Parts Starting to Disappear

[RicosRevenge]

Rather self fulfilling advice/panic.

It equates to "hurry and buy this stuff because people are hurrying to buy this stuff!"

Threads like this are not doing anyone favors.

Actually, it simply equates to giving a friendly heads up to people in a community (this forum) who have builds working and could possibly end up not being able to finish on the timeline or budget that they had previously set based on a personal observation. Sooo... if this thread reminded ONE person in this community to grab an item they needed which is now on back-order or worse; then it served the purpose.

[TomSawyerNW]

Coincidentally, I've been thinking to stock up on reloading materials these past several weeks. My dilemma is that I haven't done any reloading at all. When I read about others' experiences with reloading, and subsequent accuracy, I get the impression that same brass, powder, etc., can be highly aligned with the barrel, and maybe more.

So, my question is for those experienced with this 'what would you do'? Would you stock up on supplies and powders, and hope that you've basically got it right? Or is that too close to buying a pig in a poke? No telling what's in store come November, but the anti-gun grabbers seem to have the edge. If the Clinton Crook gets in office, there's probably hell to pay for gun owners. And that's why I'm thinking to take the reload route.

I've read several articles on reloading (ie, http://www.shootingtimes.com/reloadi...grendel-shine/), related to propellants, brass, bullets, etc., so there's a slew of information out there. But that hardly makes me an expert.

I'm interested mostly in target shooting, 300 yards +, and with an eye on the economics.

Any ideas on whether it makes sense to stock up on reloading supplies would be a appreciated.

[LR1955]

Coincidentally, I've been thinking to stock up on reloading materials these past several weeks. My dilemma is that I haven't done any reloading at all. When I read about others' experiences with reloading, and subsequent accuracy, I get the impression that same brass, powder, etc., can be highly aligned with the barrel, and maybe more.

So, my question is for those experienced with this 'what would you do'? Would you stock up on supplies and powders, and hope that you've basically got it right? Or is that too close to buying a pig in a poke? No telling what's in store come November, but the anti-gun grabbers seem to have the edge. If the Clinton Crook gets in office, there's probably hell to pay for gun owners. And that's why I'm thinking to take the reload route.

I've read several articles on reloading (ie, http://www.shootingtimes.com/reloadi...grendel-shine/), related to propellants, brass, bullets, etc., so there's a slew of information out there. But that hardly makes me an expert.

I'm interested mostly in target shooting, 300 yards +, and with an eye on the economics.

Any ideas on whether it makes sense to stock up on reloading supplies would be a appreciated.

TS:

"brass, powder, etc., can be highly aligned with the barrel, and maybe more."

I guess Shooting Times did what most gun rags do, make it seem like you will blow up your rifle and the surrounding 100 miles unless you get accepted into some secret society of handloaders who 'know the truth'.

There are numerous threads on the Grendel Reloading forum that are pretty explicit about the most popular powders, primers, brass, and bullets being shot by Grendel shooters today. Same with equipment.

And it doesn't take a real long time to learn how to hand load. And it is not a science. More a boring task that lets a shooter produce ammo at about 30% less than buying it, providing you buy your components in bulk.

The initial outlay will be extremely expensive. Your gear will run you in the neighborhood of $1500.00 or so. Buying powder, bullets, primers, and brass in bulk will be another couple thousand.

Sure, you can buy cheap presses, measures, etc but you will be trying to sell them within a year. And buying powder, primers, and bullets at your local gun shop will cost almost as much if not more than buying the loaded ammo in bulk from an on line ammo seller.

I think your break even point may be if you intend on shooting more than about 200 rounds a month. Then if you want to spend a rather large sum of money as an initial outlay on gear and bulk components.

LR55

[TomSawyerNW]

Thanks, LR55. I think you make a very good case to stick with my current factory rounds. I didn't do enough due diligence to know the investment would be in that range. I have had pretty good luck with PPU ammo, so I think I'll stock up on that, and if ever find enough time to shoot 200/month, I'll look harder into self-loading. Thanks, again.

[LR1955]

Thanks, LR55. I think you make a very good case to stick with my current factory rounds. I didn't do enough due diligence to know the investment would be in that range. I have had pretty good luck with PPU ammo, so I think I'll stock up on that, and if ever find enough time to shoot 200/month, I'll look harder into self-loading. Thanks, again.

TS:

Normally the first question we ask a guy who wants to start hand loading is 'how many rounds a week / month will you shoot'. I was probably a bit low by giving the number as 200 rounds a month. I think somewhere around 500 a month of rifle ammo may be more appropriate. And if you bought 32 pounds of powder, 10K primers, and about 5K bullets at a pop to get bulk prices without going over DOT shipping fees, it would still probably take you three years before you broke even on your initial equipment investment. Someone on the handloading forum figured this out about a month ago.

Do remember that you can always sell your once fired brass. Once or twice a month someone who buys their ammo sells the brass on the Grendel Buy and Sell forum.

LR55

[RicosRevenge]

A lot of people think that they will save a ton of cash by rolling their own and LR makes a great point to those with that mentality.

I won't lie... I bought everything to reload for .308 based on that thought and rapidly came to the same conclusion LR1955 is alluding to. Black Hills Match 175s shot as good or better out of my then current LR rig than any handload I could build up and the cost difference wasn't that great so my ROI was low... and I sold everything.

When I got into the 6.5s I bought it all again just because I COULD make a better load than was available for my Desert Tech SRS in 6.5x47 Lapua. Yep, my ROI is still low - but now I really just enjoy loading and use it for my "quiet time." I just finished my build and the Hornady 123 SST rounds are shooting very well so no plans to load for it. But the bonus I now have is that should I decide to load for the Grendel; I have everything for it.

[Clays23]

Thank god I've already got all my parts for my 308 build 🙌

[lawndartmike]

I basically bought the following two years ago and have not found the need to sell anything yet:

Press - $150 (RCBS)
Dies - $32 (Hornady)
Powder measure - $66 (Hornady)
Powder trickler - $12 (Hornady)
Elec powder scale - $120 (RCBS)
Case trimmer - $72 (Little Crow)
Tumbler - $90 (RCBS)
Media separator - $37 (RCBS)

Total - $579 (current prices at MidwayUSA)

Add another $100 for misc stuff and you can reload whatever you want. It costs me about 45 cents a round for Grendel and 55-60 cents a piece for 243 and 308. My son and I shoot at least 200 rounds of each a month. If I average around a 50% savings that saves me at least $250 a month. It doesn't take long to make back your investment.

If I only fired 50 rounds a month, it wouldn't be worth my time.

I do keep a good stock of powder, primers, bullets and brass. I remember trying to find those items last time.....

[LRRPF52]

Thank god I've already got all my parts for my 308 build 🙌

What's your parts list for your .308 build?