With the current state of our country and the employment situation for many leaving a lot be desired, cost can be a huge deterrent to the hobby of shooting. Not only must one consider the price of the firearm, there are ancillary costs including ammunition, targets, fuel to get to the range, range fees, etc. Of these costs, ammunition can be the largest factor. My .308 runs between $18-$50/box of ammunition. Match grade ammunition made to tighter tolerances utilizing high end projectiles, brass, and primers can really break the bank.
Oddly enough, one way to reduce costs can also improve your shooting accuracy. Most ammunition can be reloaded. Like any other man-task there is a small startup cost involved to acquire the equipment; a press complete with die set specific to caliber, tools for mounting the various dies in the press, a powder scale and hopper, a good set of calipers for measuring to exacting tolerances, a case trimmer, and a brass tumbler. It is a good idea to have a reloading manual from a trusted source such as Sierra. A reloading manual will outline the minimum and maximum requirements for your reloads so that you have a start and end point for working up the perfect bullet combination for your specific firearm and caliber.
Once you have all these items in place, you can start saving money at the range. As I mentioned before, Gold Medal Match Grade Ammunition for my rifle runs over $40 per box or approximately $2/per shot. Every time I pull the trigger on factory ammo, I'm sending $2 down range. To make matters worse, even the best factory ammunition has produced at best half inch groups from my rifle. Thanks to reloading, I have been able to reduce the cost of pulling the trigger to around ¢.39/per shot reducing the price of entire box to about $10 (20 rounds). Accuracy improves because you reload the brass that is fired from YOUR rifle. The brass is form fitted to your chamber when you fire a round and in most cases only has to be "neck" sized after being cleaned in the brass tumbler. Think of a tailored suit, a reloaded round from your rifle has been tailored for that gun. With reloaded ammunition, the best recorded group to date was .375" shot by my wife at 100 yards.
In addition to saving money and improving accuracy, reloading is a great activity, done indoors, that can be shared by the whole family. The exacting tolerances, precision workmanship, and time invested in creating every individual bullet is a great bonding experience between shooter and sport and really give you an appreciation for the entire process of sending a round to its intended target. If you're struggling with costs, consider reloading your ammunition. If you shoot once a week, the investment in reloading equipment will pay for itself in less than a year.
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