I really like shooting, but it's getting expensive. So, if I buy the equipment and materials for reloading 0.38sp and 0.357mag., will it be worth it economically. I'm mostly interested in reloading 158gr. plain lead. I don't have unlimited free time, so I'd want one of those progressive loading presses.

I know hand loading allows a person to control everything for accuracy, but I'm primarily concerned about cost right now.

Hard to say. Most of us who reload actually do it to deepen our interests in firearms. Also whatever savings we might have aimed for goes out the window with the increased shooting we end up doing. So no, you won’t likely save money (especially buying a progressive press) but you most certainly would be shooting a lot more and having fun doing it.

there's a rather sizeable investment at the front end in press and dies, lube and trimmers, case cleaners, on and on. so no, it's not a good short term investment. how long it takes you to actually break even and much you "save" depends entirely on what you load and how much ammo you make. but let me ask a question: do you watch tv? how many hours a week? oops, that's two questions, sorry.

you might want to talk to eris, who just recently got started on the relative cheap, with a hand press. she'll have a good recent idea of what "cheap" actually costs.

How mechanically inclined are you?

Progressive loading of bulk pistol ammo can be a money saver, but diving in to that as your first reloading experience can be outright dangerous.

Read a lot. Watch a lot of videos. Think on it long and hard before deciding.

Here’s a nice place to start
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rj7JwO28Wzo

While I do save money over retail, my reloading enriches the sport more for me than I am enamored by savings. If I don't make time to make bullets, I can buy commercial. All fun for me.

CDFingers

Nope.

SR

Also, very important to the question is how much you shoot.

My progressive dedicated to a single caliber definitely paid for itself in the years I was shooting 250 rounds every week.

My Berdan brass gets recycled.

My Boxer brass goes to my reloader friends.

10:1 ratio in favor of Berdan means my time is better spent doing other things.

SR

For me it is worth it, but mostly I end up in the "I reload so I now shoot more" camp. I need to actually start reloading with my progressive for my pistols more, but thats mostly just going to let me shoot more. Where I do "save money" is reloading specific types of loads into cartridges that aren't mass market. For example: Loading 6.5x55 with match bullets instead of hunting bullets or loading .30-40 for less than $2 a round.

I would hesitate to recommend jumping into the water with a progressive though. I bought one after almost a year of working with my single stage press and am still learning how to get it to function exactly right, having to do that while learning the ins and outs of basic reloading seems like recipe for spending a lot of money on something really frustrating.

Marlene wrote: Thu Mar 14, 2019 11:29 am Also, very important to the question is how much you shoot.

My progressive dedicated to a single caliber definitely paid for itself in the years I was shooting 250 rounds every week.

This.

I bought a press, because I know that in CA, I have more freedom to buy components than ammunition, not for cost savings.

If I lived in Utah, I would probably just buy bulk 357.

Of course, if you ever decide to shoot somthing exotic, like 454, then it is totally worth it.

YMMV.

I'm trying to reload .45 ACP on the cheap, but I'm not saving money by it. That's OK for me, since saving money is not my goal.

I got into reloading to be able to customize the rounds I shoot to the gun. I bought a Lee Turret press so I can reload foster than a single stage and be able to change things faster than a progressive. I don’t have the need to make 1000s of rounds of the same type at a time. I do like the fact I can reload 38 spl loads in 357 brass o 44 spl loads in 44 mag brass and not have to worry about the carbon ring in the cylinders. Also to be able to load hot magnum rounds for my Henry rifles. It is fun to try different bullets and powder loads just to see what happens. But always remember SAFETY FIRST.

yes...safety first.

I'm using my turrent for load development and I will use the progressive for my final 357 load(s).

I got into reloading to save money and to tailor my loads to my guns. One outta 2 ain't bad.

I think I fall in the "don't save any money but shoot more." camp.

Having started reloading 3 years ago, I just got my first progressive. While I'm pretty mechanically inclined, I agree wholeheartedly with Marlene's advice above. I can crank out quite a bit of pistol ammo with a turret press and until I'm SUPER DUPER feeling good about my relationship with and understanding of the progressive, that's what I'll keep doing.

Happy reloading!

I think I meant a turret press when I said progressive. I'm wondering about the cost per round savings, if that is worth it. I mean .357 Fed. Eagle 158 gr. SJSP is like $28 per box.

when i bought my press i was thinking it's going to take a couple of thousand rounds to make up the expense of the press and accessories. and in the intervening years i've more than done that couple of thousand rounds, several times over, so yes, it has paid for itself. but nowadays i think of it not as more ammo or cheaper ammo or hardtofind ammo, but better ammo, and that encourages me to try to be a better shooter. at some point the expense of the setup becomes meaningless. if you've got the interest and the disposable income and the time, do it.

"Better ammo": +1

CDFingers

If you’re thinking about a turret, there’s also this interesting thing. Sort of a hybrid between a turret and a progressive.

https://leeprecision.com/auto-breech-lock-pro.html

Marlene wrote: Fri Mar 15, 2019 8:51 am If you’re thinking about a turret, there’s also this interesting thing. Sort of a hybrid between a turret and a progressive.

https://leeprecision.com/auto-breech-lock-pro.html

Thats a great looking press. If it was manually advanced I would seriously consider a purchase. As far as I know the only manually advanced progressive available is the Dillon 550. The 550 can be set up as a single stage press or as a turret press press besides progressive. To the OP yes reloading can make ammo very cheap, depending on how far you get into it you can produce ammo at a fraction of the cost of what factory ammo is and the equipment will pay for itself in very short order if you shoot a lot.

Looks like a mishmash of parts from the pro 1000 and the turret press. Interesting

Sent from my Pixel 3 using Tapatalk

Yeah. I think in terms of rigidity it might be a better solution than the turret. Also allows for more variety of sequences and styles of operation.

Deep13 when you say 38 or 357 do you own a 38 or do you just like shooting 38s in a 357. I reload 357s for my wife that duplicate typical 38 spec performance in her gun. I have no knowledge of anybody

making target wadcutter ammo in 357 and thats what she prefers. I cast my own bullets and have a mold for a very nice 158 grain bullet that can be loaded at both 38 spec velocity and 357 mag velocity for a mere fraction of that price you quoted for factory ammo.

Deep13 wrote: Fri Mar 15, 2019 3:34 am I think I meant a turret press when I said progressive. I'm wondering about the cost per round savings, if that is worth it. I mean .357 Fed. Eagle 158 gr. SJSP is like $28 per box.

I'll assume you're not casting your own bullets. For revolver ammo, you can probably reload a case 20 times, so even if you bought brass for $0.20, that would be 1 cent per round, amortized. Several times that for auto pistol, or at least with my 10 mm I always lost 20-25% of the brass each time (although for 9 mm you can no doubt cheat and pick up more than you lost from someone else's lane). What are primers now, 3 cents (I paid more because I bought all of mine 3 to 4 years ago)? Powder for a 9 mm or .38 is 2 or 3 cents if I'm calculating correctly. Plated bullets are 8-10 cents. JHP (Nosler) are 20 cents for .357. I kinda believe I get better accuracy with real JHPs, so they may be worth it.

So, 9 mm you're going to save very little. If you get free brass, they're still close to 15 cents per round with plated bullets, and factory is 20 cents.

Plated .38/.357 14-17 cents per round. JHP more like 25 cents. Factory starts at around 35 cents for .38? The margin has become a bit more favorable, at least for plated. The price of .357 seems to go up a lot more than the small increase in the cost of powder would warrant, so that's even better. Your .357 price is 56 cents, so that's pretty good.

The real savings is in "bear loads" for any of the magnum revolver cartridges. Those are pricey but you can build them yourself for not too much more than the light stuff. A big charge of slow powder in a .44 still only sets you back 8 to 10 cents. Some casters (I like Western Bullet despite sometimes very slow shipping) have heavy-for-caliber bullets at a fairly reasonable price. I've driven some big lead gas-checked bullets VERY hard out of my Redhawk and gotten good accuracy, for a total price of 50 cents per round. Factory price for those would be more like $1.20 a pop, at least. Of course, you probably won't shoot huge numbers of those babies unless you have some adamantine wrists!

If you saved 10 cents per round and spent $300 on equipment, how long would it take you to shoot the 3000 rounds needed to make up the cost? If you only wanted to shoot .357 JHPs and you saved 25 cents per round, you only need 1200 rounds to break even.

But you can't shoot MORE than you do now and ever catch up! My equipment budget was pretty modest but I'm sure I haven't paid it off. But I have LEFT the range after three hours with more ammo still in my bag than most people arrive with, so for me the benefit is having more ammo than I can shoot (even during the drought) and being able to tailor the loads to exactly what I want, instead of whatever they sell at Sportsman's Warehouse. In a revolver, that can be pretty fun. In an auto, too, but you may need different springs.

Wow, Buck... what a post. Did the math and everything!

eelj wrote: Fri Mar 15, 2019 10:40 am Deep13 when you say 38 or 357 do you own a 38 or do you just like shooting 38s in a 357. I reload 357s for my wife that duplicate typical 38 spec performance in her gun. I have no knowledge of anybody

making target wadcutter ammo in 357 and thats what she prefers. I cast my own bullets and have a mold for a very nice 158 grain bullet that can be loaded at both 38 spec velocity and 357 mag velocity for a mere fraction of that price you quoted for factory ammo.

Both. I have two .38 revolvers and 5 .357 guns.