Is there a market for reloaded ammo?

[thatgtrguy]

Some friends and I are thinking about pooling our $$$ together to buy nice reloading equipment.

I was just curious if there's a market for reloaded ammo?

 

[ashby koss]

Commercial market ? I don't think so.
Personal market? Of course! I reload for friends and co-workers and they pay just a bit over the overhead.

 

[netsecurity]

Probably for pistol ammo. I believe any ammo that is shouldered, should not be fired from any gun besides one the that originally shot it, unless you spend extra time doing another technical sizing step on each brass. I'm not clear on the details, but it sounds daunting to me.

 

[JoshuaW]

If you are doing it commercially, you will need an FFL and insurance. Pro Fire (formally Red Star, IIRC) found that it with insurance, it began to be less and less commercially viable.

 

[Icarry2]

I can't find the thread but there was another thread asking about this and there is a State Law that says you can reload and sell without an FFL if your using components bought primarily here in Indiana and sold only here in Indiana. The search function didn't help much, I think the original thread was in the Ammo section. I still think Insurance would be the killer.

But if you and your friends get to gether and group buy a reloader and reload for yourselves you will save a ton of money.

Just my ..

TJ

 

[leftsock]

Let's say you want to load and sell 9mm ammo. Times are good right now for manufacturers. You could sell your ammo for about $.25 per round (or more, seeing as how there's little to none on the marketplace). So, how much would it cost you to produce that ammo?

Materials: Brass, Primers, Powder, Bullets
Equipment: the machinery and tools you'll need and maintenance on that equipment
Utilities: electricity, heating, air conditioning
Labor: how much time do you have to put into this

Let's say the total cost is $.15 per round. You get a cool $.10 profit per bullet, and at 1,000 rounds per hour, that'd be $100 per hour profit (don't forget to pay taxes on this!).

What will you do when the market shifts, demand is lower, and cheap imports come in? I can remember 9mm ammo being about $.15/round not too long ago.

If it's something you really want to do, consider doing high-quality, small batches, and charging a premium for people who need custom/match-level quality in their ammo. Or go all out for mass-production and try to make variable costs as low as possible.

If you just want to make some extra money, you might do better just picking up a part-time job at your local car wash, fast-food joint, or delivering pizzas.

 

[LarryC]

Not sure about any Indiana Law, but the Federal law 478.41 states that if you are manufacturing ammunition for profit, you must have a FFL license. You are allowed to reload for your use only. I don't think I would try to sell any ammo I reloaded for a couple of reasons. First if someone has a double load - or squid load that lodges a bullet in the barrel and they fire a second round. The gun could be damaged, or worse shooter could be injured and you could be sued. Second, I sure don't want to do anything that would bring the ATF to my home. Even if Indiana does have some law allowing interstate sales, you may still be in court. I really doubt you could compete with the licensed manufactures after you buy the Insurance and license - unless you spent a few bucks on automated equipment - $100k to $250K might get you started.

 

[Water63]

Long story short is there a market ..Yes. Can you legally sell it ..Well you better look into that. If you and some buddies want to load for your personal use that's a good thing but to sell makes you a manufacture and opens you to all liabilities of being a manufacture.

 

[ryang]

This is another discussion about the same thing from earlier this week
https://www.indianagunowners.com/forums/ammunition_and_reloading/269497-selling_reloads.html

 

[PGRChaplain]

Don't let your homeowners insurance Co. find out you are into ammo Mfg. And then there are those pesky Zoning Laws............

 

[top hat 45]

If you are doing it commercially, you will need an FFL and insurance. Pro Fire (formally Red Star, IIRC) found that it with insurance, it began to be less and less commercially viable.

this^

andrew was loading about 250k per month and stopped due to liability ins. check with him if you still want to research doing it. also he can get you good deals on dillon reloading presses and everything. profires web and phone is on this website

 

[xring62]

You will find the labor is a bit much to sell 50rd of 9mm for 12 bucks! to me I wouldnt take less then 40$ ,but I dont have a 'progressive' ,Ahh the name kinda makes me sick ,because Obuma is progressive!

 

[David]

Moot point. There are no reloading supplies to be had anyway.

 

[FERLACH]

Star remanufacturing in Indpls. went out of business a few years ago, because they could not compete. I am sure it is a hard market to compete with huge companies.