Is the cost ammo Insane or am I?

I started loading my own ammo when I bought a 308 Norma Magnum back in 1963. [I thought $5.99/box was a lot of money]
At the time, we could buy "bulk" H4831 for $1.00/lb, and old Norma 205 was $3.99/500 grams.
Once I started reloading, I never looked back. Over the years, I have accumulated much equipment, and loads of components.
I believe I am at 60 sets of dies, and I will never run out of brass for my favorites in my lifetime.

Some powders I am still using, I paid $10.00/lb up to $18.00/lb for, carryovers from when Thomas Higginson was selling a lot of surplus. [RP-5,AMS 47 SB, 47N, W760 SL131, CF 7900, WC 755, etc]
Price and availability of some newer powders makes using them a bit daunting, but some are excellent choices.
Most of my firearms other than rimfires have never seen a factory round. I am very much OK with that. D.
 
VinnyQC said:
At this point reloading 556 is either for bolt gun or not worth it financially.

Tenda and durham outdoors have lowered the prices on bulk 9mm and 556. For 9mm, canada ammo and western metal offer real good prices on reloaded ammos. Cabela's and SFRC have 22lr at prices lower than they were 2 years ago. I think prices got so high so fast that everyone (consumers, distributors) got into reloading. Production of new ammos has also ramped up. Now we're starting to see the effect of that additionnal production. Add that to the newfound strength in the loonie, and we get the prices we get.

Of course, we're never going to see the same prices as in the US (after exchange rate). But have you compared cell phone plans or mutual funds fees between canada and US lately? Guns and ammos aren't the worst. At least for guns we can import through Irunguns and we mostly get the same prices as in US.
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Actually, there are number of items I can offer that are very close to US price plus exchange give or take. The dollar has gone up but alot of the costs of importing have also gone up so the difference is not as great as it could BUT there are certainly alot of areas where Cdn pricing is very competitive with our southern neighbours.

Jerry
 
Mystic Precision said:
Actually, there are number of items I can offer that are very close to US price plus exchange give or take. The dollar has gone up but alot of the costs of importing have also gone up so the difference is not as great as it could BUT there are certainly alot of areas where Cdn pricing is very competitive with our southern neighbours.

Jerry
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So jerry are you the guy for when I'm ready to purchase my reloading gear??
 
Mystic Precision said:
Actually, there are number of items I can offer that are very close to US price plus exchange give or take. The dollar has gone up but alot of the costs of importing have also gone up so the difference is not as great as it could BUT there are certainly alot of areas where Cdn pricing is very competitive with our southern neighbours.

Jerry
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You should post those prices on your website.
 
VinnyQC said:
You should post those prices on your website.
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Yeah, I get that alot.... I am very low tech and an email answers the questions. With literally, thousands of skus I can access and offer, it would be a full time job just maintaining the click portal. And yes, the big boys have an IT room with people inputting data for others to click on .... me, not so much.

Don't get me wrong, I fully understand the way the internet world is going but this dinosaur is looking at the costs and the only thing I see is more costs for the consumer...

If consumers eventually will not send an email, I will be forced to adjust and all those wonderful prices will go bye bye... but if that is what consumers want, then I will have to change.

I wonder if consumers realise that part of the reason things are more expensive on the internet is because of THE COST OF THE INTERNET.

I am not Amazon... I dont get to loose billions a year....

Jerry
 
Eagleye said:
I started loading my own ammo when I bought a 308 Norma Magnum back in 1963. [I thought $5.99/box was a lot of money]
At the time, we could buy "bulk" H4831 for $1.00/lb, and old Norma 205 was $3.99/500 grams.
Once I started reloading, I never looked back. Over the years, I have accumulated much equipment, and loads of components.
I believe I am at 60 sets of dies, and I will never run out of brass for my favorites in my lifetime.

Some powders I am still using, I paid $10.00/lb up to $18.00/lb for, carryovers from when Thomas Higginson was selling a lot of surplus. [RP-5,AMS 47 SB, 47N, W760 SL131, CF 7900, WC 755, etc]
Price and availability of some newer powders makes using them a bit daunting, but some are excellent choices.
Most of my firearms other than rimfires have never seen a factory round. I am very much OK with that. D.
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My story is so much like yours.........only I figure you've got me by 10 years. I started reloading 44 mag cause in 1973 ammo cost was outrageous. (lol). I considered my centre fires as 'virgins'-----never saw a factory round. Never regretted it for a moment.
 
Yup ammo seems to be up alot lately. I do not own this calibre but a box in a big sporting goods shop was 179.00 for a box of 20 in 338/378 $8.95 a shot dang!
 
When I saw that a box of 20 for my .348 was around $82, I said "to heck with that, I'm reloading!". I think I might have a box of factory ammo for it, but that cam with the gun when I bought it...

I've been shooting my cast lead reloads out of that gun since I bought it at a gun show 6 (?) years ago.

Haven't bought factory ammo in years now, except maybe a box of .22 Hornet and a couple boxes of .38-40 when SIR was getting rid of them.

I've got a couple of guns that I wouldn't have if it weren't for reloading. Factory ammo just costs too much...Or maybe I'm too cheap?
 
The way I see it - prices aren't going to get better, they only go higher. When I find a good price I "stock up", been doing that for so long I don't actually buy a lot now days because I have most of the components I need on hand most of the time.
 
jethunter said:
The way I see it - prices aren't going to get better, they only go higher. When I find a good price I "stock up", been doing that for so long I don't actually buy a lot now days because I have most of the components I need on hand most of the time.
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I disagree. 8 months ago, the best price you could get on a case of 9mm was 300$. Now you routinely see cases going for 250$. American Eagle 22lr has gone from 35$/brick to 30$/brick when on sale. That's about 15% deflation in both cases.

With canam and western metal getting into reloaded 223, we should soon see prices in that calibre cool down a bit too.
 
VinnyQC said:
I disagree. 8 months ago, the best price you could get on a case of 9mm was 300$. Now you routinely see cases going for 250$. American Eagle 22lr has gone from 35$/brick to 30$/brick when on sale. That's about 15% deflation in both cases.

With canam and western metal getting into reloaded 223, we should soon see prices in that calibre cool down a bit too.
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Also check out WASP sales in Sylvan Lake.

I was talking about long term prices on powder and components, not ammo, but it's basically the same thing. Prices fluctuate a bit in the short term but long term prices will only get higher. Buy when the price is good and watch for sales and bulk buys.
 
jethunter said:
I was talking about stocking up on powder and components, not ammo, but it's basically the same thing. The key is buying when the price is good. Prices fluctuate a bit in the short term but long term prices will only get higher.
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Powder has come down too. I paid $44 / lb plus shipping from Budget Shooter SUPLY for UNIQUE when it first started to show up in Canada again. Now I can get a 8lb Keg locally for $214.
 
Sometimes I just give my head a shake. AMMO HAS NEVER BEEN CHEAP. At least on commercial hunting ammo.

Surplus ammo has MOSTLY been cheap but not always. Lately prices are questionable as well.

The other day there was a thread started by a fellow that was not interested in hand loading anymore. OK fine. Some people only get into hand loading to alleviate the cost of commercial hunting ammo so that they can practice more.

As for component costs??????????? They go up and they go down but the overall trend is that they go UP.

Instead of purchasing a pound of powder or as I heard at the range yesterday, three guys had bought a pound of powder, 100 count box of primers and a box of 100 bullets. They split this up between them. I have no idea why they did this. They all are reasonably flush financially. They all like to shoot. The thing is they mostly shoot surplus ammo and have been spoiled by the relatively low cost.

AMMUNITION IS LIKELY every bit as expensive or even more so than the firearm itself when all is said and done.

Shooting, hunting etc is an EXPENSIVE sport. The thing is, it isn't any more expensive than other sports.

Worrying over a dollar here and a dollar there is counterproductive to your health.
 
MuthaFunk said:
Powder has come down too. I paid $44 / lb plus shipping from Budget Shooter SUPLY for UNIQUE when it first started to show up in Canada again. Now I can get a 8lb Keg locally for $214.
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It can be hard to grasp when you haven't been doing it long.

If you think prices are going to continue getting lower then by all means wait a couple years and see.
My Unique cost well under $20/lb because it's mostly a decade old. Which is kind of what I meant by "long term".
 
jethunter said:
It can be hard to grasp when you haven't been doing it long.

If you think prices are going to continue getting lower then by all means wait a couple years and see.
My Unique cost well under $20/lb because it's mostly a decade old. Which is kind of what I meant by "long term".
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1-Everything has gone up in price in the last 10 years. Not everything has doubled, but except for electronics, most stuff is more expensive. All of it will probably be more expensive again in 10 years. So should you stock up? Sure, but what makes you believe that ammos, bullets or powder will feel more inflation than, say, tomato soup? Cause you could stock cans of soup too.

2-You Unique cost isn't 20$ because you bought it 10 years ago at 20$. Since you could sell it for, say, 38$, your cost is 20$+18$ in opportunity cost. Your replacement cost is, say, 40$. Seeing the price you paid for components 10 years ago as your cost today is an economic fallacy.

As for ammo price, I maintain that peak price in absolute and real term was around mid-to-late-2016. We have better price now that we did a year ago, on almost everything, from reloading component to hunting ammo and rimfire rounds. A few exceptions here and there, but overall, we have lower prices.
 
VinnyQC said:
1-Everything has gone up in price in the last 10 years. Not everything has doubled, but except for electronics, most stuff is more expensive. All of it will probably be more expensive again in 10 years. So should you stock up? Sure, but what makes you believe that ammos, bullets or powder will feel more inflation than, say, tomato soup? Cause you could stock cans of soup too.

2-You Unique cost isn't 20$ because you bought it 10 years ago at 20$. Since you could sell it for, say, 38$, your cost is 20$+18$ in opportunity cost. Your replacement cost is, say, 40$. Seeing the price you paid for components 10 years ago as your cost today is an economic fallacy.

As for ammo price, I maintain that peak price in absolute and real term was around mid-to-late-2016. We have better price now that we did a year ago, on almost everything, from reloading component to hunting ammo and rimfire rounds. A few exceptions here and there, but overall, we have lower prices.
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Are you trolling me? You need to calm down or take a break buddy.

I don't give a #### about soup, but you shouldn't let that stop you from buying as much as you like. If I was a soup-man like you I'd probably be clever enough to know it has a limited shelf life, and contrary to our experience with ammunition and reloading components - soup has not been subject to a decade of shortages and unavailability.

If we're going to get snarky about "financial fallacy", then we should attempt to use real calculations instead of making up convenient numbers. Because - powder purchased 10 years ago at under $20/lb with a 2% compounding annual rate of inflation = $24.87/lb today, and NOT $38/lb.

There are numerous financial investments that would enjoy a far better rate of return, but none of my financial investments ever helped me go shooting when I was out of powder. I have somewhere around $10 grand invested in components and ammo. It's a piddling amount considering the time and enjoyment I get from it.

I buy in bulk and when I find a good price. Because I can afford it and because it makes good sense to me.
 
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I have reloaded since the early 70's when I started with a Lee Loader for 30-30. I have been casting since the 80's. I scour the gun shows for deals on powder. I don't worry about the price of primers, gotta have them. For example, I scored a 10 lb keg of Unique for $50, and 5 lb can of 700X for $80. I buy lots of surplus ammo, both military and just plain factory ammo when I buy used guns for resale. It does involve spending a bit of money to buy someone's collection, but I can usually end up with lots of ammo that I can wheel and deal for something I can use.

I shoot the common calibers - 30-30, 30-6, 308, 7.62x54R, 7.62x39, 8x57, etc., and mostly all reduced loads with cast bullets. As an example, out of a lb of Unique (7000 grains), I can get nearly 600 loads at 11 or 12 gr under a cast GC bullet made from usually free WW.

My days of shooting full house loads are mostly over and done with. I enjoy taking a couple or three of my worthless old military rifles out and dusting off a few rounds at a paper target. My eyes are getting fuzzy at the rear sight, so scoped rifles are now getting some attention.
 
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