First of all, thanks to LRH and this blog and all of the threads I have read and advice I have gleaned here. After weeding out the clueless know-it-alls and biased extremists, there is a lot of good info.
On to my quandary...
I have both the Savage 111 LRH and 110BA in .338 Lapua. (Birthday gift/timing mishap
)
I have put 100 rounds through the LRH and 500 rounds through the 110BA. Sellier and Bellot, 250gr. They both settled in after about 75 rounds to where I get consistent < 1" groupings at 300 yds (max distance on my property) with each.
Prior to, and ever since, I got the guns, everywhere and every blog reads, "if you have a .338 Lapua, the rounds are sooooooooo 'spensive, you MUST reload."
Even today, immediately prior to posting this (one of the reasons I am posting this), I read some others who are asking, basically, the same thing. Every response is one of two things - it is cheaper, or you get more consistency/accuracy.
I am calling BS on that, yet, can't help but wonder what I am missing. I don't see it as being cheaper, at all. On top of that, in every post I have read regarding the topic, seems the hard data has reloading as being MORE inconsistent (an HVAC, climate/pressure/humidity-controlled, industrial machine-laden, factory is much more consistent than Joe-Bob's basement using hand-tools).
Finally, I ran the numbers and wonder WHY anyone would even think to reload? Seems like a suggestion to cobble your own shoes or sew your own shirts.
Materials for 1,000 Rounds:
$ 1,619.50 casings (once fired - about twice as much for never-fired Lapua-brand casings)
$ 715.00 bullets
$ 35.00 primers
$ 350.00 powder (actually, with a 79 grain load @ 7000gr/lb, you are only getting 886 loads, not 1000)
That's $ 2,719.50 for 886 usable cartridges. That doesn't include the reloading set-up (dies, scales, presses, etc.). That's more than the average price of factory S&B's. ($ 3.07/per v. $ 2.67/per from Manventure Outpost)
OK, so, you are thinking - you will be re-using the cartridges. Let's say we get 10 re-uses out of each one. That drops the casings price per 886 to $ 1,261.95. Making the total for 8,860 rounds realized to be $12,619.50 (still, not including the reloading hardware).
That, at best, is a diminishing rate of return from $ 3.07 per round, initially, to $ 1.42 per round - AFTER 8,860 rounds!!! That's near 30 rounds, every single day for a year, or 100 rounds every single weekend for 2 solid years.
...averaging $ 2.25, realized, per round, after 2 years of shooting 100 rounds every weekend, not including the reloading hardware, nor your personal time spent doing the actual reloading, nor the replacement barrel after so many rounds.
Will reloading take my < 1" grouping @ 300yds down to < .8"?
Seems like I would be spending too much time looking for a purple grain of sand on the beach because it is softer than the other sand, instead of just sitting back and enjoying the beach. Is this an 'art' thing? Is there some Chakra, zen, or other personally soothing karma I might realize that I, simply, am not grasping?
I know this post is riddled with sarcasm, yet, seriously - why reload? We already know, based on real numbers, that it isn't cheaper - with the .338 Lapua, anyway.
Enlighten me - please.
L!
