Anyone here bench their own ammo? Thought it would be fun as a small side hobby if it cut the cost down on just buying ammo. About how hard/time consuming is it once you get used to it? And how much does it cost just to get all the starting shit?
>>28342518
>Thought it would be fun as a small side hobby if it cut the cost down on just buying ammo.
It won't, you'll end up spending the same amount of money but have more to shoot with at the end of the day, so only go for it if your range time is fairly often
>About how hard/time consuming is it once you get used to it?
15 minutes, tops to learn, and a couple hours you can make a few hundred rounds depending on your setup.
>And how much does it cost just to get all the starting shit?
roughly $5-$600, assuming you have no equipment at all and factoring in the price of buying boolits, brass, etc instead of recycling.
Check out JiuJitsu and FortuneCookie45LLC on youtube, they both have good tutorials on how to reload, what to buy, and how to cast lead/recycle brass as well.
>>28342518
Like any hobby it cost as much as you put into it.
You can started with about 500$ less if you buy used.
It's kind of like home brewing. It costs more than you thought to get into it, but once you hit critical mass in brass (or bottles) and start buying components in bulk, you can roll your own for pennies on the dollar.
Try a Lee turret press with the accompanying kit. Mine cost $150 many years ago, and it can't be more than $200 now. Then sock away brass, powder, and boolitz plus accompanying reloading dies. Allow $100 more for that. As far as easy... everything's easy once you know how. Buy the reloading manual that corresponds to the brand of bullets you bought and follow it precisely. Speed comes with proficiency.
>>28342541
Didn't honestly think it'd be that expensive, but I figured I'd ask as I'm relatively young and ignorant to the concept of reloading your own ammo. Might be something for me to get into once I get out of college, and settle down with more guns to shoot.
>>28342572
It's definitely better if you have multiple guns of similar calibers since you can prepare your gun food for all of them at once.
The expense I listed counted in buying brass in bulk, buying lead casting equipment, gunpowder, etc. Full tool kits of a press + dies for a specific caliber can be had online for just a couple hundred, cheap especially if you buy used and they really never break.
But yeah, I'd wait until you were out of college and had the free time to go to the range weekly and had some guns you wanted to feed.
>>28342518
benched 2 crates of .22lr hanging from a steel bar the other day. thinkin bout working my way up to .45LC
another reloading noob question:
is reused brass shitty? does it harm the rifle or effect the ballistics of the round?
By the way, probably the best caliber for reloading all-around is .357 Magnum. It has fairly wide tolerances for powder charges, most guns that are chambered for it can take meatier charges if you desire, and there are great selections of both handguns and long guns that fire the cartridge which means you can experiment with loading for stoppin powah, accuracy, etc. You can even play with .38spc as an added bonus.
After that, probably .223 and .45-70 are your best reloading rounds, but with less versatility imo. I've heard good things about reloading .308 for distance and accuracy, but I couldn't tell you much about the expense.
>>28342572
you can get most of what you need minus supplies for about $300.
If you just shoot common shit like 9mm, 45, .223, etc, reloading won't save you any money if you're comparing it to the cheapest commercial ammo out there.
You can make some very nice rounds though for the same price as cheap shit like tula.
>>28342518
Case prep, case prep, case prep.
This will consume your life. Loading, even if you are auditing your loads, is fast and easy. It is a relief, a breath of fresh air.
But case prep. Will consume you.
If money's not an issue, you can do it easily enough, quickly. But you're working with .001'' of inches.
You can start for a few hundred bucks or a few thousand.
I personally only load .308 target loads, and I only do it for one rifle. Rifle powder is much more forgiving than pistol powder.
Learning curve is slow, fast, and then slow again.
Plain and simple though, educate yourself before you do anything. Read beyond the websites selling the "kits".
A few pointers you may not get from the basic guides:
>Lee case lube will rust your gas system, use 3 in 1 oil instead
>Don't get a dry tumbler. DO NOT.
>Kits will almost never come with everything you need.
>Kits that do come with everything you need are often shit
>RCBS and Dillon are exceptional manufacturers. The extra money is worth it. TRUST ME
>Fuck ups happen. But you catch them before you go to the range. Always check your work, take samples, etc.
>Get a HEAVY table. My first table used to almost flip over when I sized my cases.
>Learn your bullets. It really sucks when you buy a box of tiny SPs instead of normal sized ball rounds (think for a 30-06)
And that's all I've got, in bed at 4:00 AM
>>28342651
>is reused brass shitty?
No. Brass can be re-sized 4-5x before it starts stretching the metal thin, also depends on how much you have to trim the brass as that removes material. All Brass does is hold your cartridge and expand/stretch when the round is fired.
>does it harm the rifle or effect the ballistics of the round?
If you don't clean fired brass or trim it to the correct size it can cause blockages or gaps in the expansion that will effect accuracy and velocity; you have to really fuck up Brass to cause a pressure problem so great it damages the receiver
>>28342572
I suggest you start NOW. Before Hillary gets nominated, and more especially before her probable coronation. Or you may not actually ever get the chance.
>>28342674
>Don't get a dry tumbler. DO NOT.
This coming from personal experience? I've never heard of any issues with dry tumbling
>>28342674
Shit I meant to say kits that come with everything you need may have one or two shitty pieces. It really sucks when you get all set up and find out your champfer / deburr tool is a piece of dirty shit, and the LGS just closed.
>>28342680
Just personal preference. I used to hand polish with 000 steel wool, and brush the insides, etc. but after discovering stainless steel pins, it just saves so much time and it really makes the cases vibrant and smooth, primer pockets too.
>>28342695
I would expect steel pins to tear up the brass, but apparently not
I'm with you on clean glossy brass being important. why do all the work if your product looks like trash? same issue with frosted bullets, aside from the hardness issue
>>28342541
>you'll end up spending the same amount of money but have more to shoot with at the end of the day
Isn't more boolit for same price the exact definition of cheaper?
>>28342705
>why do all the work if your product looks like trash?
because some people don't give a shit. reload for the ammo, not to show off how nice your ammo looks.
>>28342518
im about to start reloading my ammo as well. ive got a lot of special snowflake cartridges that cost much more to buy than to make. it seems like a lot of stuff to learn.
>>28342705
Also shooting through a semi auto with a tight chamber. I like to know they'll load smooth and not cake things up.
>>28342722
What caliber?
>>28342719
No, because you will end up spending more money overall than you would if you weren't reloading when you factor in the cost of tools and the cost of buying your materials.
You'll end up with 2-3x the ammo but paying at least 1 if not 1.5x the price until you start recycling and hit the tipping point where you're using a single round of brass 3 or 4 times. It's not an investment that has straight returns.
>>28342721
>because some people don't give a shit. reload for the ammo, not to show off how nice your ammo looks.
You say that like doing both is difficult
>>28342734
You forgot to mention the most important thing...
HIGH QUALITY ammo costs WAYYYY more than your shitty whitebox Winchester stuff, or your NATO ball.
The .308 I want to shoot cost $2-4 a bullet.
I make equal or better ammunition for $.40-1.00 per bullet.
You have to weigh that in. What are you reloading for? If you're doing 223 for an AR to plink at 50 yards, you're probably not doing yourself any justice, but if you're doing something like .243, 30 cal, or generally any target rounds, then yes, you will benefit from it.
And it's also a hobby. I enjoy it. Most reloaders enjoy it. I don't think I know anyone who does it just for the cost savings.
>>28342729
.303 british mostly. but eventually 7.7 jap, 7.5 swiss, 6.5 carcano and maybe one or two others
>>28342734
But if you shoot a lot then you will eventually start saving money, the tools are (generally speaking) a one time investment while the cartridges are a more consistent thing.
>>28342637
I like dis funny that you made. I too pick up heavy shit and then put it back down.
>>28342758
Yeah, must be miserable going into LGS looking for ammo. I'd snatch up any of that sexy 7.5 brass surplus you can though.
>>28342764
true, but like I said you have to get up to "critical mass" where you have a couple hundred cases of brass you're cycling through continually and only occasionally needing to buy more due to natural wear, and that's not something that happens immediately. You don't instantly start saving money the way you would if you make your own food vs eating out
>>28342780
Alright, I get ya, basically if you're a hardcore shooter you'll start getting your investment back but if you're more of a hobby shooter it's not gonna help you out much.
>>28342790
pretty much, the returns you get are a product of how often you use it
>>28342779
i just order off the internet when i see a sale. a few months ago i got like 500 rounds of .303 surplus from jewer than dirt for 25 cents a round shipped. but that 7.5 is berdan primed, unfortunately. i figure at 25-50 cents per round savings, ill make up my investment in a pretty short time.
>>28342790
if you factor the time spent into the cost, it's not worth it. only reload if you want to do so as a hobby.
>>28342800
Do you factor the time you spend shitposting or jerking it to anime?
This is and always has been one of the most retarded arguments against reloading ever made.
>>28342800
>Time
>Valuable
>>28342811
no, because I shitpost and jerk it to anime as a hobby. I don't do any out of some sort of necessity.
>>28342518
only when i run out of 45s
>>28342664
A box of 50 .45acp tula at walmart is $17 after tax. I make brass cased .45acp at $16 per 100 rounds.
My set, and my supplies, have paid for themselves in 2 months.
>>28343123
>at walmart
that's not the only or cheapest place to buy ammo.
>>28343131
Find me 1000 rounds of brass cased 230gr .45acp fmj for $160. Do it.
>>28343138
I already said when comparing it to the cheapest shit out there you won't save money. and I'm not sure how you're reloading 230gr 45 acp for 16 cpr.
>>28343157
Ya, im not trying to bite your head off. Sorry.
I buy my brass and bullets from everglades ammo. I get primers and powder from lgs. No hazmat shipping fee, i buy cheap powder, and i only load 400 rounds at a time, and that brass has made it through 2000 bullets so far, no problem.
>>28343157
Its worth mentioning that i bought 1000 once fired brass. So i still have 600 "new to me"
>>28342811
This. Unless you're a freelancer and can actually make money in that time then the time isn't worth shit. Even if you could make money in that time, who says you want to? Work isn't always fun, but reloading can be fun if you like guns, saving money and doing gun shit.
>>28343262
>but reloading can be fun
>>28342800
>only reload if you want to do so as a hobby
>>28342758
Don't believe the shit you hear about .303 being hard to load for. Just neck size only, and set your die so that only 1/2 the length of the neck is actually resized. Keep an eye on your case lenght and trim as nessacary.
PPU, closerly followed by HXP, brass is the best. Next best is S&B and then the US manufacturers. Don't fuck around with powder, Reloader 15, N140 and H4350 are the best.
