Vai I have realized the same thing in other calibers.
The savings many cite for reloading are misleading, especially outside of bulk purchases.
They do not include shipping quite often, and hazmat fees add up and remove any savings really fast on small orders.
Lead is heavy, and while it is not excessively expensive to ship ground on small orders it will quickly eat into the minor amounts saved.
Almost nobody considers the cost of brass, and for some calibers that adds up more than others, especially in less common calibers. As well as in some semi-autos that wear it out faster.
A lot of reloading components used to almost be sold at cost, now it seems many intend to make a profit on the increased market size and demand.
The biggest cost to a reloader is bullets, and many reloaders quoting costs are factoring almost free lead. Plated bullets cost more.
Many of the previous sources have a lot more competition now as the number of reloaders has increased dramatically.
In California and a few other states lead wheel weights were recently outlawed and they are one of the often cited sources.
Obviously lead being the primary expense this makes calibers with heavier bullets much more expensive to load.
Storing huge amounts of primers and powder has its own safety concerns as well, so a lot of bulk buying and storage may not be for everyone.
I recently did a quick breakdown on .40 cal reloading with small component purchases and was quite shocked at the minimal savings compared to prices at a place like Walmart.
A single pound of powder at the local gunshops is about $25.
They are charging $40 for 1000 primers, although the going rate is about $30.
That is 3-4 cents per round. Powder is similar for many loads.
Take a look at a typical seller like midway and factor shipping as well, over $20 per 100 180 grain jacketed bullets, which boils down to 20 cents per round for just the bullet! Slightly cheaper at around 17 cents a round for the 1,000 round purchases. But that is not even the quality hollowpoints.
(You can get non-jacketed cheaper, but then you have other limitations: leading in the bore, velocity limits without excessive leading, problems with polygonal rifling, less reliable feeding, etc)
It was about 25-30 cents a round to reload. That is like rapid firing quarters down range. And that is without purchasing brass.
This is around the same price per round to purchase from Walmart, except it is already loaded in new brass.
And it is only similar if you maximized your components and got every possible round from them, any wasted or damaged components would offset savings even more.
Bulk component purchases reduce costs, as does using non jacketed or finding free or low cost lead alloy sources. Casting your own bullets also reduces costs but requires the purchase of molds, pots, and processes like fluxing and determining bullet hardness for safety reasons, along with dealing with unhealthy molten lead and fumes.
It also assumes your time and labor is free, while that is already included in the cost of commercial rounds.
So if you factor in the cost of the press and other tools, the savings per round, and how many rounds it will take to equal that cost in realistic terms without neglecting to include hidden costs (like most quoting costs do), it takes many rounds just to pay for itself.
The savings many cite for reloading are misleading, especially outside of bulk purchases.
They do not include shipping quite often, and hazmat fees add up and remove any savings really fast on small orders.
Lead is heavy, and while it is not excessively expensive to ship ground on small orders it will quickly eat into the minor amounts saved.
Almost nobody considers the cost of brass, and for some calibers that adds up more than others, especially in less common calibers. As well as in some semi-autos that wear it out faster.
A lot of reloading components used to almost be sold at cost, now it seems many intend to make a profit on the increased market size and demand.
The biggest cost to a reloader is bullets, and many reloaders quoting costs are factoring almost free lead. Plated bullets cost more.
Many of the previous sources have a lot more competition now as the number of reloaders has increased dramatically.
In California and a few other states lead wheel weights were recently outlawed and they are one of the often cited sources.
Obviously lead being the primary expense this makes calibers with heavier bullets much more expensive to load.
Storing huge amounts of primers and powder has its own safety concerns as well, so a lot of bulk buying and storage may not be for everyone.
I recently did a quick breakdown on .40 cal reloading with small component purchases and was quite shocked at the minimal savings compared to prices at a place like Walmart.
A single pound of powder at the local gunshops is about $25.
They are charging $40 for 1000 primers, although the going rate is about $30.
That is 3-4 cents per round. Powder is similar for many loads.
Take a look at a typical seller like midway and factor shipping as well, over $20 per 100 180 grain jacketed bullets, which boils down to 20 cents per round for just the bullet! Slightly cheaper at around 17 cents a round for the 1,000 round purchases. But that is not even the quality hollowpoints.
(You can get non-jacketed cheaper, but then you have other limitations: leading in the bore, velocity limits without excessive leading, problems with polygonal rifling, less reliable feeding, etc)
It was about 25-30 cents a round to reload. That is like rapid firing quarters down range. And that is without purchasing brass.
This is around the same price per round to purchase from Walmart, except it is already loaded in new brass.
And it is only similar if you maximized your components and got every possible round from them, any wasted or damaged components would offset savings even more.
Bulk component purchases reduce costs, as does using non jacketed or finding free or low cost lead alloy sources. Casting your own bullets also reduces costs but requires the purchase of molds, pots, and processes like fluxing and determining bullet hardness for safety reasons, along with dealing with unhealthy molten lead and fumes.
It also assumes your time and labor is free, while that is already included in the cost of commercial rounds.
So if you factor in the cost of the press and other tools, the savings per round, and how many rounds it will take to equal that cost in realistic terms without neglecting to include hidden costs (like most quoting costs do), it takes many rounds just to pay for itself.
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