Remembering the Older Days of Reloading/Shooting

[Harry Knutz]

Uhhhh, not sure lately about the wage comment when I see high school kids making $19 an hour at the local library to put books on the shelf.

I was making $19.00 an hour in 1990

 

[Lefty7mmstw]

I have less of an issue with the prices than I do with the availability. I started reloading in 1990ish and you never worried about whether there was a can or two of IMR 4831 on the shelve at the gun store. You just went down there and picked it up. You also didn't buy every can they had

One reason many of the brands we love in this industry (or love to hate) started is the starved market after ww2.. A lot of them seem to have forgotten their roots and that's pretty sad. The only real run I saw before the 2000's was primers... When Billy Bob the skirt chaser thought he was going to put a shelf life into primers, the market went pretty much vapor for months. Now days people will buy 'till they have their CC's maxed out on this stuff, so the runs on the market last a bit more.

 

[Lefty7mmstw]

I was making $19.00 an hour in 1990

I was making under 5 an hour when I started working in the early 90's. I've only really gotten into a living wage in the last few years and quit my part time job March of last year. Not everyone has been lucky on their paychecks.

 

[Rflshootr]

...yep and who would gave imagined that the reloading industry stopped it all. How does even a 10% inflation rate turn into a 200-300-400% price rise..even the stable geniuses 25% tariff that you all cheered for couldn't have caused these price increases..

I'm afraid Frank is right. Uncle Sam wants everyone poor and under his thumb. The reloading industry is following suit, seeing what the market will bear and won't stop until they make it where you can't afford to shoot any longer. It's pretty plain to see who is running the country into the ground, and it isn't Brandon. Everyone had better hold on to their hats because it isn't over yet.

 

[danajm]

Hardware stores still do. The Ace hardware store 5 miles from my house always has the best powder selection in town.

If your talking about the one I think you are, you're right! That store is awesome! Great selection of RC components too. IYKYK

 

[Culpeper]

It is BS and I have enough components to last me at least 10 years because of stocking up than I'm done . Noticed just yesterday H4831 up over 30% from a jug I bought when Obama was around. I'm retiring due age anyway but as an accountant I have to say from a fiscal view that we might as well take all that money at these prices and set it on fire on our front porch. Also, I am a firm believer that when left alone, the invisible hand of supply and demand will take care of itself sooner or later and let me tell you how we used to do it,

 

[Charlielee]

While taking count of the remaining bricks of LR and LRM primers on my shelves, I began to pay extra attention to various price labels on some of my older supplies, and while we all know how much our sport has inflated in recent years, these old price tags brought back memories and a sting of the current state of things. The box of 215 magnum primers I bought several years back from the LGS in a clearance sale, and yes, I paid $3 for 1,000 (original was $7.99) and it is still full. I bought similar bricks of older primers in SP, SR and LR, and they were all like new and have worked without issue. However, I decided to save several of those to keep in my collection.

There were many, many more items with price stickers that today make me laugh, so I thought I would just post a few so the younger crowd can see how it used to be once.

Part 2: Added a few powders and 338 bullets. The $5 can is an unopened 1lb of WW 540 and the $7.95 is a can of W 452AA. The Sierra 338 bullets really made me laugh at $5.69. Was I ever that young?

 

[danajm]

I found a box of PMC 30-06 with a Walgreens price sticker on it. I never knew Walgreens was in the ammo buisness. I'm youngish though...

 

[JAYgs8163]

Skilled labor shouldve been paid that in 1990. I bet your job wasn't putting books on the shelf at the library or flipping burgers Part Time at "In and Out" burger stands after school for a few hours a week.

 

[Knight]

Yeah, The good old days were fantastic. I remember like it was yesterday when I walked into a Chevorlet dealership and purchased a 1968 Big block 427 Corvette convertible for a truck full of money, $4, 900.00 out the door, and a 300 Weatherby (German) for $ 319.00. How sweet it was..

 

[orange1948]

I missed out on those days as I was born in '64. However, I did get the opportunity to buy 2 Mosin-nagant rifles from Rose's department store while I was stationed in Charleston, S.C. I paid $39.95 each! used them to learn to glass bed, free float barrels, and customize stocks in general. Making stocks for my rifles has been enjoyable ever since.
I also was in a gun store one day in PA, when a guy walked in wanting to sell an old Stevens single-shot, 20 gauge shotgun but the owner wouldn't buy it. I did buy it for $26 and learned to shoot that shotgun using 40 to 50 year old paper shells that my grandfather gave me.

1964…was the year I started reloading. A friend and I were sophomores in high school and decided to start reloading for our rifles. He had a new 222 Remington Magnum 700 rifle and I had a used 1948 Winchester Model 70 in 270 Winchester. (Yup, big Jack O'Connor fan.) We ordered most of our equipment from Gander Mountain and some from Herters. My 4-H money financed a new Spar T press and supplies. Great memories.
Duane

 

[Charlielee]

I remember buying a brand new Sweet 16 when I was 15 with the money that was earned chopping weeds around oil wells and other equipment. I paid $185.00 for it, I had only made $200.00 at $1.00/hr that summer when my boss died when he fell off a tank while measuring it. So no more job. But I did buy a Lee Hand Loader and started loading shells for it. Of course I put too much pressure on them so they swelled so much that shotgun would cut a strip of that Nimrod hull and dump the shot into the works. I certainly learned from that! It took a lot of shaking to get an once of #9 shot out of the action. That was 1968!! What fun!

 

[Culpeper]

It's all those youngins' with brakes on pea shooters fault. They are like cockroaches when you turn the kitchen light on at grandma's house in East Texas,

 

[Rflshootr]

It's all those youngins' with brakes on pea shooters fault. They are like cockroaches when you turn the kitchen light on at grandma's house in East Texas,

So, are you saying that those cute little flowers called Pansies come to mind?