I remember .22LR for a penny apiece and wondered even then how they managed to make a round of ammo for less than a penny. Not long after that, primers were a dollar a hundred. If you scrounged wheelweights and cast your own bullets, you could reload centerfire rounds like .30-30 or .30-06 for about three cents. Your only costs were primer and powder and powder ran about two dollars a pound.
For perspective, however, wages then ran about a buck fifty an hour, so you had two hours of labor for that powder and primers. Not much different than just before this current abnormal price climb.
That must have been in the 1990's or you were just getting screwed..
