Charging to Reload Ammo
- Thread starter shoedo
- Start date
Keith Glasscock
Gold $$ Contributor
I'm no expert, but I remember something about needing an FFL to manufacture ammo.
A "fair" price is the cost of the powder, primer and bullet times 1.5, plus your time times $25 per hour. If you supply the brass then you charge the cost of that times 1.5 just like all the other parts.
Whether that is a price someone will pay or not is another question. You do need a license to make and sell reloads and you will need at least $1,000,000.00 in insurance to cover you in the event of an accident. (whether it is your fault or not)
Whether that is a price someone will pay or not is another question. You do need a license to make and sell reloads and you will need at least $1,000,000.00 in insurance to cover you in the event of an accident. (whether it is your fault or not)
I took his question as an honest question about something he was considering. This part of "We all" hope he got enough information to make a wise decision. Some of us have actually gone into business doing something we enjoyed. The one thing that most do wrong in a new business is to not charge enough. It took me one business venture to figure out that you make fewer customers by trying to undercut the other businesses and you don't make enough money to stay in business.
About 30 years ago I had an FFL and was considering expanding it to include making ammunition so that I could sell it to the Law Enforcement agencies with whom I was involved. The problem was the agencies all bought their ammunition through the state contract, so the process of selling it to a local agency was to win the state bid. To do this I needed to meet state requirements for bonding, supply enough ammunition for all of the agencies that purchased through the bid, and "win" the bid, which meant that I had to beat the price of some really high volume loaders. I met none of the criteria, so I noted it as a nice thought and gave up on the idea.
In a word "Don't".
Potential liability is astounding once you get over the legality end of it.
Potential liability is astounding once you get over the legality end of it.
Exactly. Best not to do it. I don't reload for others and I will not shoot anyone else's reloads.
Liven The Dream
Gold $$ Contributor
If it goes wrong how much insurance do you have ?????
Liven The Dream
Gold $$ Contributor
Old saying "Smart People Don't Shoot Other Peoples Ammunition " ..........
Click the link below and scroll down to the post by "msphotog". Maybe you could pm him and get answers from someone in the business.
http://forum.accurateshooter.com/threads/mid-range-coyote-round.3929697/
http://forum.accurateshooter.com/threads/mid-range-coyote-round.3929697/
Not worth the legal risk at any price. Anything that happens to the shooter or his firearm will automatically be your fault and the ammo's fault. No matter how careful we are problems happen. Over the years I loaded a round with no powder and a round with powder and no primer. And yes, I try to be extremely careful. Imagine a round with no powder. The primer unseats the bullet and the next round is loaded into the chamber. BOOM!
It happens.. I was on a range many years ago and watched a guy get 3 squibs in the middle of a box of factory PMC 9mm ammo before I could stop him.. The dealer who sold him the gun and box of ammo hours before I knew and he said there was 3 bullets in the barrel.. Was the rest of the box like that or was number 4 hot???
We were the only two at the range and the guy could not figure out why I was screaming stop stop till I told him what was happening and pulled the barrel on his brand new Beretta 92 and showed him...
Just last weekend my wife got a super weak factory remington .38spl round but saw the strike on the target and still took the time to check the barrel before continuing... The man who got the 3 squibs , it was his first time shooting a pistol , but I bet he learned a good lesson that day.. I know I did..
An experienced shooter will (should) recognize a squib and immediately stop until everything checks out. Others won't.
My BIL loaded all of my ammo for years. One day at the range I fired one that had so much pressure, lots of smoke and gas escaping all around the bolt. Had to take my rifle to a gunsmith to get the ruined bolt out. Turns out that he had accidently dumped some Red Dot into my Reloader 22 canister. I began buying my own reloading equipment, immediately thereafter. Be very careful everyone!
First off, don't listen to all the negatives on this subject. There is a lady locally that makes and sells reloaded pistol ammo. To my knowledge there have been no issues. We have a customer from Texas who has a family business making and selling reloads. They do a lot of .223 and pistol ammo.
As was said, you will need a license and liability insurance. I doubt the insurance is terribly expensive. If it were me, I would contact Ryan Cleckner (he is a lawyer who specializes in firearms law as well as being a shooter and former sniper). He can guide you through the licensing process. Talk to your insurance company regarding liability insurance.
There is a new range in the planning stages in my area. They plan to get a commercial press and sell reloads as well.
As for how to price your service/product, you would need to define your market as well. Are you loading pistol ammo, rifle ammo or both? Will you catering to the hunting crowd, or to competitive/precision shooters? For hunting ammo, you can resize the cases to sammi spec and be ok. For precision shooters you would want to use one of their fired cases for setting the sizing die. Precision ammo would bear a larger profit margin than pistol ammo for target practice. Talk to your CPA. You will need to charge enough to account for the depreciation of your equipment as well as the components and your labor. Your production rate would have to be considered as well. If you are using a Dillon press and can turn out a high rate of rounds per hour you can charge less. If you are using a single stage press, your production will not be a high and your labor cost per round would be a lot higher. Setup is another time killer. How many rounds will you run with a particular set up before changing to another caliber? Of course, precision ammo would require the most time hence the higher profit margin. There could be good market for this, you won't know until you try. Look at it this way, it would be a good excuse to buy some of the reloading tools you have been wanting!
FWIW,
Dennis
As was said, you will need a license and liability insurance. I doubt the insurance is terribly expensive. If it were me, I would contact Ryan Cleckner (he is a lawyer who specializes in firearms law as well as being a shooter and former sniper). He can guide you through the licensing process. Talk to your insurance company regarding liability insurance.
There is a new range in the planning stages in my area. They plan to get a commercial press and sell reloads as well.
As for how to price your service/product, you would need to define your market as well. Are you loading pistol ammo, rifle ammo or both? Will you catering to the hunting crowd, or to competitive/precision shooters? For hunting ammo, you can resize the cases to sammi spec and be ok. For precision shooters you would want to use one of their fired cases for setting the sizing die. Precision ammo would bear a larger profit margin than pistol ammo for target practice. Talk to your CPA. You will need to charge enough to account for the depreciation of your equipment as well as the components and your labor. Your production rate would have to be considered as well. If you are using a Dillon press and can turn out a high rate of rounds per hour you can charge less. If you are using a single stage press, your production will not be a high and your labor cost per round would be a lot higher. Setup is another time killer. How many rounds will you run with a particular set up before changing to another caliber? Of course, precision ammo would require the most time hence the higher profit margin. There could be good market for this, you won't know until you try. Look at it this way, it would be a good excuse to buy some of the reloading tools you have been wanting!
FWIW,
Dennis
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