9mm - Thinking about reloading

Reloading equipment, methods, load data, powder and projectile information.

9mm - Thinking about reloading

Post by Macross » 03 Mar 2020, 1:33 pm

Im starting to burn through a fair bit of 9mm... shooting two comps a week and often a practice session as well. Currently firing 300'ish rounds a week and starting to wonder if reloading might be an option.

Ive never reloaded and don't have any required gear. My question is how much am I likely to get my rounds down to by reloading. Currently best factory ammo price I can get is around .32c per round. How much am I likely to save rolling my own?
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Re: 9mm - Thinking about reloading

Post by wanneroo » 03 Mar 2020, 2:35 pm

Reloading is definitely an option. I started my reloading "career" with 9mm. Many different powders and bullets you can use.

You will have to make an initial investment in reloading gear but mostly the equipment and presses last a long time and I don't think the initial costs are outrageous.

My recommendation is to start with a single stage press and learn what the heck you are doing first and work out what loads work for you. Once you learn the process then at some point upgrade to a progressive. I do not recommend a progressive for someone new as you are getting 5-7 operations working in sync at one time and every press has it's foibles.

On bullets, primers and powders, buying bulk is going to be your friend. I stalk the sales and am ready to pounce when bullet manufacturers have a sale.

These days 9mm is plentiful. It's down to $7.99 US$ for a box of 50 quality brass 9mm. You will not save much reloading 9mm at this point, however the main benefit is being able to tailor loads to different guns. I load a hot 124g TMJ Speer for my Uzi and Suomi, a 147g TMJ Speer for competition and a 115g Hornady FMJ for just plinking for fun. I use different powders as well for those applications.
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Re: 9mm - Thinking about reloading

Post by Macross » 03 Mar 2020, 3:33 pm

Thanks Wanneroo... jealous of those ammo prices. Being in Australia, we are paying anywhere from $19 for 50 rounds of cheap ammo up to $30 plus for 50 rounds of "good" quality ammo. If we could get 9mm at $8 bucks a box i wouldn't dream of even bothering to reload :D

Im not so much driven by a need to tailor rounds to suit my gun or comp... this is purely a cost saving exercise. If I can reload my spent cases for cheaper than .32c each, then its something I will definitely consider... but if im only really gonna save a few pennies, then its a less attractive option.
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Re: 9mm - Thinking about reloading

Post by Gamerancher » 03 Mar 2020, 3:36 pm

Just did a rough calculation on a basic load, came out at 24 cents per round in consumables. Those costs can be bought down by buying in bulk, keeping an eye out for specials etc as has been said.
Cost of setting up to reload is like asking "how much for a new car?"
If you want the absolute best, the cost can be quite scary.
If you want a basic set-up that will load good, consistent, "custom" ammo suited to your gun, you can get going for well under $400 with a Lee Challenger kit and a set of carbide pistol dies. A quick search found this ad, cheapest I've seen it. I've never dealt with this mob so no endorsement intended.
https://www.ozgunmart.com.au/lee-50th-a ... ger-kit-90
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Re: 9mm - Thinking about reloading

Post by Sarco » 03 Mar 2020, 6:43 pm

If you are shooting that much, you must have lots of empty cases. Cost 1 - Free
You will need projectiles. Cost 2 - Vindicator out of Cairns (I last bought, in Vic, I think they were about $92/1000 (115gn 9mm LSWC)
You will need primers. Cost 3 - Locally here about $75/1000
You will need powder. Cost 4 - Say AP70 (if you can get it) or APS350/450 approx $60/500gm
You will need a press (as stated single stage will do) - Cost 5 - maybe $150 + Dies for 9mm another $50+

While I use a Dillon Square Deal for loading 9mm (and all the other straight walled case I play with using suitable calibre conversions), I believe that taking the above into consideration it costs me about $0.16 per round. Hence about $16.00 per 100.

I only shoot maybe 1000rnds of 9mm per year, but I also shoot 45ACP, 38SPL, 357MAG (and hopefully soon also 40S&W) in about the same numbers and reload them all.
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Re: 9mm - Thinking about reloading

Post by Macross » 03 Mar 2020, 7:20 pm

Thanks for all this info guys... just what i am looking for. I have seen the Dillon square deal in my info gathering and it really looks to be the best option for being able to punch out one to two hundred rounds Friday night before the weekend.

Sarco and Gamerancher…. $0.16 - $0.24 per round is music to my ears.... that makes taking up a whole new learning curve and essentially new hobby that marries with shooting totally worth it!!!! Saving around $10 per box of ammo is going to pay for the setup costs pretty quickly. I know its going to be a long road to success but playing the long game here is where it pays off. Thanks for taking the time to share the knowledge!
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Re: 9mm - Thinking about reloading

Post by gunnnie » 03 Mar 2020, 9:46 pm

Have been reloading 9mm for my Glock34 these past 2yrs or so. I looked into the costs before I settled on the right path. Factory for me would be around $320/1000rds. The only hassle was the projo weight, 115gn FMJ. Where I wanted a heavier projo for the Glock, namely 135gn.
So I started scouring the net for differing projo's, powder etc. I initially used Spartan 135gn cast at $65/500 but that price jumped to almost $100/500within a few short months. The best I've found to date has been Demon Projectiles at $85/1000. I run CCI primers, buying by the 1000 & a load of Red Dot powder.
I've got plenty of brass, so don't count that. So costs are projo = 8.5c ea, primer = 6.9c ea, powder = .07c per load. So that's 16c per round; $160/1000 = half the cost of factory & at a weight I want.
I use a Dillon Square Deal to reload this ammo & usually churn out 3-400 rds in an hour or so in the gun room. I enjoy reloading so don't mind taking my time in the process if so inclined.
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Re: 9mm - Thinking about reloading

Post by Diamond Jim » 03 Mar 2020, 11:42 pm

I load 9mm and quite a few other cartridges. I started with a "Super Simplex" press and it has worked flawlessly for many years with several rifle calibres. Loading volume for competition shooting I have two second-hand Lee Pro-1000 presses on my bench. They have some issues but do the job for me. The biggest recent development for me was a single stage press cheap from eBay with a bullet puller permanently installed. My Lees need watching like a hawk or I will get flipped or sideways primers (maybe 3 out of 100). The ability to dismantle dud rounds easily changed my reloading experience. Other than that the Lee works fine - I use them for 9mm, .38/.357 and .223 with a simple conversion. The cheap single stage press does for larger rifle calibres and a Lee Load All for shotgun.
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Re: 9mm - Thinking about reloading

Post by Rwd22 » 04 Mar 2020, 4:42 pm

A quick look at components (Proj, primer and powder) gave me a figure of $191.20/1000, give or take a little depending on the powder charge.

Obviously need to add brass to that price, but if you occasionally get in touch with your inner brass goblin, you'd be surprised at what you can come home with.

Over the last few months I've been picking up a portion of the spent cases I've created and have collected somewhere in the 1500-2000 region, while I'm not currently reloading it, I plan to in the near future.
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Re: 9mm - Thinking about reloading

Post by Gamerancher » 05 Mar 2020, 8:43 am

I think there are some miscalculations going on here. Happy to be corrected but:
500 grams = 7716 grains ( bottle of powder )
A middle of the road load for a 125gr bullet using AP-70 is 4 grains. ( I use 3.9 in my 1911 with cast bullets )
7716 / 4 = 1929 loads per bottle
So, $60/1929 = 0.03 ( 3 cents per shot ) not .07c. While it's still not a lot, it does add up.

The cost I used for bullets was based on the Tigershark ones , ( which I've used ), which run at about $147/1000 with some shipping.
Going on Sarcos figures above, with cheaper bullets,his costs are 19.7 cents per round not 16.
Not having a go at anyone, just trying to keep my OCD in check. :thumbsup:

Still, when all is said and done, yes, you can load cheaper than factory ammo.
If you are currently firing 300 rounds/week, you should have a good supply of brass already. ( Or have you not been collecting it? )
New, unprimed brass is somewhere around 20+ cents, so if you haven't been collecting your brass so far, it would be cheaper to keep firing those 32 cent/round factories until you get enough for your requirements.
Costs can be kept down by using cheaper components or buying in bulk or grabbing specials when available.
as has been said.
Note: Every pistol range I have shot at has a ban on FMJ bullets, ( NSW ), so maybe check before buying up in bulk. :drinks:
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Re: 9mm - Thinking about reloading

Post by wanneroo » 05 Mar 2020, 9:17 am

Macross wrote:Thanks Wanneroo... jealous of those ammo prices. Being in Australia, we are paying anywhere from $19 for 50 rounds of cheap ammo up to $30 plus for 50 rounds of "good" quality ammo. If we could get 9mm at $8 bucks a box i wouldn't dream of even bothering to reload :D

Im not so much driven by a need to tailor rounds to suit my gun or comp... this is purely a cost saving exercise. If I can reload my spent cases for cheaper than .32c each, then its something I will definitely consider... but if im only really gonna save a few pennies, then its a less attractive option.


I'm pretty confident then you will save some money buying components in bulk. In any case 9mm is never going to be a big cost saver. A lot of rifle cartridges and pistol magnum cartridges are where the big cost savings lay.

To me I look at reloading as making myself more self sufficient and immune to any ups or downs in supply and price of factory ammo. For instance a big jug of a couple of kilos of pistol powder will load 10000 rounds and powder if stored properly will last decades. Primers if stored well last decades and obviously bullets don't go bad. Back in 2013 in the USA we had the big gun and ammo panic and gun stores were stripped of guns and ammo. Dealers were marking 9mm up to $30 a box US$, if you could even get it. I decided I was never going to put myself in that position again of being held hostage to the whims of the market and learned to reload. One of the best things I ever did.
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Re: 9mm - Thinking about reloading

Post by wrenchman » 05 Mar 2020, 11:52 am

i sized up 500 today when obama was president they cost much more when you could get them i try to keep ammo on hand so it helped.
me and my son shoot about every 2 weeks we will shoot a mix of 9mm 357 and 38s and each of us will go threw about 300 rounds each.
i keep factory 9mm on hand 1000 rounds when i use some i try to replace it i hate not haveing it when i want to go shoot.
Making ammo hard to get is the new lib gun control.
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Re: 9mm - Thinking about reloading

Post by vmaxaust » 07 Mar 2020, 6:44 pm

[quote="Macross"]Im starting to burn through a fair bit of 9mm... shooting two comps a week and often a practice session as well. Currently firing 300'ish rounds a week and starting to wonder if reloading might be an option.

Many of your questions have already been answered here. But...do you have the time available to reload your own? Initially at least it will consume much time as you set up a smooth running reloading area with all equipment laid out so you can develop good habits, cleanliness, consistency to the point where you can simply walk in and make rounds when you are getting low.

There's more to reloading than putting cases in a press, deprime and size, reprime, chamfer, drop powder, seat bullet then taper crimp and you have a round ready to fire.

I began reloading many years ago with 9mm Luger and have learned many things. For me the most important ones are...
1) Clean cases with hot water, steel pins and real burnishing compound in a large size tumbler.
2) Rollsize ALL cases to get rid of the lower case bulge, particularly if you load to factory or higher velocity levels...the cases develop a bulge and that shortens case life and often can be responsible for feeding issues.
3) I lube and size all cases as a separate operation. Dip in X55 solvent to leave them lube free, clean and dry ready to be loaded.
4) Try to keep different brands of cases sorted separately. Manufacturers use different material thickness and weight and this will affect the powder level in the case and potentially velocities.
5) Start with a known quantity load formula. Not one you heard about in the pub, one you have fired in your gun and found to be very effective in YOUR pistol. Don't be afraid to ask different people at your club to load some for you that they've found good for them with a similar gun to yours. Don't become a load development person in the beginning. Just find a load that works for you and just emulate that.
6) Ask the person who you finally settle on his/her load to help you with some tips on setting up your dies, what to look for, pitfalls to avoid. Don't try and reinvent the wheel yourself in the beginning.
7) Develop a consistent process or procedure for reloading and STICK to it.

I personally got to the point that I was not always happy with the consistency of the Hi Tek coated cast bullets I was buying so I set up my own manufacturing plant for casting bullets and coating them. I have worn out hands from 44 years of building performance engines, wrenching on my Drag Race cars so I developed my own "light" loads to cut down on excessive recoil. It has rewarded me with wonderful consistency and accuracy well beyond what my blind eyes should manage.
Therein lies the real advantage of reloading...you can eventually tailor a good load for your gun to be an excellent load with a little trial and error experimentation. You may never even do this as you may be very happy with the initial load you were given and it works perfectly for you.

Sam
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Re: 9mm - Thinking about reloading

Post by Macross » 25 Mar 2020, 12:09 pm

Hey Sam, Thanks for such a helpful post that has given me lots of great info and hopefully others as well who come across this post. I appreciate the time you took to put all that down. Sorry for late reply but didn't want your effort in posting this to go un-thanked.

I hadn't considered the area required to have dedicated to reloading to make it a safe and consistent process. Its something that I am going to have to give more thought to. Recent developments have put pistol shooting on hold due to range closures. Dam I miss shooting already and its only been a few weeks. :(
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Re: 9mm - Thinking about reloading

Post by FNQ » 27 Mar 2020, 10:50 pm

Ammo and price of components will rise due the drop in AUD$
Gamo CF.177, Savage A.22ss, JW15A, Savage 42 .22/.410, Stirlng .22MAG, Howa .223 stainless, Remington 770 .308, Savage AXIS .30-06, #4 MK1 .303, #4 MK2 .303,#5 .303, Akkar Churchill O/U 12ga, Chippa lever 12ga.

GSM 1911 .22, Glock 17A 9mm, Glock 34 9mm
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Re: 9mm - Thinking about reloading

Post by vmaxaust » 28 Mar 2020, 7:40 am

. Dam I miss shooting already and its only been a few weeks. :([/quote]

We are all in the same boat.
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Re: 9mm - Thinking about reloading

Post by vmaxaust » 28 Mar 2020, 7:49 am

FNQ wrote:Ammo and price of components will rise due the drop in AUD$


Very true but everyone should keep buying local Hi Tek coated cast bullets and locally made ADI powders. At least those two components are locally made and if anything we should all learn from this Chinese bug to support local industry. Where you don't have a choice is with brass cases and primers for handgun calibers. The rifle guys can still get locally made cases from ADI in several calibers as well as powders.

There was an article in the on line Age newspaper on March 27th written by Kate McClymont. Everyone needs to read this and as often as is possible buy locally made or non Chinese.
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Re: 9mm - Thinking about reloading

Post by Jarhead » 30 Mar 2020, 8:18 pm

Hi Macross,

I am an old shooter that just joined the forum today. Have been shooting American and Olympic skeet in Australia for 10 years and took my first rifle shot in the 1970s with a 25-06. I have been reloading 12G for years and am also thinking of reloading 9mm when I take possession of my fathers 92FS later this year. I did the math for reloading component cost and found it the same as other at 16 cents per round.

Keen to hear what setup you decide to go with - what works and what you would have done differently.....300 per week sounds like a lot on a single stage press. I have been told you can reload about 50-100 rounds per hour on single stage. 3-6 hours of reloading would be enough to make me consider getting a progressive press day 1.

Closing thought- I found reloading 12G that you don't save money when you reload. Yes, the cost per round is lower but you have so much fun with the newfound ability to tailor rounds that you shoot far more trying them out. The fun makes it worth doing! The cost saving discussion is great for the spouse though...…..

Regards,

(Former) Jarhead
Regards,

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Re: 9mm - Thinking about reloading

Post by Nalla Rehctelf » 04 Apr 2020, 4:06 pm

I am interested in beginning the journey to the dark side “Reloading”. I have 223, 270 and 30 06 to reload. I am mostly happy mostly happy with factory amo. For what I do; especially the 30 06 as it doesn’t get to talk much & is generally fatal when used. But I’m probably looking to get more from the 270 and 223 used for hunting. As a way of expanding my Hunting, I would like to reload. I don’t want to buy junk but I also don’t need a high cost, high output set up, looking for a functional setup. Also I really hate deciding to buy something only to find that I need to get something else to make it work.
If using the starting point of RCBS equipment, is the list below complete?
 Everything needed?
 Needs other equipment?
 Doesn’t need some items?

• Rock Chucker Supreme Press
• M500 Mechanical Scale
• Uniflow™ Powder Measure
• Hand Priming Tool
• Universal Case Load Block
• .17-.60 Debur Tool
• Hex Key
• Case Lube Kit
• Powder Funnel
• Nosler #7 Reloading Manual
• Case cleaner
• Measurements calliper
• Die set, suitable for the calibre’s

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Re: 9mm - Thinking about reloading

Post by Jarhead » 23 Jun 2020, 2:36 pm

Nalla,

Apart from the obvious components, powders, primers, brass and projectiles, you will also want a means to clean old brass, a tumbler and media will do fine to start.

I bought one of the below not long ago and it does the trick for a good price.....

https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Xhunter-Case-Tumbler-Reloading/113911285701?hash=item1a85a447c5:g:jVEAAOSwqgFdlZby

Also a powder trickler would be useful.

Regards
Regards,

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Savage MkII .22 (1040 fps)
1969 Mustang Fastback (227 fps)
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The Mustang looks the fastest but it's not.
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