Loading has always been a mixed bag. Hard to beat promo load prices. Easy to make loads much better suited to your needs. I reload because it gives me many times the options that I can get buying factory loads. I can load 10, 12, 16, 20, 28 and .410 from 1/2 ounce to 2 ounces from sizes 9 to BB in lead, Bismuth or steel. Velocity can go from a sedate 1100 fps up to filling loosing 1450 fps. And I can do it in quantities as small as a few shells up to hundreds or thousands. I have more loaded shells than any two local Cabellas or Bass Pro shops.
Yes I can save money on some loads but cost is not that big of a factor. You can save $4-6.00 a box on some loads. 12 gauge promo loads can be bought just a cheap as you can load them. But the investment in loading can get large if you go into it in a big way. I have a Spolar with a Hydraulic system, a Spolar that is manual, with die sets for 12,20,28, .410 in 2 1/2 " and 3", five MEC 9000H in five gauges with two hydraulic pumps, MEC Steelmasters in 10 and 12, a MEC Sizemaster in 20 setup for 2 1/2" shells and several old 600 Jr loaders. Call it $10,000 invested and that does not get into metallic loading. Then you look at empty hulls, primers, powder, wads and shot you can all another couple grand to the total. Maybe more, a lot more. Yeah, a lot more. Unless I load for a 150 years I am not getting my money back until I sell everything off. Right now I finished counting up what shells I have loaded for shotguns and it is just over 17,000 reloaded shells and 2750 factory shells. Supplies on hand to reload about twice that many. More if I can find where I hid, mostly from myself, 50,000 Remington 209 primers. Metallic cartridges about three times that in factory with just a few hundred in reloaded bullets. 90% in four different calibers with the last 10% covering a smattering of maybe 10 other caliber sizes and most of these as reloads. Metallic components on hand for them almost nothing, except for a few primers which suddenly are worth their weight in Bismuth shot.
So my wife has asked me why I load? Lord knows it is not to save money, even I know that. I want flexibility in my ammo supply, to match gun and game, as best as I can figure my needs. When you go from clay targets be they Skeet, Trap or Sporting Clays, to Dove, Duck or Geese you need a lot of options in what guns to use, what ammo to take and even how much to have on hand. Worse I often supply everything for three or more people so everything needs to be on hand in depth. It just is a pain when I fall asleep and miss that one of my favorite low pressure powders is being discontinued until six months after the fact. I am sure there will be a alternative low pressure powder in the future, if I look for one. The real problem is that I reload against the normal for most people who load. I want lower velocity not the warp speed loads so fashionable today and I want pressure levels low where factory loads are loaded hotter to make sure semi autos function reliably. I doubt my 20 gauge, 7/8 ounce loads that are running 7,000 psi would keep my old Remington 1100 working. And I don't think factory 10,000 psi would keep my 20 bore Pope hammer gun in good health very long.
