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How Much Ammo Do You Reload?

3K views 30 replies 24 participants last post by  Killshot1 
#1 · (Edited)
I know that I'm not one of the ones here that reloads a lot, even though I've been at it for around 40 years. I don't usually shoot paper targets, except as a training tool, or to sight in a gun. Shooting on the move type shooting, along with a bit of point shooting is what I mostly shoot with pistols. I don't even reload for rifle at all. No need, as once one of my rifles is sighted in, they're good to go! I know it will hit what I shoot at so I have no need to shoot up a bunch of ammo. Even though I buy a bunch of ammo for my rifles! I use a Lee Turret Press, one of the old ones that you have to buy the parts to add to it, in order for it to become self advancing, and I do not own that part. I can load a bullet per minute with out getting in a hurry, advancing the turret by hand. And can load 100 rounds in an hour, if I push it a little. And that's from the time I get things dialed in. I reload a lot more ammo for the stash, than what I shoot up. Just curious as to how many rounds some of you make, and how fast you burn thru what you do make.
 
#2 ·
How much do I reload? All of it...and if you mean how much do I shoot? All of it. Now, I do have a Lee Classic turret, and a Dillon 550B, so I load until I run out of empties. I do try to keep a thousand or so rounds of my favorites on hand, so when I reload, it may be for a box of 50 or it may be a run of two or three hundred. Reloading is therapy, and I need all the therapy I can muster....I may load 50 in an hour or 300, just depends on how busy I feel.
 
#4 ·
I just started in January with my used Lee single stage. Instead of learning with hand gun rounds I started with .204 Ruger.

I now have 100 rounds of them and 100 of 30.06. They could last me for years.

For some reason I've saved all the brass I've ever shot so my next go round will be .357. I've still got a couple boxes of factory so I'm in no hurry but I do have over 200 empty brass to play with.

No, I'm not a volume shooter so I have no need to be a volume reloader. I'm still enjoying the learning process though.
 
#7 ·
I have never really counted so let me think a minute. . . . . . the last time I went to the range, two weeks ago, I shot:

100 rounds of 9mm

100 rounds of .45 ACP

100 rounds of .38 and .357 combined

20 rounds of 5.56

I am going back to the range this coming Tuesday but I m only going to take one 1911, the AR with the new trigger, and the new Kel-Tec 9mm carbine so I will shoot about the same, minus the 38/357.

Since I shot it, I reload it!!
 
#8 ·
I'm not a high volume loader or shooter. Most of my shooting is done working up loads for new rifles, bullet weights or powders. I do load 9mm but I don't shoot a whole lot of it.
I also load on a Lee turret press. I do use auto indexing for 9mm and now 222 since I got the Lee auto drum. The auto drum throws extremely consistent charges. I can load 100 9mm in about 30 minutes if I recall correctly.
The rest of the rounds I load are too large for the auto indexing to work. I use a Lyman 55 to throw charges for those rounds. The Lyman 55 also very consistent but I still weigh every charge and make sure there is no variation in charge weight. .1gr +/- variation is unacceptable for me.
 
#9 ·
In a month I might shoot a dozen, or two .45, .44, .38, or .380. I don't shoot the .380, or the .357 all that much, not my cup of tea. Now if that .357 had a longer barrel on it, then I could justify using it as a hunting arm. If I can draw on the move, and get combat hits on a life sized target at 5 - 15 feet, then I'm good to go. Rifles I don't shoot much of, except for .22. If I can see the target, and the sights well enough to make hits with the .22, I can make hits at the same range with any of my rifles. I tend to shoot the .22 more than all other calibers combined, pistol, or rifle.
 
#12 ·
I buy very little factory ammo, just SD stuff. I load handgun ammo on a Dillon 550B and rifle on an RCBS Rock Chucker. I shoot approximately 3000 rounds of various handgun ammo per year, and maybe 1000 rounds of centerfire rifle, comprised of about 700 rounds of 22-250 and 300 rounds spread between .308, 30-06, 30-30 and 300 Win Mag.

Short answer, I reload approximately 4000 rounds per year.
 
#16 ·
I just got into it earlier this year, been looking into it for some time gathering supplies and tools all this while I have been saving my brass, between what I had saved at the time and what I have shot and reloaded since, I am almost through my first 1000 box of primers, I have maybe a hundred and some change left, and a handful of .380 I just shot so I'd say almost 900 so far, but I have not shot anywhere near as many, this was mostly brass collected over the past couple years or so.

so with limited time for this hobby I STILL RELOAD MORE THAN I USE, I was thinking of ordering some brass, maybe, the whole point was to reuse the brass
 
#17 ·
It depends. I don't burn up the thousands of rounds of revolver ammo I used to so reloading in general has dropped way back from that. Some rifle cartridges I handload are restricted simply by the cost of the brass. One of them at over $4.00 a case is not conducive to having a few hundred loaded rounds on the shelf. Over a year it will vary depending on what "new to me" cartridge/rifle combinations I'm working with and how they're behaving. Over the past year two rifles have seen the most of my handloading, the Rook rifle and the Schuetzen rifle. The first because I had it re-lined and it needed "shot in" and the second because I've been shooting it offhand quite a bit. Oh, the Reilly double in 500 BPE had a run for a while but it's back in the safe "pending pondering"....lol! Average is probably something less than 2000 annually.
 
#18 ·
All totaled, it's possible that I shoot up 2,000 rounds per year.
 
#19 ·
Ahhh....I forgot about a Husky 9.3 X 57 that consumed a lot of time loading for but most of that was working up brass for cast bullets due to the tight throat. Even with all that time there's still only 60 rounds for it on the shelf. Enough for a life time of hunting for me.
 
#20 ·
If I only had 60 bullets for one of my rifles I'd be in a panic!:D
 
#21 ·
I have a few hundred bullets cast up ready for sizing/lubing and loading. I only have 60 cartridges loaded.......:D No biggy, brass is easy to make from 30-06 and I have access to a pile of -06 brass......:D.
 
#22 ·
Before I started loading, I would just have my ammo stash for each caliber, that was way back years ago

Now, I still have my stash, most of it I loaded. Also now I have components to load much, much more.
Right now I am contimplating buying a few thousand 1X fired pistol brass if I can find a good deal on it.

I don't need it, I just want it
 
#23 ·
Before I started loading, I would just have my ammo stash for each caliber, that was way back years ago

Now, I still have my stash, most of it I loaded. Also now I have components to load much, much more.
Right now I am contimplating buying a few thousand 1X fired pistol brass if I can find a good deal on it.

I don't need it, I just want it
Cheapest I can find 45acp once fired is on Amazon $40 for a thousand Cases, 9mm I think is in the $20's range for 1000, Can't find higher than 350 rounds of 40S&W any where cheap.
 
#25 ·
There are days I'll load 25 rounds, and others I load up to 500 it just depends on how much I have going on

I normally load a lot. I have a flat or 2 of 1 1/2oz loads for my 12 gauge for summer squirrel hunting, about 2 flats of standard trap loads, a flat of handicap trap loads, 50 of the new high velocity loads I developed, 1,000 .308, a bunch of .45, and .223 I need to load up some 9mm because I shot it all lol
 
#26 ·
I am probably the oddball here, I do not own a pistol of any type. I strictly reload for modern centerfire rifles. I am still using the same single stage RCBS press I started with in 1966. Just finished up 45 rounds for my 6.5x284 Norma, 20 rounds for the 300 Win mag and 20 rounds for a 7mm08. I weigh each charge after throwing with an Rcbs Uniflo measure. I used to shoot a lot but age has caught up with me.
 
#27 ·
I shoot 8 different calibers and I reload for all 8. I shoot once a week at the range, usually a combination of at least 2 calibers, between 100 and 200 rounds. I shoot at the trap club once a week and reload my 12 gauge shells, 50/week. I cast bullets for 7 of the calibers I shoot. Needless to say, if I want to theres something to clean and/or load every night thank goodness. I think its a big part of the shooting sport. Like the man said its very therapeutic.
 
#28 ·
I don't reload for "stash" ammo. My stash is store bought ammo that's been sitting for years upon years. Everything I reload I shoot. 1500ish .45 acp, 1000ish 9mm, 1500ish .223/5.56 is what I'd say I reload and shoot a year.
 
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