (Expire 6/30/19) - https://promotions.vistaoutdoor.com/EN/US/Promo/21/122/EntryForm
- Winchester primers current rebate (Expires 8/15/19) - https://winchester.com/Rebates/2019-Winchester-Primers-Rebate
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