more of it than is necessary to fire to attain-maintain realistic skills, it wont break you. The .22 unit, dryfire, wax shooting cover all but a couple thousand rds a year of needed practice, and half of that can be 9mm, if you want to bother with the .45 at all. .45 reloads are at least 12c a shot, .45 ball is 22c a shot, so you are only saving $100 a year.
If you want to shoot enough to be a really top competitor, yes, you have to reload, but you dont do it with a single station press. You go ahead and drop the $700 on a Dillon 650, and all the goodies. Then the 3-4c per round you save (as vs BUYING reloads) makes some sense, because you can average 700 rds an hour(if you modify-fit the Lee casefeeder and auto-primer to the Dillon, that is). Those who shoot 40-50k rds per year can appreciate the savings of $30 per thousand, but not those who shoot 3-4k a year, and who can only manage 150 rds per hour, on a single station press.
If you want to shoot enough to be a really top competitor, yes, you have to reload, but you dont do it with a single station press. You go ahead and drop the $700 on a Dillon 650, and all the goodies. Then the 3-4c per round you save (as vs BUYING reloads) makes some sense, because you can average 700 rds an hour(if you modify-fit the Lee casefeeder and auto-primer to the Dillon, that is). Those who shoot 40-50k rds per year can appreciate the savings of $30 per thousand, but not those who shoot 3-4k a year, and who can only manage 150 rds per hour, on a single station press.