If you've been saving your brass that is the most important and costly component. Powder, bulletts, primers are all pretty much a matter of preference. The initial cost is essentially the biggest expense, you can probably still find used reloading kits on ebay for cheap. Then it comes down to bullet and powder selection.

Yep. Learning which components are best. Tweaking. All part of the game. End result: better than factory performance at way less cost.
Did some more calcs: for 30-06 shooting a 165 grain PSP, the cost is about $0.18 for primer and powder and another $0.18 for the bullet (more nowadays, about 25 cents per) = $0.36 per round/$7.20 a box.
Here's a real savings - Hornady sells .416 Rigby cartridges for something over $4 per round. They can be handloaded to the same specs for less than $1 per round.
I do not include the cost of brass (I haven't bought brass in a looong time) in any of these calculations - except for the Rigby and that is amortized over six firings.
Pete

Bingo.

Nearly all my brass come from range pickups. All brass is picked up whether i reload that caliber or not. My range brass saves me money two ways. When i'm through with it, that brass goes into a barrel. Made a run to the recycler last year with two 32 gallon barrels full of brass.

'

Why don't you sort it and sell on gunbroker?
You'll make more than scrapping it and it's being put to good use.

You HAVE to reload anymore.

If you're just a casual hunter/shooter, but want to save some bucks, you can get a little LeeLoader for your caliber. They look complicated, but theyre easy to use once you get into it. Faster than you'd think too, again, once you get into it.

If you ask around some of your buddys, workmates, etc., you're bound to find someone who doesn't reload, and will give you some brass.
I get brass from calibers I don't even own. Just in case I do get that caliber, or for trade, etc.

I'm a hunter, not a 1000yd marksman. In my hands, a bulk Corelokt, is just as accurate, as a specialty bullet. Yet WAAAYY cheaper.
My big bore guns, I learned to use WFN Hardcasts. Super effective, again much cheaper.

I also like caliber sharing. I shoot a .444, and .44's. Several .30calibers, several .25calibers, .38s, etc.
I can share bullets.

I can make .25-06s out of .30-06 brass, my buddy's make .270's, so we can share brass.

I try to find overlapping powders also, and buy in bulk.


I'm also a powder miser.
Used to be, I couldn't understand why manuals listed so many loads.
Why not just give me the max+. Who would shoot less than max?
Years later, I realized my stupidity.

Now I know a 1200fps hardcast load, is just as effective on deer, as a 1400fps load inside my shooting range.
With less kick,crack, and wear on my brass and guns.
Often more accurate too.

I save 46% on my Rem 338 ultra mag ammo and even more on my 243 and 270 ammo.

I bet when Falcon's done with his brass, it is no longer good for reloads....so the scrapyard is a safe/profitable end of life, for brass

All I know isthe basic cost was cheap as the majority of my equipment was given to me. However by the time I got a good stock of stuff and bought that RCbS Chargemaster that Ill have to fling a LOT of lead to break even..lol. However having control over all the variables and matching bullet and powder to the gun is why I started.

Quote:

I bet when Falcon's done with his brass, it is no longer good for reloads....so the scrapyard is a safe/profitable end of life, for brass

Lane, you got that right. My cases get nicks filed on the rim every time they are fired. Some of those cases have nicks all the way around the rim.

For me to load 20 rounds of 243 WSSM (75gr V-Max)it costs me about 10 bucks. If i were to buy 20 rounds it costs about 30.