I am certain that this has been done many times before, but had to try for myself. Thought I would do an assessment of what it costs me to reload several different calibers of handgun ammunition and compare against commercial ammunition. The first thing I noticed was that most calibers cost the same to reload, except for the 9 mm.
These are average costs and I made numerous assumptions. For example, I used Winchester Autocomp powder, loaded to the middle recommended value in all calibers. I also assumed that one could get 8 reloads per piece of brass. Free range-brass will of course improve your savings by about $20 per 1000 reloads.
I estimate that it cost me about $800 to purchase all of the non-consumable reloading equipment such as progressive loader, dies, digital balance...
You will save ~$330 per 1000 reloads in 10 mm, 40 S&W, 45 ACP and 44 mag (on average), compared to same amount of factory ammunition
You will save ~$189 per 1000 reloads in 9mm, compared to same amount of factory ammunition
It will require 2500 reloads to pay for the non-consumables in 10 mm, 40 S&W, 45 ACP and 44 mag (on average)
It will require 4200 reloads to pay for the non-consumables in 9 mm
These are average costs and I made numerous assumptions. For example, I used Winchester Autocomp powder, loaded to the middle recommended value in all calibers. I also assumed that one could get 8 reloads per piece of brass. Free range-brass will of course improve your savings by about $20 per 1000 reloads.
I estimate that it cost me about $800 to purchase all of the non-consumable reloading equipment such as progressive loader, dies, digital balance...
You will save ~$330 per 1000 reloads in 10 mm, 40 S&W, 45 ACP and 44 mag (on average), compared to same amount of factory ammunition
You will save ~$189 per 1000 reloads in 9mm, compared to same amount of factory ammunition
It will require 2500 reloads to pay for the non-consumables in 10 mm, 40 S&W, 45 ACP and 44 mag (on average)
It will require 4200 reloads to pay for the non-consumables in 9 mm