Guests left today and had a little time in the shop. I have been wanting to make a vertical shelf cleat for ammo blocks. Shooting season is starting !

Paul

Reloading is about the only way to afford ammo these days 

Very nice! 

 

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On 9/19/2021 at 9:04 PM, lew said:

Reloading is about the only way to afford ammo these days 

Not really. A friend reloads and makes his own bullets which he powder coats. He says at the costs today it is mostly a wash. The thing is lots of reloaders measure speeds of different loads and do sub normal loads to make shooting more fun with less impact. If you buy brass and bullets and then of coarse powder it might be higher than buying off the shelf. But for me my son gets a discount at work.

 

Forgot to say ammo is back on the shelf in  most calibers but maybe not in some specific loads. Been looking for Federal 380 Hydra-Shok and no luck yet.

Edited September 21, 20214 yr by Gerald

Functional and a work of art. 

7 hours ago, Gerald said:

Not really. A friend reloads and makes his own bullets which he powder coats. He says at the costs today it is mostly a wash.

+1

 

Reloading components have gotten expensive and in some cases rare.  It's kind of like a company owning the town's ambulance and hearse.  They've got you coming and going. 

 

For me the real reason to reload is for custom ammunition. 

Example of ammunition tuned to a specific rifle.... Ruger Hawkeye LRT in 6.5 CM.  Notice the low figures for extreme spread and standard deviation and the results on target.

 

 

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For me it’s the fun of reloading. I enjoy the building of the load and trying to obtain the best accuracy possible for a given rifle or pistol. This year we will be again going for the 1000 yard milk jug challenge with M1A carbines chambered in 6.5 Creedmoor. It’s a hoot and with the M1A should be reasonably difficult. 
Paul

I started handloading in the late 60's and still have my original press (RCBS). Back then the buzz was all able the savings, though for me it was just an enjoyable hobby. Tuning a load to a gun was just a fun way to get to shoot more ammo. But I agree with the above, today I'm not even sure it's a wash (costwise), the price and unavailability of components, plus the difficulty of getting primers and powder (both are shipped hazmat amking it fairly expensive) has really put a damper on any savings. Recently I've haven't done as much handloading/shooting as I would like, but I hope to turn that around here soon.

22 minutes ago, Fred W. Hargis Jr said:

I started handloading in the late 60's and still have my original press (RCBS). Back then the buzz was all able the savings, though for me it was just an enjoyable hobby. Tuning a load to a gun was just a fun way to get to shoot more ammo. But I agree with the above, today I'm not even sure it's a wash (costwise), the price and unavailability of components, plus the difficulty of getting primers and powder (both are shipped hazmat amking it fairly expensive) has really put a damper on any savings. Recently I've haven't done as much handloading/shooting as I would like, but I hope to turn that around here soon.

 

I've sharply curtailed activities at both the range and reloading bench.  Holding on to the ammo I have except for the occasional EDC practice session.  Competitions in the area are still impacted from C19. 

 

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