I finally clicked on this thread to see where the shortage is. From where I sit it is the most available it has been in 3 or 4 years. Yes, the prices are still high, but what isn't. They have come down some and now seem to have stagnated.Originally Posted by TGS
Gunowners are up there with Great Aunt Thelma's Bookface page when it comes to being gullible.
"You win 100% of the fights you avoid. If you're not there when it happens, you don't lose." - William Aprill
"I've owned a guitar for 31 years and that sure hasn't made me a musician, let alone an expert. It's made me a guy who owns a guitar."- BBI
I watch 9mm prices since I am constantly trying to rationalize what I spend/spent/spending on reloading equipment and I am getting emails touting 115 for $220, slowing the economic recovery efforts to ROI that RL1100. Good thing I bought it because it is cool, not because I was worried about saving money...
FWIW- I’m still loading my ideal IDPA load for $0.20 / rd, and even the better deals pencil out to $0.25 /rd shipped.I watch 9mm prices since I am constantly trying to rationalize what I spend/spent/spending on reloading equipment and I am getting emails touting 115 for $220, slowing the economic recovery efforts to ROI that RL1100. Good thing I bought it because it is cool, not because I was worried about saving money...
And I get to keep shooting weekly for the same cost whether there’s an “ammo shortage” or not.
So there’s that.
Yeah, I am just kidding around, I have been doing it for so long I would probably do it if it cost more. Some people have a $2700 table saw and make their own furniture, I have a Dillon 1100 with a bullet feeder and buy furniture at a store.
Sometimes figuring cost is tricky when you pay freight and or tax on some components and not others, but pretty sure I could load 115gn for $175, but for just a few dollars more I load 147gn for $184.
But as far as the topic of shortages go, you can lay in powder and primers for about half of the cost. So at this point in the election cycle I have enough to go at least a year, maybe two, as long as I can buy bullets. Bullet manufacturing is pretty simple compared to powder and primers, so even if there are long lead times like before I would expect to be able to get them.
I'm no artillery expert, but I don't think they're loading up 155mm with Titegroup or Varget or whatever.
Is it possible they use the same facilities, people, or raw materials though?
“Far better it is to dare mighty things, to win glorious triumphs, even though checkered by failure, than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much, because they live in the gray twilight that knows neither victory nor defeat.”
― Theodore Roosevelt
Not artillery, 11B all the way!
https://csgdefence.cz/propelling-cha...6%20propellant.
https://www.gd-ots.com/propellant-an...lling-charges/
https://19january2021snapshot.epa.go...06-9530596.pdf
M6 Propellant: Slide 3 - https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/fi..._2.12.2015.pdf
Adding nothing to the conversation since 2015....
I’m right there with you, brother. I like your furniture analogy. I reload, and do most of my car repairs and maintenance, but am happy to pay for a plumber or home improvements. It’s nice to be able to pick where to “save” money and where to spend it.
Yeah, I started in 1973 (on a single stage) when reloading 38 and 45 was like printing money (and I didn't have any money...). Now the financial aspect is often scrutinized and more difficult to justify, but if you spend a bunch of money on equipment and use it to make a coffee table out of scrap pallets nobody questions your judgment!
When I finally took the plunge and got the RL1100 I didn't look at how many times I would need to load a case before I got my money back, I just figured I only have so many more years left to enjoy it. Waiting two more years would be more than 10% of that usage window, so I sold some stuff I wasn't shooting much/any and put the money into the press I would use constantly. And when I croak or am too old to use it, it will still be worth more than half, and by then I would have recovered all of my money, $50-$100 at a time. And it makes it cheap and easy to load things, like 147gn, that cost more and are more difficult to source.
And people tend to question the time invested, but I am never reloading when I would be doing something else productive. My wife really enjoys watching the singing competition shows, and I have tired of them. Last night she watched The Voice, and I setup and kicked out the first 100 of a batch of 500 5.56 rounds. And 5.56 rounds, especially with nicer specialty bullets, are a bit like printing money again.
And like was mentioned, it makes it easy to make it through these shortages, real or perceived. Tomorrow another jug of powder arrives. It only costs as much as a single case of ammo but is enough for ~12k. I buy bullets as I need them, and am just always OTLO for SPP, so I am set for the next 16k. 9mm prices have dipped, but unless a fella right now had zero and bought sixteen cases it is not a direct comparison. Some of the components I am using were bought when ammo cost $340.
PS: I did recently go back out to the range and crawl under my truck and change the starter in the spot where it crapped out, but if I had not installed those leveling struts in the front I probably woulda had it towed...
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