Ammo prices. 300nm. 300prc. WTF !

BurtG

GOLDEN TICKET HOLDER
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Minuteman
  • Nov 9, 2022
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    Yup, the primary reason I rebarreled my lightweight hunter from 300WSM back to .308 for the summer.

    Got tired of sending $4 down range every time I pulled the trigger if I’m just punching holes in paper at the range or poppin’ pigs out on the ranch. About time to swap back though; need to make up my mind whether or not I’m gonna swap scopes on that rifle, so I can do it all at the same time.
     
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    I bought a fair amount of FGMM for $35. I should have bought it all. Also sitting on a pile of Berger. And black hills ASR ammo.

    I just always look at replacement costs. When these norma barrels are burnt out il go to prc unless something changes




    PRC is cheaper than I’ve seen it in quite some time. I think hornady must have done a run of it. Prc shooters would be smart to stock up now. Price goes up
    Between runs
     
    I bought a fair amount of FGMM for $35. I should have bought it all. Also sitting on a pile of Berger. And black hills ASR ammo.

    I just always look at replacement costs. When these norma barrels are burnt out il go to prc unless something changes




    PRC is cheaper than I’ve seen it in quite some time. I think hornady must have done a run of it. Prc shooters would be smart to stock up now. Price goes up
    Between runs
    Reloading is where it’s at in regards to the big boys cartridges

    Especially when a company like hornady backs similar cartridges.

    They have the means to do exactly what your doing. Converting over because of their $
     
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    Now do 300 RUM.

    My buddy about shit when it was $99 for 50 pieces of brass. It was $100 for a box of 20 Federal accubonds....

    His Sako might have 200 rounds through it in 20 years.
     
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    Reactions: 308pirate
    not surprising they are magnum rounds , they do take lots of powder to move that tub of lead at the end of it they are big rounds not 22lr and the price of everything sucks why would it be any difference for those rounds .
     
    Hornady brass $1 ea...on sale
    nosler or berger bullets. 60 cents each...
    rl23 or h4831 @60 grains 38 cents... primers are about 10 cents each now.... add in hazmat and shipping and reloading 30-06 cost 2 bucks a round.
     
    If you live on the continent of North America there is no justifiable reason to shoot anything larger than 30-06.

    30-06 will take down the largest game with ease. It also excels at home defense, just ask the millions of gooks whom have had limb torn from torso by a 30-06 projectile.
    more japs and Germans felt it I’ll wager…
     
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    If you live on the continent of North America there is no justifiable reason to shoot anything larger than 30-06.

    30-06 will take down the largest game with ease. It also excels at home defense, just ask the millions of gooks whom have had limb torn from torso by a 30-06 projectile.
    You know people shoot stuff farther away than 200 yards right ?
     
    Hornady brass $1 ea...on sale
    nosler or berger bullets. 60 cents each...
    rl23 or h4831 @60 grains 38 cents... primers are about 10 cents each now.... add in hazmat and shipping and reloading 30-06 cost 2 bucks a round.

    You are a moron if you are paying those prices, and don't factor in the brass as it is reusable.
     
    You are a moron if you are paying those prices, and don't factor in the brass as it is reusable.
    Right!

    Brass should be divided into firings to get a true cost. Unless your just loading factory and letting it lay

    Even a hotter round will do 5 or so firings (brass cost $.20) but for 308 or something similar you’ll see north of 10 easily and likely 20+ when not running full throttle and annealing. So $.10-$.05 a round

    Pending you buy quality brass
    IMG_4384.jpeg
     
    Hornady brass $1 ea...on sale
    nosler or berger bullets. 60 cents each...
    rl23 or h4831 @60 grains 38 cents... primers are about 10 cents each now.... add in hazmat and shipping and reloading 30-06 cost 2 bucks a round.

    You buy new brass every time? I hope not.

    Costs go down per reload by reusing the brass. You probably already know that.

    I actually don't use Berger or even ELDM. I use projectiles that are under 30c each and feel zero handicap against those that shoot the overpriced stuff.

    Nosler is overly proud of their stuff.
     
    Ok then...lets get cheaper

    $1.68/per casing ÷ 5 = $0.34
    Hornady eld's = $0.43
    Primer = $0.10
    Powder = $0.38

    $1.35 a shot before you paid for shipping or taxes, or bought the tools and gear to do it.
    And this stuff isnt in stock.... only 280ai brass i can find is petersen... forget the federal lrp's.

    Only point that i was making is that reloading is no longer a huge cost benefit unless youre shooting the big stuff...and even then, components have skyrocketed in price.
     
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    Right!

    Brass should be divided into firings to get a true cost. Unless your just loading factory and letting it lay

    Even a hotter round will do 5 or so firings (brass cost $.20) but for 308 or something similar you’ll see north of 10 easily and likely 20+ when not running full throttle and annealing. So $.10-$.05 a round

    Pending you buy quality brass
    View attachment 8230911
    I’ve got 30 or so Peterson .375 cases that I have been using to develop a load with RL50 & 390 grain ATIPS that are on their 7th firing that are holding up pretty good.

    But to the OPs original point WRT price it is become a shitshow trying to source good .408 projectiles, the only source that used to make lead core 420 grain bullets has serious QC problems. And CEB 425s & SSD 419s are running 3.50 per projectile.
     
    Think about this as well guys....

    On the 300 Norma and the 215gr Berger bullets....that is the called out ammo spec for ASR for the Army. Supplies are going to be low and when you do find them price will be high. Same for the Retumbo powder. That is the spec. powder I believe and supplies for that are limited as well.

    Now factor in the cost of copper prices for bullets over the last couple of years has gone up dramatically. Thanks Covid and riot bullshit that set it all off.

    Factor in lead times have gone up for raw material so manufacturers of bullets, brass etc... is forcing them to buy more raw material and carry higher inventory so they can try and insure they don't run out of stuff.

    Now factor in Ukraine... as that is draining supplies and not helping costs at all. Just another thing to throw in the mud pit. It's not helping.

    I don't see anything getting better or going back to what we considered normal in early 2020 or prior to that year.

    All of the price increase I see affecting match attendance and shooting overall. Match attendance is down. Gas prices, motel costs, food costs etc...

    F Class nat's coming up... use to sell out and cause the website to crash.... guess what it's not full and they won't put out the numbers of shooters that have reg. and the match is coming up in like 5 weeks.
     
    Ok then...lets get cheaper

    $1.68/per casing ÷ 5 = $0.34
    Hornady eld's = $0.43
    Primer = $0.10
    Powder = $0.38

    $1.35 a shot before you paid for shipping or taxes, or bought the tools and gear to do it.
    And this stuff isnt in stock.... only 280ai brass i can find is petersen... forget the federal lrp's.

    Only point that i was making is that reloading is no longer a huge cost benefit unless youre shooting the big stuff...and even then, components have skyrocketed in price.

    Price out a box of 50 6-BR.

    You might want to be seated when you do it.

    Screenshot_20230919_120210_Chrome.jpg


    Yeah, it's that expensive.

    My loads give up nothing to the >$3.00 stuff.



    Reload costs broken down.

    Brass:
    $110÷20. Yep, I get at least 20 reloads. I also have 47 pieces that started life in 2001. That group has exactly 50 firings on it, but I'll be conservative and stay with 20.

    Rounded up to. 6c each.

    Primers are 8c.

    Bullets are 26-30c each, so I'll round up to the 30c ones.

    Powder: 31.0 gr = 19c.

    Total cost, minus my time and equipment = .63c each including taxes/shipping.
    .55c with the less expensive bullets.

    My equipment paid for itself decades ago.


    I load for and shoot other cartridges that consume up to 80gr per shot.
    They don't get shot often. Not because of the cost. It's because I shoot what I enjoy.

    Anyway, you can reload cheaper and still have great ammunition.
     
    If you live on the continent of North America there is no justifiable reason to shoot anything larger than 30-06.

    30-06 will take down the largest game with ease. It also excels at home defense, just ask the millions of gooks whom have had limb torn from torso by a 30-06 projectile.
    Some of us like to shoot far. 2k yards is hard to see a 6br splash.
     
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    Some of us like to shoot far. 2k yards is hard to see a 6br splash.
    One can’t really complain about the big cartridges though. Up to the point of K2M and what not 375 and 408’s weren’t that popular

    Even when matches like that started a lot of the guns were 338 Lapua and 50 cals

    You step into that world and you pay to play regardless. Be it components or reloading gear

    If you’re in the area many play 223, 6, 6.5, 308 etc the cost can be much lower that factory. Especially if you watch the px for bullets/brass and what not
     
    Bullets are always going to be the most expensive part of reloading. I'm still working primers that were .016 each(thats 1.6 cents) 215-230gr bullets are going to be around 70 pennies and even with Lapua 300NM cases with a conservative 10 loadings should be around 17 cents each firing. But have no issues in seeing 20+ reloads. Powder is around 30-35 cents per shot. So that should be around 1.50-1.75 per for 300NM. Which to me, isn't that bad. Shooting a PRC wouldn't make too much of a difference so that's why I went with the NM.
     
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    Think about this as well guys....

    On the 300 Norma and the 215gr Berger bullets....that is the called out ammo spec for ASR for the Army. Supplies are going to be low and when you do find them price will be high. Same for the Retumbo powder. That is the spec. powder I believe and supplies for that are limited as well.

    Now factor in the cost of copper prices for bullets over the last couple of years has gone up dramatically. Thanks Covid and riot bullshit that set it all off.

    Factor in lead times have gone up for raw material so manufacturers of bullets, brass etc... is forcing them to buy more raw material and carry higher inventory so they can try and insure they don't run out of stuff.

    Now factor in Ukraine... as that is draining supplies and not helping costs at all. Just another thing to throw in the mud pit. It's not helping.

    I don't see anything getting better or going back to what we considered normal in early 2020 or prior to that year.

    All of the price increase I see affecting match attendance and shooting overall. Match attendance is down. Gas prices, motel costs, food costs etc...

    F Class nat's coming up... use to sell out and cause the website to crash.... guess what it's not full and they won't put out the numbers of shooters that have reg. and the match is coming up in like 5 weeks.
    My main point was why are 2 popular cartridges with the same amount of copper brass lead powder not very similar in price ?
     
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    .223 range brass, sorted for weight after processing, 23-26 grains of something, works to 600 yards. No place to shoot around here justifies Flat Line Bullets.
     
    My main point was why are 2 popular cartridges with the same amount of copper brass lead powder not very similar in price ?
    My point with the 300 Norma and I get what your saying about them being similar....but my point is this.

    The demand for 300 Norma is up even higher being it is the now standard cartridge for the magnum for the ASR rifles for the Gov't. The three calibers are 308win, 300 Norma and 338 Norma.

    So the shortages we are all seeing and in this case with the 300 Norma it's even higher. Same with the 215gr bullets. I'll go on a limb and say that the Gov't gets priority and anyone else that shoots this round gets the left overs if there is anything left over at any given time.

    Again demand is high.... inventory is low... price goes up. It's not helping anything.
     
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    If you live on the continent of North America there is no justifiable reason to shoot anything larger than 30-06.

    30-06 will take down the largest game with ease. It also excels at home defense, just ask the millions of gooks whom have had limb torn from torso by a 30-06 projectile.

    Unless you're playing a game of long distance tag with a guy loaded up with 338 Lapua Magnum.
     
    Price out a box of 50 6-BR.

    You might want to be seated when you do it.

    View attachment 8230977

    Yeah, it's that expensive.

    My loads give up nothing to the >$3.00 stuff.



    Reload costs broken down.

    Brass:
    $110÷20. Yep, I get at least 20 reloads. I also have 47 pieces that started life in 2001. That group has exactly 50 firings on it, but I'll be conservative and stay with 20.

    Rounded up to. 6c each.

    Primers are 8c.

    Bullets are 26-30c each, so I'll round up to the 30c ones.

    Powder: 31.0 gr = 19c.

    Total cost, minus my time and equipment = .63c each including taxes/shipping.
    .55c with the less expensive bullets.

    My equipment paid for itself decades ago.


    I load for and shoot other cartridges that consume up to 80gr per shot.
    They don't get shot often. Not because of the cost. It's because I shoot what I enjoy.

    Anyway, you can reload cheaper and still have great ammunit

    True, but you can see it at the mile.
    Usually