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How many reloading components do you keep?

733 views 24 replies 16 participants last post by  jim LEO 
#1 ·
Keeping a supply of factory loaded rounds is great, but components are the way to go! I used to hit the range weekly, at a minimum, and go through about 400 rounds each time. I also reload for my three brothers.

Here in the Los Angeles area we USED to have one of the best gun shows around (The Great Western Gun Show). It was held twice a year. It was my source for bullets and primers. I would stock up enough to last a years worth of shooting (about 10-20K of every needed/used component). Powder by the KEG became the norm.

One of the benefits of this is I've always had enough to carry me over the few times components were hard to get. You guys remember when primers were all but impossible to find and were going for $25 a thousand? I skated through that one without having to cut back on the shooting at all. Remember when the Hercules plant blew up? I'm a big Bullseye fan and all the Hercules prices jumped up. Skated through that one too.


I've since been forced to cut back on the shooting due to family obligations, but I still believe in stockpiling whenever the prices are right. Hey it keeps well as long as it's in a dry cool place.
 
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#5 ·
I buy most of my stuff at gun shows since it is the cheapest way to go. The only quality gun show is 225 miles away and I go one to two times a year. At present I have about 5,000 primers and 5,000 bullets. I have 8 pounds of powder and 10,000 pieces of range brass. Within 2 weeks I will go to the gun show and pick up at least 10,000 bullets and 5,000 more primers (I have 10,000 primers in the mail to me as we speak). I may only shoot about 1,000 rounds a month but I like to buy in quantity. Whereas some of you guys have lots of guns, I don't, but I do have components. I have often wondered if there is a legal limit to what one is suppose to have but then again figure "who knows".
 
#6 ·
Another vote for stocking up at the local gun show. I buy all my primers there -5K of each variety at a time. They don't sell powder, so that I get from other sources, and usually in an 8 lb. keg. I mostly use plated bullets which I buy in bulk directly from West coast Bullets. Like others said, I like to keep stocked up as well.

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Regards,
AZFred
 
#7 ·
I have always tried to keep an adequate supply of stuff on hand since the great primer shortage. I can get primers cheap at two local sources and usually get bullets and powder at gun shows. I am starting to think about retiring and am stocking up while my income is higher. I probably have 20-25,000 primers, 15 pounds of powder and thousands of pieces of brass. I have 500 to 1000 bullets for each caliber. Also have 6 or 7,000 rounds of 22 LR. By spending only $20.00 per week, I can by well supplied by the day that I do retire.
 
#8 ·
As a writer, I tend to view things from a slightly different perspective. I need to be able to load whatever an editor wants on short notice. As a competitive shooter I need buckets of practice ammo, so I have on hand the following; dies for 15 calibers in 550B toolheads, and dies for another 12 adjusted for the extra toolhead.
75,000 brass every common caliber and some very uncommon (who else has 200 8mm nambu empties?). 35,000 primers, divided into three locations. 125 pounds of powders, stored in four different locations. (And not the same as the primers)
25,000 bullets. 30,000 rounds of loaded ammo, reloads and factory.
As you can imagine, moving was hell.
 
#10 ·
Damn,,,,I thought I was getting bad,,,,I mean good.


I keep about 700 to 1000 bulletts on hand, about 1000 primers, and a pound or two of powder for each caliber/pet load.

Anyway, I stock for a little different reason,,,,,since I'm stuck on a single stage press for a while,,,I have to keep batches of loads in process (I'm safe,,,meticulous with records) just to keep up with my demand.

So if I have a 1000 of each component, I may have 300-400 in my bag for my weekly trip,,,300 or so in a batch that is practically done, just waiting to be inspected/measured/etc, and about 300 or so that are begining the reloading processes.

Did I say, I can't wait till October when I can get a Dillon and say to hell with this?


It takes me a week on my single stage press to do what I could get done on a progressive in an hour.

Oh,,,if I only had a few hundred extra bucks.
 
#11 ·
Hey h4444, I remember the days when I did all my 45 ACP reloads on a Lee Challenger press. It would take me a couple days to get 300 rounds ready to go. I bought my first Dillon 550B when Dillon had the offer to pay 1/4 of the price up front and then the 1/4 on a credit card for the following three months. How could I say no to that deal? It took me about an hour to load up all of my then meager collection of brass. It is a BIG difference when you switch from a single stage to a progressive......and the 550B isn't really a true progressive, as you have to manually index the shellplate.
 
#13 ·
Sheldon,
That's why I can't wait, I've got some internal contract money coming in October, and it'll be enough to set me up. I'm loading on a single stage Lee right now.

Any suggestions,,,,I'll have up to $1,000 and I'd like to get a progressive and possibly another handgun.

Not sure on the handgun, it is somewhat secondary, but the progressive is a must at this point.

Any advice anyone can offer would be appreciated.

Thanks,
H4444
 
#15 ·
Consider jumping up to a Dillon 650. As much as I love my 550, the idea of a self-indexing press is seductive....
If only I didn't have sooo many toolheads for the 550, and calibers to load.
 
#16 ·
If I go with the 650, Aside from the $440.00 bucks or so I would spend on the press, are there any other accessories I would need to purchase or would I be set to churn out my favorite .45 ACP's (and others) as quickly as I can tug the handle????

My current handguns are a Kimber Classic Custom and a Springfield V10 Ultra Compact. I've been contemplating either a Glock in .45 ACP or 9MM or an eight shot .357 Mag revolver (pretty flexibly for local pin shoots).

Thoughts???
 
#18 ·
You guys wouldn't believe me if I told you.

I figure ammo is what the anti-gun folks will be attacking with the most success, so I've been putting the stuff away (mainly rifle ammo)for over 20 years.

I keep around 20K rounds of .38 Super and .45 auto around, with enough components to load them a few times. If the anti-gun situation starts to look worse, then I'll add to that amount.
 
#19 ·
h4444, I have 3 550B presses and a 650XL too! I only picked up the 650 because I got a sweet deal on it....still haven't actually used it yet. If you do get the 650 I think the casefeeder is a logical MUST. The 550 is nice and cheaper to boot, but the 650 is in another class because of the auto indexing feature and the casefeeder. But you have to decide if that speed is worth the extra cost. Get lots of extra primer pick-up tubes too. I'm with you on getting a progressive over the new pistol. Walking Point makes a good point about keeping a good supply of components around. I've got about 85K various primers. I'm no survivalist nut either. I just want to be able to go to the range without being stung by the high prices components always seem to rise to every time rumors of the banning of reloading pops up. I pray that never happens.
 
#20 ·
I buy primers in 5K cartons. When I get down to less than 3K I buy another carton. Bullets anywhere from 1K to 5K depending on how much I shoot a particular caliber. I use three powders for almost everything and try not to get below ~5 lbs of each. I have about 20 lbs of various powders I've tried over the years. I really should throw it out, but I'm a pack rat.

Eddie
 
#21 ·
Patrick Sweeney, I hope we don't live too close to each other, there may be some regulation against it! You are the only guy I have heard of that has more stuff than me. I try to keep a few thousand rounds of brass for each cal I shoot. I have around 6k of 38 brass, as I shoot that the most. I buy primers, federal only, in lots of 30K. Last time they cost me $13.97 per K delivered to my door. I buy powder in 8 pound containers. Since I go through some ammo, (about 500 to 800 rounds per day, one day per week), I try to keep a minimum of 2 or 3 K of 38, about the same of 45acp (the two cals I shoot the most) then 1K of any others. (I shoot cowboy action shooting, and use the least ammo there, so 1K is almost enough to last a whole season).
Tom
 
#22 ·
For safety, I store my components in four different locations, all under my control. (No rental sheds for me, thank you.)
My book publisher may want something on Cowboy Action, where around here are there matches (Ain't nobody big enough or mean enough to get me to wear furry chaps, though)
And like you, I buy a lot each time. the last time I got primers, I bought 30k, and that was on top of the 36,000 rounds of 45 various manufacturers sent me for the last book.
Storage. That and hot baths, divide civilized groups from the non-civilized.
 
#23 ·
I typically keep 50,000 rounds worth of components on hand. That's because I never get any reloading done for working on customer's guns!
I try to buy as good deals come along. It's a little embarrasing that I'm often found at a match with left over ammo from three different batches.
Come to think of it, most of my ammo is consumed test firing finished pistols.
John

[This message has been edited by Precision Gunworks (edited 07-09-2001).]
 
#24 ·
Gonna start a new thread with a question for you, Walking Point.

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If God didn't want us to own guns, why did He make the 1911?
 
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