Yeah the setup costs are always a pretty big impediment I would think. This is where the quantity you are going to use comes into play. For example you shoot a lot in the target shooting side of the hobby but may only shoot 10-20 shots per year on the hunting side. Those factory hunting rounds can cost an arm and a leg. I paid $60 or more for 20 Hornady 185grn 308 as I wanted to see just what a “high end quality round” performed like. It is those 20 rounds where the largest saving per round is gained without loosing any quality, more likely you have improved the quality given you purchase the quality components.
The setup costs I don’t believe are really relevant for most people that want to reload as saving money is not the driving force. Most do it to extend breadth of the hobby and gain improvements or more satisfaction from the DIY side.
It sounds odd but it also depends on what your rifle likes. For example, my .303 likes PPU ammo, so I’m laughing - it’s cheaper to buy than make, especially when I take the time and stuffing around into account.
A mate of mine has a .303 that hates PPU and throws it all over the place, so he has to reload or pay ridiculous amounts of money for the factory ammo his gun likes.
If you’re just hunting I’d say there’s not much point reloading, unless you’re shooting a cartridge which is big, old, or weird.
The more shooters I meet from different backgrounds and shooting disciplines. I think my views of reloading are changing slightly. To the point I think there are more people that wouldnt benefit from reloading than those that would.
The persons personality is also a very big factor in the whole equation. Me I will DIY just about everything just because I want to give it a try. There are a lot more people out there that just shouldn’t or couldn’t be bothered.
There’s also some stuff where, until very recently, it was cheaper to buy than reload.
For example, I could get PPU .303 or 6.5x55 ammo for about $19-$22/20 rounds, and when you factored in the time and dicking around involved in reloading it, it was much cheaper to buy factory ammo than make my own.
Then you’ve got calibres like .45/70 which cost insane amounts of money to buy factory ammo for, but about 50c/rnd to reload for.
I had help from many on the forum to reload but only because i couldn’t buy ammo off the shelf, or to get a little more accuracy and consistancy out of my .308, i have banged out some projectiles and some .303 ammo with a lee loader just because i was curious, certainly not my favorite thing to do but made a difference to the guns i did it with for sure.
