Meanwhile, at Mega-Mart....

5) Variety is the Spice of Life....

One benefit to handloading is that those of us who are dedicated rifle loonies get to enjoy a lot of unusual guns in a variety of interesting calibers. As rifles go, if i had  to i could get by with a .some very common calibers...but i'd sure miss some of the alternates i shoot a good bit, such as the .17Fireball, .350 Mag, .414 Supermag, .25x30/30 Ackley, .30Reece, 17 Ackley Hornet, .405 Winchester, 6.8mmSPC, and lots of other options that wont be found on the shelf at All-Mart. Reloading allows me to feed my passion for guns.

4) Crafted to YOUR specs.....

One of the many advantages to rolling your own is the benefit that you can create ammo to your desired level of performance & results. For example, if your main hunting rifle happens to be a .300 Mag of some sort, after the first shot the youngster you are teaching to shoot is going to decide very quickly that getting beat by recoil isn't as much fun as he or she had thought it might be. Handloaders can easily make managed recoil low-velocity plinking loads that cost less, are far more pleasant to shoot. A couple of years ago, i decided life would be much better if i owned a rifle in .475 Turnbull. If you google that & follow the link to Doug Turnbull's website you'll see photos of smiling hunters in  their victory pose, proudly standing with their .475's behind Cape Buffaloes, Lions, even Elephants. The 120-pound deer i shoot probably don't requires 400 grain .475 bullets to stop them...(that was kind of hard for me to admit, by the way)...but boy does that rifle look & feel good. And,  until i go on Safari for assorted targets that want to eat me or stomp me flat, i can enjoy my .475 on my regular deer hunts using reduced loads that work great for my needs.

How about that deer rifle in the closet that sits there 51 weeks out of the year collecting dust....if you found it was a good dual purpose varminting / predator hunting rifle, would it get used more? A friend of mine has been using an older Remington Mountain Rifle in 7x57 as a predator calling rifle; with his handloads for varminting it shoots really great, carries nicely, and has worked perfectly.... But one thing you probably wont see in the your local gun store is varmint-class ammo for the 7x57.

3) Accuracy, & the pursuit thereof....

Factory ammo ain't bad stuff....but if you want the absolute peak performance from your firearm, chances are it will be from load you develop specifically for your firearm.

Having  a firearm that shoots to the best of its ability is like having a sharp knife....it is a whole lot more usable. And, the degree of confidence provided from an accurate firearm is not only reassuring; it also provides some measure of satisfaction to see the loads you craft produces consistent results. It feels good to know that when you squeeze the trigger, that bullet is going where you want, assuming you do your part.

2) Cost...

Average ammunition prices have seen dramatic increases for various reasons. Shortages drive prices up; cost of raw goods including lead, copper, brass, etc have gone increased. Fuel price increases have resulted in higher shipping costs. Most suppliers can no longer say "We'll have it here in a week" as stocks diminish & backorders run months out.  Manufacturers are trying to fill orders, but consumer pressure to provide high-demand items has them working 'round the clock.

The average reloader can easily cut ammo costs by 50%, and in some instances the savings can be over 75%, especially when buying low-demand items, most of the big Magnums, or relatively obscure ammo. For example, not long ago i was at a local shop & a customer dropped in for some ammo to feed a newly acquired classic rifle he received from a family member, a sleek old Winchester 43 in .218Bee. With sales tax, 2 boxes of ammo pretty much tore up a pair of $100-dollar bills.  I shoot a Bee also, and i can load my own .218 ammo for about the same price as buying .22magnum rimfire ammo. You may find you dont save a ton of money, because you can shoot a whole lot more for the same coin spent....but any way you slice it, the dollar stretches a lot farther.

1) Availability....

Been to a big chain sporting goods store lately & looked at ammo? One thing they all have is plenty of bare shelves as consumer demand has skyrocketed. They are trying desperately to get more product...despite rumors, there is no conspiracy to prevent  ammo sales;  all businesses want to make money & they do so by keeping on hand whatever people want to buy.  But when demand for products increases faster than suppliers can make it, faster than wholesalers can stock it, and faster than the trucking companies can ship it, predictable things happen: supplies get short, lines get long, prices get inflated, people get frustrated, and consumers tend to buy more of whatever they do find just because they don't know when they will find it again.  There simply isn't enough to go around.

Why Reload?