Ripoff

Im not sure what you mean. I built a 300 rum and started loading for it about a year ago. I bought 100 pieces of nosler brass. One box from the shooters pro shop in Bend Oregon and one from the sportsmans warehouse in Bend. They were both about $75.00 or so.

I went and bought some more a couple months ago at the sprortsmans warehouse and they were the same price but for 25 instead of 50 count. Same prices everywhere else I looked.
 
I think there is more to this problem than meets the eye.

I have seen loaded ammo for the same price as the same caliber brass only. and in some cases, it was cheaper to buy loaded ammo on sale/clearance for the brass that buy re loading brass.

So make your brass last and don't pay 2 or 3 prices for it and it will come down.

It appears to me that the Ammo manufactures want to put the re loaders out of business.

When I first started shooting the RUMs I could buy brass for .47 cents a round for a while
then it went to .54 cents a round and now it is over $1.50 a round. cost of materials have not tripled
so as long as everyone is hoarding or paying absorbent prices the problem will continue to worsen.

I for one, don't intend to get robed when buying brass, so I will take care of what I have and make it last buy not over sizing, over loading and annealing often.

I have seen some hoarders try to sell there high priced stashes of brass and ammo and can't because they paid to much in the first place and now they are stuck with it. and as far as I am concerned "GREAT"

J E CUSTOM
 
I bought a pencil barrel 260 Remington to deer hunt with last fall, the ammo was $36 a box. Since I load for my 22-250, my pistols and shotguns I figured I'd pick up some brass, dies and bullets and start loading. I was wrong, only high end brass was available, Lapua and Norma. No Remington or Winchester in 260 or 243. I'm not going to pay nearly $1 each for brass for this rifle, a BR rifle yes, but not hunting rifle that will probably never shoot a deer over 300 yards.

I placed an add locally for 260 or 243 Remington or Winchester brass, surely someone would have some 243 that I could size up. Turns out a old buddy of mine that I don't see very often anymore saw the add and called. He'd bought a Remington in 260 in the late 90s and didn't like it so it was sold. He sold me 330 once fired and 25 new Remington brass, RCBS two die set, a full box of Nosler 100gr Ballistic tip, a partial box of Nosler 120gr Ballistic tip and about 1/3 pound of H4350 for $150. Friends are good!
 
shortgrass

I was unaware that the cost of doing business (making brass) has increased. In my original post I was wondering exactly that and that is why I checked the price of copper. It turns out that was NOT a cost driver for brass manufacturers. What do you think are the business related causes that are driving up brass prices?
 
Increased regulations and increased transportation costs, for two. Cost increases don't come solely from the 'cost' of the raw materials. There are many other factors involved (have your home owners, auto, or health insurance costs increased? Had to buy any new tires for the pick-up, lately? Plenty of other examples if you think about it. ). That copper ore makes a couple of other 'stops' between the mine and plant that cartridge cases are made in. Each one is experiencing cost increases. Do you suppose the cost of groceries has risen solely because the cost of seed? You have to keep in mind, Remington and Winchester are in the ammo business, not the component business. In the past, we got spoiled. Now, they can sell ammo almost as fast as they can make it. I'd bet profit margin is higher on loaded ammo than on components. Which would you choose if it was your "bread & butter"? True, there are "gougers" out there. But, a lot of these are not really "in the business",,, they're out just to make a quick buck. I bought a few hundred 6xc cases recently and they'd only gone up about $5 per hundred. That's about what I'm seeing in other calibers, when they become available, too. How much has the price of a NY Strip steak gone up, per lb.?
 
justinp61 said:
I bought a pencil barrel 260 Remington to deer hunt with last fall, the ammo was $36 a box. Since I load for my 22-250, my pistols and shotguns I figured I'd pick up some brass, dies and bullets and start loading. I was wrong, only high end brass was available, Lapua and Norma. No Remington or Winchester in 260 or 243. I'm not going to pay nearly $1 each for brass for this rifle, a BR rifle yes, but not hunting rifle that will probably never shoot a deer over 300 yards.

I placed an add locally for 260 or 243 Remington or Winchester brass, surely someone would have some 243 that I could size up. Turns out a old buddy of mine that I don't see very often anymore saw the add and called. He'd bought a Remington in 260 in the late 90s and didn't like it so it was sold. He sold me 330 once fired and 25 new Remington brass, RCBS two die set, a full box of Nosler 100gr Ballistic tip, a partial box of Nosler 120gr Ballistic tip and about 1/3 pound of H4350 for $150. Friends are good!
Click to expand...

Southwest ammunition was just running a big sale on new win brand .243 brass, real easy to neck up to 260 rem. they showed 3 fifty gallon drums full.
 
Engineering101 said:
FearNoWind

I hear what you are saying but I have a hard time seeing how a couple of local skirmishes can use up the entire brass manufacturing capacity of the US. But I can't argue with the fact that brass, particularly from Remington or Winchester, is just not out there - not like it should be. If you want brass that is only made by Winchester (like the 7mm WSM) you are really screwed. Oh, well - maybe I'll take up archery. You can buy arrows can't you?
Click to expand...

let me give you a hint.

Look around and see how many foundries are left in your area. Winchester / Olin closed their big foundry in Indianapolis, and it's completely torn down last time I was over there. That place was one of the largest brass foundries on the planet. Now it comes out of Asia.

The price of steel and brass have no relationship to the price of scrap metal. Raw ingots yes. Reason why is that most brass will not work for many applications, and there is an ever growing demand for bronze. Plus there's much more profit in bronze than brass. Then we get into the high end bronze alloys like Ampco Bronze. The demand for these is so high that several alloys have been discontinued due to a higher demand for others alloys. Steel is cheap compared to this stuff, and it's common to wait weeks for a bar of it. You have a raw ingot of steel or copper, and you start to build off it. There's heat treating involved, and when you finally get it into the molten state you can start making the alloy you want. You often will do this several times before arriving at the product you seek. Then you get to heat it again to form it into the raw shape your after. After that the manufacturing process starts!
gary
 
I could be wrong here, but I don't recall seeing the cost of Lapua brass going up much over the last 5-6 years. And availability of brass came back much sooner with Lapua as well.

Remington and Winchester seem to be using all their brass production just trying to get caught up with demand for ammo (fewer shooters reload).
 
Can't speak to all calibers of Lapua brass, but five years ago I was buying 338 lapua brass for $2.25 apiece. Today I can find it for about $2.50 each. Five years ago, 243 Win brass made by Lapua went for about $0.75 apiece. Today you can buy it for about $0. 85 apiece.

Today's Lapua prices are only a slight amount more to reflect the cost of inflation. Certainly not the 50% to 75% inflated prices I am seeing today for Federal, Winchester and Remington-Peters brass.
 
Three years ago I paid about $52/50 for Hornady 375 Ruger brass (only source for that caliber). Today at Sportsman's Warehouse it was $52.99/50. No increase there. Once fired 9mm and 40S&W are $40/1000 from a local source I use - same as before Sandy Hook.

Gouging? Probably going on. But when the shelves at the Gun Stores fill up and the orders cut back the manufactures will drop prices. But not while they sell everything they can make running overtime.

After Sandy Hook people I knew that never owned a gun but wanted one jumped in and bought. People I know who owned one or two bought three or four more. All of them bought ammo and still do. The local indoor range has a waiting list most days. Business is good. So prices stay high. No pistol or shotgun powder to be had. But there is Superformance, Leverevolution, RL17, H50 BMG, IMR4064, H4198, and A4350 on the shelf in more than 10- 1# cans here. How long has that been? I can get pretty much any type of primer I want off the shelf even if it's not the brand I prefer.

LRH shooters have a better selection of powder and primers available than any other group in the shooting sports. We should not complain too loudly.

KB
 
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