Reloading Cost/Savings Calculator

[mg66]

I have added an Excel spreadsheet to my website whereby a user can add almost any combination of data to calculate the costs/savings of their reloading with a comparison of any number of rounds to store bought.

Might be just the ticket to convince that wife or girlfriend or both  to purchase your new reloading press  

http://www.bghi.us/reloading/reload_calc.xls

Any suggestions to add to it will be given due consideration if it wont tax my brain cells too much.

[skb2706]

You can always add this one.....it involves less real math cuts right to the chase....so to speak

Ammo cost for me to go shoot prairie dogs using factory ammo = $350

Ammo cost for me to go shoot prairie dogs using handloads = $120

Any questions ?

[Chuck White]

mg66;

That's pretty good!  I saved just over 68% by reloading my 204 Ruger ammo!

Thanks;

[Questor]

The rule of thumb, with some exceptions, is to take the cost of factory ammo and divide by three. This assumes you're not casting your own bullets.

[Siskiyou]

The real saving comes with old age.  Over the years I have stocked up on different caliber bullets.  Normally I would grab them on sale.  Example a few years ago I bought one thousand 140 grain boattail bullets for $49.95.  Todays cost is in the neighborhood of $200.

I have bought numerous boxes of 100 for less then seven dollars a box.  I just put them away for the day I had time to load.  Those NoslerPT that I have in the chest sure look like a good deal today.  When I went shooting the other day the nine volt battery in the Chrony cost more then 20 rounds of reloads.  

The point is what may seem expensive today, may be a bargain down the road.

I tool box (programs) found in Microsoft Office can help the shooter/reloader maintain good records.  Even if one does not reload keeping track of the number of rounds fired in firearm maybe of value over years.

[victorcharlie]

Siskiyou........did they keep up with inflation?  Or are you saying they're inflation proof?  Sounds better than an interest bearing checking account to me!
 
I ran it by the wife, she seems to think if I'm investing in metals.....she would prefer gold!

[myronman3]

i dont know how you guys think your saving money.  

 i been reloading for quite a while now, and i aint saved a nickel.  if anything, it has cost me more.    :eek:   yep, thanks right.  since i have begun reloading, i have spent way more than i care to admit on reloading stuff.  

but,  i also get to shoot alot more because of it.     and i get to tailor my ammo to what i plan on doing.   and i enjoy it.   but i havent saved money.  

i suppose that if a person had one caliber he shot a few times a year,  and bought low cost equipment, he could save money.  

 but the bug bit me, and it has been off to the races since.   midway loves me.   :-D

[Siskiyou]

I believe it is inflation proof.   I have bought lot of bullets on sale.  Or in a few cases I took advantage of good deals.  Example I walked into a sporting goods store and found ten boxes of 270, 150 grain Cor-Loks for $4.95 a box.  They were marked down because they were not moving.  I have shot up about 500 of them.  Another time I found a few boxes of 270, 150 grain Norma Match bullets for less then $4.00 a box.  I bought them and found out they worked great on deer.

During my LEO years I was so busy shooting the outfits ammunition that most of my reloading was  limited to my hunting needs.  I could not pass up a good deal on components or loaded ammo.  

I recently found a sporting goods store that had some old bullets on a sale table.  I bought two boxes of WW 150 grain 7MM bullets marked, Magnum.  I plan on shooting them in my 7MM Rem. Mag.

I hope to fire 200 hundred or more center fire rifle rounds between now and deer season.  If I did not lay in those bullets in the past I could not afford to do that today.

It is no different then my wife stocking up on yarn and hobby supplies.

[hubcap]

A rough rule of thumb I use is 3/1 if loading factory equivalent If I cast my own bullets, about 10/1.

[Questor]

It's like anything else, if you use it a lot and enjoy it, then it's a bargain. If you have it and don't use it, then it's a waste of money.  I've found that after buying guns for the niches I'm interested in and my reloading gear that shooting is a pretty economical game so long as you're shooting cast bullets and light powder charges in readily available brass.

[jerkface11]

Doesn't the savings depend on the caliber you're reloading for? I know i save more money reloading for 500 S&W and .45-70 than i do reloading for 7.62x39.

[mg66]

In a way it does. It depends on the costs and quantities of the particular components for that particular caliber entered.

[cal sibley]

This is a topic that can be approached in several ways.  Statistically you can show whatever you choose to show.  A lot of figures are involved and can be manipulated in any fashion you wish.  But what isn't shown by the figures?  I had 3 rifles when I started reloading.  I loved it, and now have 17.  I'm much more serious about my shooting now, and that means a greater variety of bullets, powders and cases, different types of dies and presses.  This can become one expensive hobby depending on how much you get into it.  I find it the greatest hobby I've ever had, but boy I'm not saving any money.  Off course I shoot a lot more, so maybe per shot I'm ahead a bit, but that's small consolation.  Best wishes.

Cal - Montreal

[JBMauser]

Any excercise in computing how much money you save??? reloading is like patting yourself on the head and saying "what a clever lad" The truth is we cauld have taken the time alone we spend reloading, reading and researching and perusing catalogues and such and make bird houses, sell them on the side of the road for $4.oo each and make enough money to buy all the ammo we would need and a few new rifles each year to boot.  Not to mention if we invested the money we spend on equipment and components in a growth mutual fund.  some of us could buy a major piece of watercraft with the accumulation at retirement.  Lets face it boys, you can buy a lathe to make your next pencil or you can buy a pack of 10 for a buck.  Lets not kid ourselves.  The only man that saves money reloading is the man who owns an original Lee Loader and a hammer, can of powder bag of bullets and a sleeve of primers.   He can compute when he breaks even and saves money only if he neglects to add the cost of his labor and research as well.....  It is FUN and that is the truth.  Now I will pat myself on the head and say "lets have some fun in the shop today" JB

[Ray P]

Per the calculator (nice job on the Excel sheet by the way), my 45-70 is a 50 cent savings over factory.  This is true, but because I reload now, I shoot a lot more per year, twice as much, so the savings goes away.

[Robert357]

i dont know how you guys think your saving money.  

 i been reloading for quite a while now, and i aint saved a nickel.  if anything, it has cost me more.    :eek:   yep, thanks right.  since i have begun reloading, i have spent way more than i care to admit on reloading stuff.  

but,  i also get to shoot alot more because of it.     and i get to tailor my ammo to what i plan on doing.   and i enjoy it.   but i havent saved money.  

I also get Christmas cards (and catalogs) from Midway and others, as they also love me.

I wish to publically confess that reloading is a great hobby, but I doubt that I have saved money.  

Let me be specific.  Because I love gun sports, I reload, belong to a gun range, and belong to a Collectors Association that sponors gun shows.  At most gun shows, they have bulk ammo on sale in most popular or military calibers.  The price of steel berdan primed eastern european 9mm Luger, 7.62x39, 7.62x54R Russian in cases of about 500 to 1000 rounds is absolutely rock bottom.  Foreign manufactured 30-06, .308 & .223 ammo is also dirt cheap in large lots.  Actually, they are sometimes less than my price on bullets and primers on a per round basis.  I realize that the quality might not be the same.

Having said that, I do reload 30-06, 9mm, 7.62x54R and 7.62x39 ammo, but only as a hobby, not to save money.  

I can also purchase bulk, commercially reloaded 38 Special, 357 Mag, 45 (Long) Colt at the gun shows at prices that are about what I would reload them for (the guys doing the reloading buy bullets, primer and powder in much bigger lots than I do and get better prices).

Still, I do enjoy reloading as a hobby.  However, there is no way I can argue that I am saving money hand over fist.   I do like to be able to load cast lead reduced load target rounds for military surplus rifles.  I can't purchase these rounds, but even with little powder and cast bullets, they aren't much cheaper than some of the cheapest eastern european bulk priced ammo.