How much do looks affect your fire arm purchases.

[BillM]

Or a main battle tank like I had.

Cheater!!!

 

[cwheatley]

Reload the .243, cost of ammo will be much lowered

Yeah, but time = money unless you enjoy reloading in of itself.

 

[Perplexed]

Yeah, but time = money unless you enjoy reloading in of itself.

This. For me, reloading is a bit stressful and a hassle, so the idea is a non-starter.

 

[turkeyrun]

I have to agree, if I were rich enough to buy all the firearms I wanted, I would probably have an AR-10 in 243 Win just because.

Yep, 'cept it would be .260Rem

 

[Frank Pope]

I buy what tickles my fancy at the time.

There is something about a deep blue finish and fine fitted walnut stock. But, I just traded a Browning A-5, because it was too pretty and I didn't want to carry it afield. Though, I would have, had the opportunity arisen.

At one time, I wouldn't have touched a stainless firearm. Today, some of my favorites, in the safe, are stainless.

One thing I have never owned is a "plastic fantastic". No 9's, no plastic, no striker fired. Not to say I never will, just I never have. (and probably never will. Have shot several, like my 1911s better)

I fully support anybody that likes to shoot, shooting what ever they want to shoot.

If the price is right, I don't mind something mechanically sound with finish issues, those I can fix and no one will be the wiser.

 

[Rez Exelon]

Yeah, but time = money unless you enjoy reloading in of itself.

True, but like many things, all can be quantified. For instance, for 9mm last time I checked, I could save approximately 5 cents per round. Assuming I want to pay myself $50/hour for my time that gives me an output target of 1000 rounds per hour. Even with a well turned progressive, that's a tall order IMHO.

However, using the same $50/hour target, if I switch to 375H&H where my cost savings is ~$8 per round, I can take my time on a single stage or manual indexed progressive and then output around 80 units per hour fairly easy. That brings the amount I'm "paying" myself to $640/hour. (Okay, okay, it's less than that because I have a pretty rigorous routine for that caliber of rifle brass).

Point is, that the value of reloading is driven in quite a large part based on the cost savings associated with a given caliber, and even then it's tempered by the components that you use as well pushing savings up or down.

"Common Calibers" which have the lowest market price (9/223 and similar) are always going to have the lowest return on time, but you still get the benefits of A) having ammo tuned to your firearm. B) Availability when SHTF. Personally I load develop for the common stuff until I have 4-5 different recipes shooting similar and then walk away with the knowledge and focus on the better return on my time calibers, and especially the "I have this cool toy that they don't make factory ammo for anymore" calibers.

 

[Rez Exelon]

True, but like many things, all can be quantified. For instance, for 9mm last time I checked, I could save approximately 5 cents per round. Assuming I want to pay myself $50/hour for my time that gives me an output target of 1000 rounds per hour. Even with a well turned progressive, that's a tall order IMHO.

However, using the same $50/hour target, if I switch to 375H&H where my cost savings is ~$8 per round, I can take my time on a single stage or manual indexed progressive and then output around 80 units per hour fairly easy. That brings the amount I'm "paying" myself to $640/hour. (Okay, okay, it's less than that because I have a pretty rigorous routine for that caliber of rifle brass).

Point is, that the value of reloading is driven in quite a large part based on the cost savings associated with a given caliber, and even then it's tempered by the components that you use as well pushing savings up or down.

"Common Calibers" which have the lowest market price (9/223 and similar) are always going to have the lowest return on time, but you still get the benefits of A) having ammo tuned to your firearm. B) Availability when SHTF. Personally I load develop for the common stuff until I have 4-5 different recipes shooting similar and then walk away with the knowledge and focus on the better return on my time calibers, and especially the "I have this cool toy that they don't make factory ammo for anymore" calibers.

One more thing to add that there is definitely an initial startup cost for the equipment and some expenses as you become more and more preferential in the world of reloading equipment. That said, I've personally paid off all the equipment many many times over and consider it well worth it. Every time there's an ammo shortage I get to laugh as a side benefit.

 

[Mr.Glock]

None.

 

[NikatKimber]

Totally subjective.

Depends on what the purpose of the firearm is.

Self defense or "social" defense then "Looks good" means it effectively and efficiently does the task at hand.

Collector, safe queen, or range toy... well then, I want it to look attractive to me. And that may be different than what is acceptable, but then I don't care what other people think about that either.

 

[Dmc707]

True, but like many things, all can be quantified. For instance, for 9mm last time I checked, I could save approximately 5 cents per round. Assuming I want to pay myself $50/hour for my time that gives me an output target of 1000 rounds per hour. Even with a well turned progressive, that's a tall order IMHO.

However, using the same $50/hour target, if I switch to 375H&H where my cost savings is ~$8 per round, I can take my time on a single stage or manual indexed progressive and then output around 80 units per hour fairly easy. That brings the amount I'm "paying" myself to $640/hour. (Okay, okay, it's less than that because I have a pretty rigorous routine for that caliber of rifle brass).

Point is, that the value of reloading is driven in quite a large part based on the cost savings associated with a given caliber, and even then it's tempered by the components that you use as well pushing savings up or down.

"Common Calibers" which have the lowest market price (9/223 and similar) are always going to have the lowest return on time, but you still get the benefits of A) having ammo tuned to your firearm. B) Availability when SHTF. Personally I load develop for the common stuff until I have 4-5 different recipes shooting similar and then walk away with the knowledge and focus on the better return on my time calibers, and especially the "I have this cool toy that they don't make factory ammo for anymore" calibers.

My affinity for .300 Weatherby and 45-70 is exactly why I have a Rockchucker setup.

Haven’t used it in years but it’s there when I need to

Also inherited a CZ-52 in 7.62 x 45 (Y did the Czech’s have to make everything weird and complicated) - But to get any utility out of the rifle at all, I think I may have to make my own ammo