I’ve just purchased a bag of once fired mixed .308 brass. Thought, screw it, it was on a 'bargain table’ at the LGS, so I thought why not, set myself up for a while. I am not picky.
I haven’t culled them yet (they look fine at initial inspection, but I will inspect more when resizing), but ended up with:
Federal (case with primer sealant) - 36 cases
Federal (without sealant) - 150 cases
Winchester - 21 cases
S&B - 60 cases
…so not too bad, when opportunity knocks and all that. Seemed like a good deal (still does). That got me thinking, what is the actual cost of a reloaded round.
Before that, I understand that you can shoot more and make very good quality ammo, but this is purely a monetary train of thought though.
This is for me, for of the bench shooting, I am not buying in bulk yet.
I got something like this:
$9 for 100 primers (large rifle primers) = 9 cents per round
$57 for 100 Hornady Match .308 168GR BTHP bullets = 57 cents per bullet
$50 for 400 cases roughly ($50 for once fired brass I purchased + whatever I kept/collected) = 13 cents
$60 500gm (7716.18 grains) ADI A2208 powder.
Powder is a bit tricky, educated guessing, but I doubt it would make a lot of difference. Assuming the load is at 42gr (some less, some more), that's 182 loads (factoring in wastage, original 7716.8/42=183.73 loads, $60/183.73 loads = 0.33)
33 cents per powder load
9 + 57 + 33 + 13 = 112 cents per round
It seems a bit more than I expected. I was thinking sub-$1, maybe around 75-80 cents). However, considering ammo prices, this is at least (always more than) twice and at most three times cheaper than factory ammo in Australia.
I have not included equipment costs; or consumables like lubricant and tumbler media. I also did not factor the sliding scale where it gets cheaper as you reuse your brass more and more.
That’s about it. Thoughts/discuss?
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update
http://myshootingjourney.com/2015/12/20 ... -part-1-2/