Typical reloading cost for .50 BMG

agman1999

I've been thinking about dropping some cash on an AR-50, so I'm wondering what to expect for reloading costs. Have any ideas or experience with these loads?

richbug

I have been considering one also. I figured it as such:

Powder 250 grains at $18/pound=.65 per round
BUllets hornady A-max= 1.25
primers $35/500=.10 each

looking at 2.00/ round for good ammo, but that could be cut in half by using surplus bullets.

My border collie is smarter than your honor student.

ContacFront

Agman,

My buddy and I just setup a 50BMG reloading station for his Barret.

Here is what we learned along the way. First its EXPENSIVE.

RCBS 50BMG Pack: 400.00
Lyman 50 BMG Trimmer: 50.00
Dropping 235gn of powder we used a PACT scale and dispenser: 250.00
You figure a good scale and a powder drop will run you atleast 250.00 even for a manual one.
Plan on building one HELL of a bench because those cases are a BIOOOTCH to resize.
Oh by the way, gotta tumble the brass and since its 50BMG brass, we went with a Dillon 2001 tumbler for size and power to tumble that stuff. That was another 180.00

Do yourself a favor and write off the surplus military brass, its crap. Cool for a "Ma Duce" but not for a nice precision rifle. You can get once fired Barrett brass for 35 cents a piece. GOOD STUFF.

Primers, I WISH they were 35.00 for 500. If you know where to get BMG primers for 35.00 for 500, please post link. Try 85.00 for 500 primers.
Good powder is Hodgdon H50BMG is 110.00 for 8lbs.

Hornady AMAX 750gn bullets are 26.00 for 20 is the cheapest I found.

This is of course all without shipping.

By the way, if you get a 50BMG, since you going BIG. Might as well throw in 1300.00 for a Nightforce scope. 150.00 for rings.

So said and done. You looking at 1000.00 for reloading setup.
Thats if you got a bench that is BOMB proof already built.

Cost of each round.
230 rounds per 8lbs of powder comes out to about 50 cents of powder per round.
Primer is 17 cents a round
Brass is 35 cents.
Bullet is 1.30 each.

No shipping/hazmat/tax included. [:D]

richbug

My bad on the primers, Thinking one thing and typeing another. The Lee 50 cal pack is only about $150.

My border collie is smarter than your honor student.

ContacFront

Trust me, that LEE won't hold up to a 50 BMG for very long. Even the RCBS Load Master with its robust press has a hard time resizing 50BMG brass. RCBS is life time no BS warranty, Lee has 2 years and if they feel that its your fault and not their equipments fault, they won't help you.

agman1999

Thanks for the input. I'm sure we'll experiment with some surplus stuff just to see how good we can make it, but I don't doubt that the higher quality brass and bullets will make a huge difference.