Why is .45 acp so much more $ than 9x19?
- Thread starter darkestjedi
- Start date
- Location
- Alberta land of many guns
9mm is a Nato standard catridge, so everyone and their dog produces it, and a lot of it! 45 is still popular but not as widely used as the 9mm. Also, there are more materials being used during manufacturing.
CF
CF
peckerwood
CGN Ultra frequent flyer
- Location
- PalePony, Yukon
It might also have something to do with shipping freight because of the excess weight as well. :wink:
Supply and demand. Supply is less, demand is high, so retailers and manufacturers charge more because the market has dictated that .45 shooters will bear that cost.
IPSC shooters aside, MANY people still buy nothing but factory ammo. Competitors would probably still reload even if it was more expensive than factory just to meet their ammo requirements for power factors, performance, etc.
All this means if you only buy factory and care about price, shoot 9mm. Your wallet will thank you.
IPSC shooters aside, MANY people still buy nothing but factory ammo. Competitors would probably still reload even if it was more expensive than factory just to meet their ammo requirements for power factors, performance, etc.
All this means if you only buy factory and care about price, shoot 9mm. Your wallet will thank you.
Anything bigger and heavier is going to be more expensive. A 230 grain .45 has twice the lead of a 115 grain 9. And as noted there is a lot more 9 being produced.
You get what you pay for though. The .45 is twice as satisfying to shoot and actually works out cheaper. I'd rather shoot one box of .45 than 2 boxes of nine.:lol:
You get what you pay for though. The .45 is twice as satisfying to shoot and actually works out cheaper. I'd rather shoot one box of .45 than 2 boxes of nine.:lol:
Copper and lead prices are at all time highs. You can bet that this affects the price of ammo. Economy of scale is also important with much more 9mm ammo being produced. My supply of 45 ACP from Winchester is based on a single annual production run, whereas the 9mm seems to be either produced continuously or stockpiled in large quantities.
if you reload, and buy in thousand round lots, it's not all that that different- the powder charge is the same, now that winchester has cahnged to the small primer, that's the same and your slugs about 10 bucks /thousand more- so get into reloading- ie for 9 i use a 130 grain slug, small pistol primer, and 5 grains of 231, for 45 it's a 200 grain , 6 grains( what's an extra grain of powder cost?) and the primers are a few extra bucks per thousand
i think a lot of that has to do with the "magnum" mindset- manufacturers see the word and immediately see dollar signs- in real world terms, i suppose you can rationalize it as they do take more powder or slower powders and magnum primers( if you want) but relly, a magnum SHOULDN'T be much more expensive than a 38 special- maybe 1.5 as much tops- that would take care of the special primers, extra powder, etc
pfbmgd said:
At least 1 guy gets it.
Take buying component bullets, lead for example. 1000 115gr 9mm bullets versus 500 230gr .45 bullets. They weigh the same, and they cost about the same. WHY? There is less manufacturing involved with the bigger bullet.
From the 2004 SIR catalogue:
300WM 180gr power point $23.39
300WSM 180gr power point $26.99
????? Why should the smaller, more efficient case(less brass, less powder)
loaded with the same bullet cost more????
joe-nwt,
and others - you are missing the one main component that really affects the cost of production.
Changing the tooling and setting up all the equipment. Depending on the size of factory and equipment used this can take days to weeks, all while paying employees ... and then you can end up with several start ups that produce bad ammo... this all drives up the cost.
Thus when you can set things up and churn out 1-2 Billion rounds of ammo over a 4 month production period - your costs go down....
When you change the factory setup and squeeze out the 8am ... oops! I forgot that adjustment factor your cost can really go up when you are looking at what ... 10 million .45ACP rounds over what a couple of weeks?
Any ammunition produced in quantity will be vastly cheaper than a 'limited' run or 'seasonal' run.
Supply / Demand should be changed to Production / Profit....
When you really get down to the nitty gritty, every single round of ammo has almost the exact same bit of profit built into it. Demand really only controls the duration of production now. Multi company tenders, joint production, record raw material costs and a general slackening of government gravy trains has changed things dramatically. Toss in off-shore components and multi-label production runs and you have a really hard to penetrate market...
Now don't mistake me - the ammo that we buy is not bargin-bin-basement prices, no-no-not at all, the ammo has a very decent profit built in and the companies won't be lacking for a while ... but this is only because the main players all get together for a few rounds of golf or skeet every year.
I guess to sum it up ... the odd cals are not marked up to gouge the consumer, rather they are simply more expensive to produce.
There are more examples that show this but my fingers are getting sore.. :|
and others - you are missing the one main component that really affects the cost of production.
Changing the tooling and setting up all the equipment. Depending on the size of factory and equipment used this can take days to weeks, all while paying employees ... and then you can end up with several start ups that produce bad ammo... this all drives up the cost.
Thus when you can set things up and churn out 1-2 Billion rounds of ammo over a 4 month production period - your costs go down....
When you change the factory setup and squeeze out the 8am ... oops! I forgot that adjustment factor your cost can really go up when you are looking at what ... 10 million .45ACP rounds over what a couple of weeks?
Any ammunition produced in quantity will be vastly cheaper than a 'limited' run or 'seasonal' run.
Supply / Demand should be changed to Production / Profit....
When you really get down to the nitty gritty, every single round of ammo has almost the exact same bit of profit built into it. Demand really only controls the duration of production now. Multi company tenders, joint production, record raw material costs and a general slackening of government gravy trains has changed things dramatically. Toss in off-shore components and multi-label production runs and you have a really hard to penetrate market...
Now don't mistake me - the ammo that we buy is not bargin-bin-basement prices, no-no-not at all, the ammo has a very decent profit built in and the companies won't be lacking for a while ... but this is only because the main players all get together for a few rounds of golf or skeet every year.
I guess to sum it up ... the odd cals are not marked up to gouge the consumer, rather they are simply more expensive to produce.
There are more examples that show this but my fingers are getting sore.. :|
- Location
- Tucson, Arizona
Wait till the U.S. goes back to a .45 calibre sidearm and the price will drop. It is going to happen. 9mm has proven to be disappointing in the field. I can't understand why we ever went to 9mm in the first place. The U.S. is perfectly capable of producing its own ammunition for the military.
