This is a about what it costs me to cast, now it may be more and maybe less. But I sat down and pulled the numbers from mid-south shooting suppliers. Good co. and very helpful people!
So come pair these with yours and compare with HELL....I mean wal-mart.
Please add your comments and comparison of your own. I want to see what everyone else is doing and where this goes.
Oh some of the math may not make any sense because it was done quick in my head but if you flip numbers in the division areas it may work. I will go back and edit out my mistakes if you find any.
James

150lbs wheel weights
-20lbs wast
= 130lbs
/
$10
0.07

Gas checks 1000checks
/ $35.00
= .03

lube $3.50
# or shots unknown

1000 primers @ $25.00
=.02

1# powder IMR 3031 $19.00
38GR charge
437.50 GR per OZ
16Oz pound
7000GR per pound
/38
=184.21
Round down 184 rds per pound
19/184
=.10

.10
.02
.03
+ .07
= $0.22
PER CAST SHOT
that's $4.40 PER BOX OF 20 VS $25+ at wal-mart!

Also they cannot even start to simulate the fun and stress/anxiety releaf comes with the time casting.

now factor in the cost of your loading gear and casting gear and it closes the gap. Especially someone like me that has 8 presses and well over a 100 molds.

I have been buying cheap gunshow jacketed bullets for about 30 years so I have most of the rifle bullets I will ever shoot except for the big BPCR bullets.

I only use about 24 grains of powder and no gas checks.

I wonder about my friend Medhi in Iran. Last time I knew to shoot his pistol he had to deprime his brass, beat the primer flat, put toy paper caps in the primer and reprime the case.

Powder = .06 4759 @ $18/lb
Primer = .02 still using Clinton area primers
lead = .01 was donated but I had to buy tin
brass = .01 lasts forever almost

Total = .10 Not counting the power to melt the lead.

Total is $10/hundred for ammo that I really can't buy anywhere.

Gas to the range to shoot it up = Right now about $8 per trip.

My casting setup is pretty good but not terribly expensive. I bought nothing new other than a few close out moulds and most of it was bought between 10 and 30 years ago.

Correction...should be 437.5 grains in 1 ounce of gunpowder, not 430.50 because there are 7000 ounces grains in 1 pound.

"because there are 7000 ounces in 1 pound."

LOL you mean 7000 Gr's in 1 pound?

16 OZ 1 LBS
... ... ... Unless my state's education is really that bad. I know we are pushing last place for education! (Maine)

*Everyone can thank our Gov. for that! He has destroyed our state!*

Yes, of course. My correction is now corrected.

I edited my post, took all the rounding out, and fixed the GR per LBS. so it dropped from 5bucks per 20 to 4.40 per 20!

For me its not only to save, but the fun in it all. It gives me such a feeling of pride and a feeling of accomplishment. Many things people my age lack! (late 20's) Manly liberals "city slickers" who want to take it from us.

quote:

Originally posted by onefunzr2:
Yes, of course. My correction is now corrected.

Thank You, I need a good chuckle! All the new crap coming to light with the new president and laws trying to pass. Along with all the BS going with the exit of the white house.

My way of life seems like it is going to be ripped from me! Shooting, reloading, trapping and hunting. Just because city slickers dont like it......dont push your way of life us!

I'm not even going to consider the cost of my gear to cast bullets, some of which I bought when I was 16 years old. I probably have close to 100 molds and as far as lead to cast , well at 70 years old I figure I'll have a lifetime supply including 300 pounds of linotype. Probably 95 percent of my gear was amortized years ago. I still pick up molds that interest me when I come across them but they're few and far between these days. Only a couple are pricy custom jobs, most being just plain off the shelf molds.
Seems to me I've been casting bullets forever and I still haven't gotten tired of doing so. I figure a box of .38 Spl. target wadcutters costs me about $1.50, give or take a few cents and full power 30-30 ammo maybe $2.25 to $2.50 depending on which bullet I'm using, with lighter plinking loads about $.75 less.
FWIW, I probably shoot about 100 rounds of cast bullets in my rifles for every jacketed bullet. Lots and lots of cheap fun shooting.
Paul B.

Paul, I was wondering if you have done much casting for, 1906A3, M1 Carbine, M1 Grand, 303 Brit SMLE, 6.5x55 Swedish, or 9MM Luger? These are the rounds I cast for the most. Right now U use molds made by Lyman the most. Well Lyman molds are all I use right now. I m getting 1MOA at 50yds with my 1906A3 and 1 1/2-2MOA with the M1 Carbine At 50Yds. I need to get a larger mold for the 303 at 312 area. My 6.5x55 Swedish Mauser is getting re-barreled(+trigger, cock on open, stalk, safety, and muzzle brake) so that will be a hole different animal! So I m just looking for any little tidbit of info that would be most help to someone who has been casting now for about 2 years. I wrote a post to someone in anther forum that was getting started in casting and it reads as fallows;

"I picked up with this is you can cast too fast and you can pop them out too quick.
So a trick I do to keep my self from doing those 2 is I will cast the lead, set it down, clean up from the last casting and or do something else that take a few extra seconds to do. Then you pop those bullets out and do it again. I like to keep my lead in the mold up to 10 sec or so to make sure the lead has settled. You can pop them out almost emeditly but I found better results with this."