Ammo Stockpile pricing it out: Factory-vs-Handloads 

When I think of what I have spend on reloading equipment it reminds me of the Tiger King guy going "I am never going to financially recover". But I really enjoy it so.

I'm self employed so work for $0 per hour, so my time is worth nothing.

The problem with hand loading is your trading money for time it is cheaper but takes a lot of time

Handloading is its own hobby, and its costs are much like the costs of building new guns. Something new is constantly coming along and stealing some more of your money and time so if you don't love it then it will quickly become the worst investment of your life.

Uncle's real name is Freedom.

I checked into the start up cost to reload .50 bmg. To reload 200 rounds of 660 gr ammo, the initial cost was around $1700. That's just the powder, primers, brass, press and dies. That's not including the things you need to prep the brass, powder scales and other accessories plus the time to prep the brass, set up the dies and your time to do the actual reloading. It'd be very easy to have well over $2000 invested just to reload the 1st 200 rounds. The powder when I checked into it, was over $300 for 8 lbs and you only get 200 rounds per container. I have reloaded 5.56 and some 44 mag and I've learned that reloading just isn't for me. I'll spend the extra for factory ammo but, that's me.

One thing you could also add to the handloading cost is amortizing out the case price by the number of reloads you expect to get out of it. On average, you should expect between 5 to 7 reloads out of brass. The hotter the load, the fewer reloads you can expect.

I just enjoy loading ammo just like any other hobby try not to think about the money I put into it all 😂

I miss the handloading that I did prior to wife and kids. Got more $ than time these days though....

I've been looking into reloading a lot lately. I live in California so the whole ammo price situation is out of control and that is if you can find what you want, if you have to order or online, hell that's another whole freaking mess. You should make a beginners guide to reloading man.

I'm just getting into 12ga reloading. So far I'm about $700 into it, and yesterday I made my very first complete #4 buckshot shell.

I thought your real name is Uncle Freedom? lol😂 Thanks for all the information, keep up the awesome work!

Almost 19K subs!! Way to go keep the awesome videos coming 👍👍

One thing you could touch on in this series of videos: some factory ammo has sealed primers and necks, which can extend ammo viability when exposed to oily chambers, sweat, rain, etc. This is major pro for a person's EDC ammo and kit.

Thanks to your teachings I have 200 rounds of quality 223 ammo thanks for the knowledge

What's your opinion on composit shells? Found them at the store in 5.56 and 308 not sure what to think of it, I do like that their lighter but what are the pros and cons? Or better yet, what does uncle freedom think?

Lol thats hilarious. Those Barnes 85 grainers are longer than some 9mm HPs I make. RMR Nukes loaded to a 1.06" COAL.

I load certain ammo, I buy certain ammo. Depending on what you're doing, either could be cheaper. I do not trust factory ammo for defensive ammo. Have seen too many in the past that would have caused failures, and should never made it out of the factory. The only thing I can not control with my loads is if the primer goes pop. And a properly seated, quality primer, fails so rarely, it's really a non issue.

I’m retired on social security now so it’s like the government is paying me to reload my ammunition for all my different guns lol

Hand-loading only makes sense if you're chasing that last MoA in a particular rifle or you're after something that's not available commercially.