Not sure if this has been asked before so here goes

[Magyars]

Been at it for 40 years.....well worth it.
As has been stated..buy and READ a couple loading manuals....

 

[Whip_McCord]

Thanks everyone, I want to reload 45 acp for range use. I am going to look into it. My concern was perhaps with the primers I thought they might be too small for me to perhaps work with.

You will rarely handle individual primers, so that should not concern you. You will likely dump a pack of 100 primers into a primer tray, shake them until they are all upside down, flip them over with the lid on, and then pick them up with a primer tube. You will mainly handle cases and bullets during the process. If you can put those into place, you should be fine.

At this time with components being scarce and expensive, I would do some calculations. Price ammo at sale prices. For comparison, price components and see how much loading a box of 50 will cost. If it is cheaper than sale ammo, then add up the cost of reloading equipment and calculate how many rounds it will take to break even. That may influence your decision.

I realize cost is not the only reason to reload. I initialy started for that reason over 41 years ago, but soon learned I could tailor the loads to my gun/purpose. Tailored loads are my main concern now for reloading. Heck, I have 13 different loads for just 38 special. I have 87 loads for 25 cartridges. That does not include shotgun; 12 & 28 gauge.

Determine why you want to reload and make the comparisons I mentioned. That should help. Handling primers should not be a factor.

 

[snapping turtle]

Will you ever save money reloading? NO. Will you shoot more? Yes.
I have single stage and almost all the extras I can get.

I reload 222 rem because it is harder to find than normal ammo and I have rifles that are very accurate with it. I shoot this round a lot. Add in 22 hornet here which has come alive again when lil gun powder came out. I get some good case life now and I think it is the powder cause the cases still seem brittle.

I reload 44 mag and 38 special because it is easy to do and less expensive and I shoot lots of them. I have 3 44 mag loads that I crank out and they work very well. 357 I reload some but normally just buy factory for some reason.

223 I can but believe it or not other than a little training I don’t shoot lots of 223/556. 762x39 I have no dies and have always shot militarily rounds from east block nations. 9mm I have a bulk shipment arriving soon but I prefer the higher bullet weight rounds and finding them cheap is harder. 45 ACP I shoot some of. I. These three what I think I shall do is get the components and go to a progressive press and crank out the numbers.

two others I reload for on occasion are 35 rem and 7-30 waters. The 35 rem because I have an old 2 35 rem marlin 336 and since the round does not seat on the rim like a lot of lever action rounds this rifle does best with using once fired cases in that rifle, the reason I got the rifle is certain ammo would not fire all the time for the original owner. About 1-6 rem core loc factory rounds would not fire. I had been told how to address this with reloading and got that rifle in perfect condition for a song. Added in the reloading equipment to get the rifle running well and I have like 300 in the setup. The second 336 35 rem has zero issues with factory or reload ammo. 7-30 waters cause the round is near prefect for a tc contender.

Next dies and bullet purchase with be 45-70 because ammo is so expensive and I have brass saved up.

I do 300 win mag and can do 308 and 30-06 but don’t need to reload for them often but nice base loads have been made for the rifles I have for them.

adding in the cost of components has varied greatly over time I am still in the negative on it saving me any money over. What I would have bought. I am making a more indoor gun room soon so when it is brutally cold like christmas 2022 I could crank rounds out as it is to cold in the current setup.

 

[bwframe]

Another consideration is how much time you have to invest in reloading. The initial learning curve, on top of slow production and redundant safety checking may itself add up to noticeably more investment than just buying ammo in bulk?

Then you have to try to find components at a decent price along with your initial loading equipment purchase (that is hardly ever not ongoing.)

I'm beginning to wonder if we won't soon find cheap 9mm rounds selling for less than than small pistol primers?

 

[red_zr24x4]

You will rarely handle individual primers, so that should not concern you. You will likely dump a pack of 100 primers into a primer tray, shake them until they are all upside down, flip them over with the lid on, and then pick them up with a primer tube. You will mainly handle cases and bullets during the process. If you can put those into place, you should be fine.

At this time with components being scarce and expensive, I would do some calculations. Price ammo at sale prices. For comparison, price components and see how much loading a box of 50 will cost. If it is cheaper than sale ammo, then add up the cost of reloading equipment and calculate how many rounds it will take to break even. That may influence your decision.

I realize cost is not the only reason to reload. I initialy started for that reason over 41 years ago, but soon learned I could tailor the loads to my gun/purpose. Tailored loads are my main concern now for reloading. Heck, I have 13 different loads for just 38 special. I have 87 loads for 25 cartridges. That does not include shotgun; 12 & 28 gauge.

Determine why you want to reload and make the comparisons I mentioned. That should help. Handling primers should not be a factor.

Thanks everyone, I want to reload 45 acp for range use. I am going to look into it. My concern was perhaps with the primers I thought they might be too small for me to perhaps work with.

Like Whip said, primer flip tray and pickup tubes. I also have a set of spring loaded tweezers(spring keeps them closed on a primer) I use when needing to pick up a single primer when my fingers wont cooperate

 

[Michigan Slim]

It's darn nice to go shoot and know that you can replace the ammo in short order. No ordering and waiting on the truck. My kids have shot thousands of rounds and never wanted for ammo. Tens of thousands in my daughter's case. We shoot CAS together.

 

[gregkl]

Another consideration is how much time you have to invest in reloading. The initial learning curve, on top of slow production and redundant safety checking may itself add up to noticeably more investment than just buying ammo in bulk?

Then you have to try to find components at a decent price along with your initial loading equipment purchase (that is hardly ever not ongoing.)

I'm beginning to wonder if we won't soon find cheap 9mm rounds selling for less than than small pistol primers?

This is where I am heading or am at now. I used to say that the time wasn't to be a factor since it's a hobby and I enjoy it. Which is true.

However, I have many hobbies as well as responsibilities and if I can't load in the winter AND save cost, then I am going to shoot factory stuff. For 9 months of the year, I'm running fairly flat out and don't load. I load those 3 months in the winter.

At this point, even if I scored primers, I'm not sure I would load anything this winter. I took on another winter project(reupholstering a chair) so I would most likely save them for next winter.

 

[Michigan Slim]

Just got done with a thousand 5.56 FMJ. Doing a hundred Vmax now. Just burning up components to clean my den some. If I'm not fishing, I'll be loading.

 

[ckcollins2003]

Fine motor skills... meh, it doesn't really take much depending on what tools you use.

As for getting into it now, that's a whole other story. With primers at $100+/1,000 and powder at $240 per jug along with the cost of the equipment, it's going to take a long time for it all to pay for itself at this point in time. If you use a decent plated projectile and use free range brass, you're still talking $310/1k for 45 ACP... not to mention the headache trying to find the primers and powder.

You'll have at least $500+ worth of equipment on top of it for a cheap press, calipers, scale, dies, primer tool, tumbler etc.. I would seriously consider how much you want to reload and how much your time is worth before jumping into it at a time like this and I wouldn't recommend my friends getting into it right now for a single caliber like 45 or 9mm. However, everyone has their opinion and their reasons, and maybe your reasons justify the cost at this moment.

 

[700 LTR 223]

Looking into possibly getting into reloading. Specifically 9mm and 45 acp rounds. What I am wondering how intricate is the process of reloading? Is it something that requires exceptional fine motor skills? If a person were to have somewhat low manipulating ability would that preclude you from doing it?


Thanks

I've been reloading for some 35 years now and it is not that difficult of a process by any means. Most important when reloading is to devote your full attention to the task at hand. Making mistakes in reloading is easy to do if your mind is wandering.

The cost of and limited availability of primers is what is most detrimental to someone wanting to start out in reloading. Powder and bullets have gone up but they are can be found. I was fortunate enough to have a few primers on hand pre-pandemic that will last me for a few years.

As to price of loaded ammo compared to factory ammo I have saved quite a bit over the years. Everyone likes to compare bulk 115 FMJ 9mm or 55 FMJ 223 to reloaded ammo. The magnum handguns like 357 or 44 mag I would not even be able to afford to shoot if it were not for reloading. Or even calibers that have fallen out of favor like the 32 ACP.

When shooting for precision or accuracy I can get significantly better results reloading with Hornady/Nosler JHP for handgun or match bullets for 223. WIth 45 ACP I'll take my reloads over factory 230 FMJ any day of the week.

 

[gregkl]

Fine motor skills... meh, it doesn't really take much depending on what tools you use.

As for getting into it now, that's a whole other story. With primers at $100+/1,000 and powder at $240 per jug along with the cost of the equipment, it's going to take a long time for it all to pay for itself at this point in time. If you use a decent plated projectile and use free range brass, you're still talking $310/1k for 45 ACP... not to mention the headache trying to find the primers and powder.

You'll have at least $500+ worth of equipment on top of it for a cheap press, calipers, scale, dies, primer tool, tumbler etc.. I would seriously consider how much you want to reload and how much your time is worth before jumping into it at a time like this and I wouldn't recommend my friends getting into it right now for a single caliber like 45 or 9mm. However, everyone has their opinion and their reasons, and maybe your reasons justify the cost at this moment.

I agree with this. When I started reloading, I picked up equipment cheap plus I have minimal equipment anyway. I got my ROI in less than a year.

Plus it was easy to jump online and order whatever I needed or head to a store for primers/powder to save hazmat fees. There used to be a reloading supplies store in Indy that had some decent deals. I would go once in awhile and "stock up".

Of course for me, stocking up meant buying 5K primers which looking at the situation in the last few years I wish I had bought them in 50K increments!

I was reloading 9mm for $0.11/round and that was with Federal Match primers, decent Blue Bullets projectiles and mostly Titegroup or HP-38.

 

[700 LTR 223]

Of course for me, stocking up meant buying 5K primers which looking at the situation in the last few years I wish I had bought them in 50K increments!

Same here! I was at Camp Perry several years ago and bought 5000 small pistol and 5000 lg pistol primers which were $149 per case. Wish I had bought more! I just opened the lg pistol case not long ago , so I started shooting more 45 auto here recently.

 

[42253]

I say if you are going to do it do it right away. It's fun to do and it's the next part in shooting. Prices may come down, but you know as soon as something stupid happens or is said. Prices will go up. Shooting is a great hobby and great hobbies cost money.

 

[wcd]

I say if you are going to do it do it right away. It's fun to do and it's the next part in shooting. Prices may come down, but you know as soon as something stupid happens or is said. Prices will go up. Shooting is a great hobby and great hobbies cost money.

Just really looking to help out new to the 2nd. Learned a. Long time ago if you have to buy ammo in the aftermath of things getting stupid, you have had an epic fail somewhere along the line.

Prices like most things once they they are slow to come back down.

 

[wcd]

I've been reloading for some 35 years now and it is not that difficult of a process by any means. Most important when reloading is to devote your full attention to the task at hand. Making mistakes in reloading is easy to do if your mind is wandering.

The cost of and limited availability of primers is what is most detrimental to someone wanting to start out in reloading. Powder and bullets have gone up but they are can be found. I was fortunate enough to have a few primers on hand pre-pandemic that will last me for a few years.

As to price of loaded ammo compared to factory ammo I have saved quite a bit over the years. Everyone likes to compare bulk 115 FMJ 9mm or 55 FMJ 223 to reloaded ammo. The magnum handguns like 357 or 44 mag I would not even be able to afford to shoot if it were not for reloading. Or even calibers that have fallen out of favor like the 32 ACP.

When shooting for precision or accuracy I can get significantly better results reloading with Hornady/Nosler JHP for handgun or match bullets for 223. WIth 45 ACP I'll take my reloads over factory 230 FMJ any day of the week.

For me I have found critical Duty to be the most accurate. Surprising how man people do the realize the variance between one brand versus another.