Hunting ammo - reload vs. purchase

[hacksawfg]

So here is my question -

I have a deer rifle in .270 Win. Haven't had the chance to use it yet because of a couple of factors (first being we live in a no rifle caliber state, second, as much as I would love to go deer hunting, never done it before and don't have a mentor. I HAVE shot the gun though ). There are plenty of options for purchasing rifle ammunition in stores (well, at least Cabela's, Gander, etc., most of the smaller gun shops have not had the variety if they carry it at all).

For the hunters who use rifles (obviously in other states), how many rounds do you typically run through in a year? If you don't have any of the equipment to reload yet, is it worth the investment (especially since I don't see a whole lot of bulk buys on .270 brass or bullets on INGO)? I'm not sure how many weekends I'll be able to go shoot (not a whole of reasonable open-to-the-public options within 30-45 of NW Indy, if there are any at all), so my number of rounds probably wouldn't be higher than average.

Would the best option to supply the materials and let someone else load for me (i.e. I buy the brass, bullets, pay loader for powder/primers and labor costs to load)?

Also shoot 9mm, would rather work on checkering skills than reload thousands of rounds per year, so I probably won't need to scale up to a turret or anything.

 

[Tydeeh22]

shooting your own reloads brings ya so much joy. however, if you were to pay someone to reload your own rifle rounds, you'd only be wanting about 40 rounds per season depending on how many tags you intended on filling. the dies / powder / bullets would be so negligible in price that it isn't worth it to reload your own.

if you were to reload other calibers on your own, it may impact those numbers. 9mm is difficult to reload with tons of cost effectiveness. in someway i hope my endless ramblings have helped.

 

[hacksawfg]

shooting your own reloads brings ya so much joy. however, if you were to pay someone to reload your own rifle rounds, you'd only be wanting about 40 rounds per season depending on how many tags you intended on filling. the dies / powder / bullets would be so negligible in price that it isn't worth it to reload your own.

if you were to reload other calibers on your own, it may impact those numbers. 9mm is difficult to reload with tons of cost effectiveness. in someway i hope my endless ramblings have helped.

Kind of what I figured, trying to get the scales, reamers, the whole kit-and-caboodle and then the time investment just isn't viable for me at this time. Thanks for the help!

 

[shibumiseeker]

You can start to reload with less than $100 worth of equipment that will work just fine for low numbers of rounds per year. The bigger investment is the time necessary to learn how to do it safely.

 

[flatoutt]

I have hunted out west (AZ) for many years. I shot a box and half of rounds at the range getting the scope dialed in. After that, when I would go hunting I would shoot a 3 round group for a systems check at 300 yards. So you really dont need that much ammo. I would buy a good factory loaded ammo and save the brass. When you feel you have enough to reload then find a person to do it for you. Have it loaded exactly the way the factory did it. Then use those as your plinking ammunition and hunt with factory rounds.

 

[Broom_jm]

I grew up out in CA, where you can hunt with real rifles. For my HS graduation present I was given a Model 70 in 270 Winchester. I've hunted with it in CA, WI and MI. I live in Indiana now, but still hunt out-of-state several times per year. When I first moved here, and didn't hunt anywhere else, I shot maybe 20 rounds a year out of it...it was very depressing! Now that I hunt with it again, I still only shoot between 50 and 100 rounds each year, but there is a PURPOSE to it, so that makes it more important. It's not just shooting, which is also fun, but when you're getting ready for a hunt, it's more meaningful, to me.

In your situation, I would probably just buy a couple boxes of good quality factory ammo every year. Save your brass and if you ever do get into reloading, you'll have the stuff. If nothing else, you can sell the once-fired cases to me.

You can also pay a local reloading shop to make custom ammo for you. You probably won't save much over factory, but you could get a better product that is tailored to your shooting needs. Personally, I would learn to reload before I spent money on custom ammo, but if you're not planning a hunt anywhere that you can use the rifle, I'm not sure it makes sense to do either? Shoot a box through it a couple times a year and maybe you'll be inspired to book a hog hunt down south or go hunt with family in a state where you can actually shoot deer with a RIFLE!

 

[357 Terms]

I don't often leave Indiana to hunt so I don't own a hunting rifle.



I use the 357 in a 6.5 Blackhawk and a Marlin.

The 357 factory rounds( most of them) have been loaded down over the years.

I load 180grn XTP's to the max with V.V. n110 and sp primer.

Works really good!

 

[hacksawfg]

We go pheasant hunting in SD every year (mother's side of family all farmers with property), they said I could come back in November/December and do some deer hunting, think I'm going to take them up on it this year, so I need to get some shooting in. Next difficulty of course will be finding someplace convenient to shoot around NW Indy (and by convenient I mean someplace I don't have to drive over 1.5 hours to shoot maybe 20 rds.) Hopefully there is such a place, otherwise I may have to suck it up and join Old Trails in Richmond (which means I have to visit my MIL too since she lives there and wife will want to visit ). At least it will give me something to do...

 

[Broom_jm]

Check with Kludge about joining the Danville shooting range. Depending on where you're located, it can't be more than 45 minutes from you.