Ahh the Olden Days
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I was inventorying my powder supply the other day. One “can” I still have is of BlueDot. It was in a factory cardboard tube container, with a plastic stopper type thing at the top. We bought it new WAY back in the day.
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I still have a can of Unique, and SR7625 from when Wallyworld actually sold powder.
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You overpaid. You should boycott the place selling it at such an inflated price. 
My first powder was Win 231 for .38 wadcutters. My first rifle powder was IMR 4064 for my 30-06, still a favorite for that gun. I bought a ton of powders at the old White Elephant store in Spokane, WA. They kept most of it stored in an outbuilding across the street, so you often had to wait for the counter guy to go get it. Could not beat the price anywhere though.
My first powder was Win 231 for .38 wadcutters. My first rifle powder was IMR 4064 for my 30-06, still a favorite for that gun. I bought a ton of powders at the old White Elephant store in Spokane, WA. They kept most of it stored in an outbuilding across the street, so you often had to wait for the counter guy to go get it. Could not beat the price anywhere though.
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I started reloading in 1980, I don't remember what I paid for powder back then. I started because I was in AK and a box of 50 .44Mag was 25 bucks! I figured out I could pay for reloading equipment with the savings in just 500 rounds.You overpaid. You should boycott the place selling it at such an inflated price.
My first powder was Win 231 for .38 wadcutters. My first rifle powder was IMR 4064 for my 30-06, still a favorite for that gun. I bought a ton of powders at the old White Elephant store in Spokane, WA. They kept most of it stored in an outbuilding across the street, so you often had to wait for the counter guy to go get it. Could not beat the price anywhere though.
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When I started reloading in 1972 some of the local gun shops stocked US military surplus powders, delivered in barrels. You could purchase a pound of 4831, 4895, or several others for $2, dispensed in a brown paper bag to take home with you. Hodgdon built a business on purchasing bulk surplus powders and reselling them in smaller quantities to reloaders. If you have never seen a 55-gallon barrel of rifle powder with a scoop and a scale next to it for customer convenience, you just haven't really experienced reloading!
Some shops kept new metal paint cans to put your powder in, stick-on labels applied. The high-end stores had pre-labeled canisters with the store name, pre-measured or weighed. Those niceties cost a bit more, of course.
I remember once catching a deal on GI surplus primers, 10,000 in a plywood box, for less than $20.
Surplus ammunition was regularly available, as were bulk bullets. We ordered them through the mail, delivered to our homes, no questions asked.
In about 1976 the police department providing my monthly paychecks traded in all the Thompson SMGs in the armory for new toys. I purchased hundreds of rounds of .45ACP from WW1 and WW2 surplus stocks for a nickel per round.
I still have a cardboard fiber canister for one pound of Hercules Unique powder with a store price label of $4.95. Another oldie is a paint can labeled as Herco with the store name and address, priced at $3.95. During the late 1970s I was participating in PPC competition, loading 3-5000 rounds of .38 Special every season, and with bulk powder, bulk primers, and cast bullets (salvaged lead) I figured my ammo cost at $1.28 per 50-round box.
Another little walk down memory lane.
Some shops kept new metal paint cans to put your powder in, stick-on labels applied. The high-end stores had pre-labeled canisters with the store name, pre-measured or weighed. Those niceties cost a bit more, of course.
I remember once catching a deal on GI surplus primers, 10,000 in a plywood box, for less than $20.
Surplus ammunition was regularly available, as were bulk bullets. We ordered them through the mail, delivered to our homes, no questions asked.
In about 1976 the police department providing my monthly paychecks traded in all the Thompson SMGs in the armory for new toys. I purchased hundreds of rounds of .45ACP from WW1 and WW2 surplus stocks for a nickel per round.
I still have a cardboard fiber canister for one pound of Hercules Unique powder with a store price label of $4.95. Another oldie is a paint can labeled as Herco with the store name and address, priced at $3.95. During the late 1970s I was participating in PPC competition, loading 3-5000 rounds of .38 Special every season, and with bulk powder, bulk primers, and cast bullets (salvaged lead) I figured my ammo cost at $1.28 per 50-round box.
Another little walk down memory lane.
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Those were the days! I started reloading in 1976
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Don't lie. Smokeless had not been invented yet.You overpaid. You should boycott the place selling it at such an inflated price.
My first powder was Win 231 for .38 wadcutters. My first rifle powder was IMR 4064 for my 30-06, still a favorite for that gun. I bought a ton of powders at the old White Elephant store in Spokane, WA. They kept most of it stored in an outbuilding across the street, so you often had to wait for the counter guy to go get it. Could not beat the price anywhere though.
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I said rifle powder, not musket powder.
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I started sitting next to my Mom's Brother in 1959 watching him reload, & then he'd step outside "The Mad House"* & test his "work" (we had 100's of acre's there he could test long range load's). One of the first people I know whom got into the .264 Win Mag, & .284 Winchester. By 1965 he was letting me & my cousin use his "set up", "cuz he wasn't gona do our job"! in 68' Daddy got us fixed up with a "Herter's single stage". We used it till "late 72", when we moved. I bought a "new RCBS rig", before I moved to Georgia, & IT'S YET to be used! I've even bought MORE die's, for a few caliber's I've since picked up! ???? @OldVet you are correct! I seem to recall most of the powder my Uncle was buying was in the $5.00 a # range. BUT, back then, $5.00 was a lot of money!
*Mad House: My Mother's entire family knew it as that, which was a small building my Uncle put up out from the house to "DO HIS THING'S" (reload, drink W.L. Weller, hatch quail, & a few other "hobbies")
I've even bought MORE die's, for a few caliber's I've since picked up! ???? @OldVet you are correct! I seem to recall most of the powder my Uncle was buying was in the $5.00 a # range. BUT, back then, $5.00 was a lot of money!*Mad House: My Mother's entire family knew it as that, which was a small building my Uncle put up out from the house to "DO HIS THING'S" (reload, drink W.L. Weller, hatch quail, & a few other "hobbies")
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I still do all my reloading on a Herter's Model 3 press.I started sitting next to my Mom's Brother in 1959 watching him reload, & then he'd step outside "The Mad House"* & test his "work" (we had 100's of acre's there he could test long range load's). One of the first people I know whom got into the .264 Win Mag, & .284 Winchester. By 1965 he was letting me & my cousin use his "set up", "cuz he wasn't gona do our job"! in 68' Daddy got us fixed up with a "Herter's single stage". We used it till "late 72", when we moved. I bought a "new RCBS rig", before I moved to Georgia, & IT'S YET to be used!
*Mad House: My Mother's entire family knew it as that, which was a small building my Uncle put up out from the house to "DO HIS THING'S" (reload, drink W.L. Weller, hatch quail, & a few other "hobbies")
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Well, I was 4 years old when you started reloading! Just had to throw that out there.
Obviously looking back it looks cheap but at the time, did that seem expensive?
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This is true. The "Continental Congress" are the one's suppling him with his "black powder"! 😂
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Yes. At the time reloading required a significant initial investment in equipment. But if I wanted to shoot without busting the family budget I had to learn how to make it happen.Well, I was 4 years old when you started reloading! Just had to throw that out there.
I clearly remember common rifle ammunition (.30-06, .30-30, etc) selling for about $4 or $5 per 20-round box. Pistol ammo (.38 Special, .357 magnum, 9mm, .45ACP) ranged from about $5 to $8 per 50-round box. To put that in proper perspective, consider the following:
1. My brand new 3-bedroom house with attached garage cost me $17,700 in 1972. Payments were $182 per month (principal, interest, taxes, insurance) and scared the hell out of me because my paychecks were $192 every two weeks and I had two kids to feed. Today you might buy that house for $180,000 or so.
2. Regular gasoline was about 29 cents per gallon. My 1967 Ford had a 24-gallon tank, so if I was bone dry it might take $7 to fill up. Actually, I seldom filled the tank, just put in $5 or so to get to and from work all week long.
3. A new American middle-of-the-road automobile was less than $3000 brand new. Very few of my friends drove new cars, most of us got by with $500 or $600 used cars financed for 2 years with payments under $30 per month. Some of the used cars I drove for years would bring $50K or so at a good auction today.
4. A brand new Smith & Wesson Model 19 .357 magnum revolver sold for $149 retail. I could order one through my police department employer for $125, but that was a budget breaker. A new Colt Government Model .45 or Commander was about $130, similarly unaffordable to us working stiffs. I started my working career as a cop with a S&W Model 10 .38 Special, $77 from the police supply company that allowed us to pay for our uniforms and equipment in monthly payments.
My starting salary as a cop was $657 per month. After taxes and retirement fund contributions my take-home pay was $192 every two weeks. No overtime pay was provided. If you caught a time-consuming call at the end of your shift you finished it before you went home. If you were called for a court appearance on your days off (or vacation) you made sure to be there on your own dime and time.
8 years later I was a junior detective, first in juvenile, then in property crimes. On call 24 hours, every other weekend, holidays meant nothing on the schedule. I did receive $240 per year as a clothing allowance because I was required to wear a business suit or sport coat and tie every day. Working property crimes (burglary, theft, auto theft, forgery, fraud, etc) meant that I always carried 50-plus active cases on any given day, so checking my phone messages against my active cases was a constant frustration. As the junior guy in the detective shop I got the rattiest and oldest piece of crap car, frequently in the shop for repairs so I had to use my own car (no reimbursement, of course).
A few years later I signed on with a state agency as an investigator, later supervisory investigator. Covered about 24,000 square miles, nearly half the state. On the road 2-4 days every week, occasionally working out of state for weeks at a time on more serious cases. Paid all my expenses (gasoline, hotels, meals, etc) out of pocket, filed a monthly reimbursement form, the got a check about 6 weeks later (assuming I had all receipts and did not exceed the rules on little things like breakfast, lunch, supper, or lodging expenses). My position was considered as professional level, so no overtime; compensatory time over 48 hours per week. After 5 years or so I had two years of comp time on the books, so I resigned with an effective date over two years later (with earned vacation time, etc during the time off).
Somehow got sucked into a position as a small town police chief, spent nearly 7 years learning all about local politics and ego stroking idiots, while simultaneously serving as a babysitter for a bunch of young folks who wanted to be police officers.
Yeah, another trip down memory lane here.
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I’m digging through my stuff and my Dad’s stuff to see what I need to start loading .308. I’m building a .308 AR and finding factory ammo is next to impossible. Happy to see all I need is bullets which are on the way but snowed in somewhere and believe it or not a #3 shell holder! I snagged 200 rds of brass from a new shop a couple weeks ago so as soon as Mother Nature turns UPS loose I’m in business.
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