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At what price will you stop buying 1000 round cases of .223?

  • $500

    Votes: 41 70.7%
  • $750

    Votes: 5 8.6%
  • $1000

    Votes: 1 1.7%
  • $1500

    Votes: 1 1.7%
  • I will put myself into bankruptcy before I stop.

    Votes: 10 17.2%

How much is too much?

2K views 21 replies 18 participants last post by  bmcgilvray 
#1 ·
This is going to be my first attempt at a poll.

At what point will you stop buying ammo?
 
#3 ·
#4 ·
I think the question is... are you willing to pay $1000 for a case of 1000 rounds. What price per round , are you willing to pay ?
 
#8 ·
I see now that the poll is up, so in that case I'll compare ammo to gasoline; you just have to buy it no matter what the price. Just use it more conservatively.
 
#5 ·
I guess maybe per round would have been simpler but I am just trying to figure out where the insanity will stop. If we are talking $1+per round, the only shooting that will occur will be in anger. Simply can't afford to plink with anything besides .22lr.
 
#7 ·
I'm in the same boat. I have my own stash set aside, and I'm lucky enough to be provided with a supply to burn up at will. (for now anyway)

I stopped buying about a year or so ago.
 
#9 ·
I reload so a case of ammo costs me about $150.00,I still only shoot a bout 50-60 rounds a month and about 20 rounds of .308 every month or two,I'm definitely shooting more 22 LR
 
#10 · (Edited)
I did not vote, because I reload. Here is the cost.

Brass........Free save your old
Bullet...........07
Powder........03
Primer.........02

Total..........12 a round

$120.00 a thousand.... :image035:
 
#13 ·
I picked $500, but it's really hard to say exactly where the line would be. I have a basic supply now, but if things got rough (civil unrest or something) and it looked like it was going to be long-term, you bet I'd pay whatever it took to get what I needed. I don't have any reloading equipment, and I don't have the money to get set up right now.

bbqgrill's gasoline analogy hits the nail on the head.
 
#15 ·
I see no real reason why the cost of ammo would be that high in the long run. It doesn't get more difficult to manufacture, cost or raw materials and energy does change, but not that much. Short of major (1860's civil war style) disruption, I just don't see it.

I see these high ammo prices as temporary (in terms of years) due to supply and demand, the two wars, the current political climate, and mass paranoia buying.
If government regulation or taxation took a turn for the worse (i.e. 500% tax or bar coding), I think we could start seeing an underground black market in ammo. At the moment there is NONE. It is easy enough for anyone to buy ammo with $ and a drivers license there is no need.

Reloading too will become more important. If they start to tax bullets, the lead casting crowd will be king. Tax smokeless powder = blackpowder becomes king. Tax blackpowder = grinding your own from charcoal fire and salt peter becomes king. Tax brass = muzzle loaders will be king or cartridge-less ammo will get commercially established.

it is all economics... both in terms of money and how people follow the law
 
#19 ·
You obviously haven't followed metal prices over the last few years. Copper, lead and zinc prices went through the roof the last couple years, almost quadrupling in price at times due to China's gobbling up as much as they could. This has been the driving factory for the increase in the cost of both ammunition and reloading components (brass and bullets).







Now throw in the mass-hysteria effect of Obama getting elected causing a stampede for ammo and combine that with the overall shortage of commercial .223 ammo due to the two wars. Those retailers who are able to get their hands on some ammo know they can charge a premium for it as it's become a scarce commodity.

The good news is that raw material prices are finally coming down as China is facing an ever bigger economic collapse than we are here in the States.
 
#16 ·
Well this is a tough question. If you are out and need it you will pay to have it. What ever the cost.

If I have enough I will not pay and will hoard reloading components and roll my owne for my every day shooting.

I recently found a rifle range that would let me pick up 30-06 brass for a nickel per round ($50 per 1000) Each range trip I would pick up 200 extra 30-06 cases and load them before the next trip. Soon I had 1000 rds of 30-06 at a greatly reduce price.
Bullets 5 cents
Brass 5 cents
Powder 7 cents
Primer 3 cents
20 cents per round
1000 rounds 30-06 for 200USD

Powder and primers reflect replacement costs, since I will run out of them before I run out of the other components, actual cost is closer to 15 cents per round.

So establish a base of ready to use ammo and then start shooting what ever you can scrounge the cheapest.

Cheapest handgun to load is 38 special with 2.7grs bullseye and home cast 148gr wadcutters. The brass will last forever.

Cheapest 30 cal rifle is the 30-30, brass is every where.
 
#18 ·
Going with the gasoline analogy, If I told you 6 months ago that you would be paying $1.66 for gas you would put me in a home. Gas was overinflated as I think ammo is overinflated right now. An ammo bubble perhaps?

I don't buy the various reasons for ammo inflation other than panic buying. The cost of raw materials is down significantly, the military is in a different supply chain and I suspect they burn up way more rounds in training than the current state of the two wars.

I agree a black market will occur if ammo is under political attack, and that would include currently law abiding citizens. It is the "When guns are outlawed I will be an outlaw" mentality.
 
#22 ·
I won't pay those prices. I have several thousand rounds of surplus military fodder dedicated for long term and components on hand for thousands more hand loads.

Regarding case life. I'm still loading .38 Special and .45 ACP cases I was using 30 years ago. No telling how many trips through the press they've seen.

Most times I ever loaded high-powered rifle cases was a batch of .30-06 Lake City '67 with which I shot high power competition for a couple of seasons. I kept up with the number of times they were reloaded as a test to satisfy my curiosity. After sixteen times through my M1 I chucked them. None in the batch ever cracked. All were trimmed at least once. The head stamp was partially obliterated or it was just gone on some, and the case rims were indescribably chewed and ugly but they still extracted fine.
 
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