Thread: friends asking how much for load development

so i have been asked by a few friends to do load development for them, I go into depth, find low sd groups, play with seating depths then play with neck tensions etc. Takes me about 4 range days, plus heaps of time in the workshop.

Wthey are asking me how much to do a load decvelopment. It would be including me getting dies, powder, primers and projectiles supplied to them also .

I was thinking 1K for initial load development, then $1 per round for reloads after their initial 50 rounds arer shot ?

I think theirs a joker in tauranga charging about $500 for load d then maybe abit more than a dollar around $1.50 . Its a timly beast and I no your results are spot on so if you happy with that run it by them I struggle to get reimbursed for conponents so an up front fee is a good idea to cover costs at least

thats what i was thinking. Problem being i would have to get all the components. but if im supplying the components, then a higher eg. 1.5 per round would make sence, its mainly to cover all my costs. 150 for dies, 100 for projectiles, primers... depends on the cartridge, brass they supply, or 150-300 if needing to purchase brass. I told him around 700 including everything, but maybe 1- 1.50 per round after that.

1k??? including 50 rounds and 4 range visits? and after thst 1$ per round? jesus youre cheap!

calculate the time you will have to spend. and your hourly rate. including allowance to get to range etc.

after that it depends if its for a client wich full cost recovery (and potential margin) or a friend.

Interesting question.

Would you include an hourly rate? $40/hour would be cheap.

My handloads without amortising barrel & case wear are $0.50 for primer & powder plus extra for projectile plus labour.
Projectiles from my stock range from $0.40 to $1.20 each.
Labour for priming, adding powder & projectile $0.50 per round.
Say $2.00 per round.
My components, primer, powder and projectiles, are on the cheap side because I buy in bulk.

Load development or load testing
I've just done some where I had a known close starting point close to the end point.
About 100 rounds. About 10 hours of range time plus 4 hours driving.
(Includes lots of cleaning as I was also running in the new barrel.)

So for me it would be about $760 dollars plus the cost of any dies, cases, that may be required.

Depriming, annealing, sizing & cleaning cases is another story and/or another cost.

Double check the legislation to make sure you don’t need a dealers licence for it.

Hmm, I have just done a quick work out for a 45g load.
Primer at .25c powder at 63c projectile at $1.10.
$1.98 with with out labour's.
Then if your going through neck cleaning induction annealing sizing trimming and reloading.
I recon it usually takes 2.5hrs for 50 approx.
2.5 x30 =$75 plus $2 per round.
Approx $3.50 per round or 70 per box of $20.
Still cheap if your ammo is $110.00 per box.
A 24 pk minimum for 50rnds for labour's I reckon.
That is of newzealand finest green bottles!

Sent from my SM-A226B using Tapatalk

Sections 22D and 22E of the arms act state what needs to be done to supply/sell ammunition. You just need a firearms licence not a dealers.

easy enough for them to supply their own "components" and i just help them load up stug. and this is for friends, so i just want to make sure i get time compensated for.

Originally Posted by stug

Double check the legislation to make sure you don’t need a dealers licence for it.

Exaccery!!

Plus the need for insurance if they then blow their rifle up using loads developed by you (for whatever reason).

And all the HNSO guff that goes with operating with explosives commercially

Could get messy and expensive all in one go.

$1.50 was his labour no components most my rounds are a touch over $2 not inclussing brass

Its good that you have actually put a realistic figure for 4 days work. Too many of us dont charge enough for our time and time aint something you can buy some more of if youre short. And price the components at todays retail rate, not what you bought them for, cos you will have to replace them for yourself at todays rate. If they pay for the dies, then I'm assuming that they get to keep them once you've completed the load development. But you need to include a fee for the use of your dies, if you use your dies. Which can then be a pita cos you have them set for your loads and have to reset them each time you use them for another rifle.

Personally i dont load for anyone else other than my brother because although i enjoy it, i cant charge enough to make it worthwhile. If your doing it cheap to help a mate out and dont mind taking a loss then thats fine, or loading up something generic for a bush gun is a different story but say you have someone that wants a finely tuned long distance load sorted, Im sure we are all well aware of just how many hours you can blow through in the shed & at the range trying different combinations & then shooting them. Even just simple load development doing it properly with 1 particular bullet and powder config, by time you factor in all the hours involved, especially if the rifle is fussy and takes alot of pissing around to get it to shoot, Could easily blow through 10 hours without even trying and if i was to charge someone 10hrs for load development + consumables, travel costs to range etc at what my current labour rate is, they would have a heart attack. So for me, im better off to just go to work.

I have given up loading and developing loads for other people, it's just fraught with issues and everyone thinks it's easy/doesn't take long and have no appreciation for how much time and effort go into it. Happy to teach people what I know, that's a different ball game

im happy to teach also, but i get time when i get time, and half the time no one wants to cam hang out for a while during load development...