Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Ask The Gunwriters Bullet pricing

I was a staunch Nosler fan for years but the past couple of years on almost unobtanium Nosler bullets, not to mention the sky high price if you could find them I have been selling what Nosler bullets I had and replacing with Hornady bullets. They seem to be able to get most of their line out into the real world.

Don't know what's going on with Nosler, but do know that when visiting several bullet factories over the decades that quite often somebody was watching the then-present price of lead and copper closely, in order to buy at the best price. Once it was the then-CEO of Sierra....

Well, no one’s ever accused me of being “in the know” about pretty much anything, but I suspect that Nosler simply considers its bullets to be premium (all of them), and prices them accordingly. If they sell all they make at their asking price, then the market agrees. I have a LOT of them acquired mostly from SPS as blems when the price was right, and doubt I’ll even need more. I’ve also been very happy with the Speer and Barnes bullets I’ve tried when they were available, and the few Hornadys I’ve bought as well. What few I’ll need in the future will be purchased based on good value for the price.

Didn’t read all the posts so may have missed something, but I have to say I’m somewhat amazed by the prices on Sierra bullets as well, even non-match ones. Maybe there’s some truth to the notion that Hornady is sitting on a giant hoard of pre-inflation metal…….

Don't mind paying up for Nosler partitions and accubonds for my hunting rifles, They have always worked and shoot good in my guns. I haven't shot everything out there but have shot quite a bit and for killing stuff I am sold on Nosler.

Ive always had great luck out of the red boxes and with the exception of the 95 bt's in the 243 of which i have a life supply of.... I use Hornady in everything. Been pretty thankful for Ramshot too.... they make a great product at a great price as well.

Hammer Bullets

Not cheap, but available and with cutting edge technology.

DF

Made the switch lately to Barnes TTSX away from partitions. Seem to work great so far and much more affordable.

Only 2 bullets to buy:

I box of Nosler ballistic tips 180 grain 30 caliber for big game and hundreds of boxes of small caliber bullets for the other 51 weeks of the year…

'tShrap well said. I've got all the partitions I'll ever need and I don't need a high end bullet to kill P-dogs. And I've got thousands.

Shrap, don’t think you gonna get caught short.

DF

Speer when I can find them for shooting dirt. Hunting bullets cost a little more and it depends what you are hunting! Premium is out of my price range now but luckily I stock piled those expensive bullets long ago.

I would love to stick with Nosler bullets because they have been the bulk of my use over the past 30 years. I could last a bit longer with my current Nosler supply, but I'm giving Hornady a try and planning on making the switch.

Finding Nosler bullets is near impossible. I don't even mind paying a bit more, but there is so little Nosler available in what I'm looking for, that its time to move on.

I have been a fan of Nosler bullets for decades in fact the only bullet to come out of the barrel of my various 243's was the 100 gr Partition. That being said I haven't seen any on the shelves in a very long time. The ones I have purchased recently have been from the classifieds here and run about $1 each. What I find odd is that SPS has blems on sale but the LGS never seems to have any bullets from Nosler. I lucked into a hoard of Sierra bullets in 30 and 25 caliber so I'm good there and have Hornady and Barnes in good supply as well.

Halfway between Dan and Shrap. Everythin strightwall gets my cast. Got a lifetime of cast and jacketed. Been itching to do some casting though.

Casting is fun when it's raining.

It ain't fun when you shoot it. Ask the deer that caught this one...

Like Shrapnel (and others) I learned a long time ago to stock up on my "main bullets" for the cartridges I use most--along with enough moulds and lead for those using cast bullets.

Same deal with primers, brass, powders, etc.--but especially PRIMERS, which as I have mentioned before on the Campfire (and elsewhere) first became almost impossible too obtain in the late 1990s during the buying panic after the Clinton "assault rifle ban" was enacted.

Now, some handloaders aren't old enough to have learned from that shortage--but many are, since the average age of Campfire members is in the 60s. But there have also been several shortages since, including stuff from rimfire ammo to (once again) primers.

It's April, 2023 and I'm finally GTG with what I prefer and use most.

Biggest change for me during this last COVID/panic was accepting Nosler just wasn't Plan A for me any longer and then working out a Plan B for NA hunting. I also did get surprised with my store of mag primers. Thought I had more and didn't.

Outside of some soon calamity, I figure I can continue buying regularly and building stock for weathering the next panic.

I guess I am a bit different that some here as I have a load developed for everything I shoot and have the stuff needed to supply it. That said, I do not shoot varmints like Kirk does but I do not tinker with new loads via new powders and bullets. In fact, the last few critters I have shot were with either the PPU 165 gr 30-06 load or the Federal 150 gr Blue box. Amazingly they worked.