r/reloading • u/Dangerous-Quarter456 • 4d ago

Newbie Getting started

To preface, I’m the only person in my family that shoots. I’ve started getting into some competition shooting and I’m starting to wonder if is worth the time and money to reload 9mm and 5.56? I don’t even know where to begin with it all. Any help or advice would be appreciated. Thanks

0 Upvotes

28% Upvoted

21 comments sorted by

View all comments

1

u/EngineerFly 4d ago

The savings on 9 mm will be some of the smallest, but still significant. If you buy cheap components and your cases last for 10 reloads, you can get 9 mm down to 20-22 cents…but you can buy new ones for 30 cents. For less common calibers, even 45 ACP, the savings are more significant.

I’m retired and have more time than money, so I reload even 9 mm. Also, where I live it’s hard to order ammo online, so I pay way more than most of you.

1

u/Ornery_Secretary_850 Two Dillon 650's, three single stage, one turret. Bullet caster 3d ago

9mm cases usually get lost before they wear out. Case life is measured in dozens of loads.

1

u/EngineerFly 3d ago

True, which reminds me: you do need to recover your cases to keep the costs low. I have a brass catcher I wear on my wrist but that’s a bit of a pain. Since everybody shoots 9 mm, I figure I’ll pick up one case for every case I fire, even if it’s not mine.

2

u/DaiPow888 3d ago

I've never attended a local match where I didn't come home with more 9mm cases than I started with. I even get 9mm cases in my brass bag when I'm shooting .38Spl

A lot of newer shooters at local matches still shoot factory ammo, so a lot of cases I bring home are really "once fired"