How much did you spend on equipment (not supplies) to reload?

[C-130 Dude]

Very hard to really add up. A few upgrades were Christmas Gifts form my Fiancée, like the RCBS summit Press, and the RCBS Powder power measurer and Scale combo. I have added Forster Micrometer Seating dies for every caliber I load for. It is now time for match grade powder measure for Comp Shooting. Still have the older stuff which I was happy with, and still upgrading after nearly 55 years . Over $1000.00 , invested. Hope to continue to keep upgrading. Striving for improvements all the time.

If you got gifts and freebies, they count. Figure out the unit cost and add it in.

 

[C-130 Dude]

Just look at a area 419 press, if your a ol rockchucker like me.Thats a eye openerr

Can't see that far.

 

[Stonyman88]

I have heard lots of folks asking how much does it cost to reload. There is the initial expense and there are the ongoing expenses. Like updating equipment when something new or improved comes out. Or you get into another caliber. All in, how much do you have in equipment only?

Old friend always said to me if you have to ask you can't afford it, lol but depends how much you are shooting, or what your reloading for, the price and availability now is crazy, so hard to answer the Q your asking. Also if you can even find what you want to reload. Kinda like fishing, you can catch a fish with one lure, but what one do they want the day your fishing.?

 

[thomasbangs]

As I started buying my own reloading equipment in the late 60's (before that I either used my families equipment or my uncles or Dad loaded for me), it would be difficult to put a price on the cost I have paid for reloading equipment as I now load for 20 or so calibers both rifle and pistol not to mention four gauges of shot gun plus I load for two sons, one Daughter-in-law, one grandson and counting, one granddaughter and counting, and myself, but the game that has been harvested over the years and the target groups my reloads have provided, priceless.

 

[.300 Dakota]

About $600 to get started in around 2002, and easily 15 - 20x that since

 

[Dudley45]

Depends. Will my wife see any amount I post?

Lol
Amen!

 

[griz375]

I have heard lots of folks asking how much does it cost to reload. There is the initial expense and there are the ongoing expenses. Like updating equipment when something new or improved comes out. Or you get into another caliber. All in, how much do you have in equipment only?

The cost to reload is way to variable to give an actual dollar amount, the biggest variable being what cartridge are you loading for, and what bullet you decide to use, and everytime you reload a piece of brass the unit cost drops slightly. Fact is you can get started into reloading for well under $500, and if you're just reloading a couple hundred rounds a year for plinking and hunting there's no need to go buy all the latest greatest gadgets, a simple single stage press will serve you fine. I would recommend buying your set up a piece at a time vs buying it as a kit. To be honest all you absolutely need at a bare minimum is a press, dies, scale, deburing tool and your components. That being said there's a couple other things that are highly recommended, a hand priming tool, some form of case trimmer, and a caliper. Every thing after that is a luxury item.

 

[BHP9]

More than likely in the neighbourhood of $20000.

 

[C-130 Dude]

More than likely in the neighbourhood of $20000.

Holy moly!

 

[bjdiaz3190]

Over the years it's probably been the equivalent of selling a kidney because -admit it or not - we all go overboard eventually. I started with a LEE Precision Challenger kit over 10 years ago and surprisingly I still use the press today for my rifle loads (one at a time with lots o TLC). Most of the accumulated accessories are sitting on the shelf seldom used or not at all. I can throw a load manually with the LEE cups with +/- 0.1 grains precision after years of practice on a simple digit scale even though I have the automatic dispenser. Slow but effective. I'm in no hurry. Most of the time spent to my amazement is brass prepping and QC, particularly to make sure I don't double charge a round . It has happened, but never again. I carefully weigh all rounds to make sure nothing slips by. I use Lee precision dies for most of the calibers I reload, except for my 6.5CM competition loads for which I use Redding dies with the caliper knobs. The bottom line is that if I knew then what I know now I would have been able to buy a couple of the extra expensive firearms that have lived on my wishlist for the longest time. Closing and to the point... $1000 is a good figure to use, including a set of dies for one, maybe 2 handgun calibers. From there on... it's a wild ride to neverland.

 

[PatriotHenry]

I have heard lots of folks asking how much does it cost to reload. There is the initial expense and there are the ongoing expenses. Like updating equipment when something new or improved comes out. Or you get into another caliber. All in, how much do you have in equipment only?

I might need to put on some "depends" before I started adding it up!

 

[C-130 Dude]

More than likely in the neighbourhood of $20000.

Is this all personal use? Not for resale?

 

[C-130 Dude]

Over the years it's probably been the equivalent of selling a kidney because -admit it or not - we all go overboard eventually. I started with a LEE Precision Challenger kit over 10 years ago and surprisingly I still use the press today for my rifle loads (one at a time with lots o TLC). Most of the accumulated accessories are sitting on the shelf seldom used or not at all. I can throw a load manually with the LEE cups with +/- 0.1 grains precision after years of practice on a simple digit scale even though I have the automatic dispenser. Slow but effective. I'm in no hurry. Most of the time spent to my amazement is brass prepping and QC, particularly to make sure I don't double charge a round . It has happened, but never again. I carefully weigh all rounds to make sure nothing slips by. I use Lee precision dies for most of the calibers I reload, except for my 6.5CM competition loads for which I use Redding dies with the caliper knobs. The bottom line is that if I knew then what I know now I would have been able to buy a couple of the extra expensive firearms that have lived on my wishlist for the longest time. Closing and to the point... $1000 is a good figure to use, including a set of dies for one, maybe 2 handgun calibers. From there on... it's a wild ride to neverland.

Slow, steady, and precise wins the race.

 

[gohring3006]

I have thousands in equipment, but if I had to start from scratch I could do everything with a Lee kit.