Very roughly, figuring 4 cents per primer, 30 cents for a bullet, and at 30 dollars a pound for powder and roughly 57 grains per shot, 25 cents for powder, about 59 cents per round. .. Of course you can beat that by shopping around..
The thing about it, by reusing the brass, you are saving almost half the cost of a store purchase ammo! Not to mention you can load what ever you want as far as bullet weight and speed!
Cost savings is not going to be that big,if you save at all, unless you shoot a whole lot. But being able to roll your own is nice, you can try all kinda different things. But if you load like the 45-110 sharps, or any of the other black powder cartrige cases then you save a lot. In fact it’s really the only way you can shoot them.
Just looked it up, in the last year I have shot 369 rounds between 2 claibers. Previous years I bet I e shot less than 50 rounds. Between buying all the equipment and shooting alot more I haven't saved a penny. Now I believe it's totally worth it because of shooting more and with factory ammo my 308 was shooting over inch groups, wile loading my own I'm shooting .5" groups.
If you shoot a lot of volume, it'll save you money. If you want to wring out the most from your rifle that you only shoot 100 RDS a year in, it probably isn't worth it money wise. But I'd still spend it.
As others have said, it really depends on volume for savings. Between pistols and rifles I probably load north of 3,000 rounds a year. Most of that is pistol. I love being able to tinker with a rifle round and find what works best in my gun. It's amazing how little changes and turn a 1" gun into a 1/2" or better gun.
I like to shoot .44 magnum. $70 to $100 per 100 at the store. Well, I can't afford to shoot many at that price. So, I handload. Primer, 4 cents, powder 5 cents, Bullet 11 cents (store bought powder coated cast, jacketed cost lots more). So for a little time and $21.00 per hundred I can afford to shoot a little. It cost even less if I cast bullets myself. Now I didn't add anything for equipment. Have not figured out how to amortize my equipment costs. I have 2 progressive presses (XL650, and Square Deal B, a single stage and a Lee classic turret) so I probably have $2k in equipment. I shoot volume in .45acp, 9mm, .44 mag. I precision load for rifles as I don't shoot them as much, but I can load much better than store bought most of the time.
As for saving any money, the only way I see any savings is, I shoot what I want, when I want. If I counted each and every cartridge I shot in a lifetime, yes I save money versus store bought. But I would save more if I just didn't shoot as much. If you don't shoot much, you wont save money. But if you like to shoot, then you will enjoy handloading. If you want precision, and can pay attention to detail, then you can have much better ammo, in higher quantities. It's not like you just follow a recipe, and you have great ammo (most of the time), you have to load and shoot lots to develop loads your rifle likes. A side effect is you will also become a better shooter. There is no way to hone your shooting skills than to shoot, shoot, and shoot some more. So, spend a couple of hundred bucks on a basic loading kit, and get started. Then in a few years you can look up and say "how the heck did I get an entire room in my house dedicated to this hobby?" But look at all the money you saved.
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