Reloading costs continue to escalate...

[azasadny]

I'm reloading several thousand .223 rifle cartridges for a friend and I had to pick up some powder. I was shocked to see that almost all of the rifle powders are $30 a lb now. Last year, they were $20 a lb and they jumped to $25, and now $30 a lb. I was looking for Varget, BL-C(2), 4895, Reloder15, etc... and I only found a few lbs. With prices constantly on the rise, I don't know how I'll be able to afford this hobby for much longer. You can reuse brass and cast your own bullets, but primers are still NLA and powder prices are crazy!

[Joeaksa]

The libs found out years ago that they cannot legislate guns out of existance, but they sure seem to be making it difficult or expensive to reload or shoot.

[legion]

Hmmm, I just bought 5 lbs. of BL-C(2) for $16 a pound. Powder has been getting cheaper and more available lately. So are primers. A few months ago powder was $30 a pound and primers were $60 for 1000. Now prices are back to normal. Maybe your area is finally feeling the shock late?

[NineOhOne]

I noticed at WalMart today that the ammo shelves were'nt as bare as ususal. Plenty of rifle & hand-gun ammo. Prices seemed the same as a few months ago.

[mjohnson]

Not sure there's some great liberal conspiracy to keep me from buying primers, but darn they're hard to find in any number. I'm asking my pyro chemistry friends to figure out an easy way to make home brewed primers. If any can, these guys can...

[legion]

The reason that powders and primer are/were hard to get is because they are the "leftovers" from ammunition production. When demand went through the roof, there were no leftovers to sell.

[azasadny]

Powder is really expensive here ($25-$30 a lb), primers are unavailable, brass is .20 each for pistol and $1 each for rifle and bullets are scarce...

[azasadny]

I'm on my way to Cabelas in Dundee, MI right now to see what powder prices and availability are like...

[legion]

Check out MidwayUSA.com and CheaperThanDirt.com.

[john70t]

If not Cabelas, try Jays in Clare.
Gun Shops and Other Related Sites

[azasadny]

Online prices are higher once you throw in shipping and hazardous materials costs. Powder was $5-$6 a lb cheaper at Cabelas than at Gander Mtn, so I bought enough to load the .223 cartridges I have ready to go.

[azasadny]

Originally Posted by john70t

If not Cabelas, try Jays in Clare.
Gun Shops and Other Related Sites

Thank you for the link!!

[azasadny]

I've calculated that my costs for reloading .223 are .50 a round using reused Lake City brass, CCI primers, 25.5 gr of BL-C(2) powder and Hornady 55gr FMJBT bullets.

[legion]

Wow, that's pretty high. I can buy a box of Remington 55 gr. in .223 for $8.50 new around here. That's 42.5¢ per round.

[Tim Hancock]

$232.95 for 1000 rounds of Brown Bear .223 at Ammunitiontogo.com right now. That is 23 cents per round.

Ammunition To Go : 1000rds - .223 Brown Bear 62gr. Hollow Point Ammo [AR223HP] - $232.95

I have used this along with cheap Wolf ammo in my AR with no issues to date. Of course these are all steel cases, so you don't get any brass out of the deal to reload with later.