Beiruty wrote:NcongruNt wrote:Beiruty wrote:For me,
To carry, it is Gold Dot 124Gr +P LE marked boxes of 50 rds.
For the range, it is whatever is cheapest with brass casing. Best deals today are for Federal 115 Gr for $9.50 for 50 rds. With tax is barely 20.5 cents/rd.
Same here. My carry is a Browning Hi-Power.
I've also started reloading, so range stuff is whatever I load. I'm trying to practice the same weight bullets I carry, so I'm loading 124 grain FMJ (Montana Gold) and 124 grain JHP (Hornady XTP or Remington standard JHP) bullets.
How much is your cost per rd for 9mm reloads?
Well, that all depends how you calculate it. Equipment is paid for (and a lot of it was a Christmas gift), so we'll exclude that. For just components using the Montana Golden Bullet 124 grain FMJ...
1 bullet = $0.10
7.5 grains Blue Dot = $0.027
Federal #100 Primer = $0.035
I have a lot of recovered brass, so that takes that cost out of the equation...
So 16.2 cents/round, or $8.10 per box of 50.
Not a lot of savings from the cheapest plinking ammo, but my aims aren't strictly financial savings. I'm much more concerned with quality and availability while shooting the same weight of bullet that I carry. When's the last time you saw 124 grain plinking ammo sitting on the shelf? Were I to start using plated lead bullets (such as Berry's, which I'll be trying soon), I can take another couple cents off per round and get down to $7/box.
Substituting Hornady XTP 124 grain bought in small quantities (boxes of 100) from Cabela's brings cost up 8 cents per bullet. XTP provides outstanding accuracy, and loading it myself brings cost down on that round considerably.
Loaded Hornady 124 grain XTP bought in boxes of 20 (the only way I know of that it's available) for $17 comes out to 85 cents/round. Rolling my own puts me at 24 cents per round, saving me a whopping 61 cents per round! Suddenly, I can afford to shoot carry ammo in practice!
Taking carry ammo a step further, I buy the 50-round boxes of LE Speer Gold Dot 124 grain +P for $23/box for carry. That's 46 cents/round. Speer Gold Dot 124 grain look to run around $22/100, coming out to 28.2 cents/round, or $14.10 per box. With some work on getting the ballistics to match up with my carry ammo, practicing with carry ammo becomes a lot more affordable and availability much higher.
Now, all that said.... 9mm has been my entry into the reloading world. I realize that other calibers can be much more cost-effective to load. I've got both .380 ACP and 9x18 dies on their way to me. With .380 availability and pricing such as it is, I'm quite excited to start cranking some out. Here's what I figure for costs with Berry's Plated 100 grain RNFP bullets:
1 bullet = $0.075
2.6 grains Titegroup = $0.007
Federal #100 Primer = $0.035
That comes out to 11.7 cents round or $5.84 per box! From the prices I've found, that's 1/4 the price of commercial ammo!
Granted, my .380 stock is only a couple hundred pieces at current, so I may have to buy some brass at some point, but I'm good for now and have a few hundred rounds of commercial ammo left to supplement with, picking up after firing at the range.
One of my goals is to shoot what I carry, so let's see what I can do with .380...
I carry Hornady 90 grain XTP standard pressure loads in my LCP. Again, only available in quantities of 20, with .380 costing $18/box. That's 90 cents per round. 90 grain XTP bullets in quantities of 100 will run $15 locally at Cabela's. That doubles my bullet price, but puts me at 19.2 cents per round or $9.60 per box. That's almost HALF the price of the cheapest steel-cased berdan-primed stuff I can find, bought in quantities of 500. Suddenly, not only is ammo available but I can shoot the same carry rounds (with a little work to match the ballistics) I keep in my gun, at HALF the cost of the cheapest plinking ammo and I can find, with no worrying about backorder times.
Now THAT is economical!