I decided to break down the total cost of reloading ammunition with the intent to sell it for profit. All values are calculated with a 100 Barter Skill.

I will be updating this, adding more regular and specialty loads as I craft them.

Values of reloading materials:
Jar, Pistol Power- 2 caps (0.01 caps per unit)
Jar, Rifle Powder- 5 caps (0.025 caps per unit)
Primer Box, .50 MG- 12 caps (0.48 caps per unit)
Primer Box, Large Pistol- 7 caps (0.28 caps per unit)
Primer Box, Large Rifle- 10 caps (0.4 caps per unit)
Primer Box, Shotshell- 5 caps (0.2 caps per unit)
Primer Box, Small Pistol- 5 caps (0.2 caps per unit)
Primer Box, Small Rifle- 7 caps (0.28 caps per unit)
Lead- Free when broken down from scavenged scrap metal (200 pieces per scrap metal)
Casings- Free when reusing previously fired casings

.308:
17 lead
5 rifle power (0.125 caps)
1 large rifle primer (0.4 caps)
Cost per round- 0.525 caps
Value- 3 caps
Profit per round- 2.475 caps

.357 Magnum:
16 lead
8 pistol power (0.08 caps)
1 small pistol primer (0.2 caps)
Cost per round- 0.28 caps
Value- 0.9 caps
Profit per round- 0.62 caps

.44 Magnum:
30 lead
10 pistol powder (0.1 caps)
1 large pistol primer (0.28)
Cost per round- 0.38 caps
Value- 2 caps
Profit per round- 1.62 caps per round

.45-70 Gov't:
30 lead
4 rifle powder (0.1 caps)
1 large rifle primer (0.4 caps)
Cost per round- 0.5 caps
Value- 3 caps
Profit per round- 2.5 caps

.50 MG:
70 lead
22 rifle powder (0.55 caps)
1 .50 MG primer (0.48 caps per round)
Cost per round- 1.03 caps
Value- 5 caps
Profit per round- 3.97 caps

10mm:
17 lead
9 pistol powder (0.09 caps)
1 large pistol primer (0.28 caps)
Cost per round- 0.37 caps
Value- 0.9 caps
Profit per round- 0.53 caps per round

5.56mm:
12 lead
4 rifle powder (0.1 caps)
1 small rifle primer (0.28 caps)
Cost per round- 0.38 caps
Value- 0.9 caps
Profit per round- 0.52 caps

5mm:
13 lead
5 rifle powder (0.125 caps)
1 small rifle primer (0.28 caps)
Cost per round- 0.405 caps
Value- 0.9 caps
Profit per round- 0.495 caps per round

9mm:
13 lead
6 pistol powder (0.06 caps)
1 small pistol primer (0.2 caps)
Cost per round- 0.26 caps
Value- 0.9 caps
Profit per round- 0.64 caps

12 Ga. Buckshot:
40 lead
30 pistol powder (0.3 caps)
1 shotshell primer (0.2 caps)
Cost per round- 0.5 caps
Value- 0.9 caps
Profit per round- 0.4 caps

12 Ga. Buckshot, Magnum:
40 lead
40 pistol powder (0.4 caps)
1 shotshell primer (0.2 caps)
Cost per round- 0.6 caps
Value- 3 caps
Profit per round- 2.4 caps

12 Ga. Coin Shot:
8 Legion Denarii (32 caps)
30 pistol powder (0.3 caps)
1 shotshell primer (0.2 caps)
Cost per round- 32.5 caps
Value- 36 caps
Profit per round- 3.5 caps

12 Ga. Slug:
45 lead
30 pistol powder (0.3 caps)
1 shotshell primer (0.2 caps)
Cost per round- 0.5 caps
Value- 2 caps
Profit per round- 1.5 caps

20 Ga. Buckshot:
30 lead
20 pistol powder (0.2 caps)
1 shotshell primer (0.2 caps)
Cost per round- 0.4 caps
Value- 0.9 caps
Profit per round- 0.5 caps

20 Ga. Buckshot, Magnum:
30 lead
28 pistol powder (0.28 caps)
1 shotshell primer (0.2 caps)
Cost per round- 0.48 caps
Value- 3 caps
Profit per round- 2.42 caps

20 Ga. Slug:
33 lead
20 pistol powder (0.2 caps)
1 shotshell primer (0.2 caps)
Cost per round- 0.4 caps
Value- 2 caps
Profit per round- 1.5 caps

Casings for .45-70 Gov't and .50 MG are hard to come by, not to mention .50 MG requires some serious lead to make and a 75 Repair Skill. So if you're making ammo in bulk with the intent to sell keep your eyes out for shotgun hulls, .44 Magnum casings, and .308 casings as those are likely going to be the easiest ones to find that turn a good profit.

.308 JSP (DAM x 1.5):
19 lead
6 rifle powder (0.15 caps)
1 large rifle primer (0.4 caps)
Cost per round- 0.55 caps
Value- 5 caps
Profit per round- 4.45 caps

.357 Magnum JFP (DAM x 1.25, DT -3, Spread -20%):
20 lead
10 pistol powder (0.1 caps)
1 small pistol primer (0.2 caps)
Cost per round- 0.3 caps
Value- 2 caps
Profit per round- 1.7 caps

.45-70 Gov't SWC (DAM x 1.2, CND x 3, DT -3):
40 lead
5 rifle powder (0.125 caps)
1 large rifle primer (0.4 caps)
Cost per round- 0.525 caps
Value- 6 caps
Profit per round- 5.475 caps

.50 MG Match (DAM x 1.15, Spread -35%:
75 lead
25 rifle powder (0.625 caps)
1 .50 MG primer (0.48 caps)
Cost per round- 1.105 caps
Value- 7 caps
Profit per round- 5.895 caps

10mm JHP (DAM x 1.65, DT x 2):
21 lead
12 pistol powder (0.12 caps)
1 large pistol primer (0.28 caps)
Cost per round- 0.4 caps
Value- 0.9 caps
Profit per round- 0.5 caps

.44 Magnum SWC:
????
The game won't even give me the option for this one at the reloading bench. I need to investigate this one.

Excellent guide.

Though I would add that perhaps the largest advantage of reloading your own is that it ensures you always have what you use the most. If you've tapped out all the vendors you have access to, you could be stuck waiting for their stock to respawn rather than breaking down some other ammo you don't need and going about your business.

What you say is true, especially of those rare calibers like big fifty and .45-70. Also, the Gun Runners usually only sell .45-70 HP rounds, so firing your Ranger Sequoia or Brush Gun can become quite pricey if you're shooting at Cazadors. On my edit of the Wiki Reloading page, I added a table showing the percentage saved for hand loading as opposed to purchasing from a vendor (with 100 Barter Skill, so lower level players stand to save more). Surprisingly, .44 Magnum is one that you save a load of caps reloading yourself.

Another thing I would like to mention here that I thought about while editing the Wiki was a good option for lower level players reloading. Use shotgun shells. You only need 25 repair skill and you don't need Hand Loader to craft slugs and magnums, so it gives you high-powered ammunition for cheaper than the mid-grade buckshot you get from vendors.

I would also like to add as a side note that I wish you could have loaded match grade ammo for the .308 and 5.56mm with Hand Loader. Those are calibers that are used in match shooting and it would be logical that if you were an experienced hand loader with a high quality sniper rifle, you could easily make your own ammunition that would be more accurate than a standard load (reduce spread to 0 with the Varmint Rifle and Sniper Rifle). It also would have been cool if instead of making silenced weapons completely silent (which suppressed weapons are most certainly not) you could have also hand loaded subsonic rounds that when combined with a silencer would have made it a truly silenced weapon (although subsonic rounds would obviously deal less damage because they do not travel as fast). I think the whole suppressed weapons still making some noise and subsonic hand loads would have added a new dimension to the sneak factor instead of the typical Hollywood/video game industry's idea of "silenced" guns being completely silent.

Need the numbers for the ammo types that come with the "Hand Loader" perk added. What I do alot now is buy standard .308, .44 Magnum, scrap metal and both powders. Then I break down the ammo/metal and repress them into .308 JSP and .44 Magnum SWC rounds. Sometimes do the same thing with extra 10mm I collect and any 45-70 Gov't rounds I find/buy. The left over materials that build up from doing this for along time is enough to cover the cost for .50 MG Match hand loads.

Match-grade ammo would indeed have been awesome, since the mechanic to reduce firing spread already exists in game.

Though I'd add I'd like to see match-grade pistol ammo too. Target .22 pistols exist, after all, it'd be useless but fun to have.

Honestly I love the complexity they added with ammo types and gun mods and crafting recipes. I just want to see more, more, more!

Oh and I think that match-grade idea is so good... I'm going to have to make a mod

Lucky PC user! But if I had the PC version, I would be very interested in a match grade mod for the .308 and 5.56mm.

Instead of .22LR match, you should do a .22LR shotshell! Increase the spread and damage, but decrease the damage threshold. That would be fun with the .22LR SMG! Spraying .22LR shotshell rounds everywhere! Just as a side note, they also have shotshells for .38 Special and .44 Special guns, so if you get a .22LR shotshell mod working you might also be able to do it with the .38 and .44 calibers. There was also a shotshell made in the .45-70 caliber over a century ago, might be fun to fire a high-spread round from a Ranger Sequoia.

I updated the original post with some of the special hand loads. I need to get my repair skill to 100 tomorrow so I can craft the Big Fiddy Match and the .45-70 SWC.

Took the .357 JFPs for a test run. Dropped a glowing one feral with one to the dome from Lucky. I could get used to these things (I crafted 840 of just the .357 JFPs so far, also cooked up 404 .308 JSPs, and then I ran out of lead).

So I was looking over some ballistics tables to see just how accurate the DAM was for the guns and different loads available to just how powerful they are in real life. All data is given for velocity and energy at 100 yards.

9mm (9mm Pistol does 16 DAM)
115 SP and JHP:
990fps
250ft-lbs

124 FMJ +P:
960fps
255ft-lbs

I guess you aren't really using a 9mm at 100 yards, right? Either way, the ammo modifiers look good to me. +P doesn't gain much besides that it is better at going through stuff (in FMJ type, JHP +P is a bit different) and it will degrade the gun quicker.

10mm (10mm Pistol does 22 DAM)
180 SP and HP:
1004fps
403ft-lbs

175 JHP:
1037fps
418ft-lbs

Inside 100 yards this thing is a monster, a little slower than a .357 Magnum but it packs more velocity. In terms of damage it should be the same or higher than the .357. Next to the .50AE and .475 Wildey Magnum, it's one of the most powerful calibers to leave an automatic handgun. At 100 yards a 10mm round hits harder than many .45ACP rounds hit at point blank. The DAM looks more like a .40S&W, which is basically 10mm with some of the punch taken out of it to reduce recoil (some 10mm fans jokingly call it the ".40 Small & Weak" but it's still a damn good caliber).

.357 Magnum (.357 Revolver does 26 DAM)
158 SP and SJHP:
1015fps
361ft-lbs

165 JFP:
1108fps
450ft-lbs

The bullet characteristics seem about right with ballistics data (though the DAM a bit too high), I assumed the hand load JFP would be a bit bigger since it packs more punch. However, a flat point round firing straighter than a soft point spitzer round is a little hard to believe. The reason you use a flat point is because in a lever-action gun the rounds sit tip-to-primer and with a pointy bullet tip sometimes when you pull the trigger the one in chamber isn't the only one that went off! A JHP will punch through better than a SP just because of the nature of copper deformation versus lead deformation, but as far as firing straighter I'm not buying it.

.44 Magnum (.44 Revolver does 36 DAM)
240 SP and SJHP:
1010fps
543ft-lbs

Seems good to me, maybe a tiny bit overpowered but it is a .44 Magnum. The .44 Magnum is all about street cred, but don't get me wrong that thing still packs a bigger punch than any other widely available handgun caliber in this game (the 12.7mm is the exception, but I can never find the gun or the ammo for it).

.45-70 (Hunting Revolver does 60 DAM)
405 SP:
1168fps
1227ft-lbs

300 JHP:
1650fps
1815ft-lbs

The 405-grain is the old school way of loading the .45-70, most of the more modern loads have moved to a 300-grain projectile because that gives the best bulet speed while still packing a monster punch (which was always the signature of the .45-70). The majority of .45-70 loads, whether 405-grain, 300-grain, or otherwise are designed to be accurate to 100 yards and that's about it. At 200 yards drops of 24in or more aren't uncommon for this caliber. Basically if your target is over 500-600 feet away from you, aim about 2ft above them!

For Obsidian: I'm loving all the new calibers and the nice effort at the realism of the rather accurate DAM for each caliber (with the exception of 10mm, beef that thing up a bit). I found myself quite annoyed running around the DC Wasteland throwing .32 caliber rounds in an Indiana Jones 5-shot revolver and then into a highly accurate hunting rifle. I have a box of .32ACPs sitting next to me right now, the things are about as long as my pinky fingernail and I would barely trust them to drop a raccoon. So I must say I appreciate the move towards more realistic damage modeling and the wider array of calibers.

Maybe in a DLC you guys could give us a .700 Nitro Express, a .41 Magnum, a .500S&W, a .416 CheyTac, a 7.62x54mm Russian (scoped Mosin-Nagant I could jerk off to), or a .338 Lapua? And I still want to know how in God's name you were able to make a western-styled set of guns WITHOUT a gun firing either .45 Long Colt or .30-30?! I think John Wayne rolled in his grave.

Good info, Enzo_Guy. I have a question you might have an answer for. I bought some jars of rifle powder and boxes of .50 MG primers. I have some .50 MG casings and some lead. The problem is that at the reloading station, the jars of powder and boxes of primers aren't recognized as componants in the .50 MG round. Is there a way to convert jars of rifle powder into usable rifle powder? Same with boxes of primers. I have the reloading perk so I am supposed to have all recipes but I don't see a breakdown for jars.

(edit) Okay. That was stupid. I searched further and found out that you have to drop the jars on the ground and pick them up again to get usable reloading powder. I guess the theory behind that is that you have to break the jar and scoop up the powder off of the ground. hahaha

If you're wanting to be technical than a shotgun would be a hell of a lot better at ranged since that is how they are in real life. Shotguns don't lose their effectiveness till about 50 yards. Games state that it takes the strategy out of a game if shotguns were so powerful and yet so deadly at a range. Same concept goes for this silencer. It's not 100% accurate, but the point stands and few complain. Games don't follow every detail of real life to 100% accuracy, but that is what makes it a game.

My question is, Why can't we reload grenade ammo? Not only is this ammo amongst the most rare to find on vendors, but we also can't reload/make it at a bench. I've personally never really done any reloading for the sheer fact that it seems like too much work gathering the primers/etc to make ammo when most gun ammo is readily available.

Grenade ammo on the other hand .. yeah, not so much.

1: Need the Hand Loader perk
2: Find Jules in North Vegas Square and pass two skill checks with him. First is for 50 Guns and the second is for 60 survival.
3: You can now press the .44 Magnum SWC round with 75 repair skill.

It's a PITA but the ammo is great in a Trail Carbine with the Cowboy perk. Mid 60s DAM rateing and 110 DPS.

100 Barter, that's something rather crazy to ask.

Another problem would be primers, they are not sold more than 4 (100 round).

I mean c'mon ~400caps profit from selling 100 .50cal @ 100 Barter? I may as well make Bighorn steaks.

This is true, but it would have been interesting if there has been a shotgun with a rifled barrel (you could only fire slugs from it) and it had rifle sights on it. It would be like a realistic slug gun accurate out to ~200 yards, and you could also modify it with a scoped if you wanted.

Very nice thread.

How about Coin Shot? I find they have a high value and are good for selling.

I was having a hard time finding scrap metal so I broke down the 1400+ rounds of 9mm I was never going to use. I love the new .45-70 SWC rounds I'm packing in my Brush Gun. But I think the best hand loaded round is still the .357 JFP, that thing decimates in my Cowboy Repeater (fast ROF and hi-cap mag mods)!