Cutting Costs
Our marksmanship improves through practice, so shooting more and doing so economically is beneficial.
If you reload, there are a few ways to cut costs. Unfortunately, primer costs are now fairly significant, about 10¢ per round. We can only hope that the Fed raises interest rates enough to ruin the economy and bring primer costs down!
Buy with Friends to Share / Cut Shipping Costs
Hazmat costs are now $23 per shipment. A single hazmat fee applies to the entire shipment, no matter its size.
Coordinate orders with friends who reload to share the hazmat and shipping fees.
Buy in Bulk
You're not likely to find reloading components at Costco, but cases, bullets, and powder all sell for less if you buy more.
Primers are still very hard to find, though I'm getting more and more emails about primers coming available, especially foreign brands like Servicios Aventuras. Check ratings and YouTube videos to assess quality.
Powder is usually available in 1-, 4-, and 8-pound cannisters. You'll need to balance the cost savings, maybe up to 5%, with the need to store larger cannisters and the possibility of large quantities going unused for a long enough time for them to deteriorate.
Bullets are generally available in 100, 250, or 500 units. Perhaps 20% savings on larger quantities, whether lead, coated, gas-checked, plated, or jacketed. Easy to store.
New cases are generally available in quantities of 100. You can find deals on once-fired brass
https://www.oncefiredbrass.com/ which can bring the cost down, but you'll have to judge if it's worth it. Also, you can scrounge brass at ranges (if allowed) and pick up after friends who do not reload. You will of course
always pick up your own even if it takes you 10 minutes to find all of them!
Use Lighter Weight Bullets
Bullet cost is roughly proportional to bullet weight. If you can create satisfactory loads in a given caliber using lower weight bullets, they will likely cost less.
Use Lead Bullets
Lead bullets are cheapest, though of course have a higher propensity to lead your barrel. You might need to deal with messy lead bullet lube.
Some people cast their own bullets from bulk or scrounged lead. Don't know much about this, though to me, messing with molten lead and potentially toxic fumes has some drawbacks.
Use Plated Bullets
A happy and cheaper medium between lead and jacketed bullet is plated lead bullets. They can be driven substantially faster than lead without leading your barrel ... not as fast as jacked bullets, but usually fast enough. You may need to get a taper crimp die for revolver cartridges to ensure that your crimp is not cutting through the plating and exposing lead or weakening the plating, which might lead to separation.
Use Versatile Powders
Some powders can be used for multiple calibers. For example, you can often find a load for different projectile weights in many different calibers using Hodgdon Titegroup (my favorite!) or Alliant Unique. Velocities may not be quite as high as other powders, but usually reasonable. I've read about a number of people using Unique even in slower rifle loadings, though since the case capacity far exceeds the powder charge, there may be a risk of double (triple? quadruple?) charging.
Use Powders that Achieve Sufficient Velocities with Low Charges
Powders are sold by weight. If a 6-grain charge of a powder gets a velocity roughly similar to a 16-grain charge of another, you'll get many more loads of 6 grains than 16. A risk is double charging. There may be other factors in powder selection (e.g., accuracy, ultimate velocity, burn cleanliness, muzzle flash).
Use Versatile Powders: Across Calibers
Look at a reloading manual for the calibers you want to reload. See if there's any particular powder that is mentioned in a number of different loads that provides adequate results.
