Sticker shock at my favorite gun store today.

[Ole]

I got my first Garand yesterday. I can't wait to put some rounds together for it and get it out shooting.

I have some 172grain match bullets that the rifle's previous owner sold me, but I wanted to try some lighter pills for variety. So I headed to the gun store today to pick up a box of 150 grainers... Just for the heck of it, you know?

They wanted $39.37 for a box of 100 Hornady Interlock bullets.

I kept checking the box to make sure there weren't 200 bullets in there. :-?

I hate to sound like a tight wad, but when did this nonsense happen? Last time I bought .30 caliber Jword bullets, they were $12-$15/100.

:confused:

[briang]

Happened right around when all the other components went up.

ETA cheapest I've found have been the remington core lok at $23ish per 100.

[largom]

It all started day after election. The people voted for change!
Larry

[JIMinPHX]

The other day at Sportsman's Warehouse they had a little ammo on the shelf. 9mm Mak was about $25/box. .45acp was about $35/box. .44 Mag was about $39/box. This wasn't high end stuff. It was American Eagle & Win white box. That was about all they had for pistol ammo & there wasn't much of it. Welcome to 2009.

[Ole]

The other day at Sportsman's Warehouse they had a little ammo on the shelf. 9mm Mak was about $25/box. .45acp was about $35/box. .44 Mag was about $39/box. This wasn't high end stuff. It was American Eagle & Win white box. That was about all they had for pistol ammo & there wasn't much of it. Welcome to 2009.

I just wonder if it was Hornady charging more for wholesale or the dealer getting greedy?

Back then, they had about 1/3rd- 1/2 of what they normally have in powder (last time I was in there/month ago) but today they didn't have a single pound of powder on the shelf.

[leadman]

Ole, that Garand will shoot cast too!

Watch what powders you use with j-word bullets. Need the medium burning range. Think 4895.

[JIMinPHX]

Boy, I didn’t realize how tight 06 ammo had gotten. I just did a quick search of the usual discount ammo suppliers for loaded ammo & the best I could come up with in stock was Rem 150-gr PSP for $16.47
http://www.sportsmansguide.com/net/browse/rifle-ammunition-caliber-30-06.aspx?c=96&s=916&stk=1

They also had UMC FMJ for $17.77

You might want to listen to what Leadman has to say. I've been hearing some pretty impressive reports of his accomplishments up at Ben Avery.

[Ole]

Need the medium burning range. Think 4895.

I have some of that, but I was wanting to try something even faster for the light pills. I was actually kicking around the idea of trying a 43-44 grain charge of H322. :Fire:

[BruceB]

Yeah, it's amazing, and I give thanks every time I enter such a store that I'm a handloader.

Using the aforementioned .30-06 as my example, I can load perhaps the best commercial hunting bullet in history, the Barnes TSX, with powder costing $20 per pound and primers at $30 per thousand, for LESS than the generic white-box stuff....something a bit under $1.00 per round.

When we take CAST bullets into consideration, the comparison becomes ludicrous. I won an informal "match" at 415 yards a short while back with my M1A, firing fully-functional 7.62 NATO loads that cost me about twelve CENTS per round, plus having the enjoyment of making the bullets and loading the ammo. 100% hits on a steel target of about 1.5 square feet, iron sights. 415 yards. I'd say that's a lot of fun and effectiveness for twelve-cent ammunition.

I sort of pity those who don't handload, but it's their decision after all.

[peterthevet]

Welcome to my world!!! We have been shafted for years in Australia - you guys would not believe some of the prices we have to pay for reloading supplies.A couple of examples for you- Rcbs RC reloading kit $750 Au (approx US$600),Speer 180grn mag tips $95Au (approxUS$80), Barnes TSX .308 approx US$80-85....and sorry for mentioning J boolits,Rcbs molds Au$150-180 approx US$120-140....well you get the idea. Roughly we pay 2 to 2.5 times what you pay converted to your dollars!! Local shop just told me no primers till next year!!

[Leadforbrains]

Welcome to my world!!! We have been shafted for years in Australia - you guys would not believe some of the prices we have to pay for reloading supplies.A couple of examples for you- Rcbs RC reloading kit $750 Au (approx US$600),Speer 180grn mag tips $95Au (approxUS$80), Barnes TSX .308 approx US$80-85....and sorry for mentioning J boolits,Rcbs molds Au$150-180 approx US$120-140....well you get the idea. Roughly we pay 2 to 2.5 times what you pay converted to your dollars!! Local shop just told me no primers till next year!!

That definitely puts things in perspective.

[JIMinPHX]

Ole,
Randall's has a fair amount of powder in stock. The prices are about 1-1/2 times what they should be, but they have it. RE7 was $28/lb.

[MT Gianni]

It all started day after election. The people voted for change!
Larry

Actually bullet prices started to rise shortly after metal prices spiked in 07-08.

[shooterg]

Ole, get some of the Greek 06 from CMP before they run out. Shoots good, and the brass will be good for those cast boolits after !

[Bull Schmitt]

Some commercial ammo is not loaded properly for the Grand and can damage it. The pressure curve is wrong.

[Ole]

Ole,
Randall's has a fair amount of powder in stock. The prices are about 1-1/2 times what they should be, but they have it. RE7 was $28/lb.

:holysheep

Actually, powder is the one thing that I have plenty of powder on hand right now.

[ronterry]

Hit Gun Broker! I scored 500 308's for 54 bucks... There considered Grade B cause they have pull marks on them, but work great for range fodder...

I have maybe a mix of 1500 or so of commercial & mill bullets of hand. I also bought a new Springfield Garand a few years back for about a grand, and that sucker is bad ***... I remember watching Band of Brother on DVD, and said I got to get me one of those! I tried some crap Korean stuff in it, and about one of every eight rounds needed a second strike! It stunk, and felt a bit on the high pressure side for the Garand. So be careful with Mil-sup rounds! I personally only hand load for it, and the Gold standard is 45-48grs of IMR-4895 with a 147-150grs FMJ...

Hey Peter, don't you guys have a big brass manufacture there?
BTW: I heard the same stories from race fans there! Parts & shipping costing 2x normal. Can't be all shipping? Sounds like the powers that be, line there pockets with import/export taxes on both ends!

[Down South]

Actually bullet prices started to rise shortly after metal prices spiked in 07-08.
Yup. That's what got me started in casting.

[leadman]

Ole, never used 322 so don't know how it will work. What you need to avoid is the slow powders for jacketed bullets that have too high of pressure at the gas port. Nevere happened to me but I have seen the results of it bending the operating rod. Some of the manuals have seperate loading info for the Garand I am told. I use either of the 4895 or AA2520.
Garands are fun and can be amazingly accurate for a military rifle. I think I will take my Garand out next week while my eyes are still half-way decent.

[JIMinPHX]

Sticker shock at my favorite gun store today

Hey, by the way Ole, which gun store is the "favorite" that you were referring to?

[Buckshot]

Welcome to my world!!! We have been shafted for years in Australia - you guys would not believe some of the prices we have to pay for reloading supplies.A couple of examples for you- Rcbs RC reloading kit $750 Au (approx US$600),Speer 180grn mag tips $95Au (approxUS$80), Barnes TSX .308 approx US$80-85....and sorry for mentioning J boolits,Rcbs molds Au$150-180 approx US$120-140....well you get the idea. Roughly we pay 2 to 2.5 times what you pay converted to your dollars!! Local shop just told me no primers till next year!!

..............You guys do have one of the better mould makers there in CBE. The jacketed bullet deal sounds like a job opportunity to me. If a couple or 3 guys could get together and finance a hydraulic swaging setup. Say 35 and 45 pistol, and then 30, (and naturally .312") for rifles just to start out.

..............Buckshot

[briang]

I agree with buckshot. Especially with the shortages here, it's gotta be even worse there.

[peterthevet]

Yep - I must checkout CBE.........am having a lot of trouble trying to find good used molds over here. One of the reasons I checked out (usually daily!!!) this wondeful site is to learn about cast boolits/casting and so save money (yea right) and have some fun!!Woodleigh is an Aussie company and makes great hunting bullets.....sometimes though you want to try other brands to check performance etc. I can buy Woodleigh .308 180grn for AU$33 per 50 - way cheaper than you have to pay for these. Makes sense..........why then do ADI powders cost more here than in USA (ADI supplies Hogdon with most of there extruded powder range).....yep about twice what you pay....it is shipped to Hogdon, who package and sell for half what we pay - go figure!!

[Ole]

Hey, by the way Ole, which gun store is the "favorite" that you were referring to?

Pistol Parlor in Mesa.

[JIMinPHX]

I've never been to the Pistol Parlor. I'll have to check that one out sometime.

[Ole]

I've never been to the Pistol Parlor. I'll have to check that one out sometime.

I used to go there all the time, because there used to be 4 gun stores within a couple miles of each other. Now there are only 3. If you make the trek all the way to Pistol Parlor, make sure you swing by the Mesa gun shop (On Broadway/Horne), and the Bear mountain Archery place on Southern and Horne. Bear mountain is high as heck, but they have stuff in stock.

[AZ-Stew]

Ole,

Are you sure you didn't buy Hornady Interbond, instead of Interlock? The Interbonds are definately higher priced, as they are a bonded-core design, whereas the Interlocks are a basic cup-and-core design.

On the other hand, Pistol Parlour is a bit higher priced than Sportsman's Warehouse (when they have stock). And you're right about Bear Mountain. They're REALLY high.

When I got my Garand in the early 80s, I wanted to try the "classic" load using the Sierra 168gr HPBT match bullet and 4895 powder. It took me a while to find the info, since there was no Internet to search with back then. I had plenty of time to find it because it used to take 2 years from the time you sent your $$ to DCM until the rifle arrived. On the other hand, it cost me $118 + $8 shipping. Anyway, I had the ammo all loaded when the rifle arrived and immediately headed for the range. Those "classic" match loads shot 4-5 inch shotgun patterns at 100 yards. I was pretty disappointed with its performance.

The load I finally settled on that shoots 1 inch groups at 100 from my Garand, is the Sierra 150gr Gameking spitzer BT over 50.0gr H335 and a standard CCI LP primer. I chose 335 for easy metering and because it's right in the neighborhood of 4895 for burn rate.

The Sierra Gamekings are a bit higher than other manufacturer's cup-and-core bullets, but they shoot great in my Garand. The same load also works very well in my Remington 700 BDL.

Regards,

Stew

[crabo]

I just stopped by a local gun store that used to be reasonable. $30 a pound for powder, give or take a buck dependeing on the powder. I also wanted to buy 2 screw in sling swivel studs. They want 10 bucks plus tax for the 2 screw in studs. I walked out empty handed.

[WILCO]

I walked out empty handed.

That's the main reason I order my supplies on-line with some other like minded fellows. I just purchased a pound of IMR4064, 1,000 small and 1,000 large rifle primers for $92.00. price included hazmat charges and shipping. It's cheaper if you can by with a group. I've given up on my "local" gun shops as the prices are way to high and their favorite answer is "We can order it for ya!"...........