Good old days powder prices

Holleyman

Holleyman

CGN Ultra frequent flyer
Rating - 100%
74   0   0
Location
Athabasca, AB
Loading some 223 and just finished a pound of DuPont 3031 powder and noticed the old price tag. Got a chuckle out of it.
I got several old cans in very good shape that someone who no longer loads gave to me. Wish you could get powder this cheap.

IMG_2125_zps5b6371d8.jpg


IMG_2126_zps46fd9c46.jpg
 
When I lived in the Shuswap area of BC as a late teen/early 20 year old, we had
a gunsmith/tinkerer who sold powder.

At the time, he bought surplus H4831 in substantial quantities, and then sold it to
us budding reloaders.

Mostly, I bought this powder in heavy brown paper bags from him.
The going price was less than $1.00/lb.

Not too much later, I bought Norma 205 [forerunner of Norma MRP] for $3.20/400 grams.
Not long ago on the EE here, there was a guy trying to sell some MRP for $50.00/lb :eek: :bangHead: :onCrack:

But of course, ammo was inexpensive as well. IIRC, 30-06 Dominion ammo was $3.25 a box.

Regards, Dave.
 
Yep, I had one of the old cardboard rectangular H 4831 powder cannister from when I first started loading for my first 7mmRM and the price tag said $1.95. Kept it for years, might still have it, maybe I'll find it during this move, who knows, I found 2 rifles I forgot I owned. Now I gotta pack them buggers as well...............There may be a firesale on rifles real quick here, I'm getting sick of packing them !!!
 
Here is an unopened can I was given from a customer of mine....
2012-08-07185848.jpg

The felt tip marker price: $3.15.
He figures he bought it in the early 1970's....
 
Surely you jest............?...................Laugh2

Never taut I would hear this from up north.
Ya dun got the bewt from the yung'un aye?



c-fbmi said:
Yep, I had one of the old cardboard rectangular H 4831 powder cannister from when I first started loading for my first 7mmRM and the price tag said $1.95. Kept it for years, might still have it, maybe I'll find it during this move, who knows, I found 2 rifles I forgot I owned. Now I gotta pack them buggers as well...............There may be a firesale on rifles real quick here, I'm getting sick of packing them !!!
Click to expand...
 
Ya Looky we'll see how it goes, I'm hoping................when I start movin' guns it's serious though............I'm at 102 and still packin'.................sometimes I wish I knew how to be a hippie............."Ah, who cares dude it's just material chit, eh, leave all that crap behind, man"
 
Last edited:
turbo_bird said:
What was your hourly wage when when powder was that cheap? Everything else has gone up with it too.
Click to expand...
Beat me to it. So many people lose sight of this fact when waxing melancholy about old prices, forgetting that $3/hr back then was DOUBLE the minimum wage.
 
$6.25 a pound!
Man, you got ripped!

I recall talking to an old guy at the range (Back before I got old :) ) , and he told me of buying a 100 lb drum of WW2 milsurp powder from Yeagers in Bellingham WA for a whopping $65.
This would be around mid 90's he told me, and happened about 3 decades before that. He had just finished the drum a few years before we spoke.
 
I use a modified version of the Joe Sixpack test to figure out if powder was cheap or not.

The Joe sixpack test stipulates that the cost of a sixpack is roughly the same as what a minimum wage earner makes per hour.

My version is that a pound of powder costs less than what a skilled labourer makes per hour.

My late father told me he was buying powder for $0.30 a pound when he was working at Alcan in the 50's.
he was also bringing home $32.00 a week which was a very good wage at the time.
 
Last edited:
thump_rrr said:
I use a modified version of the Joe Sixpack test to figure out if powder was cheap or not.

The Joe sixpack test stipulates that the cost of a sixpack is roughly the same as what a minimum wage earner makes per hour.

My version is that a pound of powder costs less than what a skilled labourer makes per hour.

My late father told me he was buying powder for $0.30 a pound when he was working at Alcan in the 50's.
he was also bringing home $32.00 a week which was a very good wage at the time.
Click to expand...

Well powder is all around $30 a pound now so adjusted for inflation his buying power would be like making $3200 a week take home or more like $4200-4500 gross per week which is a $200k+/yr job nowadays. Welcome to hyperinflation...things are going to get real interesting in the next 10 years as most things have doubled to tripled in cost in the last 10...
 
Freyr_255 said:
Well powder is all around $30 a pound now so adjusted for inflation his buying power would be like making $3200 a week take home or more like $4200-4500 gross per week which is a $200k+/yr job nowadays. Welcome to hyperinflation...things are going to get real interesting in the next 10 years as most things have doubled to tripled in cost in the last 10...
Click to expand...

Actually, it is only some things that have doubled and tripled in cost. Lots of stuff that used to be expensive (for example TV's, appliances, etc) have come down as much as 90 percent in price. Thank you China...
 
And when the Chinese economy hits a brick wall (as it will), they will stop making all of these things.

We will still need these things, but our factories were all closed down because of competition from our "friends" in China..... and then sold for scrap.

So we will need new factories.

Do we even have the people who can build them, any longer?

And what will they COST?

THEN watch the prices jump!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom