Why Reload .338 Lapua?

Here's an example.
Black Hills .338 Lapua box of 20 is $118 on Midway
Reloaded at $1.2 a round same components as the factory is $24 a box
You could pay for equipment with a couple boxes.
I too started reloading for the cost benefit and now it's a really fun hobby.
 
I find it Ironic that a bunch of guys here were called "know it all's" by a fellow who just handed us a lecture on what he obviously know so little about. Add to that the fact he shoots 1" groups at a max of 300 yards and does not know the es of his factory ammo and how that will affect his group at 1000. Since he has not returned to continue his conversation I could go so far as to call him a little hypocritical.
 
First of all, thanks to LRH and this blog and all of the threads I have read and advice I have gleaned here. After weeding out the clueless know-it-alls and biased extremists, there is a lot of good info.

On to my quandary...

I have both the Savage 111 LRH and 110BA in .338 Lapua. (Birthday gift/timing mishap :) )

I have put 100 rounds through the LRH and 500 rounds through the 110BA. Sellier and Bellot, 250gr. They both settled in after about 75 rounds to where I get consistent < 1" groupings at 300 yds (max distance on my property) with each.

Prior to, and ever since, I got the guns, everywhere and every blog reads, "if you have a .338 Lapua, the rounds are sooooooooo 'spensive, you MUST reload."

Even today, immediately prior to posting this (one of the reasons I am posting this), I read some others who are asking, basically, the same thing. Every response is one of two things - it is cheaper, or you get more consistency/accuracy.

I am calling BS on that, yet, can't help but wonder what I am missing. I don't see it as being cheaper, at all. On top of that, in every post I have read regarding the topic, seems the hard data has reloading as being MORE inconsistent (an HVAC, climate/pressure/humidity-controlled, industrial machine-laden, factory is much more consistent than Joe-Bob's basement using hand-tools).

Finally, I ran the numbers and wonder WHY anyone would even think to reload? Seems like a suggestion to cobble your own shoes or sew your own shirts.

Materials for 1,000 Rounds:
$ 1,619.50 casings (once fired - about twice as much for never-fired Lapua-brand casings)
$ 715.00 bullets
$ 35.00 primers
$ 350.00 powder (actually, with a 79 grain load @ 7000gr/lb, you are only getting 886 loads, not 1000)

That's $ 2,719.50 for 886 usable cartridges. That doesn't include the reloading set-up (dies, scales, presses, etc.). That's more than the average price of factory S&B's. ($ 3.07/per v. $ 2.67/per from Manventure Outpost)

OK, so, you are thinking - you will be re-using the cartridges. Let's say we get 10 re-uses out of each one. That drops the casings price per 886 to $ 1,261.95. Making the total for 8,860 rounds realized to be $12,619.50 (still, not including the reloading hardware).

That, at best, is a diminishing rate of return from $ 3.07 per round, initially, to $ 1.42 per round - AFTER 8,860 rounds!!! That's near 30 rounds, every single day for a year, or 100 rounds every single weekend for 2 solid years.

...averaging $ 2.25, realized, per round, after 2 years of shooting 100 rounds every weekend, not including the reloading hardware, nor your personal time spent doing the actual reloading, nor the replacement barrel after so many rounds.

Will reloading take my < 1" grouping @ 300yds down to < .8"?

Seems like I would be spending too much time looking for a purple grain of sand on the beach because it is softer than the other sand, instead of just sitting back and enjoying the beach. Is this an 'art' thing? Is there some Chakra, zen, or other personally soothing karma I might realize that I, simply, am not grasping?

I know this post is riddled with sarcasm, yet, seriously - why reload? We already know, based on real numbers, that it isn't cheaper - with the .338 Lapua, anyway.

Enlighten me - please.


The clueless cannot be enlightened !

Simply put ..... you are FOS ..........

1. A seasoned shooter does not buy a 338 Lapua to shoot 250 gr factory loads at 300 yards ......

2. that factory load you speak of is a 250 gr SMK at 2878 fps ....... (first hint towards your enlightenment)
3. carefully crafted handloads fully ladder tested/live fired out to 1760 yards consisting of 300 gr Berger OTM's at 2850 fps speak a language all their own ( 2nd hint and should fill you full of zen, zin, zan, zon and whatever else it is you want to be full of, just compare the bc's of both bullets leaving muzzle at same velocity then calculate out to 1 mile.....)

feel enlightened yet ?





........
 
LOL...there must be a lot of hungry fish ready to eat anything after the spring thaw and temp increase. This guy TROLLED a bare hook by and caught a limit of suckers in one pass. LOL...we just cant help ourselves when ignorance (not stupidity because there is a difference) shows up at our party. Thanks for the laugh, but I have some reloading to do.
 
Then I suggest that Len ban you and your buddy ( which is probably your fake account) ,

Ya filthy libtard obumaluvin scumbags .....
 
The crap you come up with when you put 338 Lapua r33 in GOOGLE. This is epically funny stuff right here.
 
There's another reason I've reloaded all--you betcha--all my centerfire rounds since the mid 60s'. I feel very uncomfortable depending on someone else, especially repeatedly, for something so important--life sustaining and protection too--as the fodder I stuff into my rifles. Just like I've always had trouble relying on just one source of heat; a single method to keep my water flowing; or depending on clothing manufacturers... If I can do it I will. But I'll not shove that off on others; seen too much of that.
 
It might also be a similiar reason as mine with my 300 Win Mag. I'll never fired enough rounds thru it to sustain the costs of a mere set of dies..let alone anything else.
 
First of all, thanks to LRH and this blog and all of the threads I have read and advice I have gleaned here. After weeding out the clueless know-it-alls and biased extremists, there is a lot of good info.

On to my quandary...

I have both the Savage 111 LRH and 110BA in .338 Lapua. (Birthday gift/timing mishap :) )

I have put 100 rounds through the LRH and 500 rounds through the 110BA. Sellier and Bellot, 250gr. They both settled in after about 75 rounds to where I get consistent < 1" groupings at 300 yds (max distance on my property) with each.

Prior to, and ever since, I got the guns, everywhere and every blog reads, "if you have a .338 Lapua, the rounds are sooooooooo 'spensive, you MUST reload."

Even today, immediately prior to posting this (one of the reasons I am posting this), I read some others who are asking, basically, the same thing. Every response is one of two things - it is cheaper, or you get more consistency/accuracy.

I am calling BS on that, yet, can't help but wonder what I am missing. I don't see it as being cheaper, at all. On top of that, in every post I have read regarding the topic, seems the hard data has reloading as being MORE inconsistent (an HVAC, climate/pressure/humidity-controlled, industrial machine-laden, factory is much more consistent than Joe-Bob's basement using hand-tools).

Finally, I ran the numbers and wonder WHY anyone would even think to reload? Seems like a suggestion to cobble your own shoes or sew your own shirts.

Materials for 1,000 Rounds:
$ 1,619.50 casings (once fired - about twice as much for never-fired Lapua-brand casings)
$ 715.00 bullets
$ 35.00 primers
$ 350.00 powder (actually, with a 79 grain load @ 7000gr/lb, you are only getting 886 loads, not 1000)

That's $ 2,719.50 for 886 usable cartridges. That doesn't include the reloading set-up (dies, scales, presses, etc.). That's more than the average price of factory S&B's. ($ 3.07/per v. $ 2.67/per from Manventure Outpost)

OK, so, you are thinking - you will be re-using the cartridges. Let's say we get 10 re-uses out of each one. That drops the casings price per 886 to $ 1,261.95. Making the total for 8,860 rounds realized to be $12,619.50 (still, not including the reloading hardware).

That, at best, is a diminishing rate of return from $ 3.07 per round, initially, to $ 1.42 per round - AFTER 8,860 rounds!!! That's near 30 rounds, every single day for a year, or 100 rounds every single weekend for 2 solid years.

...averaging $ 2.25, realized, per round, after 2 years of shooting 100 rounds every weekend, not including the reloading hardware, nor your personal time spent doing the actual reloading, nor the replacement barrel after so many rounds.

Will reloading take my < 1" grouping @ 300yds down to < .8"?

Seems like I would be spending too much time looking for a purple grain of sand on the beach because it is softer than the other sand, instead of just sitting back and enjoying the beach. Is this an 'art' thing? Is there some Chakra, zen, or other personally soothing karma I might realize that I, simply, am not grasping?

I know this post is riddled with sarcasm, yet, seriously - why reload? We already know, based on real numbers, that it isn't cheaper - with the .338 Lapua, anyway.

Enlighten me - please.

You obviously don't know what you are talking about. The ammo that I make is customized to the specs of every single gun that I have. Factory ammo cant beat that. You play with OAL from the base to the lands minus .015 thousands and powder charge, doing a ladder test will tell you what your gun truly likes. You can anneal your brass every time that you reload and can turn your neck to have the perfect neck tension. Yes it cost money to get the set up but at the end of the day you will notice that you were shooting junk sellier&bellot. It's cheaper, more accurate more consistent, more bullet choice, customizable AF... Any Joe Blo would understand that!!!
 
First of all, thanks to LRH and this blog and all of the threads I have read and advice I have gleaned here. After weeding out the clueless know-it-alls and biased extremists, there is a lot of good info.

On to my quandary...

I have both the Savage 111 LRH and 110BA in .338 Lapua. (Birthday gift/timing mishap :) )

I have put 100 rounds through the LRH and 500 rounds through the 110BA. Sellier and Bellot, 250gr. They both settled in after about 75 rounds to where I get consistent < 1" groupings at 300 yds (max distance on my property) with each.

Prior to, and ever since, I got the guns, everywhere and every blog reads, "if you have a .338 Lapua, the rounds are sooooooooo 'spensive, you MUST reload."

Even today, immediately prior to posting this (one of the reasons I am posting this), I read some others who are asking, basically, the same thing. Every response is one of two things - it is cheaper, or you get more consistency/accuracy.

I am calling BS on that, yet, can't help but wonder what I am missing. I don't see it as being cheaper, at all. On top of that, in every post I have read regarding the topic, seems the hard data has reloading as being MORE inconsistent (an HVAC, climate/pressure/humidity-controlled, industrial machine-laden, factory is much more consistent than Joe-Bob's basement using hand-tools).

Finally, I ran the numbers and wonder WHY anyone would even think to reload? Seems like a suggestion to cobble your own shoes or sew your own shirts.

Materials for 1,000 Rounds:
$ 1,619.50 casings (once fired - about twice as much for never-fired Lapua-brand casings)
$ 715.00 bullets
$ 35.00 primers
$ 350.00 powder (actually, with a 79 grain load @ 7000gr/lb, you are only getting 886 loads, not 1000)

That's $ 2,719.50 for 886 usable cartridges. That doesn't include the reloading set-up (dies, scales, presses, etc.). That's more than the average price of factory S&B's. ($ 3.07/per v. $ 2.67/per from Manventure Outpost)

OK, so, you are thinking - you will be re-using the cartridges. Let's say we get 10 re-uses out of each one. That drops the casings price per 886 to $ 1,261.95. Making the total for 8,860 rounds realized to be $12,619.50 (still, not including the reloading hardware).

That, at best, is a diminishing rate of return from $ 3.07 per round, initially, to $ 1.42 per round - AFTER 8,860 rounds!!! That's near 30 rounds, every single day for a year, or 100 rounds every single weekend for 2 solid years.

...averaging $ 2.25, realized, per round, after 2 years of shooting 100 rounds every weekend, not including the reloading hardware, nor your personal time spent doing the actual reloading, nor the replacement barrel after so many rounds.

Will reloading take my < 1" grouping @ 300yds down to < .8"?

Seems like I would be spending too much time looking for a purple grain of sand on the beach because it is softer than the other sand, instead of just sitting back and enjoying the beach. Is this an 'art' thing? Is there some Chakra, zen, or other personally soothing karma I might realize that I, simply, am not grasping?

I know this post is riddled with sarcasm, yet, seriously - why reload? We already know, based on real numbers, that it isn't cheaper - with the .338 Lapua, anyway.

Enlighten me - please.
Thanks, great post. I am still constructing my rifle. I sold my Browning "A" Bolt .338 and purchase a Savage 110 Elite 30" Barrel .338 Lapua. Saving for Optics (Scope & Spotting Scope), Weights, Bipod, Rifle Case, Mirage Shields, Gun Rest, Books, and all the technology to help me including good old fashion books by those that have gone before me. I have looked into reloading - it just does not equate for me. The range that I will be attending is 1,200 yards, and I will not be shooting hundreds of rounds every trip. I trust Barnes ammo with their .338 Lapua precision ammo. So, no, I will not be reloading for shoots that I will take at 1200, 1500 or even 2000 yards one day.
 
First of all, thanks to LRH and this blog and all of the threads I have read and advice I have gleaned here. After weeding out the clueless know-it-alls and biased extremists, there is a lot of good info.

On to my quandary...

I have both the Savage 111 LRH and 110BA in .338 Lapua. (Birthday gift/timing mishap :) )

I have put 100 rounds through the LRH and 500 rounds through the 110BA. Sellier and Bellot, 250gr. They both settled in after about 75 rounds to where I get consistent < 1" groupings at 300 yds (max distance on my property) with each.

Prior to, and ever since, I got the guns, everywhere and every blog reads, "if you have a .338 Lapua, the rounds are sooooooooo 'spensive, you MUST reload."

Even today, immediately prior to posting this (one of the reasons I am posting this), I read some others who are asking, basically, the same thing. Every response is one of two things - it is cheaper, or you get more consistency/accuracy.

I am calling BS on that, yet, can't help but wonder what I am missing. I don't see it as being cheaper, at all. On top of that, in every post I have read regarding the topic, seems the hard data has reloading as being MORE inconsistent (an HVAC, climate/pressure/humidity-controlled, industrial machine-laden, factory is much more consistent than Joe-Bob's basement using hand-tools).

Finally, I ran the numbers and wonder WHY anyone would even think to reload? Seems like a suggestion to cobble your own shoes or sew your own shirts.

Materials for 1,000 Rounds:
$ 1,619.50 casings (once fired - about twice as much for never-fired Lapua-brand casings)
$ 715.00 bullets
$ 35.00 primers
$ 350.00 powder (actually, with a 79 grain load @ 7000gr/lb, you are only getting 886 loads, not 1000)

That's $ 2,719.50 for 886 usable cartridges. That doesn't include the reloading set-up (dies, scales, presses, etc.). That's more than the average price of factory S&B's. ($ 3.07/per v. $ 2.67/per from Manventure Outpost)

OK, so, you are thinking - you will be re-using the cartridges. Let's say we get 10 re-uses out of each one. That drops the casings price per 886 to $ 1,261.95. Making the total for 8,860 rounds realized to be $12,619.50 (still, not including the reloading hardware).

That, at best, is a diminishing rate of return from $ 3.07 per round, initially, to $ 1.42 per round - AFTER 8,860 rounds!!! That's near 30 rounds, every single day for a year, or 100 rounds every single weekend for 2 solid years.

...averaging $ 2.25, realized, per round, after 2 years of shooting 100 rounds every weekend, not including the reloading hardware, nor your personal time spent doing the actual reloading, nor the replacement barrel after so many rounds.

Will reloading take my < 1" grouping @ 300yds down to < .8"?

Seems like I would be spending too much time looking for a purple grain of sand on the beach because it is softer than the other sand, instead of just sitting back and enjoying the beach. Is this an 'art' thing? Is there some Chakra, zen, or other personally soothing karma I might realize that I, simply, am not grasping?

I know this post is riddled with sarcasm, yet, seriously - why reload? We already know, based on real numbers, that it isn't cheaper - with the .338 Lapua, anyway.

Enlighten me - please.
Wow you put a lot of thought into your post to diminish reloading due to costs. This post will be real controversial.
First of all I could not buy the type 338LMAI ammo that I want to use from the store. If you are only going to shoot two or three boxes of ammo through your rife of a specific cartridge, it is not worth reloading. Your comments are specifically about 338 ammo Factory vs Reloads and shooters claiming it is less expensive to reload and you disagree with their statements and that it is BS. That is your opinion

Well I have to say that My reloading of a 338 will be less expensive than factory loads. It is really not BS weather I say it or other shooters say it. It is a fact that it is less expensive and each loaded cartridge is specific to the rifle. You can't get that out of Factory loads. I ENJOY RELOADING! It is part of the entire process from first deciding the cartridge to shoot, then building the rifle, shooting it at steel, paper, or game. Reloading gives me the satisfaction knowing the I made it myself. Every time I squeeze the trigger I know that I created the shot. Even if the cost was more to reload, all things equal in the cartridges Factory/Reload, I would still reload.
 
Wow you put a lot of thought into your post to diminish reloading due to costs. This post will be real controversial.
First of all I could not buy the type 338LMAI ammo that I want to use from the store. If you are only going to shoot two or three boxes of ammo through your rife of a specific cartridge, it is not worth reloading. Your comments are specifically about 338 ammo Factory vs Reloads and shooters claiming it is less expensive to reload and you disagree with their statements and that it is BS. That is your opinion

Well I have to say that My reloading of a 338 will be less expensive than factory loads. It is really not BS weather I say it or other shooters say it. It is a fact that it is less expensive and each loaded cartridge is specific to the rifle. You can't get that out of Factory loads. I ENJOY RELOADING! It is part of the entire process from first deciding the cartridge to shoot, then building the rifle, shooting it at steel, paper, or game. Reloading gives me the satisfaction knowing the I made it myself. Every time I squeeze the trigger I know that I created the shot. Even if the cost was more to reload, all things equal in the cartridges Factory/Reload, I would still reload.
Voodoo WAS a member here for a few days over 6 years ago and made that one and only post. But he is still trolling! LOL
 

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