According to C. Rodney James, editor of the latest edition of The ABCs of Reloading:
“There are at least five good reasons for embarking on the journey of reloading. First is economy. Someone who has come to enjoy the sport of shooting soon discovers that the cost of factory ammunition has become almost prohibitive. A pleasant afternoon of target shooting, banging through a half dozen boxes of cartridges or more, can run past the hundred dollar mark if you use anything other than 22 rimfires.
“By reloading brass centerfire cartridge cases with commercially available bullets, primers and smokeless powder, you can reduce this cost by better than 60% over commercial ammunition. Even if empty cases are purchased new the savings over commercially-made ammunition is still better than 25%, because you supplied the labor to make the finished ammunition. If you cast your own lead-alloy bullets, you can save even more since good bullets can be made from scrap alloys that can be bought for very little or even obtained for free.”