Over the last 12 years now (has it been that long? whoa), I have reloaded and shot well in excess of 100,000 rounds. This is just as a hobbyist marksman/reloader, not even remotely close to those like Jerry Miculek. Of that quantity, most have been .38 Special, but there's been plenty of .357M, .44 Spl, .44M, and .45 Colt in there. Even during normal periods, we know how much that would cost to buy.
The result is that my marksmanship got good and has stayed good.
We all know how difficult it is to get factory ammunition these days. If you can get it, you're paying a rather large premium. I'm seeing a repeat of the 2013 days after the terrible Sandy Hook Elementary School incident, when ammunition prices for even .22LR went through the roof. Even the Russian Wolf/Tulammo rounds were selling at over a dollar per round.
Those days have returned, it seems, in light of the events of 2020. Good luck finding anything, at least at a reasonable price. I'm seeing 9mm Luger ball ammo go for a dollar a round! Never thought I'd see that happen....
This is why it's so important to be set up for reloading. This is, as now-President Biden would say, a "Big F***ing Deal" for those of us who want to practice and thus keep our marksmanship at a good level of proficiency.
Get your press setup and at least two reloading manuals. You don't need to spend a lot of money on a progressive press. For the vast majority of shooters, a good turret press (e. g. any of the Lee Turret Presses--I happen to like the heavy-duty Classic Turret Press) will do the job very nicely. Those reloading videos are still up on YouTube, BTW, for anyone wanting to see how this is done. The antis haven't flagged all of them for removal yet. :-)
Acquire supplies gradually. I know that primers and powder can be tough to find now. I know that. This was also true in 2009 when I got started, after President Obama took office. So, yeah, I paid a bit of a premium for some components, especially primers. Certain powders, such as Bullseye, 2400, and Varget were simply not available. So, I adapted. Instead of Bullseye, I chose Titegroup. Turns out to be another very good powder for similar applications (I now also use Bullseye). Instead of Varget, I used BL-C(2). And so on.
Primers, yeah, it cost me more than normal. But I had ammo, and I had it for a lot less than what factory ammo would cost.
Over time, I got my stocks of brass, primers, powder, and bullets up so that I could "survive" another drought like the current one. Therefore, I always--ALWAYS--have ammo. If I need some range practice ammo, I just go pull the handle and make some.
Even if it cost me the same per round as buying factory ammo, I'd still be set up to reload. It's as much about ammo availability as it is anything else. As Ted Kennedy said in the 1970's, "no ammo, no guns."
And that is why it's so important to reload.
The importance of getting set up to reload your own
1"SF Liberal With A Gun + Free Software Advocate"
http://www.sanfranciscoliberalwithagun.com/
http://www.liberalsguncorner.com/
http://www.sanfranciscoliberalwithagun.com/
http://www.liberalsguncorner.com/