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It is worth reloading shotgun ammunition?

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Published on Sunday, 22 January 2012 02:29

The question:  Is it really worth reloading your own shotgun ammunition?

Well, I would like to answer this question using the latest pricing information that I currently have available to me.   We all have to remember that a few years back, shotgun reloading was almost a no-brainer from an economic standpoint; over the past few years, the cost of lead and other constituents of shotgun ammunition has increased so much that many people are beginning to wonder if it isn’t just a better idea to buy factory loaded ammunition instead of spending the time to reload.  Since I am one of the people asking this question, I figured a brief analysis was due.

Alright let’s start with the basics; what do we need to make shotgun ammunition?  Well we need a casing (or hull), we need powder, primers, shot, wads, oh and reloading machine.  All of these components cost money, but some are reusable.  Much like centrefire rifle ammunition reloading, we can reuse the hull.  The conventional wisdom is that you can use a good case until you begin to notice cracks or fractures in the walls.  For my analysis, I have assumed that any case will be reloadable about 6 times; If you are using a polyformed case it is not recommended to reload this case more than 3 times.  The three best hulls for reloading are Remington STS, Winchester AA, and Federal Gold Medel Plastic.

We also have to ask ourselves, what gauge are we going to be firing?  The most common is 12 gauge, but as with rifle and handgun ammunition, the savings come quick and easy when you start to reload non-standard calibers, therefore I will also discuss 16ga, and 20ga.

 I will start by covering lead shot, but I also plan to discuss steel and bismuth at a later stage.  I would also like to mention that this analysis is based on the assumption that you (the shooter) are interested in reloading because you shoot frequently, and as such, we will be looking at #8 shot used in skeet and trap shooting (some of the most popular uses for shotguns).

Should you be interested in doing your own investigation, I would highly recommend the following websites:

www.ballisticproducts.com

- This is a fantastic website for anyone interested in shopping around for shotgun reloading supplies

www.midwayusa.com

- A veritable superstore for anything firearms related

Enough with the discussion, let’s talk ammo!

12 Gauge Lead Shot

*For my analysis I used prices from Midway USA and Ballistic Products Inc. 

*Reloading information from Lyman

When it comes to making your own ammunition there are many variable to take into account.  First and foremost, you have to find out where to buy your supplies.  Since shipping cost is an important factor in the outcome of this analysis I have had to include them.  I tried my best to use shipping calculators on the merchant websites as well as on USPS and UPS, but these should be considered rough estimates.

 When it comes to reloading, you should always be using good, reliable cases so that they can be safely reloaded several times.  With this in mind, I used two well known brands; Remington STS and Federal 12ga plastic hulls.

 I looked at the two most well known names is target shooting, Remington and Winchester; I was surprised to find that they have the exact same sale price.  There was a slight discount for buying a box of 250 rounds so I used this in my calculations.  If we are talking about your average target shooter, they are unlikely to buy a single 25 round simply because it won’t last very long.  On the table below you will see the prices that I used:

Reloading:

 As previously stated, for each round we can only reuse the hull, and nothing else (short of picking up your mangled wads and digging for lead).  Drawing on personal experience and reference material, I have decided that each case will be reloaded 5 times.  I understand that this figure might be somewhat conservative for STS cases, but we digress. 

 For the sake of simplicity I decided to use the same prices for the primer, power, wad, and shot.  The powder is Solo 1000 at 19grn per round.  Shot weight is 1 1/8oz.  Please see the table below for the breakdown:

 From the table above, we can clearly see that reloading high quality STS rounds is cheaper than buying them, the difference isn’t huge, but it is noticeable.  One interesting discovery is the fact that there is no economic benefit to producing your own “run of the mill” target ammunition. 

 So that’s it, right?  I mean if you want to save money but don’t want to buy cheaper ammunition, then you should reload.  Conversely, if you are a weekend warrior and don’t need the very best rounds, then avoid reloading because it’s actually more expensive than buying factory loaded rounds.   But the story doesn’t end there.  I was only looking at the cost per round, I wasn’t taking into account certain factors, such as batch size and shipping costs.

The Right Quantity:

 Reloading, like many other production methods, is a batch process.  As a producer of ammunition, we know that our batch size is limited by the supplies that we have available to us.  As monetarily conscious consumer we need to know how many rounds we are going to produce first, before buying out supplies.  Ok, what am I blabbing on about?  I’ll explain.  The units of measure for reloading components are all over the place; we buy hulls in packs of 100, primers in packs of 1000, powder by the pound, and shot by the sack.  Our units for reloading are different as well, for example, we measure shot by the ounce and powder by the grain. 

Powder:

 In this analysis, we are using 19grn per shot of powder, this means that we can get 368 rounds from a pound of powder (1 lb = 7000 grain). So for a batch size of 1000 rounds we have to buy 3 containers of powder. 

 Shot:

 For a 1 1/8oz shot weight, we are going to need 70.31lbs of lead shot.  Since the standard bag of shot weighs 25lbs, we’re going to buy 3.

 Conclusion:

 Since the units of measure are not equal to, or multiples of each other, we are going to have waste material.  For a batch of 1000 rounds we’re going to have to buy excess shot and powder, this will drive our costs up a little bit.  A larger batch size will have less waste relative to the overall quantity of material.

The table below shows us what a batch of 1000 rounds should look like (from your pocketbook’s point of view):

From the table above, you can see that with a batch size of 100 rounds, you would save about $37.68 if you reloaded your ammunition.  This $37 savings sounds great if you already have all the reloading equipment, but if you don’t then maybe you should read the next section on Payback period.

Payback period:

Well we have seen that reloading can save you some money.  The only problem is that you take advantage of the potential savings, you have to be willing to make a capital expenditure of a few hundred dollars.

 According to the Lyman shotgun reloading manual, an average person can get away with spending $250 for an average setup which will allow you to start reloading.  So if you you are starting from scratch, how long will it be before you save any real money? 

 To find the answer to our question, I have used the costs that I arrived at earlier in this article.  This time however, I have assumed that there has been an initial investment of $250 for equipment.   These single round estimates have been used to make the graph below:

Conclusion:

 If you are someone who has been considering shotshell reloading, you must be aware that it only makes economic sense to do so if you are a high volume shooter and demand the best quality ammunition.  Otherwise, you’re better off just buying factory loaded ammunition.