[Dave McCracken]

The Gun Clubs I bought last year for $38 a case are now $47.

The 25lb bags of West Coast shot I purchased last winter for $23 now list for $42.

In the five years I've been reloading I've watched the price of a box of my reloads climb from $2.65/box to $4.30. And that's for 7/8 oz loads.

Having fun takes money these days, and my discretionary income is not climbing as fast as the prices are.

Outside of going to 3/4 oz loads,what can we think of to keep costs down?

NOTE: Shooting less or using a 28 gauge(sm) are not options....

[Oldnamvet]

Local skeet shooters arranged a deal with the local Dunham's. We buy the lowest price Remington shells for $3.59/box of 25 if we buy full cases only. I can't reload for that price. Not uncommon for them to sell 20 to 30 cases a day. I have no idea what their profit margin is on those or if they are just using it to get us all up to their gun counter. There have been a couple of new shotguns sold.

[BlisteringSilence]

You can move up next to me, and we can present a group buy offer to the remington arms ammo plant down the highway. My club gets nitro/premier for about $4 a box, and resells it at no cost to members.

Unrelated question: If you're buying west coast lead in MD, what do you do if your shot is out of round and dimpled?

[silverlance]

cdnn had some pretty darn cheap ammo a while bcak.

[Omaha-BeenGlockin]

Seems like my last trip to Walmart that they were less than $4.30 a box-----promo loads though.

IIRC---they were $3.88

[Dave McCracken]

Thanks, folks.

ONV, No Dunham's nearby. By the time I get to the Bass Pro, gas costs offset a lot of cheap shells.

Nothing against Arkansas, but I like it here. And, I've had no probs with West Coast in thelast half ton or so. Star Shot, now, does have those issues.

Re generics, Gun Clubs are as bad as I'm willing to go here and now. They aren't as good as my handloads with hard shot and components selected after patterning.

Some of the games we play have shot well in excess of 40 yards,some 50. Cheap shells here don't hack it.

Thanks again...

[45auto]

I tried some cheaper primers, what isn't cheaper than Winchester ? :rolleyes:, but they didn't work for me...with my load.

On the plus side, 7/8oz loads will probably cost $6.00+ a box new...so you are saving a lot. ;) I shoot 7/8 oz also.

How about a group buy at your gun club on shot? Buy by the pallet...direct load, etc.

Unfortunately, I think most people are going to shoot less. I believe, from what I've seen and been told, it's already happening.

[WiscTJK]

Dave,

I assume you have already done this, but have you gotten your C&R license to get "dealer" discounts at online retailers (midway, etc).

WiscTJK

[bofe954]

I am going to try and organize a mass buy through my gun club, but I have no idea whether it will work. Either the club or the ammo maker may say no.

I am hoping they will treat the club as a business and sell them shells for a similar price as an outdoors store. I'll have to get people to commit to buying a few cases and prepay. Our club has nearly 1K members. If I can get 200 to buy a case or 2, I figure I might be able to get a 500 case purchase which seems like a big order to me.

I may end up waiting until next spring, I don't know how many will want to stock up over winter.

Most stores seem to have a sale in the late fall and sell boxes for less than $4.00, so you'd think they must be paying $3.50 or less.

[The Deer Hunter]

If you don't mind giving them business, Wal-Mart has 100 packs for about $16.

[Dave McCracken]

Thanks, folks.

45Auto, the Geezers have talked about doing a ton, but not now. I can see stockpiling 250 lbs or more, but will have to talk The Permanent Head OF The Budget Committee into it.

WiscTJK, no I haven't. Always figured it was too much hassle. May be time to reconsider.

Bofe, no gun club here. Closest is the Geezer League and those guys are stocked up until late winter, when they all reload shells, paint dekes and tie flies.

[johnmcl]

Hi Dave,

I'm with you, dude. In fact, over the past season I've been spending the extra dollars to shoot AA shells so that I can build up an inventory to being reloading shotshells. However, even with the rise in component cost, I'm rethinking the strategy. I'm not sure this is the day to get into shotshell reloading.

$65.00 for a case of Win AA's. *blah*

John

[45auto]

The good news, maybe, as I read is that lead prices will probably stabilize next year and drop. Not as low as three years ago, but quite a bit lower.

So, now we are "commodity" buyers, when to buy "in" or not! ;)

[oletymer]

Don't buy a large quantity of shot at this time. Doe Run lead production is now at full capacity after being shut down for a while twice this year. They are the 3rd largest producer in the world. Several foreign operations are also coming back on line and the price should start dropping.

[Dave McCracken]

Don't give up hope, John. I've heard elsewhere that the price of shot will drop. Meanwhile, I'm holding on to my MECs and a coupla hundred STS once fireds.

45,I've heard by spring. Fingers crossed.

Old, gald to hear it.

Thanks....

[Okiecruffler]

That's why I've packed up my shotshell reloaders. For what I do the cheap wallyworld stuff works just fine, and if I miss I can blame it on not having my reloads. I've got about 600 of mine left, after their gone I'll wait until lead gets down to a realistic price. The C&R discount from Midway has dropped to the point that it doesn't make up for their high S&H charges, I hardly ever order from them anymore.

I saw the other day that scientist are hard at work trying to find a way to turn gold into lead.