Used once brass

[PPP]

What do you guys do with these if not reloading? Do they have a value - scrap dealers?

[Vince Green]

Our club gets a lot of scrap cases in popular calibres. A lot of people don't see any advantage in reloading now that cost difference has narrowed so much. Some we give away, others we scrap but lots of scrap dealers wont take in cases any more.

[PPP]

I see, I assume the recycling centre aren’t going to be over the moon either...

[Vince Green]

16 minutes ago, PPP said:

I see, I assume the recycling centre aren’t going to be over the moon either...

You can't send cases for recycling, first because they don't recycle any form of scrap metal anyway but any "ammunition" requires the place to be shut down and evacuated while a qualified member of staff comes down and carries out a risk assessment.

Best option I have heard so far is take any fired cases to the local nature reserve and scatter them around in the viewing hides by the lake  It gives them something to talk about 

Edited October 1, 2018 by Vince Green

[team tractor]

37 minutes ago, Vince Green said:

Our club gets a lot of scrap cases in popular calibres. A lot of people don't see any advantage in reloading now that cost difference has narrowed so much. Some we give away, others we scrap but lots of scrap dealers wont take in cases any more.

I save 60p against £1:60  each 

massive saving and I love loading  

[PPP]

12 minutes ago, team tractor said:

I save 60p against £1:60  each 

massive saving and I love loading  

So cost about 1 pound to reload?  I pay 1.25 for federal or Sako game head

[Vince Green]

5 minutes ago, team tractor said:

I save 60p against £1:60  each 

massive saving and I love loading  

People don't see it as being worth the effort, the people who reload probably pay more for their ammo than factory costs . PPU is still the favourite at around 60-70p, GGG 7.62 is about 60p a round and so good it shoots bullseyes consistently at 600yds. The NRA sell it so it can't be bad.

The new barnaul 308/762  at 38p is not match grade but good enough for training beginners at 200 yds 

2 minutes ago, PPP said:

So cost about 1 pound to reload?  I pay 1.25 for federal or Sako game head

What calibre? I know people who reload for £2 a round but its the best of the best. Some target bullets are around  a pound each on their own. Without the rest 

[team tractor]

45 minutes ago, PPP said:

So cost about 1 pound to reload?  I pay 1.25 for federal or Sako game head

Sorry I mean costs 60p a round. I was paying £30-38 for 20 (243) 

The thing is once I started reloading my shooting changed for ever. 1” groups at 160 yards with my howa .223 and that’s my shooting.

Edited October 1, 2018 by team tractor

[PPP]

43 minutes ago, Vince Green said:

People don't see it as being worth the effort, the people who reload probably pay more for their ammo than factory costs . PPU is still the favourite at around 60-70p, GGG 7.62 is about 60p a round and so good it shoots bullseyes consistently at 600yds. The NRA sell it so it can't be bad.

The new barnaul 308/762  at 38p is not match grade but good enough for training beginners at 200 yds 

What calibre? I know people who reload for £2 a round but its the best of the best. Some target bullets are around  a pound each on their own. Without the rest 

243. Shooting for fun, Pheasant and Partridge protection and supper.. I haven’t got spare time to reload to save £20/30 per month (tops) excluding equipment cost

3 minutes ago, team tractor said:

Sorry I mean costs 60p a round. I was paying £30-38 for 20 (243) 

The thing is once I started reloading my shooting changed for ever. 1” groups at 160 yards with my howa .223 and that’s my shooting.

I see, so for me around half price.. roughly how much would equipment cost?

[Dougy]

The saving in reloading is all relevant to the amount you shoot "if" you are looking at doing it to save money.  The initial outlay could be £150 - £500 or more . But it may be more than  just the cost saving, creating a more accurate load for your rifle for example,  or just another part of a hobby. 

 

But..... if your only going to shoot say 3 or 4 Deer a season then a box of 20 bullets will last you years. 

It all depends on what YOU want to do. 

[PPP]

8 hours ago, team tractor said:

 

7 hours ago, Dougy said:

The saving in reloading is all relevant to the amount you shoot "if" you are looking at doing it to save money.  The initial outlay could be £150 - £500 or more . But it may be more than  just the cost saving, creating a more accurate load for your rifle for example,  or just another part of a hobby. 

 

But..... if your only going to shoot say 3 or 4 Deer a season then a box of 20 bullets will last you years. 

It all depends on what YOU want to do. 

I’ll probably shoot the amount of deer you refer to, much I also enjoy our shooting club ranges and have foxes to remove.

i would imagine that I’ll shoot around 500 rounds per year max but equally probably not less than 300

Edited October 2, 2018 by PPP

[team tractor]

34 minutes ago, PPP said:

I’ll probably shoot the amount of deer you refer to, much I also enjoy our shooting club ranges and have foxes to remove.

i would imagine that I’ll shoot around 500 rounds per year max but equally probably not less than 300

So saving £1 a round using 300+ a year will pay for it in the first year . 

Dougy (above) taught me to load and it’s a real game changer. 

I paid around £200 inc dies for 223/243 . 

It also gives you another challenge at the range . Making an accurate round

[snow white]

I save £1 a time reloading

[phaedra1106]

My son and I target shoot, all our indoor (25m) stuff apart from 22rf are reloaded, saves a fortune over factory.

For outdoor we sometimes shoot twice a month and can use 2-300 rounds, for the 308 and 6.5 Creedmoor the average cost (using quality Nosler bullets) is around 45-55p per round.  Again that's a massive saving over decent factory ammunition.

It's been said, you may not save money by reloading but you will get to shoot a lot more

Edited October 2, 2018 by phaedra1106

[PPP]

Brilliant, thanks, if I can shoot more for the same money I’m V happy!

[robbiep]

For me, I found that 223 in PPU, whilst cheap, just wasn't very accurate - 2-3 inch groups at 100m. Hornady a lot better, but costing about £1.20 per round. 

By loading my own, using my own brass from my used Hornady ammunition, I can reload for about 43p per round, and have just as good an accuracy as the Hornady.

So first shot = £1.20

First and second = £1.63 (120p + 43p)

etc. 

First to fifth shot =  £2.92. So coming in at under 60p per round now.

After 5, I chuck the brass. It's now needing it's second trim, and it gets re-sized every reloading, and probably has a lot of life left in it, but I'm happy with what I've got out of it.

I shoot about 50 rounds a month. So that's a saving of roughly £30 per month, or £360 a year.

[team tractor]

26 minutes ago, robbiep said:

For me, I found that 223 in PPU, whilst cheap, just wasn't very accurate - 2-3 inch groups at 100m. Hornady a lot better, but costing about £1.20 per round. 

By loading my own, using my own brass from my used Hornady ammunition, I can reload for about 43p per round, and have just as good an accuracy as the Hornady.

So first shot = £1.20

First and second = £1.63 (120p + 43p)

etc. 

First to fifth shot =  £2.92. So coming in at under 60p per round now.

After 5, I chuck the brass. It's now needing it's second trim, and it gets re-sized every reloading, and probably has a lot of life left in it, but I'm happy with what I've got out of it.

I shoot about 50 rounds a month. So that's a saving of roughly £30 per month, or £360 a year.

I managed 4” groups with ppu . 1” with factory Winchester. 

1/2” Winchester cases reloaded . 

[PPP]

Thanks guys, I found Privi 90gr to be inconsistent, 2 rounds touching then one weird ‘flier’ (got a friend to try too so not just me) however much better than Winchester 100gr which was all over the place again (3 inch at 100M)

So far Federal 80gr are coming out the best giving a consistent inch and a bit group ( that will be me not the rifle, I’m sure the rifle is way more accurate)

Edited October 4, 2018 by PPP

[Vince Green]

On ‎02‎/‎10‎/‎2018 at 07:34, team tractor said:

It also gives you another challenge at the range . Making an accurate round

That's the real motivation for me, most of my time on the range is spent testing out new ideas.

But I can get 4" groups at 200yds from Barnaul .308 and that's only  38p a round from HPS, I've just reserved another 200 rounds to be picked up from them at the Trafalgar Meeting on the 20-21st of this month.

PPU .308 gives about the same performance, maybe a bit better, but that's creeping up in price, its about 77p a round now but the cases reload nicely. PPU .308 Match is definitely better but getting close to the mythical £1 a bang now.

GGG 7.62 is best of the lot for performance and price, its 60p a round and the cases reload brilliantly. I have seen some really good scores using GGG at 600yds this  year from a couple of our club members using top end F class rifles with all the whistles and bells, much better rifles than mine.

All of my reloads probably cost more than this ammo, some a lot more, but I am still chasing that one ragged hole, one day maybe

Edited October 4, 2018 by Vince Green

[Guest stevo]

I can reload a clone Vmax .22 hornet load for 38p a load 

opposed to £1.20 a load for factory version. For me the benefits are clear. Either way I just like making match grade ammo. I have spent a lot of time and effort on my loading set up and enjoy spending time at the bench  👍

funny thing is I hate reloading shotshells wouldn’t give it the time of day 😂

[PPP]

Thanks guys,  reloading is now sounding more appealling, local gunshop suggested 150 kit to start out plus materials..

Can I use a variety of cases, or should I just pick one type ( I have used brass in Winchester, federal and prvi)

 

Thanks!

[robbiep]

On 05/10/2018 at 07:50, PPP said:

Thanks guys,  reloading is now sounding more appealling, local gunshop suggested 150 kit to start out plus materials..

Can I use a variety of cases, or should I just pick one type ( I have used brass in Winchester, federal and prvi)

 

Thanks!

I'd suggest sticking to the same brand of brass - you will find some are thicker-walled than others, which means less internal space, which technically means slightly higher pressures - which (as I'm assuming you're going to be sensible and keep under 'max' loads) may lead to slightly faster (or slower) muzzle velocity, leading to a change in impact point.

Basically, it's one less variable to worry about if you stick to the same brass - or you hope so, anyway !

[Vince Green]

14 hours ago, robbiep said:

I'd suggest sticking to the same brand of brass - you will find some are thicker-walled than others, which means less internal space, which technically means slightly higher pressures - which (as I'm assuming you're going to be sensible and keep under 'max' loads) may lead to slightly faster (or slower) muzzle velocity, leading to a change in impact point.

Basically, it's one less variable to worry about if you stick to the same brass - or you hope so, anyway !

That's correct or at least keep different brands apart, you usually end up collecting a few brands as you go along. The real purists will stick to one batch of brass  but they tend to be serious target shooters on a mission. 

[PPP]

Crikey, that does sound serious, I’ll stick to the brand I end up with most of following testing... thanks guys!

[Imperfection]

I home-load everything apart from 22 for obvious reasons,but i also buy factory too. A while back i bought some S&B 303 from Bisley which i found terrible at anything further than 200 yards which was disappointing.

 I have to home-load for the 45-70 due to lack of factory ammo.

Home-loading isn't much cheaper than factory now sadly.