9mm Reloading

[dominicandemon]

Anybody in the Indy area reloads 9mm?

How much would it cost to reload 1000 rounds of 9mm if I already have the brass? (At today's prices.)

Lastly, what is a good factory round to buy, if you plan on reusing the brass?

 

[Leo]

Winchester White box from discount stores is pretty good 9mm ammo if you save brass. I do not reload for public sale, but my 9mm reloads are about $7.25-$7.50 per box, depending on bullets. IF you find sales and get ammo for $10.00 per box, it is not hardly worth reloading, but if you cannot find a sale and have to pay $14 and up per box, reloading pays off. IF you are not interested in reloading, just watch sales, it takes a lot of ammo to pay for reloading equipment if you are only saving $2.50 per box. If you already have the equipment, you can pay off a $30.00 set of 9mm dies pretty quick. Good Luck

 

[ZbornacSVT]

Talk to Andrew at Profire Arms and Supply. He is a sponsor here and located in Indianapolis. He will load your brass for you at a deep discount.

Reloading will not save you a penny. The benefits of loading your own pills are found in elsewhere.

 

[sloughfoot]

Talk to Andrew at Profire Arms and Supply. He is a sponsor here and located in Indianapolis. He will load your brass for you at a deep discount.

Reloading will not save you a penny. The benefits of loading your own pills are found in elsewhere.

+1 This is your answer.

 

[indygunguy]

If you already have the brass... you can buy 1000 primers for ~$32 (Bradis), 1lb powder for ~$22, and 1000 9mm LRN bullets for $52 (Scroggins in Martinsville)... for a grand total of $106.

Not bad... go for it, dude.

 

[88E30M50]

Winchester White box from discount stores is pretty good 9mm ammo if you save brass. I do not reload for public sale, but my 9mm reloads are about $7.25-$7.50 per box, depending on bullets. IF you find sales and get ammo for $10.00 per box, it is not hardly worth reloading, but if you cannot find a sale and have to pay $14 and up per box, reloading pays off. IF you are not interested in reloading, just watch sales, it takes a lot of ammo to pay for reloading equipment if you are only saving $2.50 per box. If you already have the equipment, you can pay off a $30.00 set of 9mm dies pretty quick. Good Luck

^^^ This ^^^

One benefit of reloading is that you can practice with a round pretty close to a good self defense round for a fraction of the cost. A decent SD round can cost close to a buck a round but with Hornady XTPs, a stout load and the cost of primers you can do it for less than 25 cents per round. No matter how you look at it, reloading saves money or lets you shoot more for the same money.

One of my favorite practice rounds for my short barreled 45 uses the XTP bullets and AA#2 powder loaded towards the higher end of the range. This round feels no different than a commercial SD round, but lets me practice much more for the same money I'd have spend on a couple of boxes of the commercial stuff.

 

[dominicandemon]

If you already have the brass... you can buy 1000 primers for ~$32 (Bradis), 1lb powder for ~$22, and 1000 9mm LRN bullets for $52 (Scroggins in Martinsville)... for a grand total of $106.

Not bad... go for it, dude.

This is sounding more and more tempting. Those are the numbers I was looking for.

I just looked up what LRN means, lead bullets. Not so sure now

 

[hueycrew]

Hand loading cost calculator:

Handloading Cost Calculator

 

[sakima]

Handloading Calculator

Thanks for the link...beats the heck out of my paper pad!

 

[Leadeye]

This is sounding more and more tempting. Those are the numbers I was looking for.

I just looked up what LRN means, lead bullets. Not so sure now

Don't be uncomfortable with cast lead bullets, used properly they shoot very well.

 

[45pro]

Don't be uncomfortable with cast lead bullets, used properly they shoot very well.

+1, i didn't want to buy them at first either, now thats all i buy....

 

[dsol]

Don't be uncomfortable with cast lead bullets, used properly they shoot very well.

Just dont shoot cast lead out of a factory glock barrel. The polygonal rifling doesnt like iit and leads up really bad. An aftermarket cut riifling barrel will eat all the cast lead you want to put through it.

 

[Farmritch]

I will not shoot lead.
Jacketed only for me

 

[45pro]

I will not shoot lead.
Jacketed only for me

If hes reloading only to save money on 9mm, Hes not going to be saving anything if hes buying FMJ bullets, at least not enough to bother buying a press and everything. If hes reloading to make match grade ammo or being able to practice with lots of JHP ammo then theres money to be saved in doing it.

When i started i didn't want to even think about using lead bullets. Finally someone on here convinced me to try some MBC bullets and thats all i have bought since. they shoot just the same as FMJ for me. If your reloading to save money theres no reason not to buy the cheapest bullets available. Like i said theres not much money to be saved using FMJ bullets but there is money to be saved using Lead and JHP bullets.

On 45acp theres tons of money to be saved using any bullet. Even by trying to buy remanufactured ammo online to save money, you will be saving tons more money by doing it yourself.

If you check out precision deltas site they sell bullets and they also sell their own remanufactured ammo using their bullets. Check out the prices.

45 Auto 230gr FMJ (reused brass) (Includes 21.88 shipping to zip 46563) 1000 $399.28

If i buy bullets from them and reload my own i can make the EXACT same ammunition for only $163.29 per 1,000

If i use lead i can get the price down to $137.29 per 1,000

9mm cost is...
9mm Luger 124gr FMJ (reused brass) (Includes 15.16 shipping to zip 46563) 1000 $286.56

If i buy bullets from them and reload my own i can make the EXACT same ammunition for only $119.57 per 1,000

If i use lead i can get that price down to $97.57 per 1,000

So while there is money to be saved, theres a lot of money to be saved going with lead. You can buy a decent reloading setup with everything you need for a couple hundred dollars and buy the supplies to reload 1,000 bullets for roughly the same price as buying their 1,000 rounds of ammo.

 

[windellmc]

Looks like the way to go is to buy a couple thousand federal rounds from Walmart to get the brass then start reloading with that used brass?

 

[JoshuaW]

Looks like the way to go is to buy a couple thousand federal rounds from Walmart to get the brass then start reloading with that used brass?

Are you going to need a few thousand rounds loaded at a time? You could easily get by with a few hundred, then reload them every time until you build up more brass. I typically recover about 60% of my 9mm brass on a bad day (85-90% on a good one), so if you shoot normally shoot 200 rounds, try buying 400 rounds of WWB and use the recovered brass.

A cheaper solution would be to just buy some once fired brass online. You can normally find it for about $30/1000. You can also find some retailers that will give you brass free with the purchase of bullets. My "source" gives 1000 pieces of brass if you buy 1000 bullets, and he will always give me brass if I take the time to call him and ask for it. Just food for thought. 9mm brass is pretty easy to come by, since it is a popular round. There is little reason to go and buy thousands of rounds simply to recover the brass.

 

[45pro]

Looks like the way to go is to buy a couple thousand federal rounds from Walmart to get the brass then start reloading with that used brass?

Go to a gun show. I've seen them sell 1,000 9mm casings for $25, thats the way to do it. I've learned also that just because you have to order 500 to 1,000 bullets at a time doesnt mean you need that many casings. even if you buy enough supplies to make 1,000, a couple hundred casings will do you just fine. If you usually shoot 200 in a single session then make sure you have that many. Load em up, shoot em, come back home and throw them in the tumbler for a few hours, and load em up again for your next range visit. You will eventually come across good deals on brass, or maybe even free brass and you will soon have enough to start stockpiling ammo by the thousands.

 

[mrfsm1]

ive been loooking into it and according to my calculations the cost would be roughly half but a good proggresive press (dillon or rcbs) with all the goodies will run over a grand so would have to shoot alot to make it worth it but thats a good thing!

 

[red_zr24x4]

You can save even more if you have access to wheel weights, cast your own.
Ive been casting some here and there. On a sunday afternoon I can crank out a couple of thousand and all it cost me is some time(and the electricity for the smelting pot).
Now granted I had access to the pot,lubeisiszer and molds. And when I bought my house there was a 35gal drum full of wheel weights left here.
Between my Cousin, Brother and myself we are casting .9mm, 38,45, and 44

 

[SSGSAD]

I have used lead bullets, in everything, I shoot, except rifles, there is no problem. IMHO, I used cast bullets, in .44 Mag., and .45 LC. I just keep speed, and pressure, down no problem, at all ENJOY .....