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Yes, this thread is about firearms. No trolling, or I will hurt you.

As owners of firearms appear to be aplenty on dakka, I just wanted to ask for their help on this.

I've heard it mentioned in my local gunshop that you can purchase a manufacturing station for your home to make your own bullets.

Is this true?

And if so, is it more cost effective then to buy ammo from a store?

Also, which round is the Ruger Mini 14 chambered for, and does it come in a left handed variant?

Mini-14 is chambered for .223 & I'm almost certian a left handed version is available,check Rugers website for confirmation.
Also,you can purchase equipment/supplies for "reloading" ammo...I belive it is fairly expensive to get started ,but in the long run becomes more cost effective,I myself have never really looked into start up cost,but I'm sure you could locate the info.

Yes,you can buy a reloading press.I use one to reload my shotgun shells.(i shoot trap)

My dad himself saves all the cartridges and shells he uses. After that he takes him to a friend that reloads them for about half the price than buying new ammo.

Thanks for the help guys, this'll really come in handy. I own .22, and don't wanna spend 25 bucks for a hundred rounds.

If you have a 22 Long rifle- those are rimfire rounds and cannot be reloaded.

I have a pretty good reloading rig that can crank out about 500 rounds an hour and its saved me alot of money over the years. Like any quality tools, they arent cheap, and depending on how much you shoot, it can take a while before you start actually saving money.

Ruger mini-14's are .223 Remington/5.56 nato(same thing). They dont make them in left handed, but they shoot fine for lefties- they throw the brass forward and right- so it doesnt bounce off lefties faces

If you get a mini-14, a reloading rig might make sense depending on what type of ammo you plan on shooting. If you just want basic target ammo- you can find regular 'ball' ammo(55grain fmj), at gunshows for 5$ for 20, sometimes less. Reloading will only get cheaper when you buy the components in bulk- so it takes a large chunk of money up front to save down the road

Guns & shooting arent a cheap hobby

Yes you can reload(not sure if its called this)d bullets at home. I do this with my 308. Lapula and it work just fine

Yikes. $25 for 100rnds. Lemme guess? Gander Mtn.

Cabelas sells boxes of 525 Remington .22LR Rimfire rounds for $20

Box of 100 rnds is $7.

You are getting royally fethed if you are paying $25 for 100 rounds. That's as much as I pay for my .45 rounds.

I think he was talking about the .223 ammo for a mini-14 costing 25$ for 100 (I hope).

Even back when I was shooting competitively the Eley Tenex super match wasnt that expensive(although its getting close now).

I do miss the days of picking up 500rds of 22lr for 10$ at Walmart though.

Scroll up. The way it's worded he said he owns a .22 and wants to know if he can load his own because he doesn't want to pay $25/100. Sounds like Gander Mtn prices to me.

I pay $20 for 525 rounds. Not bad compared to $28 I pay for a box of 50 rounds of Federal Premium .45ACP's.

Sorry, I loathe Gander Mtn. Overprice their stuff and the store here where I live has a bunch of douche's working in the firearms area.

We can thank MM for Kmart not selling handgun ammo anymore. Hypocritical douche.

I know what he wrote- and it is vaguely worded

But since hes also talking about reloading- and a mini 14, its a fairly safe logic step to conclude he meant .223 ammo costing 25$ for 100- since you cant reload .22lr

But yeah- 28$ is about avg for a box of good hollow points. Thats one reason I got into reloading years ago- my glock was an expensive appetite at 500 rds a week.

And if you think the Gander mountain guys are rude- try being the only chick at a gunshow thats not arm candy. The crap some sellers spout when they think you don't know anything is astounding. Like trying to sell me a titanium frame .357 snubby and telling me they dont have any recoil issues O.o

Some of those salesman would try to sell you empty casings at live ammo prices if they knew they could do it.

I have a .22 for plinking targets. I've only ever taken my .45 to a match a handful of times in my life. It's mostly a c&c sidearm and so far I've never had to once fire it even ONCE in defense.


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Mistress of minis wrote:I know what he wrote- and it is vaguely worded

But since hes also talking about reloading- and a mini 14, its a fairly safe logic step to conclude he meant .223 ammo costing 25$ for 100- since you cant reload .22lr

But yeah- 28$ is about avg for a box of good hollow points. Thats one reason I got into reloading years ago- my glock was an expensive appetite at 500 rds a week.

And if you think the Gander mountain guys are rude- try being the only chick at a gunshow thats not arm candy. The crap some sellers spout when they think you don't know anything is astounding. Like trying to sell me a titanium frame .357 snubby and telling me they dont have any recoil issues O.o

If he's paying $25 for 100rnds of .22lr ammo I'm going to find him and put him in an hurt locker. LOL.

Of course if certain politicians ever get their way ammo will either require a second mortgage to afford or only the military and police will get guns.

Hehe, I used to shoot with a few olympic contenders that had Walther 22 pistols that run around 4,000$. They'd shoot up that Eley super match, and its like 18-20$ per 50. So, for some people that seems reasonable. Gun snobs

Im too practical for that lol. I'd rather spend 20$ on 500 rds for my 200$ .22 and go shoot empty cans for an afternoon.

Yep.

I'd rather spend the money saved on ammo to get another gun.

MistressofMinis - wait wait wait, you not only play and collect 40k.....but you also shoot firearms?! Are you married


And to add, I had an Uncle(now dead the poor sod) but he used to reload his own as well. Total live off the land types and it really was alot cheaper to do it yourself. Pretty cool skill to know thats for sure. Im seriously thinking about trying to be an apprentice to a gunsmith or something along those lines. Id just love to know how to do that

I saw her first KC. LOL.

.22 Long Rifle brass are not reloadable by ordinary reloading press that one can purchase on the market. It requires more precise machinery. Although the empty brass can be used to make swag jackets for .223. There are manual and hydraulic press in the market for that purpose.

I reload .45ACP, .38sp, .357, .38 S&W, 9mm and .308. Pistol ammunition is much easier to reload than rifles.

You might want to check on whether or not the Mini-14 you plan to purchase can handle 5.56 ammunition. There is a difference between .223 and 5.56. .223 commercial ammunition generates less pressure than a 5.56 ammunition. My AR-15 is rated for 5.56 and therefore can use either ammunition. If your rifle is not rated for 5.56 there could be a chance of failure. By the way, 5.56mm ammunition are usually surplus military or military ammunition.

inquisitor_bob wrote:.22 Long Rifle brass are not reloadable by ordinary reloading press that one can purchase on the market. It requires more precise machinery. Although the empty brass can be used to make swag jackets for .223. There are manual and hydraulic press in the market for that purpose.

I reload .45ACP, .38sp, .357, .38 S&W, 9mm and .308. Pistol ammunition is much easier to reload than rifles.

You might want to check on whether or not the Mini-14 you plan to purchase can handle 5.56 ammunition. There is a difference between .223 and 5.56. .223 commercial ammunition generates less pressure than a 5.56 ammunition. My AR-15 is rated for 5.56 and therefore can use either ammunition. If your rifle is not rated for 5.56 there could be a chance of failure. By the way, 5.56mm ammunition are usually surplus military or military ammunition.

5.56 nato is milspec, which adheres very closely to SAAMI specs- so its safe to run in any modern firearm(not that you'll find any .223 antiques lol). The only time you run into problems, is with twist rates since older rifles arent set up to handle the larger ammo like the SS109. Its not a safety/reliability issue so much as an accuracy problem. In reloading terms the difference is minimal as the components are interchangable. The same argument can be made that .308 and 7.62 Nato arent the same, and, well, they are

The mini-14 is basically a scaled down M-14, and is a very robust rifle. They even scale it up to the 7.62x39, and the newer 6.8 remington.

And if you wanna try to reload 22lr, go for it. Re priming a rimfire cartridge means handling the nitrate priming mixture-c which is no fun(and usually mildly toxic). Then you have to make your own seating and crimping dies....cast your own lead. Alot of hassle for little gain. And when you start talking about swagging stuff- you're gonna lose about 95% of the shooting community as thats pretty advanced reloading most people never get into(or even know what it is )

Mistress of minis wrote:If you have a 22 Long rifle- those are rimfire rounds and cannot be reloaded.

I have a pretty good reloading rig that can crank out about 500 rounds an hour and its saved me alot of money over the years. Like any quality tools, they arent cheap, and depending on how much you shoot, it can take a while before you start actually saving money.

Ruger mini-14's are .223 Remington/5.56 nato(same thing). They dont make them in left handed, but they shoot fine for lefties- they throw the brass forward and right- so it doesnt bounce off lefties faces

If you get a mini-14, a reloading rig might make sense depending on what type of ammo you plan on shooting. If you just want basic target ammo- you can find regular 'ball' ammo(55grain fmj), at gunshows for 5$ for 20, sometimes less. Reloading will only get cheaper when you buy the components in bulk- so it takes a large chunk of money up front to save down the road

Guns & shooting arent a cheap hobby

now I don't need to say anything.

guns and shooting ARE very expensive. hence why I dont shoot as much as I would like since being in school...

My brother in law is a shooter.
He reloads his rifle and pistol ammo.

He shoots with a Browning 9mm (Gun club registered and compliant with our rather restrictive laws) and an M-14.

Others use .38(several kinds), .40. .44 or .45 for pistols and all are catered to at that club. The guys who shoot .22LR are the only ones who don't reload as it's not worth the hassles to save a couple of $$.

When I needed some fired brass cases for a couple of projects, I got given a bagful of .22LR brass, as well as a handful of mixed .38spl, .40 and .45ACP AND .45 (for revolvers) and a single .44. The guys with the larger brass said I could buy more of that brass off them, but the .22s are freebies as they are pretty much just scrap metal.

I reload also. I also cast much of my own bullets, which shaves off another expense. In my case, I tend to shoot "unusual" cartridge calibers, so it saves me loads of money. Once I have the cases, it's just as easy to load as the more mainstream stuff.

ZF-

Golden Eyed Scout wrote:Yes, this thread is about firearms. No trolling, or I will hurt you.

As owners of firearms appear to be aplenty on dakka, I just wanted to ask for their help on this.

I've heard it mentioned in my local gunshop that you can purchase a manufacturing station for your home to make your own bullets.

Is this true?

And if so, is it more cost effective then to buy ammo from a store?

Also, which round is the Ruger Mini 14 chambered for, and does it come in a left handed variant?

Ayah reloading is no big deal. Can't reload rimfires though.

Damn, no reloading my .22. Well, good to know that the cases can be used at least.

And I realised the wording of the way the rounds were priced.

It costs (iirc) $100 or thereabouts for .223/5.56.

The reason i asked was cause I found a used Mini 14, which my dad said he was thinking of buying if the ammo didn't cost so much, hence why i aksed about reloading presses.

But, since I don't shoot all that often anyways, I think I'll jsut keep this in mind and save up some money for a couple of years before looking into reloading again.

@Fateweaver: Not gander Mountain. No big chain stores to buy from where I live, so i kinda get screwed into buying from one shop, which means dealing with
whatever prices they have.

Thanks for the help everybody!

You can get a basic reloading kit through Cabelas or MidwayUSA for around 100$.

Those are simple, single stage presses- and you might be able to get out 50 rounds an hour. Which takes just a few minutes to shoot up through a mini 14 Its how I got started reloading when I was about your age before I upgraded to a more advanced progressive reloader.

If you watch the sporting goods section on craigs list you can find people getting rid of basic reloading gear cheap.

Reloading is an absolute imperative for unique or hard to find ammo. .303, 7.7 Japanese, 6.5 Italian are some of the harder to find or exepensive rounds I need.

I wouldn't worry as much about .22's, they are so common and buying them in massive quantities isn't that hard.

BTW, I love guns, I've got 54!

Ya, my 7mm Mauser falls into the rare group too, but its got a soft touch on the recoil so I can actually enjoy shooting it

I almost bought some 7.7 dies, my dad has an old Arisaka 99 that gramps brought home from the pacific.

What kills my budget (especially seeing as I'm unemployed) is 7.62 ammo. I'd like to pick up an AK-47, could even trade one of my shotguns for one but damn rounds are pricy as dirt.

I'm not allowed to play with guns, my goverment doesn't trust me.

.308 is not cheap. Relaoding works in that regard but you need to shoot frequently to make it worthwhile.

Mistress of minis wrote:Ya, my 7mm Mauser falls into the rare group too, but its got a soft touch on the recoil so I can actually enjoy shooting it

I almost bought some 7.7 dies, my dad has an old Arisaka 99 that gramps brought home from the pacific.

I've fired both the 6.5 and 7.7 Arisaka. Both are definitely light on the recoil.

ZF-