Reloading Milestone!

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

Reloading Milestone!

Post by Jarhead » 29 Jun 2020, 7:39 pm

Time to celebrate!

I have been keeping track of my reloads and the $avings per round. In a surprisingly short time, I have paid off all of the initial investment! Time to start looking for another rifle.....

Woo-hoo! Cheers!

Celebrate.jpg
Celebrate.jpg (1.04 MiB) Viewed 2388 times
Regards,

Jarhead
___________________________________
Beretta 680 Special Skeet 12G (1350 fps)
Savage MkII .22 (1040 fps)
1969 Mustang Fastback (227 fps)
Tikka T3 6.5 CM (2660 fps)

The Mustang looks the fastest but it's not.
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Re: Reloading Milestone!

Post by Oldbloke » 29 Jun 2020, 8:13 pm

Got the numbers?
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Re: Reloading Milestone!

Post by Jarhead » 29 Jun 2020, 8:48 pm

Sure do Oldbloke!

I broke even on round 495.

In summary- $640 on a Lee auto breech lock pro press, dies, shell plate, autodrum, tumbler, media, case lube and deburr tool. The $640 also include dies and a shell plate for 9mm luger so I really broke even for rifle earlier- but we can ignore that for now...…

I bought Factory Hornady ELD-M 140 gr 6.5CM for $2.95 per round ($59 for 20) .

The 1st load cost is $2.17 per round and the 2nd reload is $0.98 per round (no brass cost).
The 1st load cost went up to 2.78 per round when I bought more brass at a higher price. I also changed from 147 grain to 140 grain ELD match projectiles, which changed the cost slightly.

So keep in mind the per round costs in the below are for what it costs me now, not what it cost for the 1st 4 rows, when I had lower component prices.

All the data looks like this:

Reload costs.png
Reload costs.png (45.03 KiB) Viewed 2369 times


.
Regards,

Jarhead
___________________________________
Beretta 680 Special Skeet 12G (1350 fps)
Savage MkII .22 (1040 fps)
1969 Mustang Fastback (227 fps)
Tikka T3 6.5 CM (2660 fps)

The Mustang looks the fastest but it's not.
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Jarhead
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Re: Reloading Milestone!

Post by marksman » 29 Jun 2020, 9:52 pm

l wish it worked that way for me, l'm always scratching to save for the next item :drinks:
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Re: Reloading Milestone!

Post by TassieTiger » 29 Jun 2020, 10:19 pm

Oh no JH - you have mislead yourself.
Your shooting about 1/100th that you need too and all your old reloading equipment needs updating...let alone all that unnecessary equipment you still need to buy.
It’s okay - we all make mistakes :sarcasm:
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ATA 686 U/O 12g & Baikal S/S 12g.
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Sauer 30-06 - VX 3
Howa 300 win mag. SHV 5-20/56
Marlin SBL 45/70
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Re: Reloading Milestone!

Post by Oldbloke » 29 Jun 2020, 11:11 pm

I think my gear has paid for its self, no worries. But that would be because I have stuck to the basics and nothing fancy. But no numbers to back it up l okie above.

Although loading was initially started to save a few Bob. I don't fire a lot of ammo but I still do it because I enjoy it. For me main benefits are,

Relaxation.
Better accuracy
Consistant and no POI change.
Versatility
Cheaper.
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https://youtu.be/2v3QrUvYj-Y
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Re: Reloading Milestone!

Post by Blr243 » 29 Jun 2020, 11:12 pm

Jarhead ....no symptoms yet , but eventually u will become aware that you have contracted an expensive and incurable disease.....but it’s ok u will learn to live with it and just do the best you can
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Re: Reloading Milestone!

Post by Jarhead » 30 Jun 2020, 1:14 pm

Tassie,

Bahahahaha!

Oldbloke,
Regards,

Jarhead
___________________________________
Beretta 680 Special Skeet 12G (1350 fps)
Savage MkII .22 (1040 fps)
1969 Mustang Fastback (227 fps)
Tikka T3 6.5 CM (2660 fps)

The Mustang looks the fastest but it's not.
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Jarhead
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Re: Reloading Milestone!

Post by Jarhead » 30 Jun 2020, 1:31 pm

Oldbloke,

Agree 100% on the relaxation. I took a year off working to travel- planned to start the trip in early April- I have made some good decisions over the years but that was not one of them...Reloading kept me sane during the COVID 19 lockdown when I had nothing else to do. My recreations are target shooting and yacht racing and you couldn't do either. So, I reloaded shotshells until there was no more #9 lead shot left in NSW- I had bought the last 20 kgs available. I couldn't do that anymore so I bought everything needed to reload rifle- including buying the rifle to fit the ammo I was making. :D

I hear people talk about reloading for economy- so I tracked the costs to see if it was true with rifle handloading. It is! I did the same with shotshell reloading, but only because I got a steal on an old press and had 2kgs of old suspect powder thrown into the deal- which turned out to be fine.

BLR243,

You said that in jest but it's true. Hooked! Every time I travel back to a Marine Corps reunion, I come back here with the burning desire to buy a new firearm.
Regards,

Jarhead
___________________________________
Beretta 680 Special Skeet 12G (1350 fps)
Savage MkII .22 (1040 fps)
1969 Mustang Fastback (227 fps)
Tikka T3 6.5 CM (2660 fps)

The Mustang looks the fastest but it's not.
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Jarhead
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Posts: 188
New South Wales

Re: Reloading Milestone!

Post by boingk » 30 Jun 2020, 6:46 pm

Good stuff mate. Here's the figures on my setup, was about $600 for Lee Classic Turret Kit plus dies.

At $3 a shot for factory 45-70 I'm currently loading at 52c per shot using 400gr Black Widow coated lead projectiles, bulk Fed Mag primers and 13gr Trailboss trundling those big ole suckers down the range about 1000fps. I've used the standard 15.4gr/gram conversion for powder weight over $110/1.5kg Trailboss cost, and rounded to 6c per primer. Projectiles were bang on 40c each.

That's a saving of $2.48 per round and I've loaded about 100 of them, do the math there!

The 450 Bushmaster is even better on a 'per-shot' basis, with factory loads often around $3.50/shot (all hypermax fully sik type stuff) and the reloads I'm using at the moment are only 35c a pop with the same powder figures, 25c projectiles and bulk Fiocchi primers.. Now we're $3.15 a shot ahead, and I've done 50 of them so that's about $167 ahead

Another 80 rounds of 45-70 and I've got the startup costs licked. Looks like I'll be making another range trip shortly!

- boingk
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Re: Reloading Milestone!

Post by Oldbloke » 02 Jul 2020, 4:25 pm

I think the biggest set up cost would be O type press and a decent set of scales. If u can get them used in good nick its pretty cheap to get started.
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https://youtu.be/2v3QrUvYj-Y
Member. SFFP, Shooters Union.
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Re: Reloading Milestone!

Post by GQshayne » 02 Jul 2020, 8:33 pm

My first lot of reloading gear was a Lyman O Frame press, Lyman scales, RCBS powder thrower, lube pads, RCBS .222Rem three die set, and a few bits and pieces. That was in about 1988, so I reckon they have paid for themselves by now.

Especially seeing as I got it all for a carton of XXXX Gold. :drinks:
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