Reloading

I’ve heard primers are nearly impossible to find right now

Not about cost savings for me. It’s the ability to shoot what I want and how I want. But compared to prices these days, cost savings is significant bc I have the brass I need and a good supply of primers for all my calibers

Here's a price breakdown based on the 30-06 shooting a 165 gr bullet. The numbers below are using averages and current prices are all over the place. Chances are everything is SOLD OUT right now due to the buying frenzy. With a little research, you can do the math to confirm prices based on the cartridges you shoot.

Federal Premium $39.99 / 20 rds. = $2.00 per round

- Powder ; 1 pound is approx. $30.00 (+/- $5.00)
- Primers are approximately $30.00 for 1000 (+/- $5.00)
- Brass is around $30.00 for 50 pcs. (.60 each)
- Bullets vary in price from .35 cents to .75 cents each; let's use the average of .55 cents each.
- Powder charge, approximately 55.0 grs per reloaded round.
- There are 7,000 grains in 1# of powder. At 55.0 grs per charge, you will get roughly 127 reloaded rds.

Using the calculator below and the aforementioned numbers, reloading will cost you $1.40 per round.
Depending on the cartridge you will save $$$$. Also brass will last from 10 firings to 40 firings before the primer pockets expand and can no longer be used. So the first reloaded round with virgin brass will cost $1.40, the additional reloaded rounds using fired brass will cost .80 cents each (subtract .60 cents for the brass)

100 rds of factory Federal Premium 165 gr = $199.95 (5 x $39.99)
100 rds reloading your own = $92.00 ... $28.00 (20 rds using new brass) + $64.00 (80 rds using already fired brass)

Reloading Calculator

I reload because I can make my own cartridges and fine tune powder charge, seating depth, and neck tension to increase accuracy and adjust velocity up/down. With factory ammo, you're pretty much stuck at a given velocity such as 2,750 fps.


I reload for my .17 Ackley Hornet and use 11.5 grs of Vihtavuori N120 under a 20 gr bullet that yields 3,900 fps. I can reload 608 rounds from 1 pound of powder.

I remember reading somewhere that the break even was like 30 or 40k rounds for your common pistol calibers. But that was in a different world where 9mm wasn't 60 cents a round.

I'd definitely do it just for a hobby if I had the space to devote to it.

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I enjoy the Ackley reloading.

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Huge Ackley fan and one of my friends and reloading mentors (RIP brother ) worked for P.O. and Mike Bellm in the late 70's / early 80's. I've owned quite a few Ackley cartridges also: .17 Ack Hornet, .22-250 Ack Imp, .257 Ack Imp, and .280 Ack Imp. Incredibly efficient and accurate cartridges. 2 months of coyote furs harvested by my late friend ... all shot with a .17 caliber wildcat

Thanks everyone for the information.

I would have Loved to sit and pick his brain!

Got Blaze, Good breakdown and factual

Even when there was a supply of ammo it was still hard to find sometimes. The best advantage of reloading is always having ammo readily available. Reloading name brand bullets like Nosler or Barnes is cheaper than you can buy them. For a deer hunter it may not be the most important thing but you can dial in accuracy.

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worked for P.O. and Mike Bellm

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You don't see much on the 'net about Mike Bellm, but he's also a pretty good 'smith, especially w/ T/C Contenders. I have a Contender barrel he chambered for me in the late 90's. It's in 6x50R (rimmed) Bellm. It's one of the most accurate barrels i've owned. It's very interesting how he came up w/ it. He has a niche for utilizing common, inexpensive dies instead of custom, expensive dies. The weakest part of the 6x50 was brass as it's based on improved version of the 5.56x50R, a common European varmint round. It has a little more powder capacity than the 223/5.56x45. Unfortunately, no one in the US makes brass for the 5.56x50R. It's an Ackley Improved cartridge w/ minimal body taper, sharp shoulder and rather short neck. 6mmx223 Improved TCU dies are used to size it and seat bullets. A bored out 357 Mag die sizes the bottom area of the brass that the TCU die can't reach. In a 14" handgun barrel I get about 2800 fps w/ a 75 gr bullet. Sorry to go on, but I'd not thought of MB in a while. My only actual Ackley gun is an Encore 15" barrel in 22-250 AI. Most of my Contender barrels are based off the Ackley principles. I bet I would've had a good time visiting w/ your mentor.