Pastor Don (Navy) and I have come a long way with our reloading equipment since I posted the first pictures on March 10th. We still have the Pacific single-stage press that we began with, but Don now has a Hornady progressive press, and I have added a Lee 4-hole turret press. I have retired my old RCBS powder measure, and replaced it with a Hornady precision powder measure for more consistent powder dispensing. Don's setup is shown at the left end of pictures #1 and #4, and my setup is shown at the near end of picture #2. All of our brass is cleaned and processed through our Lyman/RCBS vibratory case cleaner and our Hornady Ultrasonic case cleaner before reloading (pic #3).

Don is reloading 9mm, .40 S&W and 10mm on his progressive press, and I am reloading .357 SIG on my turret press. I also have turrets set up for 9mm and .40 S&W so I can keep us supplied with SHOOTING ammo even after Don starts reloading rifle ammo. We have reloaded about 2,000 rounds of ammo in the last two months, so we have been doing a lot of loading and a LOT of shooting.

What does it cost to reload pistol ammo? Bullets are costing us about 12-14 cents each, powder costs us about 7-8 cents per round, and "new-stock" primers are costing about 23 cents each. Yes, primers are the most expensive part of each round. I just finished using all of my "old-stock" primers today, which cost 1-2 cents each "back in the day".

Is reloading "economical"? That really depends on whether you want to be able to shoot your guns. 9mm ammo is "down" to "only" $40/box, if you can get it. Likewise with .40 S&W and 10mm, and forget about finding .357 SIG ammo at any price. The last .357 SIG ammo I found was $60/box, and it was $65/box (if you could get it) for several months. All of the .357 SIG ammo I have loaded so far has cost me about $12.50/box, or $25.00/hundred, and while the cost will go up when I start using "new-stock" primers, that will only raise the cost to about 45 cents/round, or $22.50/box, which is still cheaper than the cheapest I have ever been able to get factory ammo for.

Getting set up isn't cheap, particularly if you buy good equipment, which Don and I have, but It will keep giving us good service for many years. Total investment: $2,000 to $2,500, but the experience is priceless.