Finished reloading a bunch of ammo for myself , my brother, and my son and I started to total up the cost- which I haven't done for a few years.... it's just a hobby, right?

Well, for my brother's 30-06 he wanted some 180s loaded for deer and elk just to simplify things so I picked up some Accubond seconds from Shooter's Pro Shop. Loaded up 100 rounds, including the 15 I used for load work up for his new rifle and totalled up the damages-

100 Nosler Accubond seconds- $70
1 lb of H4831 $36
100 Primers +/- $8
Total $114 +

Brass was our pick up from past shooting sessions so it was basically free, but if I had to pay for new brass, add another $50-$75....

This is crazy! I'm looking forward to things getting back to almost normal someday relatively soon...

Bob

Try buying 100 rounds of factory 30-06 loaded with 180 Accubonds. I'm guessing a bit more than $114 if you could even find it.

EXACTLY!

Lol, let’s see Winchester 180 ABCT goes for ~45-50 bucks per 20 add shipping and handling round it to ~300 bucks. Now Nosler trophy grade 70 bucks per 20 round up to ~400 bucks and complain about 1.25 per. Now that’s really funny.

Bob, this is one reason most of us are well stocked up on things that cost MUCH less, even a year ago. However, with this being said, there are still good deals out there to be found. I've found plenty. Too bad you didn't have a less expensive bullet handy that would still work well on deer and elk. The 750 winchester powerpoints I bought from crod1972 a few years ago for $75.00 (for 750 bullets), would have worked just fine for your brothers hunting... The cost of reloading is no where near as much as factory ammo you find in the stores. If you can even find it these days. Handloading is a great hobby and is necessary for fine tuning a load to each rifle. There are many benefits in making your own ammo. The cost of that ammo is entirely up to you and how you prepare..

Oh, I'm aware of the costs of reloading and components guys. I've been doing it for around 50 years now, but it seems the cost of components is going up more every year. One of the reasons I reload is so I can use high end components like bullets without having to pay the premium price that manufacturers are charging for their "premium" lines these days. Making them shoot tiny groups makes me happy, but I'm a bit more judicious in purchasing my components these days and looking for all the deals I can find. These days, a deal is being able to find what you need, regardless of price. For my 26 Nosler, I use Accuconds also and bought about 200 rounds of Nosler factory loaded rounds from somebody for less than the Nosler brass would have cost me. I was able to find some pull down powder for it that works great that somebody else linked me to and it was around $58 for an 8 lb keg....

My lucky finds on bullet stashes over the years are about gone now, so I'm always on the lookout to replenish my stocks these days....

I'm going to have to go back to not looking at the cost of my hobbies ... makes it a lot more enjoyable being in the dark....


Which reminds me, I'm just about out of H4831 now... time to start watching for a decent sale or get on a watch list with about 50 retailers until they get some in....

Bob

Bill your brother accordingly. Why should you cover his expenses. Reloading is still less expensive than buying new factory ammo. Why do you think prices will ever come down or back to normal. Maybe this is the new normal. The shooting sports and hunting may be in serious trouble?

Oh, I'm sure he will take care of it. Fact is, he couldn't even find factory ammo anywhere for his 30-06, so I offered to help him out and load for him like I've done for years. No really bitching as much as just blowing off steam and thinking out loud....kind of like doing a contracting job for somebody and you realize you have to break it to your customer that the job is going to go way over budget?

Bob

I’m glad I have a good supply, always looking for more.

Keep and eye on the small town gunshows too. There are some in your area, even if it means you have to drive 50 miles. My club puts on this type of show every other month. Unfortunately they are going to have one next Saturday, when you are going to be on your deer hunt. But there was one in Washugal a few weeks ago and a buddy from my club had a table. He said he sold 50 pounds of powder there. I've been to other small shops and ran across quite a few good deals. A month ago, I was at the coast and ran across a couple boxes of these:

They are working out quite nicely in my new to me 7mm08.

On the same trip to the coast, I found these at a little market place that sells guns and ammo:


Yep, that's $5.00/bag of 100 .277 130gr bullets. I won't get into an argument on how well these bullets shoot and how well they work on game. I know for a fact that they do both just fine:


Reloading costs are still far below the retail cost of factory loaded ammo. And it goes without saying that hand loaded ammo will shoot far better than factory ammo, if you are versed at fine tuning a load. Figure out how much this 10 shot group would have cost, had I been shooting factory ammo:


Factory ammo even close to what I handloaded is $117.99/box of 20 at midway and is discontinued right now. The 10 shot group above cost me $4.15 vs. $59.00 (for factory ammo). Its pretty self explanatory why I handload.

Bullcheidt. It's not the "new normal". Guys like you spouting of that bs is why prices are going up. Prices will go back down to where they need to be. There are some stores that are not gouging. Its up to us to choose those stores and boycot the others that are gouging us..

Reloaded my first rounds back about 45 or so years ago for a Marlin 444. I still remember that a box of 20 factory loads cost $14. I bought the pound of powder, 100 primers, and a box of 100 Speer bullets and it cost me around $25! I had the brass from shooting factory stuff and a buddy had the dies and press etc. I still remember telling him that " man I had to spend $25 buck to get all this" and I still remember him telling me " yes but you have 100 rounds of ammo and still have powder left over.
Times sure have changed.

With all this stuff going on with powder etc. I have been going thru a lot of old stuff and loading up range fodder to play with and burning up some old/odd stuff that I do not load with. In this last year I have gone thru a few 1 lb cans of powder that had a price tag still on them and none were over $12/lb

Prices are up, but it’s hardly kicking my butt. OTOH, if I didn’t have ammo for hunting and my other shooting, that would hurt like Hell. Just filled in a couple of small cracks in my primer supply at about twice “normal” pricing, but that little nagging worry is gone now. It’s just the price of doing this business. Better by far than driving around on $3 gas looking for them and ending up with maybe one over-priced flat, or maybe none.

I had an old can I bought as a kid.. $3.65.. 4831 was a $1/#..

I fool myself on not having too big a price tag for hunting loads...

If I was going to work up a load, I will load up 10 rounds and take it to the range to zero the scope if that needs done.

If that works, I bring those 10 empty cases home and reload them to take them with me hunting...why do you need 20?

If I shoot a round or two out hunting and miss what I was shooting out, I bring those cases home with me and at the reload bench, reload those two rounds..

I've only got 10 rounds with me when I take a rifle out to hunt with.

I've also started to dis/assemble those rounds when I finish the season, and put the components back into the container they came out of... minus the primers of course.

Heck this season I have brought home about 150 rounds of 223, and about ten of 243, I've found laying on the ground at Gravel pits out in the Forest Service land.

Run them thru the tumbler over night to see what I have, toss out the crappy ones.. and zip lock up the keepers...

I consider that is how you survive democRats in office...

and yeah, I made purchases when things were cheap under Trump's Administration.....

Brass is not a problem, especially when you pick up range brass over the years...

You think that's bad? Go buy a boat.

I grew up doing what all the grownups did around me - take a box of ammo and put them all in the leather carrier on my belt.

Then, finally, around 15 years ago it dawned on me when was the last time I used more than 2 rounds to knock down dinner? Why was I carrying all this ammo?

Feeling very brave, I cut the ammo I carried in half - 10 rounds - and nothing bad happened!

Now I'm down to packing around 5 rounds in one of those handy Norma plastic carriers in my pocket.

Last week I snuck up over the hill and glassed an elk at 467 yards. Hmmm... doable, but why not get closer. So, back down the hill, around the saddle to the other side, and used the wind to mask my approach and came up behind him at 131 yards. 1 shot, dinner down.

Still had to pack 4 rounds back to camp along with the elk though...

Normal.....hmmm. I believe this is the new normal. Going forward, reloading components will only become more expensive and hard to find.


I hope I'm wrong.

I agree. Something wrong with those people..

OK - how about "it is what it is". Same thing either way. Sure prices may come down a bit or at least stabilize, but anyone that believes the prices get back to where they were are more out of touch than the "new normal" folks. So---maybe this is the "New Normal".

I can load what I want , so to me it's about having what I want to shoot and no longer about saving money... but yes the price of reloading has gone up.

Yup, I own a boat (actually two boats) , so I understand what you are saying....

Not really a fan of reloading exactly what I need and no more... there is money and time to be saved IMO by reloading everything you need for the foreseeable future at a single time so you don't have to set up every time you shoot a few rounds. Also, if you want to shoot more than just the two shots some guys shoot during hunting season, it seems wise to have ammo on hand to use when you want to and not have to scramble the night before to load up ammo for your trip... I usually have more important things to do when I'm getting ready for a shooting or hunting trip...

Besides, when using a new rifle, or a new component like a different bullet, powder, etc... it is always a good idea to work up a load, test in thoroughly on paper, and check your rifle before a trip instead of wondering why your rifle won't shoot when you line up on an animal...

I do believe component prices are going to come down eventually. Probably not back to pre-pandemic levels, but substantially in time.. right now I would be happy if components were even available. I am getting scary close to running out of my favorite powders- H4831, H335, Varget, and a couple others...

Talking to my brother about his ammo situation seemed to calm things down a bit. He was telling me even Coreloks 30-06 these days are going for $40 a box, so in the end I saved him a good chunk of money and he will have enough ammo to last him many years of hunting... win, win....

Bob

Saying it's "the new normal" implies that prices are going to stay as they are now. Not to go back down. That is idiotic to think that way. Prices will go back down, shelves will stock back up, but it's going to take some time. We have to live with it the way it is for a while. I'm not going to believe we are stuck with paying $10.00/100 for primers. There are places that are not taking advantage of the consumer as well. You just have to be smart enough to find out where the deals are. I'm still paying exceptionally low prices on stuff. If you don't, that is on you...

Bob, I may have some H4831 and H335 to spare. I found some H335 a few months ago at a LGS:

I bought 6 pounds of H335 at a reasonable price. Like I said in my last post, there are some places that aren't gouging us. Your post is spot on too.

My friend - I don't think I am being idiotic at all... Just exactly how much do you think the prices will go down - 5% or maybe even 10% - more? I don't disagree that prices will stabilize, which can imply some of the "gougers" will have to lower their prices while some of the LGS and such may eventually raise their prices. Historically, any major price increases rarely if ever go back to where they were originally (gas & oil and related being the exceptions). Thus, the New Normal will be whatever the price is stabilized at. Do you really think that Midway, Mid South, Cabela's etc. are going to lower their prices much if any as long as people pay the current price? Me either.

Thanks, let me know if you can spare a pound of each. That should get me over the rough spot until supplies start to stabilize a bit... I found some on line a few days ago, but by time I paid the hazardous shipping fee, shipping, and the vendor's vacation tax it totalled around $68 a pound... so it went back into their inventory for someone more desperate than me to find....

Bob

I know exactly what they are going to go down to. Primers in the realm of $4.50/100 for standard, $6.50 for match primers. Bullets are still reasonable and in stock at times at places like midsouth shooters supply. Bullets will eventually be back on the shelves. When that happens, prices will go down. That is inevitable. I was just at my local LGS (Bi-mart) and saw a nice selection of bullets. Nowhere near what they had before, but a lot more on the shelves. The majority of them were Hornady, but I shoot a lot of Hornady bullets. Prices were very reasonable too. They know we will just go to online vendors and pay less, so some stores are smart to keep their prices within reach. Powder has been as high as $100/pound on gunbroker and other places. Is that your new norm you want? Nah, powder prices are going to go back down too. Expect to pay $40/pound for most of what you like. I'm still paying in the neighborhood of $26.99-$30.00/pound for powder. Some places like SPS have raised their prices. Email those pos and tell them they lost a customer. Too many people do that and they are going to start losing revenue and loyal customers will go elsewhere or use a different brand. You want to cave in and think this is the new normal, that is on you, but it doesn't help the rest of us out either in the long run. Guys like you are probably bending over and paying those high prices too. Most of us don't have to, we are well stocked up. But when we see a good deal come along, we buy it. We don't overbuy, as to screw the next guy, but we stay stocked up. I've told gunshops they are ridiculous and they lost my business and that they should consider not gouging people. Sometimes they are responsive to that and ask what I'm willing to pay. There's room for dickering when prices are high. They know it. This chidt really isn't that hard to figure out.

Sure enough Bob. I have a pound of each. I will let you know when I'm available to meet with you. I'm going to be cutting up elk soon, but don't know which day. My daughter wanted me to take her to the clubs range and do some shooting, so maybe we can meet up then. I'll send you a pm and we can chat about it.. Hope all is well.. Oh, ps don't try to figure out how much it cost us to shoot at our little centerfire competition the other day!!!



That was damn fun though and well worth it.. I won't show my other targets... Ha ha..

New Normal is both demand and supply. On supply side, the supply chain is not working too good.

"Our ckackity-clack machine needs some parts. We use to be able to phone an order and a week later at worst we would have them. Now they tell a couple of months at the earliest. "

They are talking last quarter of 2022. Experts?? are always optimistic.

Ok - so you have the crystal ball uh??? Guys like me uh?? You don't have a clue who I am or what I do. So from that standpoint you can GFY. Now back to the discussion - You just verified exactly what I said to begin with. Prices will stabilize but not where they were - that will be the New Normal. I don't need to justify any purchase to you but will say I am well prepared for whatever happens in the ammo and component market. "We all are well stocked up" like you are some member of an exclusive club??? Give me a break.....