Selling reloaded ammo

[NikatKimber]

If I didn't reload, I would say there is a place for both the ubercheap blaster ammo, and the better stuff. Some times (and for some guns), all I care is that it goes bang. I have other guns that justify the added cost of more accurate ammo.

 

[HiredHand]

Don't call it reloaded ammo. Call it remanufactured ammo, it sounds better.

 

[Honeybee]

First of all.. The guy asking the question about reloading prices's is in the Tulsa area... that area is being hit harder due to the lack of local supplies. I can't tell you how many guys a week from Tulsa contact me wanting reload's or reloading supplies... But yes... id say if you weren't in Tulsa 50 cents per round is too high.. I have a buddy in tulsa that is casting his own lead bullets for 9mm and is loading them for people for .45 to 50 cents per round and is selling rounds. However, he doesn't have a store front and won't have to face any of these people again.. once or should things return to Normal. That's what YOU need to consider since you own your own gunstore.. goughing customers now.. won't bring you respect later. I generally have priced and sold my 9mm ammo (lately).. at anywhere from 30 to 35 cents per round right now.. Normally if you can make 80 to 100 dollars profit from reloading 1000 rnds your doing a pretty fair deal and people will see that.

This is exactly the information I was looking for, thanks younggundavid for your input.

 

[okietom]

It really is almost new ammo. All of the moving parts are new. The bullet, primers, and powder are all new materials. Get some printed boxes that say "Honeybee Custom Ammo" and sell the heck out of it.

Call it "Custom Ammo", that is even better than remanufactured.

 

[O4L]

Hmm. been reloading a while myself now.. about 15 years... Precision delta bullets... 9mm 115 grn fmj rn... 93.00 per thousand or 89.00 per thousand with an order of 10,000 rnds. so that's 8.9 cents per round Plus powder... buy good powder in 8lb can's.. you'll spend roughly 15.00 dollars per pound. Depending on charge your going to use roughly 3/4's of a lb... so let's say 1.2 cents per round for powder. Primers at 35.00 per thousand... 3.5 cents per round... good once fired military brass... 40 dollars per thousand.. so .4 cents per round... so that would be 17.6 cents per round.. if you put 1000 rnds of 9mm in an ammo can to sell to customers.. your looking at roughly another 12 dollars for the can.. that's another 1.2 cents per round... making a total of 18.8 cents per round.. or roughly 19 cents per round. So his costs seem about right..

Buddy of mine is a licensced manufacturer of ammo... The average price on military brass (if your the one bidding at the military bases) is roughly 3.8 cents per round from the results of bids from the last 90 days.. IF your the one doing the bidding.. if your purchasing from the ones doing the bidding you'll pay nearly double that(right now)...He buys 1.2 million primers at a time(straight from winchester)... and still pays.. nearly 2 cents per round for primers... and his powder comes in 70lb drums.. he still spends nearly 1 cents per round for powder.. He order's 1 million bullets at a time as well and his plated bullets are still costing him 6.3 cents per round once he receives them.. So I guess if you could go out today and invest 150,000.00 dollars to buy enough brass/ bullets/ primer and powder in bulk .. you could probably get the price down to about 12 cents per round..

First of all.. The guy asking the question about reloading prices's is in the Tulsa area... that area is being hit harder due to the lack of local supplies. I can't tell you how many guys a week from Tulsa contact me wanting reload's or reloading supplies... But yes... id say if you weren't in Tulsa 50 cents per round is too high.. I have a buddy in tulsa that is casting his own lead bullets for 9mm and is loading them for people for .45 to 50 cents per round and is selling rounds. However, he doesn't have a store front and won't have to face any of these people again.. once or should things return to Normal. That's what YOU need to consider since you own your own gunstore.. goughing customers now.. won't bring you respect later. I generally have priced and sold my 9mm ammo (lately).. at anywhere from 30 to 35 cents per round right now.. Normally if you can make 80 to 100 dollars profit from reloading 1000 rnds your doing a pretty fair deal and people will see that.

Your posts seem to contradict each other, young david.

In the first one you say that making $.19 profit on a $.20 round is about right. That's nearly 100% markup.

In the second post you say that $80-$100 profit on 1000 rounds is fair. That would equal about a 50% markup from what he states it is costing him to reload.

Which is it? Should he sell for $.40 a round or $.30 a round, neither of which is the $.50 + per round you defend in the first post.

 

[Sanford]

Some times (and for some guns), all I care is that it goes bang. I have other guns that justify the added cost of more accurate ammo.

Exactly, be it commercial or reloads ... err ... remanufactured.

 

[ASP785]

I will spare the vitriol and answer the original question posted.

Based on your reloading rate of 400 to 500, charging an upcharge of .10 above your round cost for labor is fair. That puts you at the .30 to .40 cent per round price depending on caliber. I don't see how anyone can get upset about that. It puts your profit at $50 and hour, which may be good or bad depending on your overhead.

 

[Onslow]

I use Hornady and Sierra bullets because accuracy is more important than cost to me, However I can just save these for myself and start using cheap lead or copper plated bullets, but the accuracy is lost then, I guess the members here don't care as long as they can get it cheap.

I have been getting
$15 for 20 rd 55 grain 223's
$25 for 50 rd 115 grain 9mm fmj
$26 for 50 rd 115 grain 9mm JHP
$27.50 for 50 rd 140 grain 40 s&w fmj
$35 for 50 rd 230 grain 45 fmj
$30 for 20 rd 240 grain 45 critical defense jhp
also have some 22 and 380 that I traded for
22 is $7.99 box
$25.99 for 50 rd 90 grain 380 fmj

I know most members here stand in line at opening of all the stores to buy it at listed prices and then hoard it or sell for big profit but my customers don't do that.
I don't want to gouge but cost has to be considered and so does labor.

Once ammo is available again at factory listed prices I will quit selling my reloads but for now my customers want to shoot.

Considering Winchester 100rd bulk pack 9mm that i picked up at Walmart for $25 OTD yesterday and Win 100rd .40 bulk packs for $36 OTD this morning, it's gonna be hard to compete.
Also last week was 325rd Fed .22lr bulk packs for $15-16 Otd and Fed 5.56 for about $8 per 20rd OTD.
Hard to compete with Walmart.
Then again, most of the guys I've been talking to at the range don't even realize ammo is hard to get.

 

[younggundavid]

Your posts seem to contradict each other, young david.

In the first one you say that making $.19 profit on a $.20 round is about right. That's nearly 100% markup.

In the second post you say that $80-$100 profit on 1000 rounds is fair. That would equal about a 50% markup from what he states it is costing him to reload.

Which is it? Should he sell for $.40 a round or $.30 a round, neither of which is the $.50 + per round you defend in the first post.

Not sure where the contradiciton is... I didn't suggest he sell his ammo at any price..

I mentioned the price I"m currently selling reloaded 9mm ammo at (30 to 35 cents per round depending on how much they want)

I mentioned the price a buddy of mine in the TULSA area is selling Loaded Lead bullet 9mm ammo (45 to 50 cents per round.. or at least he's been doing it since early February and has been up to a couple weeks ago) {he sent me a couple samples of his cast bullets to see if I wanted any to reload for myself.. hadn't touched base with him in a couple weeks}

And I mentioned that over the last 15 years if I could score 80 to 100 dollars per thousand rounds above the cost of materials.. that was about fair for what I did..

Then I mentioned that since he was a store owner.. (unlike my buddy) that he'd better price it so that he could still look people in the face and keep their respect later "when" or "IF" this get's over with.

Not sure "where" exactly.... I DEFENDED... .50 cents a round... I merely stated that in Tulsa a buddy of mine was getting that. I also stated.. that because this guy own's his own firearms shop... he needs to carefully watch what he prices his stuff for.

Not sure where I mentioned .19 cent's a round of profit is about right... A guy in an earlier reply... mentioned he was reloading for 12 cents a round and said the guy from Tulsa was wayyy too high on his prices for materials.... I simply piece by piece mentioned what it cost "Most" of the rest of us to reload 9mm ammo( not sure how he's using a precision delta bullet.. that costs most people 8.9 cents per round and is able to get brass/powder and primer for roughly 3 cents per round... to get his 12 cents per round for loaded ammo)... 19 cents a round is "normaly" what most of us spend to buy once fired military brass/powder/ primers and a plated or jacketed bullet. Of course that's most of us.. I've sold some reloading supplies here or there... and I know the guys who have bought reloading supplies from me are paying at least 24 to 25 cents per round.. just to get the materials from me too reload.

So you asked me "which is it" should he sell for .40 cents a round or .30 cents a round. neither of which is the .50 cents per round I supposedly defended... dude.. I didn't tell him what he should sell his ammo for. I only stated what I knew of the Tulsa area that might differ from the OKC area...(to help him form his own oppinion) and.... I told him what I was selling it for. I NEVER defended .50 cents a round... My whole point was to give him some numbers like he "Originally" asked for when he started this post... numbers that he could use to help him decided for HIMSELF.. what he should charge for a reloaded round of ammo... That's it..

So I"ll leave by mentioning the first sentence of my reply to you OLD PHART.. I didn't actually suggest "any" price for him to sell his ammo at.

 

[Quick_Draw_McGraw]

I will spare the vitriol and answer the original question posted.

Based on your reloading rate of 400 to 500, charging an upcharge of .10 above your round cost for labor is fair. That puts you at the .30 to .40 cent per round price depending on caliber. I don't see how anyone can get upset about that. It puts your profit at $50 and hour, which may be good or bad depending on your overhead.

A good and fair analysis in my opinion.