Do any of you guys load 9mm JHP?
In my experience, brass JHP rounds are waaaay more expensive than FMJ, even in bulk.
In my experience, brass JHP rounds are waaaay more expensive than FMJ, even in bulk.
Do any of you guys load 9mm JHP?
In my experience, brass JHP rounds are waaaay more expensive than FMJ, even in bulk.
If you load lead (blechhh, yuk) or coated lead (mucho better) you can still save. If you load jacketed, even cheap bulk jacketed it's not worth the time invested. Odd calibers or those that don't sell much are much better from a cost standpoint. Rifle the same if you are talking .223/5.56. Above that and you can still save a ton. Most of my .270 WSM ammo runs $35 a box and up! You used to could buy .300 Weatherby for that.
By my calculations, you can save about $40/1000 using coated lead bullets, or about $15/1000 using jacketed.
Bulk .223 55gr you can save about $25/1000. Considering that's about 5 hours worth of work for me, not including brass prep, it makes my time only worth $5/hr. Or in other words, not worth it.
I can load 9mm a little faster, and brass prep is considerably easier; but I figure about $10/hr value for coated lead 9mm which is still only questionably worth while.
Compare that to .300 blk using coated lead rounds for subsonic, and my value calc goes to $33/100rds or $65/hr. Or precision .243 Win where I can save $30+ PER 20 ROUNDS.
Thanks, you just put good numbers to my point. If you shoot a couple thousand 9mm a month I'd say it's worth it...IF you enjoy reloading and I do. FWIW, it works out about the same for 12ga shotshells. Plain vanilla bird shot loads you can buy for about the same cost as rolling your own. But get into more specialized loadings, heavy waterfowl, 28ga, or similar and you can pay back your investment on equipment really quick if you shoot much of it.
I'd even go so far as to say only if you shoot enough to justify a heavy duty progressive press with case and bullet feeders is it worth reloading 9mm/.223. I'd have to get where I could load a thousand every couple hours before I'd think it's really worth it. I will probably continue for the time being since I already have the brass and some bullets and the reloading setup (minus feeders). But I wouldn't start or recommend starting reloading 9mm/.223 at this point.
If those are the only calibers you shoot, it would take 30k plus rounds just to recoup the $1000 (easy) in reloading equipment to load those two in bulk.
That's very true. For just going to the range and blasting for fun, it's hard to justify. Reloading can be used as a means to another end though, the competition loads we shoot in USPSA/IPSC/IDPA are a little bit underpowered from factory, but the recoil is drastically lighter. For 3 gun rifle, your load is as much a part of the "system" as the go fast goodies in your gun. It just depends on what goals you set.
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