Cost of Reloading - Pre-Covid Vs Post Covid

[iflyskyhigh]

Hoarding and price gouging is the language of the progressive left.

The individual is the only one who knows what he needs.

 

[SFMongo]

Not if they have enough rifles/pistols to shoot it from. If this hypothetical person only had one 204 Ruger and nothing else then yeah, they're pretty much just buying stuff to be buying it at that point because there's no possible way to shoot all that down the one barrel. He'd be better off to buy a new barrel, a new rifle, a new scope, or something that's actually useful to him, because 80% of his loading components are useless to him. Hence, this hypothetical person is a hoarder because he's buying things that are useless to him. It's a self-referential conclusion.

10k primers and 50 pounds powder isn't really very much, I have more than that just to keep testing options stocked. I also load for 10+ rifle calibers ranging from .223 to 338LM, so keeping options around for that much stuff means I have a lot around at any given time. If you buy primers by the 1k brick and get several brands in large and small, magnum and non magnum and you get to 10k right away. I have 10k sitting on a shelf right here, and no more than 1k of any given type.

Thanks for clarifiying.

 

[cabelasken]

I'm gonna have to buy some more to keep up with ya all. I've only got 10,000 primers, 25 lbs of powder and 5 or 6,000 bullets on hand!!!

 

[QuietTexan]

Buy more barrels, then you get to buy more components, then you get to buy more barrels. It's a justification cycle that ends when your wife decides what to bury you with.

 

[Mike Matteson]

When you are setting up to built a round up for a new rifle. You would have 4 6 thousand just large rifle primers, Mag Primer you would that much again at lease. Powder I don't purchase less than 8lbs size and my go to powders 16 lbs. Different manufactures product too. Then you small rifle primers and could be in the range or 4k, and then pistol primes again 4k of so. Shotgun even more than that. For different shotgun shell should be using the manufactures case primer. I load for 28, 20, 12 gauge, and several manufactures case. Go trap shooting and go through 250 to 500 round at a time. Powder you are only going to get somewhere between 60 and 130 rounds per 1lbs. Loading for several rifles that use the same powder won't go that far. Shooting 5 shot groups the powder doesn't go that far. So if somebody has 80 to 100 lbs of powder that really isn't that much. It wasn't so bad when you could go the store and get powder off the shelve. I've seen this happen several times over the years.

 

[HockeyDad]

Used to know an R rated joke about hoarding. Went like this:
A gal goes into a bank to make a $3,455 deposit made up of 5s, 10s and 20s.
The teller asks her, "Ma'am, how did you hoard all these bills?"
The gal replies, "I only whore'd half, my sister whore'd the other half."

 

[Coyote Shadow Tracker]

If you are hunter and /or shooter you want to make you own cartridges for accuracy. We never look at purchasing a box of 20 cartridges with a particular bullet. That's because the only information we can get from a box of factory cartridges is the bullet type. Most of us do do not put the costs of bullets. primers, powder, brass into the equitation. In fact we are always looking for what works best-not what it costs. Almost all of us pride ourselves on our reloading skills and what we can achieve by utilizing different powders, primers, bullets.
So not to discourage anyone to see the different costs of reloading whether it was pre-Covid or just the cost of reloading is really a MOOT point!
We reload because we want to achieve a better Cartridge. BUT MOST OF ALL-MOST OF US RELOAD BECAUSE WE JUST LOVE TO DO IT -PERIOD!

 

[CBH Australia]

First, I hope we can have just a cost discussion and not HIJACK this thread into a vilification of certain on-line sellers.

So reading all the threads on primers, powders etc and decided to put to paper costs to see how bad the difference is and I was a little bit surprised by the numbers. We can take unique cartridges and use them as why costs have sky rocketed but I decided to use a bread and butter load that a lot of folks have used.
300WM
200AB
RL26@75 grains/load = 93 loads/lb of powder (7,000 gr/lb) - pulled a normal load and not a primer pocket killer
FM215 standard primers - 1K box of primers
Hornady brass - 50 count and used simple 5X loads on each piece - we can argue this all day but just for demo purposes.

Assume purchased at LGS since HAZMAT costs are not standard. No sales tax just raw pricing. I still can buy and bought some 200AB at exact same price as before. I used Hornady brass just as a place holder. Pick your own and put in. Primer costs are the main complaint but reality the lowest cost of the loaded round. We can say their costs have doubled but is that a "so what" when going from $0.04 to $0.07? Brass and powder are bigger increased costs. But the powder costs seem to be only outrageous on line since I bought some 4000MR last week at LGS for $35/lb. My issue with on line is if LGS can sell powder at $35 just LAST WEEK, why can't on line sellers do so as well.? Just an observation and curious why there is such a disparity when on line sellers have greater buying power? Brass is another issue since metal costs have sky rocketed and virgin brass costs are rising faster than a lot of other metals so not surprised there at all.
Again let's not HIJACK this thread into a vilification of certain on-line sellers.

So how has your cost per round gone up based upon your component costs?

	Bullet	Brass	Powder	Primer	Costs
	200 AB	Hornady (50)	1lb RL26	1K FM215
Pre-Covid	$40.00	$49.00	$35.00	$40.00
per loaded round	$0.25	$1.00		$0.04
Assume 5x loads		$0.20
Assume 75 gr/load = 93 loads			$0.38
Cost/load					$0.87
20 rounds					$17.40
Post-Covid	$40.00	$58.00	$70.00	$70.00
per loaded round	$0.25	$1.16		$0.07
Assume 5x loads		$0.20
Assume 75 gr/load=93 loads			$0.81		$1.33
20 rounds					$26.60
Assume powder and primers are purchased at LGS to make it simple comparison since HAZMAT cost is not standard.

Thanks for posting a breakdown and comparison.

I skipped 3 pages.

It was interesting to see it's about 50% dearer to produce a good reload than it was pre Covid.

 

[Chas1]

I shoot weekly with a number shooters who reload and cost is an issue for some and others not so much so I don't think it's entirely a moot point. it's a good topic for discussion least for some.

 

[SFMongo]

Good ammunition is still more expensive that reloading.

 

[Chas1]

Good ammunition is still more expensive that reloading.

And if it's a wildcat you cant buy the ammo off the shelves

 

[Calvin45]

Good ammunition is still more expensive that reloading.

Oh for sure…but I advise people who ask me about it (most of my friends don't handload) that if your only reason for getting into it is to save money you're really barking up the wrong tree and going to be very disappointed. I spend waaaay more money on shooting than I used to…I also shoot more and find the whole process much more satisfying.

 

[CBH Australia]

I shoot weekly with a number shooters who reload and cost is an issue for some and others not so much so I don't think it's entirely a moot point. it's a good topic for discussion least for some.

O agre the cost of ammo and Barrels is a cost of consumables.
The cost varies but so do people's budgets, disposable income and Priorities.
I'm fortunate to be able to spend what I do/have on my interest , it's minimal compared to what some Can and do spend, and good luck to them. I have never begrudge anyone who enjoys the spoils of hard work, or good fortune for that matter.

As you get older you free up cash, Priorities change and you make time.
For a hunting trip bullet cost might be negligible. The trip, or an unexpected expense (Vehicle damage/Repair) might put a big dent in a family budget.

Shooting regular competion shoots might easily be $100 a week or more as you get better or require better gear.

The Op initial comparison still shows that Covid Tax/Hoarding/Ammo shortages have increased his reload consumables cost by about 50% , a point of interest I defended

But I had to chime in supporting @Chas1 comment. Not everyone has a healthy hobby budget. . Some do, be it from good luck or good management they have options to buy better or shoot more.

 

[Pittsspecial]

Just for clarification, these are my costs and were not represented to be anything else than that. Note my last statement of the posting to be sure.

I have contractors at house and I did not proof my work which really ticks me off but guess what? We all make a mistake now and then. I think anyway.

My last brick of primers bought this year was $70 at LGS which is my math basis. I am able to buy powder at reasonable prices. Can I get exactly what I want? No but I had bought kegs 2 years ago maybe in premonition of future? My point is when you start to add up costs of just the components and what you are achieving with them, it is still not a deal breaker for me. I don't add in ancillary costs like travel etc since where do you draw that line? Do I add in my consulting hourly costs, portal to portal travel costs, mileage costs, meal costs? Where do you stop? I know it has been a royal PITA to find and get components but I just care about that as long as I can get what I "need" to actually load and not hoard.

The other point is not to assume cost drives whether I shoot or not. I will shoot as long as I am not taking food off the table and the bills are paid. Easy statement. I am retired.

I don't shoot AR's and but I can easily see where bulk purchasing has gone through roof but is it lack of components or increased number of new owners and can I say possibly "hoarding" for the next crisis? When I go to the range there is still a ton of 4.56 and .223 brass in barrel so someone is getting the ammo! I see people at the range with AR's that never owned one before and tell me they wanted to have one before they were banned! WTH!

Getting into reloading can be real challenging right now with lack of equipment but if you talk to Redding, they are to the wall manufacturing so what is the cause? Again millions of new gun owners that now want to reload to insure they have ammo has stressed the chain to breaking point all across the board IMO.

I guess I have been lucky since the LGS NEVER jumped prices above $70/brick and although they are out of them, they told me they will not GOUGE.

Which is why I buy as much as possible from LGS, they NEED us to stay in business and we NEED them to stay in business for us.

You may want to look at LGS prices again.