Is it worth getting into reloading still?

[StLPro2A]

Your largest cost will be the press, scale, case trimmer, dies, ect. depending on what you want to do. Space is your next concern for all the equipment and components. Bottom line, getting into reloading is not cheap. My thoughts are if you don't plan on shooting a lot or have an expensive hard to get/find rifle caliber than purchase your ammo in at least 100 round lots and be frugal.

Reloading is not essentially a cost saving endeavor today. It is, always was, and always will be a major factor in obtaining the maximum accuracy performance from one's guns. Cost includes the reloading equipment, consumables, learning curve, and heartbeats.

 

[PBramble]

Not as long as people of questionable intelligence are willing to pay 100-110/K for primers. The prices will never come down at that rate.

 

[grady31]

If you can afford the initial cost and can find the supplies .........it is much better and pays off after a few years .

 

[OK Corgi Rancher]

Have you ever reloaded before? If not, I’d suggest trying it out on a friend’s setup first to see if it’s to your liking. Some folks here swear it‘s therapeutic for them, but I find it a tedious and slightly stressful chore, so I haven’t reloaded in quite some time.

Ditto. I tried it twice some years ago. First time in the early 90s. A buddy had a nice Dillon 550 with all sorts of caliber change set ups and extras...tons of stuff...I bought for a really good price. We got it set up and he mentored me a bit on how to use it. I absolutely hated it. Very tedious. So, I sold it all.

About 10 or 15 years later I thought I had the bug again. Bought a Hornady Lock n Load progressive press with all sorts of extras for my favorite calibers. Same result. I just don't like it. I don't like anything about it. It takes a lot of rounds to amortize the cost to the point it's a $$ saver.

 

[XYZ]

It’s one of my therapeutic winter activities. I generally cast my own plinking bullets in the cool Fall weather. Everything else I bought years ago. Got a shed set up with electric and insulation. I don’t shoot as much as I used to so I don’t have as much to do. Moved a recliner out and mounted TV up out there a couple years ago for when I just want to get out of the house.

 

[Shadowrider]

You can get a quality single stage press kit with all the necessities for three boxes of that Weatherby ammo. Seems a pretty simple decision to me.

For that rifle I'd look at Redding dies as I'm pretty partial to them for precision stuff. The rest of it you can go as low or high as you want. I'm spoiled and like Redding stuff and you could easily justify it loading .300 Weatherby. RCBS is good too but they've offshored a lot of their manufacturing. If you want to wring out every bit of precision look at a Forster Co-Ax press but big magnum rifle calibers will probably be a bit of a bear to load as they have very short handles for the ram. They also have an advantage in that you don't need a separate shell holder for each caliber but that's really a non-issue either way for two or three calibers. I wouldn't even think about loading a magnum rifle caliber on a progressive so don't even go there for that, it makes no sense for low volume loading.

 

[XYZ]

I started as a kid with the help of a neighbor reloading an old odd ball someone gave me. Later bought my own Lee Loader and the rest was history. Back then the Lee were just a few bucks. Not sure what they are now but probably the cheapest option still.

 

[MacFromOK]

While I'm somewhat fascinated by the operation and results of reloading, repetitive stuff drives me nuts.

A buddy of mine had bricked-in a corner of his living room for a wood stove that ran up to the 8ft ceiling. I thought it looked cool, so I decided to build one in our house.

I got to about 4ft high, and decided I'd rather be shot than lay another brick. So I took a couple 1"x6" boards, bevelled one edge and cut one end at 45 degrees, coated 'em with a staining varnish, and put a mantel on top of the bricks.

___

 

[diggler1833]

Reloading to me is therapeutic, just like cleaning guns. I can do it for hours just because. Plus I can always make a more accurate load than I can get from any factory.

Maybe some people don't have as much time due to family/work constraints, but if you're skipping reloading because of the hassle then I think you're missing something.

 

[Okieprepper]

Hey everyone,

I recently picked up a 300 Weatherby Mag here in a trade and plan to use it for hunting over the next many years. It came with one box of Weatherby Select Plus ammo. I knew the ammo was pricey before picking up the rifle, but man, I didn't expect $100 a box.

While I am happy to pay $100 once or twice, I would like to be able to reload the same brass after that as I don't expect to shoot more than 20 rounds a year on this rifle once I have it dialed in.

Would it be more cost effective to buy the equipment needed to reload 300 Wby Mag right now? Also very interested in loading for 7mm Rem Mag and 243. What would it take to get started?

I figure that the stuff I shoot a lot of, 9mm, 223, and 308 all are readily available and relatively cheap so I am fine with buying boxes of that pre-loaded.

RJ, I spent many hours back in the 70s sitting next to my grandfather watching and learning to reload everything. Those were fond memories. Years later during the ammo scare days of the Obama administration I decided to get into reloading, relearn the skillset and assure I would have ammo if and when ammo scarcity reared up its head again, as it always does. I bought both a Hornady single stage and progressive presses and all the accessories to load 12 or more calibers. I do find it therapeutic and fun to reload. Its a great pastime. I found that I could save money by reloading pistole ammo, but I could only about break even on rifle ammo. If I had it to do over again I would only buy a single stage press. Progressive presses are great for shooters who put a lot of pistol rounds down range and want to save money. But, loading with a progressive press takes absolute concentration to the process without distractions. There are many things that can go awry if your not paying very close attention. If you own a rare or hard to find caliber or one that is creatively made from another caliber's brass then reloading maybe just what you needed. One of the best reloading exposure and learning tools is youtube. Keep researching before taking the expensive start-up leap into this hobby. Hope this helps.