I have never reloaded ammo before but a couple of friends of mine and I are looking to get into. I want to know what are realistic savings per round that I would get from doing it. I would like to experiment and find what shoots the best out of my gun but right now the money savings is the main reason to get into it.

If someone could let me know how much I would save on reloading for each of the following, it would be awesome. I have a lot of brass for most of them because I have been collecting it just in case. I shoot the following regularly:

.223 (cheapest ammo near me that I shoot is $45.50 per hundred rounds after tax)
30-06 (cheapest i will shoot is $21.75 per 20)
8mm Mauser ($20 per 20)
7.62x54R (not sure on the price I bought surplus a while ago)

There's a lot of depends in that like bullet, powder, used or new brass etc.

Here's a calculator: cost calculator

Generally its at least half.

Tj

If you shoot a lot, it generally pays to reload. However, it can cost several hundred dollars just to get the equipment to start reloading, plus bullets, powder, primers, tumbling media, brass polish, etc. that you have to keep on hand as consumables. There are a couple things you should keep in mind with reloading the specific rounds you mentioned though.

If you want to reload .223, and shoot it a lot (the more you shoot it, the faster it would pay for itself), it seems like that could be your biggest savings. But, $.45 per round is not too bad for over the counter. For the most part, you will be looking at $10 per 100 55g bullets, plus $3.50 per hundred primers, and powder (if you already have brass on hand). It may be a little different in your area, shipping, etc...but that is close. After that, you can start subtracting the cost of the equipment per reload, and you can get an idea how long it would take to recoup your investment.

You are probably not going to reload 7.62x54r (or 8mm Mauser) and beat surplus ammo prices on this. Maybe someone will disagree, but it is dirt cheap still...perhaps the only thing that is. I have 4 Nagants myself, and always keep several hundred rounds of the non-corrosive ammo for this around. Also, if you are saving this brass, it will most likely be berdan primed, and not reloadable. In most cases this is the same issue with the 8mm Mauser (unless you are purchasing newly manufactured ammo for either). If you want to put together hunting rounds (SP, HP...non FMJ) then that is another story. Off the shelf ammo in this variety is almost the same as high-power rifle ammo.

30-06 is a different story. Surplus 30-06 used to be plentiful, but that is long since gone I believe. Also, with a high-power hunting rifle (unless you have a Garand) you generally don't shoot a hundred rounds at a sitting, so return on investment might take a little more time (unless you already are loading .223 ....but, this is also some of the most expensive ammo. I reload for .270 by taking a round that shoots well in my rifle (150g Hornady), and try to duplicate the load as close as I can...that way I can buy off the shelf if I need to, and feel confident that it is sighted in. After all the work is done, I save about half (or more) on my .270 loads, not counting the time I have invested.

I know I varied off subject a bit there...but hopefully it helps a little. Reloading is a lot of fun, and will save you money in the long run if you can quit buying equipment like myself . Like I always say, it is not cheap to shoot, but it IS cheaper than therapy. My wife may disagree.

I have found that buying bullets by the thousand and powder in 8lb kegs you can save even more.
"Rolling your Own" is the way to go for saving money and having more accurate and consistant cartridges.

Heres another caluclator that I find handy cause it tells u how many rds you need to load to recoup costs. http://10xshooters.com/calculators/Handgun..._Calculator.htm

And if you look at the top it also has rifle and shotshell calc's

I think that if you get a decent single stage set up (like a Rock Chucker) you can load a decent quantity of ammo. The prices for some of the reloading stuff is very reasonable and for less than $400 you can be up and running. You can amortize that pretty darn fast if you have the brass in hand to reload with.

Of course once you start it is like heroin you will need more and more frequent injections to keep the "high" going!!

Greg

PS: Welcome to the world of reloading. Ask anything you want and we will give it a shot!! -- G.

Sweet I like that one.......nice thanks for the link.