The cost of ammunition

[Jamesconn]

It went up when Obama was president. Will it go down when he hopefully loses?

[leadman]

Would not count on it. It has dropped some from peak prices, but I think it will climb again before the next election.

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

JAMES it has been going up for decades now it falls slightly to the new norm after the initial rush , we already saw that fall back to the new norm it was 24-28 dollars a brick of 22lr just before the election it fell back down to 19-22 after , thats the new norm

it is many things cost of oil to refine propellants out of , cost of brass , cost of lead , inflation and cost of liability

remember we have been fighting wars for the last decade we are currently in 3 , if we were suddenly out of all three next week you might see some surplus of powder and .223 and other things but industry changes much faster than it used to so it isn't likely to be like the end of WWII in WWII they were using a rail road car of powder a day to make 30-06 so if there were already 30 rail road cars of powder waiting outside the factory with 30 more in transit that's is a lot of powder when you don't have 12 million men in uniform shooting it up in major battles all over the globe there were orders for ammo and the manufacturers took some time to scale down production , of all the components this led to a surplus that took years for the civilian market to work thru.

20 years ago i was buying 20 rounds of Winchester 30-06 ammo for 6-7 dollars a box now 16-17 is is a deal 20-24 is norm

we also saw ammo purchased by the US armed services sit for years then be sold as surplus during several times of the the years , but not much in the last decade with the fight against global terrorism.

[bobthenailer]

A while back i looked at a 2004 midsouth catalog ! brass , primers , bullets & gas checks have doubled in price since then and powder went up by 35 %

[GRUMPA]

I pulled out an older sales flyer from 94 and had to take a deep breathe. Did some math and all that I bought back then compared to now kinda put me in a mild form of shock. I never bought the factory stuff I have always rolled my own my whole life, but now I really don't see anything going down, just going up and up to the point you are now the proud owner of a 6lb. club that looks like a rifle.

[oneokie]

The price of metals used in ammunition manufacture has risen and it does not look like it is going to come down in the forseeable future.

[koehn,jim]

Metal usage by China has more to do with the price than who is in the White House. All the stuff purchased from China is made from raw material.

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

I can remember buying 7.62x39 in brown paper sacks 50 rounds for 2.50 the store would break open spam cans and count them out into lunch bags and staple them shut

you could by an sks for 90 dollars and buy 500 rounds for 20 dollars more those days are gone.

and a brick of 22 was 9.99 it wasn't even very long ago. better yet they all when bang , no one dud in 25 garbage.

[fatnhappy]

It went up when Obama was president. Will it go down when he hopefully loses?

Not a chance. Due to his brilliant leadership the dollar is worthless

[Rockydog]

I think it was Ted Kennedy who said that there was no need for gun control if they'd just run the price of ammo up to where the average man couldn't afford it. Guess what he forgot? Most gun owners aren't average men. Or at least most boolit casters aren't. RD

[Harter66]

I found the only 2 boxes of 45 Colts I bought the 1st was for the brand new single shot about 8 years ago, $18.99. The 2nd was 2 years ago ,$34.99,I left a bag at home when I left on a hunting trip. I saw the same box in the same store last week, $38.99. Let's see that's a savings of $30 a box for now. No I don't expect to see it ever come back down. Heck 10 years ago I shipped CMP sold 06' and 308 at a nickel a round last year 38 and 9mm were 12cents .

[HenryC460]

I used to buy a few cases of ammunition when I'd buy a new gun. When you just couldn't find ammo for a while, a guy at work asked me if he could buy a couple boxes of 45 Auto from me. I had bought CCI Blazer aluminum cased 230 FMJ for lost-brass matches and carry. It was $5.29 a box (50 rd). I am a bad businessman, so I didn't mark that up for him, but he only scored two boxes.

[Jamesconn]

right when I get into it prices go up. So I could have had two and a half cans of .22 only a couple years ago.

But when the war ends there should atleast be surplus for a year?

[JeffinNZ]

From what I have observed the rise in prices during the Clinton and Obama run ups/ terms was a direct result of panic buying as much as raw material costs.

Joe Blogs buys 20K primers 'just in case', cleans out his local dealer. Next customer sees there is no primers so cleans out the next dealer. Both dealers order heavily only to be cleaned out by the guys that heard from the 2nd guy that primers are in short supply. ETC, ETC. Price goes up.

[GREENCOUNTYPETE]

I was always interested in reloading , we reloaded shot shells when i was a kid , but i had my eye on metallic even back then we would work the deer gun sight at our range i would collect all the Winchester 30-06 brass , another guy collected all the federal that most shooters would leave. had a hole bucket of 30-06 Winchester , well i had left that bucket of brass under my dads reloading bench , he was cleaning a few years ago , he thought it was great what he got for it at the recyclers i wasn't reloading yet , and he did ask if he could get rid of them
i now realize how much $ was sitting there in that bucket.
i started reloading first for 44mag store bought 35-45 dollars a box the blazer alluminum even on sale was 23 dollars a box this meant it got shot very little

purchasing Hornady XTP bullets comes to 12.23 a box of 50 add primers 1.55 and powder 1.57 for a total cost of 15.35 to reload my brass with premium bullets a substantial savings over store bought , i need to order a mold for 44 and start on that the price of a mold will pay for it self in a hurry.

my 30-30 loads the lead i have i got as wheel weights not sure i will get them free again but even if i have to buy lead i get 38 bullets to the pound primers are about 3 cents each powder around 10 cents each even if i add a gas check 16 cents a round isn't to bad 3.20 a box vs 13 dollars on sale at the store regular price nearing a buck each.

[Fredx10sen]

Wow! Being a Reloading Equipment, Reloading Components and Lead Hoarder for the last 40 years is paying off. Feeling better all the time and less guilty every day. Just scored three more 5 Gal buckets of WW and 45 pounds of Sheet lead left over from an x-ray room build in the last two weeks. My Daughter was over and was looking in the reloading room when she asked me if I have enough of everything. Answer " NOPE not yet " I feel that it's sorta like an investment to be passed down to my Children and their Children. Everything has appreciated in value for my investment in gun related items to the point that is equivalent gold in my view.
There I said it, I'm a hoarder and I feel better now.
Forgot to mention that all the lead was free.

[white eagle]

I don't think Obama had anything to do with it
like the scare that was created when he was being elected
someone else the puppeteer

[MtGun44]

The dollar is intentionally being made worth less, so it will continue to take more of them
to trade for anything REAL.

Bill

[mroliver77]

Components might be better than gold in the future. IF there were a bad breakdown and food, water well everything was rationed or in short supply I believe ammo and ammo makins would be great barter stock. Lead would have been and might still be a great monetary investment.It has increased 400% - 500% in ten years.(Maybe more).

James, save your money and buy when you find a deal! I am signed up for email alerts from the online toy stores and have grabbed powder and primers at 50 - 75% off. Put the word out you are buying or swapping lead for a fair price. I get a good trickle of supply this way. Find others willing to go in on a bigger buy and save this way.
I shoot for way less than I could if I were to buy 100 primers and a lb of powder over the counter at Bass Pro or such places.
Jay