Question for frugal reloaders

[KRM45]

Greg, I bookmarked Midway.
KRM, where did you get 1000 for $65?

I don't recall, it was either Midway or Natchez.

[nuparadigm]

Venus,
The bullets you bought from Midsouth were FMJ's, the Midway price quote (on a reply, above) is on Ranier Copper plated bullets. There is a difference that is reflected in price: you will always pay more for Full Metal Jacket bullets than for plated ones.

If your weapon has polygonal rifilng (Glock, and all Kahrs except the CW9), then you'll want to stay away from lead bullets. If your weapon has conventional rifiling, then lead bullets are OK. Some folks will say it's no big deal to shoot lead out of polygonal barrels, but the manufacturers' manuals warm against it.

[fadlan12]

A good source for bullets and brass is ebay. I never buy powder or primers online due to hazmat costs ($10 or more per item).

[Venus Pax]

Went to dad's today & learned to reload. I'm in.
I ordered my Lee set-up today.

In the coming days/weeks, I will be annoying some of you veteran reloaders with questions.

[drinks]

Buy a Lee 10# bottom pour pot, a Lee mold, I like the 200gr TL452-200-SWC, cost so far about $70, start scrounging wheel weights, check tire stores, make your own bullets, use Lee tumble lube, shoot cheap for the cost of powder and primers after the cost of the pot and mold have been written off.
I cast for 19 calibers.

[Mike1951]

FYI

Thru 8/31, Midway has the Ranier plated .45acp 230 RN bullets on sale for $74.99/1000. They are regular $94.99.

http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.e ... t=11082005

Not as good as the $65 I was paying all last year, but likely the best we'll see now.

[dukalmighty]

What drinks said, i have a 20 pound lee bottom pour pot and 6 cavity molds ,you can pump out bullets faster than you can reload em,then i bought a castmaster manual bullet maker with 6 molds in different calibres with a star lubrisizer and a littleton shotmaker for lead shot but the price tag on the setup was about $2300.00.The lee pot with a set of molds can be had for about 100.00 or less and you can make your money back fast,i also bouth the TL molds which stand for tumble lube and use lee liquid alox for lubing

[olddudeone]

Shoot a Clark long slide and get my cast bullets from the Missouri Bullett Co. They have a web site and are good people. olddudeone ( missouribullet.com )

[Mike1951]

FYI

Thru 8/31, Midway has the Ranier plated .45acp 230 RN bullets on sale for $74.99/1000. They are regular $94.99.

http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.e ... t=11082005

Not as good as the $65 I was paying all last year, but likely the best we'll see now.

To illustrate how out of control pricing is, this same bullet is now on sale for $121.99/1000.

Regular price $128.99/1000.

http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.e ... t=11082005

In six months, the sale price has increased 62%, regular price up 37%.

Edited to add: I just checked Berry's and their price is $89.32/1000.

http://www.berrysmfg.com/57.php

2nd edit. When I added 1000 of the bullets to my cart, it added a lead surcharge of $39.60, bringing the total to $128.92.

So no deal at Berry's.

[Hamourkiller]

If you are serious about saving money, then you will have to cast your owne bullets. Scrounge lead for free if you can. Wheel weights, Lino type etc. Buy if you must. Casting them is the main way to save. Scrounge your brass if possible. This will get your costs down to a reasonable level. When I was serious about scrounging I could shoot .38 specials cheaper than 22 mags.

Good luck!

[Mike1951]

I swore I would never cast again, but I may have to rethink that.

I've still got the furnace, SAECO sizing press, some molds for what I was casting 25 years ago, and still quite a few ingots.

But it just hasn't been worth it to me.

As long as I can find somewhat reasonably priced lead bullets, I won't go back to casting.