Thinking about reloading 9mm

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BobK
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Re: Thinking about reloading 9mm

Post by BobK »

I exclusively shoot lead bullets in my 9mm.

Your estimate is 3 cents for primer/powder is reasonable. Bullseye, for example, can be had for about $100 per 8 lb, and Wolf primers for $15.50 per thousand.

Even buying lead bullets you are looking at about $8.00-$9.00 per hundred for bullet/primer/powder. Commercial ammo is no less than $20 per hundred. Saving $11.00-$12.00 per hundred is worth it to me.

As far as the "minimum wage" comment goes, first one must regards it as a hobby. If a person does not enjoy handloading, they won't do it for only the cost savings. How much do you pay yourself to read a book, go for a walk, visit with friends, or go to church.

That said, even from a purely commercial viewpoint, I load about 450 rounds per hour on my Loadmaster. At an average savings of $11.50 per hundred, that saves me about $51 an hour. That is a lot better than minimum wage.
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ohiophotog
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Re: Thinking about reloading 9mm

Post by ohiophotog »

any one have a press and 9mm dies that they want to get rid of for a reasonable price? Tax time is here and I'm trying to figure out how much it would take to get me comfortably started in reloading. I would prefer a turret or progressive but I would consider a single if the price is right.

Heck loan me a press and misc. tooling needed and once I get good at it i could reload for you (if I get the brass back :) )
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Re: Thinking about reloading 9mm

Post by JediSkipdogg »

ohiophotog wrote:tooling needed and once I get good at it i could reload for you (if I get the brass back :) )
That would be manufactoring and a big no no. License, insurance, government fees, more licenses, more insurance. :wink:
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Re: Thinking about reloading 9mm

Post by ohiophotog »

Yeah didn't think about that. :oops:
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Re: Thinking about reloading 9mm

Post by ohiophotog »

Well if anyone has one I could borrow, and buy some components from, to try it out I would be grateful, or I guess it would be easier if I come over and try it out. Which ever.
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Re: Thinking about reloading 9mm

Post by dl1911 »

Sneakypete wrote:Universal Clays is a good 9mm pistol powder.
That's what I use for 115gr 9mm FMJ. Checking prices at Cabela's (1000 primers, 1lb of powder) and Montana Gold (4,000 bullets) the cost comes in about 0.138 per round, 6.92 for 50 or 138.37 for 1000 (I used the handloading cost calculator at http://handloads.com/calc/loadingCosts.asp" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;). Cabela's prices on bulk 9mm ammo is about $170 for 600 rds. You can do even better by looking for sales and buying in bulk. I usually don't get less than 5,000 primers at a time and usually 4lbs of powder at a minimum usually 8lb jugs. If I'm trying out a powder I'll get a pound but otherwise I buy quantity. I'm assuming you've been saving your brass (or have another free source) so you're not paying for that. Add in one time costs of $400 for a Hornady LnL Progressive (what I have), $70 or so for dies, another $100-200 for miscellaneous tools and such and you've got to load and if you should break even around that first case of bullets. If you're shooting other calibers then it's just the dies and shell plate and the savings add up even quicker. I usually shoot .45 and it still costs under $8 for a box of 50. The press paid for itself on that very quickly with the other calibers just being a bonus for me of sorts. I usually shoot about 1,000 rds a month or more so it was a good deal for me. I shoot IDPA and in the winter with not much going on, I tend to spend some time every weekend and maybe an evening here or there making ammo for use later. Usually 200-500rds an hour depending on how many breaks I take! When I started shooting 10mm late last year I could make up a small batch (didn't have much brass at first) in an hour for shooting later that day or the next. Don't load for rifle yet, just handgun in .380, .38Spl, .357, 9mm, .40S&W, .45ACP and 10mm. Even have the dies for .44 for when I break down and get a Model 29!
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Re: Thinking about reloading 9mm

Post by Sevens »

Wow. :shock:
Some of the things I've seen in here must be typos or something.
CCI Small Pistol #500 - $130/1000 or 1.30/each
This one I'm still trying to figure out... it's not a decimal error, because we can't get them for $1.30/100, I'm not sure where on Earth this figure came from.
Also... Lil' Gun?! :| Where'd anyone get the idea to use Lil' Gun in 9mm? That's a .410 powder... I use it in .500 S&W Mag.

Okay, 9mm... when you pick the most popular center fire round in human history, you are stacking all the economics against you. It's the hardest one to save money on. Economy of scale, they produce & sell more 9mm than anything (other than .22LR) so they can sell it the cheapest. If you handload something like .44 Mag, you slaughter factory ammo prices. When you choose to go up against 9mm, you've got to try a little harder to win.

But if you get to be savvy with your shopping, you'll win. I'm around $6/50 rounds, and I don't cast bullets.

Start with brass. Have you got any brass? If NO, then why is that? You haven't kept the brass from all the shooting you've been doing? If you've been shooting a while and thinking about reloading... and you haven't saved your brass then yeah, you don't deserve to save any money. :P Good for you that it's easily rectified.

Moderator Evan Price has enough 9mm brass to fill a Volkswagen bus. He'll make you a deal that you don't even deserve. Start there.

Next is primers. When they got stupid during the Barackolypse, some joints sold them as high as $50/1000. But you shouldn't have to work to hard to get them for $30/1000 right now, so get them.

Bullets... Berry's makes fine bullets and Powder Valley has a great price on them. TJConevera has great deals, too, shipping included. You are looking at $85/1000 from TJConevera. That's 8.5/slug.

Powder. Please, no Lil' Gun. :oops: Hodgdon Universal, if you are fortunate enough to get to Fin Feather Fur will set you back $108+tax for 8 pounds. 8 pounds of Universal will make you over eleven thousand rounds of 9mm ammo. If you need more than eleven thousand rounds of 9mm right now, I suggest you hire a staff to help you.

$0.03 per round for primer, $0.01 per round for powder, $0.09 per round for slugs. That's $6.50 for a box of 9mm as long as you have brass. 9mm is BY FAR the easiest brass to find. Go find some.

I don't shoot steel case, aluminum case, Russian or other weird ammo. So the cheapest I know 9mm for is around $10 or $11 per box, plus tax. My $6.50 per box figure isn't getting taxed. That's a helluva savings. Any my ammo runs better in my pistols.

Some folks aren't cut out for handloading. If the whole thing looks like a tremendous CHORE... it will be. If it's a chore, you won't enjoy it, your ammo will absolutely suffer, you are better off taking a second job sweeping up eyeballs and spilled beer after close to buy your ammo.
I like to swap brass... and I'm looking for .32 H&R Mag, .327 Fed Mag, .380 Auto and 10mm. If you have some and would like to swap for something else, send me a note!
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Re: Thinking about reloading 9mm

Post by JediSkipdogg »

Sevens wrote:Wow. :shock:
Some of the things I've seen in here must be typos or something.
CCI Small Pistol #500 - $130/1000 or 1.30/each
This one I'm still trying to figure out... it's not a decimal error, because we can't get them for $1.30/100, I'm not sure where on Earth this figure came from.
Wow, suppose to be $130/5000 so .026 cents each. My chart works for my numbers, but not for copying into cents each. Works great for ordering supplies though.

Fixed my original post. Next time I'll just post my spreadsheet on here for all to read. It has all my variants bullets w/powder charges and different powders that I one day think of doing. Just haven't gotten to them all yet. I'm trying to make room in my safe and then I'll be able to hold 1000 rounds each of 9mm, 380, 40, and 45. I know, small amount, but I need a bigger safe already, and mine isn't even a year old. LOL It seemed bigger on the store floor.
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Re: Thinking about reloading 9mm

Post by Sevens »

I reserve a safe for guns and cash, passports, the kids savings bonds, etc. Ammo can go in a simple locked cabinet, like one of those sporting goods store's "gun security closet" type of "ain't never gonna be a safe" things.

Real estate in the safe is way too precious to be used up by a consumable like ammo.
I like to swap brass... and I'm looking for .32 H&R Mag, .327 Fed Mag, .380 Auto and 10mm. If you have some and would like to swap for something else, send me a note!
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Re: Thinking about reloading 9mm

Post by JediSkipdogg »

Sevens wrote:I reserve a safe for guns and cash, passports, the kids savings bonds, etc. Ammo can go in a simple locked cabinet, like one of those sporting goods store's "gun security closet" type of "ain't never gonna be a safe" things.

Real estate in the safe is way too precious to be used up by a consumable like ammo.
That's where I'm kinda headed towards lately and looking at. Just need to find one big enough to meet my needs and hold all my gun stuff. Heck, I just need a bigger house.

/sorry for the off topic

Back on topic I agree with what Sevens mentioned before. If you want to reload 9mm, you shouldn't have to spend a cent on brass. I think I go to a range and shoot my 9mm say 200 times but walk away with maybe 300-500 9mm depending on the day and how well others cleaned up. I don't shoot at Target World unless I really have to (aka someone else is paying) and when I do I pick up as much brass as my range bag holds. Sort it at home, clean it, and store it. FYI....those plastic coffee cans work great for storing brass. Also cat litter buckets work great too.

You will also need a sturdy desk/work bench if you don't have one already.
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Re: Thinking about reloading 9mm

Post by PB_Crisp »

My buddy at work talked me into reloading. He has a Dillon Square Deal B, with setups for .45, .357, and 9mm. After I bought my XD, the cost of ammo talked me into listening to him. We buy bulk powder and primers together to save on HAZMAT. 1k of Berry's plated 124's delivered to the door for about $80 = 8c per. CCI primers for about $25 per 1k = 2.5c per. 8lb jug of HP-38 and a 4.7 gr drop = ~1c per.
Total cost per rd = ~11.5c per
$11.50 for a box of 100 rds.

Yes, you can buy Blazers or Wolf for $8-$9 for a box of 50 (16-18 for box of 100) BUT you have to work almost as hard to do that. You have to watch for sales, and be willing to buy up a couple boxes at that time.

To shoot even cheaper, we scrounge up scrap lead and cast our own lead bullets. Its pretty easy to get a working recipe for .45's, and it took me a while to get the combo right for 9mm. I have settled on AA#7 for powder, and the slower burn rate seems to cause significantly less leading. I have about 150 rds down the barrel without a cleaning, and it is still shiny and the rifling is clean. shooting lead with HP-38 caused significcant leading and keyholing. The difference has been shocking.

As far as cost for shooting lead, I will quote numbers as if you bought lead. You can go on ebay right now and get lead ingots (melted wheel weights) shipped to your door for about $1 per lb. These numbers are ballpark. You can cast about 50 bullets out of a lb of lead (assuming 124 gr mold). that gets your cost per bullet down to ~2c each. Add in the primers and powder costs from above.
Total cost per rd = ~5.5c per
$5.50 for a box of 100 rds.

If you think about that for a few minutes (thats how long it took me), you realize that you can go shoot 9mm at EVER SO SLIGHTLY more cost per rd than 22lr.
If you try harder, you can load with Wolf primers, cheaper lead and get your cost per rd down to ~3.5c per about the same as a bulk box of 22lr. and of course, your time.

My co-worker and I (the guy I mentioned at the top) are going to do the 1000rd challenge...the version we made up anyway. We are going to Reload and shoot 1000 rds in a week. The plan is to do all the shooting in a long, multi-hour session in front of the plates at Miami Valley Shooting Range. Total cost per person in ammo will be about $35 - $40.

If you would like to stop by, and give reloading a try, PM me. You can pull the handle on my LNL AP one hundred times. You can walk out with the stuff you made, as long as you are willing to give me $11.50. I am in the middle of moving my reloading bench, and the room is a bit of a mess, but the press works :D
-PB
Last edited by PB_Crisp on Sat Feb 04, 2012 10:27 am, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Thinking about reloading 9mm

Post by ArcherAce »

Handloads online has a nice cost calculator. It makes it easy to figure out what you're spending on reloading.

Check out cabelas for a Lee 1000. I get dealer cost at Midway, but it was still cheaper for me to purchase my press and dies from Cabelas.

There was a discussion here years ago about how fast you can reload 9mm with a progressive press. I shot this video to show how fast I can run my 1000. It's still on youtube in case you want to see what the Lee 1000 looks like in action. Lee Pro 1000 Reloading Press (10 rounds)
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Re: Thinking about reloading 9mm

Post by ohiophotog »

I don't remember if anyone had posted any thoughts on the kit I posted a link to from midway for the Lee Pro 1000 9mm kit. What else would I need tooling wise to get started? I would like to save as much money as I can to get into it.

pB_crisp. Where are you located in case I want to take you up on your offer to try it out.

As far as the lil gun reference I'm not sure that I read of someone using it in 9mm on here but in all honesty it was the first name I seen on midways list of powder that I recognized from a post that someone made so I priced it. I figured there would be a few different types of powder but wow there's about as many different types of powder as their are firearms to shoot them from.
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Re: Thinking about reloading 9mm

Post by Sevens »

Buy a handloading manual first and read it. If you don't wanna pony up the jack for a manual, check your local library. Some of the better city library systems have load manuals that can be checked out. You can learn a HEAP from a load manual.

Another option is to attend a HUG meeting if you can find your way to Columbus.
I like to swap brass... and I'm looking for .32 H&R Mag, .327 Fed Mag, .380 Auto and 10mm. If you have some and would like to swap for something else, send me a note!
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Re: Thinking about reloading 9mm

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ohiophotog wrote:I don't remember if anyone had posted any thoughts on the kit I posted a link to from midway for the Lee Pro 1000 9mm kit. What else would I need tooling wise to get started? I would like to save as much money as I can to get into it.
Looking at that kit here is what I ponder you will need extra.

~Scale to check powder accuracy. A simple balance beam scale is perfect for starters.
~~~~I use http://www.midwayusa.com/product/712103 ... n-capacity" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; and also use a digital scale but I make sure the digital is calibrated properly by the balance beam.

~Tumbler & Media (unless you send your brass to Shooterwolf to clean for you)
~~~~My friend bought this http://www.midwayusa.com/product/414369 ... r-110-volt" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; and it works perfect. Just get the right media combination and your brass will come out shiny clean.

~Reloading boxes (if you save your ammo boxes you can use those and just stick a label on them with what's in it. I label mine with powder type, bullet info, and charge weight)

~Decent set of calibers to check bullet seating depth
~~~~I use http://www.midwayusa.com/product/604242 ... 14ID428284" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; and they work perfect

~Bullet puller for the occasional mistake to safely reuse the components. I've yet to find one I can't break, and yes, in two years I've broken three somehow.

I keep thinking I'm forgetting something but I mainly reload rifle so I have quite a bit of extras for that. Someone else will surely jump in on what I forgot.
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