Cost of handloading common caibers used in bench rest competition

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BobZ

Guest
I have not hand loaded rifle ammo in many years, since I was a competitor with a 06 in 3 position. Later I went to .22 rimfire and fired many a round of Eley 10x which now cost around 38.00 a box of 100 or about .38 cents. Now that I am getting sub 1/2 min of angle groups with my air rifle and firing 150 to 400 rounds every weekend, I smile every time I shoot an X in bench rest competition when I calculate a .35 cents savings every time I pull the trigger. Many weekends I save around 100.00 with extreme accuracy at 25 meters with a 2mm 10 ring, on an international target. I calculate a minute of angle at 25 yrds to be approx. .125 center to center. My bragging group is a .009 center to center (good wind conditions.)

It takes at .35 cents a shot about 5,715 rounds or about 110 rounds a week to purchase a new $2000.00 air rifle each year. Unless my math is wrong, that's just over a case of Eley 10x a year. Case price is probably a little less.

I am really curious what hand loads cost now plus the value of time (unless you have fun doing it.)

Bob
 
the obvious answer is it "costs" me nothing it is a hobby with its own reward for hard work.....
a person that fishes seldom figures the cost pr lb or would just go buy at a store.....
there are big costs in car racing, but ask a racer to put a price on the smile..it aint gonna happen......

look a the cost of the rifle and how long the bbl (dosnt)last..or never worked and you go to the next one.....

if you have to look at your fun based on cost, me thinks you are not truely enjoying life....
go for a walk..it only cost shoe leather(rubber)....
mike in co
 
Here is an business 101 saying: If your primary goal is to reduce costs, stop production. Cost drop to zero.

Corollary: Reducing costs should never be the primary goal.
 
I could save a ton of money and time just by buying a side of beef and to the produce stand instead of deer hunting and gardening. You just have to enjoy it enough to not worry about the money.

My wife never could understand why I would get out of a warm bed before daylight and hang on the side of a tree in the freezing rain waiting to see a deer that I can shoot and then drag a mile through the woods. I don't even like it as much as beef, but it's what I do and I don't even try to rationalize it.
 
Charles E said:
Here is an business 101 saying: If your primary goal is to reduce costs .....Send the work and job to Communist China

Corollary: Reducing costs should never take place over corporate leaders whopping big salaries...I.E. A typical CEO salary in Japan is 20 times shop wages...in the US that CEO's pay scale is 400 times shop wages
Click to expand...

Ever wonder where this "to reduce production costs send the work off shore to a third world country" came from? Ever wonder why US CEO's put more effort in increasing their bloated salaries than in managing the operation? That is what they teach in the MBA degree programs at Wharton, the Sloan Institute, etc. Our current crop of managers can't manage so they outsource to someone who is working for sub poverty wages.

Give them a Grumman G5 and they are good to go!!

Being an old aviation type I'll never forget when Eastman Kodak gave us poor souls at Tennessee Eastman their G2 Grummans so they could buy G4LR's which allowed them to fly non-stop from Rochester to Communist China....now look where EK is!!!
 
Lots of comments, opinions, "wisdom" but no answer to your question. Here's the math for my 30 BR:

Lapua 6 BR Brass (100) = $90 (amortized over many firings, hard to put a price on the brass. Mine have over 30 firings each and still going.)
Euber 118-gr. FB bullets (100) = $37.50
CCI BR4 Primers (100) = $4.40
Hodgdon H4198 (100 @ 35.0-gr.) $12.00

This gives a cost of approx. $53.90 for 100 rounds, 53.9 cents to pull the trigger. Overall enjoyment = priceless.

I looked at the new breed of air rifle and there's a lot more going on than 3c a pellet. $600 air tanks, costly refills, etc. Air is not the answer for me, but sure you enjoy yours.
 
Thanks for the great response especially from the cost doesn't matter guys. My intention was not to demean anyone's choice in the enjoyment of competitive shooting. I have always been a "have your way guy"
I am 75 years old and have been a competitor more than 50 years. I have been an enthusiastic shooter in most every discipline except shotgun.

I am sure that many of the guys with the cost response, also try to bring new shooters to their game. Cost is a major factor with many shooters in today's economy. The challenge is the same in most any competition, as the distance increases the targets get bigger.

Competition air rifle shooting is a growing sport mostly for the challenge and not for the cost. Few center fire shooters fire a couple of hundred shots most every SAT. and Sunday.

I think we would all agree that aligning the sights and squeezing the trigger and hitting the mark is what we enjoy. I just get to do more of it on my budget.

Enjoy what you do. Bring people to the shooting community or keep them from leaving the game. Just a chuckle if I may. Your are all shooting air guns. I get mine from a scuba tank You get yours by burning powder which which creates pressure from expanding gases.

Keep on ShootN'
Bob
 
I have thirty cases for my thirty BR. Three seasons old. I estimate 3000 rounds fired with them. I figure less than 1 cent per firing and going down the longer I use them. The case can be a small part of the cost. Depends how persnickety you are.

37 cents for the bullet, 9 cents for powder, 1 cent for case, 1 cent for primer = 48 cents a firing.
 
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glp said:
I have thirty cases for my thirty BR. Three seasons old. I estimate 3000 rounds fired with them. I figure less than 1 cent per firing and going down the longer I use them. The case can be a small part of the cost. Depends how persnickety you are.

37 cents for the bullet, 9 cents for powder, 1 cent for case, 1 cent for primer = 48 cents a firing.
Click to expand...

Thats the way I see it around 50 cents a shot.
 
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