cost of bullets

[pleasant1911]

I am now literally 3 blots and nuts aways from installing my press. now i have to buy supplies. I have about 300 or or of 45empty shells which should be enough, now i need powder, primer, and bullets and lube, and more cases...i live in md and bass pro is near my house but their expensive. i probably order online or something like midway or others... after all said and done, can anybody tell me how much each round is going to cost, and should i be investing to cast my own bullets. I plan to shoot about 1000 rounds a month

[cdhbrad]

Bass Pro isn't bad for powder, but their primers and bullets are on the high side compared to what I can pick them up for at local gunshows. Here in FL, CCI primers are between $28 - $30/thousand. The last cast bullets I bought, 200gr LSWC, were about $0.09 each and Extreme clad 230 grn RN, not FMJ, about $0.13. Premium bullets, like Hornady, etc. will be more.

If you need to mailorder them, look at sites like Powder Valley, Penn Bullets and some of the others mentioned here to get an idea of costs. For Bullets, need to factor in shipping to your unit costs, and, if you include powder or primers there will be a "Haz Mat" fee that is between $27-30 depending on what you order. Even if powder and primers cost seem to more locally, it may not be to bad when you add in a Haz Mat fee. Last show I was at I mentioned to one seller that his powder was very reasonably priced, less than what I had picked up the same product at Bass Pro, and he told me he only added about $0.50 per canister to the price of powder. You have to order a LOT of powder to justify a $30 add on fee.

[herd48]

use the sticky at the top of the page for help with good mail order sources. A wealth of knowledge there. Not just a few recommendations. And good luck.

[Bullitt2075]

If you are planning on using 1000 rounds a month you need to start buying in bulk.

5-6000 bullets at a time, brick of primers (5000) and 4 lbs of powder at a time. This will keep you going for 5 months. Want to buy for the year better double or triple your orders.

Precision delta or Zero distributing have the best prices on 45 bullets. I'm not sure if you have decided on what weight bullet you want to use but I buy 230gr FMJ's and JHP's from both of these companies.

Primers and Powder I usually buy from powder valley or Graf's and I buy in bulk so that the hazmat charges are spread over more components.

You should buy small amounts of powder, primers and bullets until you find a recipe that you like.

[slwroln]

I buy my powder and primers locally. I buy bullets from Precission
Delta http://precisiondelta.com/product.php
TJ Conevera http://tjconevera.com/

[al45]

Pleasant,
I hate to be the bringer of bad tidings, but you're going to discover 300 isn't going to be enough. Keep on the lookout for lots more.

Definitely look into casting your own. If you don't count your time involved, you can create match grade ammo for $3/box of 50. The downside is, good equipment isn't cheap.

You don't mention your bullet preference. Magnus, Zero, or a local caster. If I had to pick one, I'd lean towards the local caster. Main reason is the bullet bases would have the least likelihood of getting dropped and getting damaged. This assumes the local caster uses a soft alloy and is consistent in his casting technique.

I noticed you hail from MD, there is a commercial reloader with an excellent reputation in state, you might look up by the name of Neil that sells good bullets also.

http://www.nsksales.com/

FWIW

[gunnut606]

You can take an extra step by hooking up w/ friends or other shooters to split the shipping and hazmat charge.
.

[Horoscope Fish]

For powder and primers I go to Powder Valley.

As for per-round cost, that's going to be hard to determine since that will depend on what, where and how you buy your components as well as the load you use since powder use, per round, will come into the equation.

Once you know how much you're going to spend, and the powder charge, you can use this handy Reloading Calculator to get your per-round cost nailed down.

[alexanjl12]

For powder and primers I usually go to Grafs.

For bullets for my 45s I always to go Missouri Bullet Co.

[DPmax]

+1 on Powder Valley, even with hazmat and shipping I make a substantial savings on my bulk buys with PV.
Without casting bullets I can make .45 200gr lswc rounds at just a hair over 9¢ each. In my area that's less than 1/3rd the cost of the cheapest WalMart target grade ammo.

Of course since I reload I shoot 4x the amount I used too... yep, saving big money reloading

[richpetrone]

If you took advantage of saving all the .45acp brass you have ever fired, then you have substantially reduced your cost to reload, since the brass is the most expensive part of ammo reloading.

You can purchse a good .45acp cast LSWC from Missouri Bullets for roughly $93/1K which includes shipping, so your cost per bullet is 9.3 cents each. With a low volume powder like Bullseye, and CCI primers, you should be able to make a box of 50 rounds for roughly $6.75 per box if you already have the brass case. Powder and primers purchased in bulk through Powder Valley, Inc. is usually the best option.

The only way to make ammo cheaper is to find a better cost on bullets, so casting your own bullets would be even less expensive, if you have a good and consistant source of lead. Wheel weights use to be easy to get, but since the price of lead has gone up so much, most tire shops and garages keep the lead and resell it.

[pleasant1911]

I will check out powder valley. It seems like Missouri bullets is popular. Gun shows will be the spot to go to...did not even cross my mind...and buying bulk is what I looking into, but the initial investment is big. I thought reloading was going to save me money, but it's just fun, interesting, and expensive. I am hoping it will get cheaper as I get into more reloading...

[AndyC]

Eventually the equipment pays for itself and you'll be into the savings part, which means you'll shoot more.... and more...

The cool part for me, though, is the self-sufficiency aspect; I don't worry about events like the ammo-panic of 2 years ago ("OMG, I can't find XYZ ammo! Panic, panic!"), because I had plenty of components laid down to roll my own whenever I wanted.

Right now I'm laying in stashes of lead so I can cast all the bullets I'll likely need for the next 10 years, but 700lbs is only about 25,000 bullets, so I keep on keepin' on

[67A1F]

Take a look at this site, it has a cost calcutator.http://www.handloads.com/calc/loadingCosts.asp
Savings might be an issue but as some posters say you end up shooting more, I see that as a good thing.

[rfd]

.45 200gn lswc = $56/1m @ mastercast (brinnell 14) - that's purty darned low cost for a good quality lubed lead pill.