Thinking about getting into reloading 9mm. What cost per round would be typical, reloading?
That would be target rounds not high tech special ammo.
Mild 9mm - but enough to cycle my P320 with a comp - about .02 worth of powder, eight or nine cents per bullet (I use Hornady Action Pistol which are more expensvie but extremely accurate) and about .10 per small pistol primer. They have probably gone down in price since COVID made them so scarce I had to drive to Tulsa to purchase them. In fact I’m sure of it. I purchased large pistol primers for .08 a few months ago, and didn’t even pay tax on it.
So you’re looking at roughly .20 per round, possibly slightly less. This assuming you use range brass, which I do.
The Lee 4000 Progressive loader, complete with shell plate and 9mm dies will set you back about $300 after tax, but well worth it in time saved. The cost was amortized after the first week, as I also got dies and shell plate for .45 and .38/357.
Edit: I just looked it up - an eight pound container of Titegroup powder can be had right now for $210.99. Depending on your load, that’s about 15,000 rounds worth.
If accuracy is important to you, reloading will get you better results than factory ammo in most cases. This was my second trip to a range today - .38 Special at 10 meters, but on double action just to make it more interesting:
You can see how double action tends to give a more vertical dispersed group, at least for me. That’s fourteen rounds.
First range trip at 0700 was with old SF buddy I recently ran into after 20 years.
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You don’t save money on reloading, you just shoot more…
And my advice would be to purchase a Dillon press. Yes they are more expensive than Lee but they are of way better quality. After I switched to Dillon all my red presses has been sold or given away.
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Die and a shell plate for each new caliber are about $70. I calculate my .38 Special is about $.22 per round and .357 Magnum slightly more. Currently with tax I’d be paying $.73 or even more depending upon which factory ammo I purchased. So after 600 rounds the press paid for itself. And I’ve produced a hell of a lot more than that. I’ve got a combined 1000 rounds on hand of those two calibers alone. Not to mention assloads I’ve already shot.
Then there’s the fact some folks are payng me to reload for them, and supplying their own components, save for the powder.
Also, don’t tumble my brass. Titegroup is very clean burning, and my cartirdges don’t suffer for lack of shininess. I used to clean each and every primer pocket but I don’t even do that now.
9mm is indeed the least cost effective of the calibers I reload. But it is still slightly less expensive than crap ammo like that from Midwest, and even more economical than the more well known brands. What I really enjoy is making ammo specific to each gun. My race gun needs more powder than my compact to make it cycle correctly. And when I compete again I’ll load some mild .357 Magnum rounds. (I plan to compete in the pistol/carbine competition again next year at Bluebonnet Ranch, only this time with an S&W 686 and my new Henry carbine. No one did that this year - it was all semi-autos and AR-15’s.)
Nothing wrong with my Lee press either. Switching calibers is a breeze. You can even buy several powdwr measurers for the dispenser so you can instantly swap them out with known weights of powder that each will dispense every time. And with the new quick install collets there’s no need to adjust dies ever again - they rotate in 1/4 turn and they are already adjusted from the last time you used them. I highly recommend this set up.
This is my range haul today, over 200 .38 Special and .357 Magnum cases, plus not shown -a lot of .500, 30/30 and .45.
Already decapped and resized all of it tonight.
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I’m a member of two different ranges - an outdoor one that is probably visbible from space, (long range and reactive steel targets) made of millions of old tires as berms and backstops.
and an indoor one with A/C that I take my wife to. I’m friends with several of the range safeties, and they all watch out for revolver and other “exotic” cases. Hence the haul from yesterday from one if them. It’s clean and presorted. All he asked in return was ten .357 Magnum cartrideges. I gave him twelve since he has a six shooter.
The cost of the “gun” the cleaners,solvents, targets, range fees, headset, glasses, bag and equipment all add into the final cost. Do you see what I am saying? The cost of the gun you are shooting is a factor in the cost of you shooting.
To me those are not costs associated with shooting, but rather life. I’ve written those costs off years ago. Being SF I received a lot of the things listed. They wanted us to shoot as much as we ciuld on our own, and I did.
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A Staccato, you say? Speaking of that. My latest acquisition.
The X300 came off my VP9, which is my current EDC.
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I was extremely impressed with the Staccato. Out of the box it shoots as well as the P320 I built. But for $4400 I could buy three Henrys and another handgun (S&W 629?)
It may still be in the cards, but It I’m pretty sure I’ll get the Henry in .44 Magnum next, which means I’ll certainly have to get the Model 629 to complement it. Five inch barrel.
I was looking more into the Springfield. I might give that a go possibly.
The DS Prodigy only come in either 5” or 4.25”, but it is similar to the Staccato P.
I can get my hands on a Staccato P or a C2, but I can’t afford the $2400 price tag yet, so I’ll try the Prodigy and see how it fairs.
Already have plans to swap out parts, like the hammer, mainspring and possibly the slide stop to better suit my needs.
But for now, I replaced the crappy soft case that comes with the Prodigy for a nicer 5.11 soft case, only $32 for it.
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Since 9mm headpsaces off of the mouth, and not the rim of the cartirdge, I don’t care about the head stamp. I’ll mix several brands together and it doesn’t affect accuracy at all.
As for my revolver loads, well those don’t headspace in the traditional sense, so head stamp is again no issue for me. However, most of mine are grouped together by head stamp simply because I like to keep a lot of fifty or one hundred cases together so they’ll all be fired the same number of times, as a group. If/when one starts to split, then I might expect the rest to start going soon. So far this has not been a problem. I’ve used some cases five times now. I’ve read where with hotter loads the head stamp tends to get worn down, but the cases are still usable. Until they’re not. Even then I’d probably cut them down to .38 short.
One thing I am careful about - mixing .380 and 9mm together. It’s easy to mistake one for the other, and a 9mm bullet can be forced into a .380 case with a press.
They’re using Cordless Hole Puncher in a “PC” radio spot at Crazy Gun Dealer’s in Burleson, TX. Pretty funny stuff. They advertise all kinds of guns without ever using the word “gun.”
Elsewhere in shooting news - I scored another assload of brass last night from one of the range guys. Not sure how or where he got it. It’s already sized and deprimed.
Shooting never gets boring for me, but it can become, let’s just say less challenging. So I made up a bunch of .357 Magnum and started shooting my revolver in double action only at 10m. It makes sense - in a self defense situation I’m not trying to put rounds in the same hole like I do on single action. I’m please with the results. I could probably avoid the flyers if I slowed down a bit. That SWC ammo makes nice holes.
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No, but I load with Titegroup, which is a very fast burning powder, which may explain why.
Speaking of Staccato, I met a friend at the range yesterday who has one, plus a Tavor X95. The X95 does not like left handed shooters.
I may still get the Staccato, but as I said eralier, I’m not as enamored with it as I was - the P320 I built shoots just as well for less than half the cost.
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I had number eight next to me yesterday. Arrived with my wife, started prepping our guns and target. Guy next to us empties entire mag into target. One round goes dead center. So he loudly exclaims to his girl, “Dead center! Dead center!”
And then he does it again. One out of what, fifteen, sixteen? “Dead center! Dead center!”
I pit my target out 3 yards past his, and cacked off a group with my .357 Manum wadcutter loads.
I was sorely tempted to say loudly to my wife, “Damn, hon - not a single one dead center.”
But I didn’t.
Then my wife shot. Silence from the adjacent lane for the rest of the session.
I will confess to being “that guy” when it comes to offering unsolicited advice.
Earlier in the week there was a kid to my right with his (God, I hate this term-) Memaw.
He had a laser mounted on his pistol. I could see that the laser was dead on every time he aimed, and yet when he fired he was barely on paper, if at all.
So I went over and said “Nice laser,” And he preceeded to tell me he had just purchased it.
I told him the best thing he could do is take it home and dry fire with it over and over until it doesn’t move when he squeezes the trigger. I told him I had one on my Beretta that I used as a training tool. (for when I shot strictly double action)
Then I suggested a better grip and stance for him. Not wanting to be “that guy” I wrapped it up and started to go back to my bay. But he says “Can you show me?”
So I took my little P320 Compact (taking the compensated P320 with the red dot might have sent the wrong message) and fired ten into the ten ring, which was completely unadulterated up to that point… Then I inserted another ten round California mag into and said, “Now you try.”
He went from not hitting paper to an eight inch shot group Why, one of them was nearly Dead center! WIth a short sight radius Sig that he’d never fired. Mission accomplished.
No one has ever complained when I help. But then, I never offer advice to Joe Bob when he’s trying to impress Bubba, or worse, Carla Jean.
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While I appreciate the skill involved, what can you possibly shoot at with a M1911 that needs 27 rounds to kill it? I thought it was designed as a short-range man-stopper for officers to defend themselves if bad guys got past the rest of the rifle squad. Surely if a few rounds don’t do it, it’s time to switch up to bigger firepower…
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Spray and pray.
27 bad guys. But remember, that was a 9mm M1911, not a true .45. While a 9mm isn’t generally considered a manstopper, ultimately it’s about shot placement.
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I am a little ignorant. Just wanted to say that up front.
I have watched a lot of YouTube about which pistol/ handgun is best and why. Some of the reasons touted are capacity, grip angle, serrations, rifling type, weight, stippling, trigger play, spring weights, grip length,bla bla bla…
I agree that shot placement is a key factor ( Training) and reliability (gotta work every time). everything else is fluff. My state has the 10 round limit. So what. The 1911 has 7 rounds? Do we say it is a bad pistol? No. A revolver has 6 or less. Is a Python or a GP100 a bad handgun? No. If I can keep the bullets in the black at 15 yards, I should be able to solve the problem in 2 or 3 rounds with 7 as a back up.
If you are talking target shooting and competition, the same applies. It is all about shot placement, time and reliability.
I think he was talking about the 1911 for the military as an officers weapon with the enlisted with rifles.
The 9 mm automatic is more accurate than many other pistols and handguns for various reasons. It boils down to hitting a target. If you are 70% accurate with a 357 or 85% accurate with a 9mm, go with the 9mm. You have to hit the target regardless of bullet size.
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Isn’t the answer “the one in my hand at the time”?..
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