Reloading

Im kinda looking at getting into reloading, but my question is, do you really save much money, if any, when you reloading your own bullets? The calibers I would be reloading are, .223, 6.5 creedmoor, 300 BO, and the occasional 9mm and 7mm-08. And also, what would be a good press to get? Thanks in advance for any information

Depends on how much and how often you shoot.

RCBS, forester, hornady. Start with a single stage.

Save money is a no but you shoot more for the same amount. At least that's my experience.

No way I cann cost justify this or any other hobby.

It depends....

For most people they make more ammo for the same money but it costs them hours.

Why do you want to reload? How many rounds do you shoot a year?

Quality, cost, volume....pick any two. If you want high volume and quality it will cost you. If you want high volume and low cost your quality goes down

I think the value of reloading depends on the value of your free time. 9mm and .223 can generally be bought cheaper. 300 bo is an unknown quantity to me.

6.5 CM has some excellent factory options out there from Hornady so how much are you actually going to shoot that round? Target goals for it?

7-08 really shines from a reloading standpoint. It is the most versatile of the rounds you listed and possibly the most versatile short action round available today. I’d carry it for anything you can hunt without a passport except brown bear and carry it to 1000 plus yards at the range. That is the value of reloading to me that trumps my time.

Hand loading allows you to customize your load to fit you individual rifle and purpose. Some competitive pistol and shotgun shooters reload to same money because they fire thousands of rounds per year. The average hand loader does not save money especially if you factor in initial setup costs.

I sure can't add any more than what the others have said, I enjoy reloading as a hobby, probably a bit more than I do shooting. At least there is more to it that I find enjoyable, working with the various tools and methods.

What I would suggest is to pick one of your cartridges and start with it, not worry about them all right now, and see what you think after working through several sessions. If you could meet up with another that is already into the endeavor it would help the learning curve. It is not hard to learn, but seeing it first hand would help.

I agree with the single stage, I'm a Lee guy, and each manufacturer has very good start-up packages for new reloaders. I started with the simple Lee Loader sometime back before I hit a double-digit age. I bought the Lee Loader from a small ad in the back of Outdoor Life for my Savage 340 chambered in 30-30 Win. The little corner store at the corner of a paved and a gravel road sold components. Bought everything with lawn mowing money. Mom was surprised when she saw me working on it; I was about six months into it then, my dad wasn't but figured it would keep me out of trouble.

My 89-year-old dad lives out on my ranch, and he now chuckles when he walks into my reloading room, a dedicated room I built a barn and garage around. He often mentions mom and him walking to my room to figure out what all the hammering was about! So, you never know how much you are going to like it or not, just do something simple until you figure that out.

I'm too far from you to get you going, but maybe you can find someone.

It all depends on what components you are using, and where you buy them from. Can you save money on most of them- yes. But you will have to purchase about $500-$1000 worth of equipment to reload.

The 223 and 9mm, you will not save much, if any at all. The reason I don't load 223 and 9mm on my website is simply for this reason. The others, like the 6.5 CM, 7-08, and 300 Blk Out, yes, you can easily save money. But reloading gives you the control of your ammo and you can do so much with that. You can choose which brass, powder, primer, and mostly, which bullet you shoot. You can dial all these into your own rifles. That's the real reason, for me at least, is having the control of the ammo I shoot. All this takes time. Starting out, for any single stage reloading, you will spend about 1.5 to 2 hours per 100 rounds of ammo you load. I can load most any 100 rounds of match grade single stage ammo in about 1 hour and 10 minutes (some in about 55 minutes to 1 hour). But this is with lots of practice and high end equipment.

Or, you can hire me, like a lot of previous reloaders do!!

I save no money. I just shoot a helluva lot more!!

Definitely no, but it allows one to shoot more and higher quality within the same budget limit.

Everyone has covered it very well.

I got into it to produce better, not cheaper ammo. If I didn't shoot as much as I do, then I would not have earned the money back from what was spent on equipment. But I shoot so much in a year, I couldn't afford to buy that much ammo.

If you're already a high volume shooter, you will EVENTUALLY save money. If you are a low volume shooter, the equipment cost can be cost prohibitive. If you want ammo tuned to each firearm, not caring about the money involved, then my all means, get the equipment and get started.

Thank you for all the input. The initial reason I thought about reloading is because I recently got a precision rifle and have entertained the thought of getting into long range competitions and knew I could fine tune a round for the shoots, just didn’t know how cost effective it would be

Ok, in your case, factory ammo will certainly hold you back. Factory ammo can only be so consistent, and is often much slower. I chrono'd 2 different kinds of 6.5 CM 140 grain Hornady ammo, and they were running 2540 and 2560 fps, with high extreme spreads. Loading your ammo will increase your speeds and have better consistency. I load for many competition shooters, and the serious one's that shoot well understand the benefits of high quality ammo.

Gann434, since you have that precision rifle you should have loads tuned to the rifle. You can do that yourself or save a bunch of time and effort and hire a pro. I hired a guy to develop my load/s. You could have the ammo custom loaded if you don't want to get in to it. I recommend you contact Custom Reloads of Dallas. He can develop and or load for you.

This is accurate.

the only time it saves more is on cartridges like Weatherby or some others that the only factory ammo is 60 or more for a box of 20. My Weatherby reloads are better ammo than the factory stuff at less than 1/4 the price for the same bullet and custom tailored for my gun.

My 6.5-284 loads are 1/3 the price of factory

In those type you do shoot more because you can but it does save $ if you shoot much.

I’d say in general getting started you will not save.
Over time buying in bulk and making deals can save you decent money.
I can honestly say loading for 308, 3006 270 etc after years of loading and getting in on great deals and or give away
Stuff like brass, I can load for less than half what the same factory loads cost and they are a lot more consistent and accurate.
Problem is prices of lading equipment and supplies has gone through the roof over the past 10-12 years.