This is topic Component availability and is handloading worth it in forum Firearms forum at The New Huntmastersbbs!.
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Posted by Leonard (Member # 2) on November 13, 2021, 09:53 AM:
I looked at several, (2) sites before ordering a couple hundred .429" Speer bullets yesterday. Including shipping, it was a hundred bucks! For 200 bullets!
Well, you might say shop around for a better price? Yeah, I sorta did, but nothing was available and I think the reason these were available is because it's an uncommon size, 210 grain. I've never used before and I'm not real big on plinking 44 Mag, you know? Mostly camping and plinking to pass the time, which is what this is because we are renting a cabin up at Big Bear for Thanksgiving and....you know?
Well, they won't get here in time anyway, but I have a few hundred factories and maybe 50 reloads. That reminds me, I really should pick up some 44Special brass because it's a little more pleasant to shoot. Make that; a lot more!
So anyway, this friggin' ammo shortage is affecting the component market, and this is the first bullet purchase I've made in quite a while. Twelve bucks shipping! eek!
The way I look at handloading, or to use a term I greatly dislike: RELOADING, there never was much savings involved, and at least talking about rifle, it's all about accuracy and dedicated custom loading for a specific firearm. Handguns, not so much, and my volume has never justified getting a progressive.
As it is, revolvers make a lot more sense because I'm not flipping cases over my shoulder and having to pick them up before somebody steps on them. It's very civilized. But, the real advantage is (usually) coming up with a hot load, maybe a target load or really cool hollow points that you can't find in factories. I never got into hard cast and I tend to stay away from bullets that lead up the bore. And that reminds me that I need a couple different seating stems for oddball bullet point shapes, and I don't have them.
This all gets back to my long time contention that handloading never has "saved" me any money because all the damned parts and devices and gauges are relatively expensive for what they are and what they do. And, I can see why people look at it and say, fuck this, I got better things to do! Unless you are a high volume shooter and I sure as hell am not!
I have always enjoyed working with handloading, it's good therapy. Methodically processing a few hundred cases while watching Tucker, right? Building gleaming precision ammunition is a great deal of satisfaction and just forget that canard about "saving" money, since your time is worth nothing! You have to enjoy it or it really doesn't make sense, for a lot of people. Not all, but a lot of people will never actually save money. That's why I am puzzled by those that go and buy new brass. That's really hard to justify. You have to be salvaging your empty factory cases to see the advantage in saving money.
Anyway, that's how I feel about it. I thoroughly enjoy it, but I'm not kidding myself about saving a bunch of money.
Good hunting. El Bee
Posted by DanS (Member # 316) on November 14, 2021, 06:47 AM:
My brother works part time at one of the larger gunshops/sporting good dealers in St. Louis. They can't get ammo. They have millions of dollars of stuff on order, I'm told from the factory, just waiting and waiting. The factories say they are working 24/7, but we don't know where it is going. Hard to sell rifles and pistols if yu can't get ammo to shoot.
Posted by Leonard (Member # 2) on November 14, 2021, 07:20 PM:
I did a rough estimate on loading with recycled brass. I figured $7 for 200 primers. $30 for 3/4ths of a pound of powder and $100 for the bullets.
Really really rough ballpark of $137.
Then I took the current prices of the 4 boxes of factory loaded 44Mag cartridges I have on hand, from $48 to $57 for fifty rounds and it equals $203 value of 4 boxes I have on the shelf.
$203 minus $137 indicates I saved $66 by "reloading" 200 rounds.
It's still a week away from being here. I probably should price a bag of new brass? Just for the hell of it.
It still doesn't sound right but who gives a shit? All I know is I paid 50 cents apiece for bullets and that shocked me! Fortunate to get them because Natchez Supply and Midsouth didn't have ANY .429" bullets so I got the 2/210 grain boxes at Midway.
Good hunting. El Bee
edit: I could have saved a lot more with Berry plated bullets, if I could find any? They were about 20 cents each, but backordered.
[ November 14, 2021, 07:26 PM: Message edited by: Leonard ]
Posted by Semp (Member # 3074) on November 16, 2021, 07:53 PM:
A friend told me to buy him some small rifle primers if I could find them. I found one box at $106 for 1000. That was a few months ago and I don't know what they go for today but I'd say $7 for 200 large pistol primers was a bargain.
Posted by Leonard (Member # 2) on November 16, 2021, 08:42 PM:
Really?
I guess it was a wild ass guess because I have about 12 thousand primers on hand, assorted and I figured that the last Federal 210Match that I bought, (and I have 4 full boxes) I’m pretty sure I paid just south of forty bucks for a thousand. Very conservatively, figured 200 might be about $7? Well, they are a couple years old, but they last practically forever.
Actually I’m shocked at that price mentioned! No damned wonder I think handloading is not saving any money these days!
Good hunting El Bee 🐝
Posted by Az-Hunter (Member # 17) on November 18, 2021, 07:00 PM:
45 ACP, try Damn Good Bullets, 230 grain, polymer coated. 1,000 will run you $114+ $16 bucks for shipping to Ca.
1,000 9mm 147FP poly coated run $84+ shipping.
Bayou Bullets has .429 for your 44 mag, 240 SWC poly coated @ $59 for 500.
Look around for some .44 Russian brass, Starline has it sometimes as well as a few others. It's like a .44 special short if your looking for a plinker?
Posted by Leonard (Member # 2) on November 19, 2021, 07:59 AM:
Thanks, I'll look into it. These are in stock?
I checked online before I drove to BassProShop and they had H110 in stock, but the price was a little suspicious, $33.95. They have a door vault over a closet type of storage with shelves on three sides. Everything they had on the shelves was that inline stuff and pydrodex, GoEx, but a third of the shelves were loaded with black powder crap. Absolutely NOTHING for metallic cartridge reloading.
I said thanks anyway but I just need some primers. I went right to the head of the line after the guy asked me 3 times if I also needed cartridges-no, no, &no! But $86 for fucking large pistol primers was scandalous! so I just got one brick. But, the ammo line was moving very slow, they have to do a damned report and it facilitates things if you are already on their data list, which I was, but they aren't documenting primers....yet.
But, another guy that was buying primers and was standing beside the locked glass slider told me to check Sportsman's Warehouse which is probably 30 miles from me. It does no good to check availability online, gotta drive it, and maybe the same results as at BassProShops? Nobody is looking out for service and convenience of the customer, these days!
The poor old guy out front ringing the bell for The Salvation Army was masked up. It's amazing, I see people walking down the street and wearing a friggin' mask! People are becoming DRONES! They are compliant and willing to do ANYTHING the Government tells them. Must be nice to be so ambivalent, get the jab and a booster every 6-8 months. Nobody stops and asks, what is this, why do I have to do this shit? They just do it because Biden said so. People? They aren't making them the way they used to, that's for sure!
Good hunting. El Bee
PS I'm bookmarking those sources. TY
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