New or bulk

[jrbib24]

I am interested in buying a 9mm and then beginning to reload. My question is: Is it more cost effective to buy new ammunition and then reload the casings, or would I be better off buying bulk brass and loading my own rounds right off the bat? It looks like it is just as inexpensive to buy a few hundred rounds of new ammo, but I thought I would ask the opinions of you all.

[FordDieselSteve]

I have bought loaded ammo then saved the brass to reload. If your intersted Midway has once fired brass for sale sometimes. they do not allways have it in stock.

[daschnoz]

Jeff has some 1x fired 9mm brass over at www.gibrass.com

[Plinker]

jrbib,
I'm not a reloader so I don't know what it actually costs to reload a 9mm. I bought some Winchester 115gr. FMJ At Wal Mart 2weeks ago @ $15.72 / 100ct. Can you reload for less than .16 cents each? It would be interesting to find out. Let me/us know. Hope this helps.

Plinker

[daschnoz]

Assuming you already have a reloading setup--

Brass
1x fired brass from www.gibrass.com @$40/1000 - $0.04 each

Bullet
For a plinking load, Berry's bullets are fine.
Grafs @ $75.51/1000 - $0.076 each

Powder
6.5gr of HS-6 run these bullets very nicely
Rough estimate @$23/# - $0.021 per round

Primer
You're looking at about $0.03 each

Total cost: $0.167 per round


But, that's if you buy the brass. If you reuse range brass, you're looking at just under $0.13 per round - a savings of $0.03 per round. That's $3 per 100, $30 per 1000....... For those with more time than money, it does add up over time.

[rey]

I stopped reloading several years ago when I figured how much time it took to reload. I just figured that my time was more valuable than the little bit of money I saved.

[Dave in PA]

If you pony up for a progressive, and reload rifle rounds, say .223 remington, you save a lot of money.

I generally buy new and save the brass for reloading. I save all my brass, and scrounge whatever else was left. I reload 9mm, 45 ACP, 223 Rem, 30 carb, 30-06.

[Plinker]

[QUOTE=daschnoz;187474]Assuming you already have a reloading setup

Total cost: $0.167 per round

schnoz,
thanks for the info. I'll probably continue to buy "OTC"
(over the counter) unless things get rediculously wild price-wise. But as OTC prices go up, the cost of components to reload will probably follow suit.

Thanks again for the informative response ! Rep sent.

Plinker

[DieselPower]

For me it's cheaper to load it myself. I can locally buy bulk once fired 9mm for $5.00 per 500 (I love the fact that I can buy brass for less than it's worth as scrap metal but I'm not telling). Just got done loading 5,000 rounds of 123 gr RN cast lead rounds this weekend. Here's what it worked out to.

5,000 once fired shells (I already had but if I had had to buy) $50.00

5,000 CCI 500 primers $102.00

5,000 123 Gr. RN cast lead bullets (made by a local caster) $200.00 (actually $19.99 per 500)

3.5 Gr Dupont PB powder per round or 17,500 Gr./2.5 pounds $44.50

Total $396.50 for 5,000 rounds. .0793 per round, $3.965 per 50 or $7.93 per 100.

See, all depends on what you load as to how much it cost. Shooting cast lead is one heck of a lot cheaper than jacketed rounds and the paper target can't tell the difference.