[floridaboy]

Having just aquired an 1860 Colt replica, today I went to get some .454 balls(Hornaday) and #11 caps( CCI Magnum). I already have a pound of FFF 777 powder. Didn't bother to look at the price tags, I mean, how much could they be? Imagine my surprise to find out that caps were $7.95 per hundred, balls were $14.95 per hundred. Stunned doesn't begin to describe it. I kept them, but can't see going back for more. I only pay $35.50 per 500 for cast 255 gr .452 cast bullets. What are you guys paying for caps and balls? Am I that out of date on prices?

[Das Jaeger]

:D it's high , and yes you are out of date on prices too . Welcome to Capitalism Greed and Gun Control all in one :D
You can do better on-line but shipping hurts too .
Cast your own is the only answer as long as you enjoy the time spent and enjoy working for free .

Cheers , and thanks for the write up on the sellers buyers board for the transaction and quality of my old gun . Was a pleasure doing bussiness with ya and Pops will oh so appreciate the efforts too . I posted pics of your gun for ya too .

Jaeger

[floridaboy]

Thanks for posting the pics. I checked cabelas, just for fun. They have the same caps for less than 4 cents each. So about half of what the local guy charges. Balls, about the same after shipping. I used to cast for everything I own, seems like maybe I will again. I don't mind paying 35 bucks for 500 45 Colt bullets. But 15.00 for 100 balls at about half the weight is crazy. Molds are cheap, a Lee furnace is reasonable, and tape on wheel weights are damn near free. At least they used to be!

[Smoke&Awe]

$4.90 for a tin of 100 Remington #10 caps

$9.00 for a box of 100 Hornady .457 or .454 round ball

but when these last 4 boxes of Hornady round balls are gone, I'm ready to to pull out my old furnace and start casting again

[mykeal]

I checked cabelas, just for fun. They have the same caps for less than 4 cents each. So about half of what the local guy charges. Balls, about the same after shipping.
Uh, you forgot to read the fine print. Cabela's (or UPS) adds a $20 per shipment hazardous material fee to percussion cap orders, then there's handling and shipping (another $8.95) on top of that; for 1000 caps the cost per cap is $49.99+$8.95+$20=$78.94/1000=$0.079. Hmm. That's pretty close to $7.95 per hundred....

How about .454 round balls - Cabela's charges $14.99 for 100 Hornady .454, plus $5.95 for shipping for $20.94. That's a bit more than your local guy charges, yes?

[arcticap]

We've received a lot of tips on this forum over the years. Here's an independent outfit that we were told about that not only has not increased their prices but has added some Big Lube and other conicals, and also sells lubricated felt wads at reasonable prices.
$7-$8.00 per hundred for ball milled cast revolver balls plus they use flat rate shipping whenever possible.
I never ordered from them but I certainly would give them a try. Save some gas by having the goods delivered right to your doorstep and check them out! :)

http://www.bpstuffllc.com/

[floridaboy]

Apparently while I've been shooting 45's, 44's, ect... cap and ball shooting has gotten very expensive. I do understand why sabot loads and such are a little pricey. But I don't understand why it costs more per shot to shoot a cap & ball revolver than to shoot a .45 Colt. Maybe it's all in the shipping. The cast bullets I buy are local, tomorrow we'll see what they charge for balls. Apparently caps cost about double compared to primers, that's ok. I'll buy in bulk. I knew powder had gotten pricey, but .10 a round for 777 is fine. I suppose that I've just gotten old and think Marlboros should still be .35c and gas ought to .27 Just like when I was younger.

It doesn't help knowing that all of this price inflation is due to deliberate federal policy and regulatins though.

[mykeal]

It doesn't help knowing that all of this price inflation is due to deliberate federal policy and regulatins though.
I missed something. What federal policy and regulation has caused caps to go from $.04 to $.08?

[robhof]

Check Wally world for caps the last day or just after B/p season; that's when I stock up on caps and powder. Any excess is sold at a steep discount, last year the caps went for $3.25 for Remington #11's and Pyrodex RS was $12 lb. They don't seem to have any surplus this year at my local store.

[NobleSniper]

Could always pour your own balls........... you have an initial cost getting moulds, lead pot, dippers, etc but once you start doing it for yourself you can do it alot cheaper than you can buy them. Eventually what you spend getting setup pays for itself.

[floridaboy]

Forget I mentioned it. Politics are a forbidden topic, and I can't explain without discussing politics. My bad. Let's just say high prices are due to inflation. I won't talk about the causes of inflation.

[arcticap]

$37 per thousand for Remington caps may or may not be the lowest price, but Gamaliel charges the same rate whether someone buys 1000 or 5000 of them.

http://www.gamaliel.com/cart/home.php?cat=351

[Ratshooter]

I just bought 25lbs of powder from powderinc. It was $13.10 per pound and that included all the shipping and hazmat fees. Powder valley has caps for $37-40 bucks depending on what you order. You need to order at least 5000 to make it worthwhile with the shipping and hazmat.

I remember the old articles in guns & ammo telling you how cheap BP shooting is. All I can say is BS. And if you shoot an inline bend over and grab your ankles cause they will really put it to you.

I do cast my balls and bullets, cut my own patches and make my own lube. I am still kicking around the idea of making powder. I have a Tap O Cap tool but have never set the gun off with it. Not even the revolver I had with a direct path to the powder.

I don't understand why caps that used to cost $10 a thousand cost 4 times as much. Ther just isn't a great amount of metal to justify the price they are asking. Not when I can buy 1100 22s for a little over $30 bucks.

I have two new BP rifles. A 32 and a 36. I can get about 233 shots per pound in the 36 and 350 shots in the 32. That makes shooting both a little under a dime a shot with me making the balls. Thats still double what it cost to shoot a 22. Also it doesnt cost much more to shoot a bigger bore gun. The only real difference is the amount of powder used. I have 1400 lbs of lead and don't have more than $75 dollars in it.

[floridaboy]

Before I moved here to Florida, I used to cast for my .54 Renegade, my .44 Special, .45 Colt, .32 mag, 30/30 and 30-06. My former father in law got wheel weights for me, pretty close to free. I'm a frugal guy, and I enjoyed casting. Hell, I brew my own beer because it avoids the alcohol taxes. What gets me is that I bought large pistol primers last week for $2.95 per hundred, cast 255 gr .45's @ $34.95 for 500 So it just seems wrong that 140gr balls are $14.95 per hundred, or caps are more than double pistol primers. Most likely it's an ecomony of scale thing. Lot's more CCI pistol primers sold compared to CCI caps.

[arcticap]

If folks had stocked up on caps when they were 1/2 the price then they could have avoided some of the pain now.
And if they stock up now, they'll probably avoid some of the future price increases too. Maybe not for a year or two, but maybe 5 or 10 years down the road.
Unless someone can hunt down old stock that's priced lower, prices rarely ever go down.
Only just about 3-4 years ago Walmart's clearance prices for caps were $1.25 - $1.50. Now most Walmarts don't even carry them anymore.

[BlackNet]

I called CCI last week on this. they had me call Federal shipping (parent company) they looked up the part number, cci #11 percussion caps. I ended up speaking with the rep for my area. Was told they have 7 BILLION primers/caps on back order and producing 6-7 MILLION a week. This problem really started several years ago however this past year has been brutal with the hording etc.. started nov of last year. Before then the supply was half working and stock on the shelfs were not telling the real supply problems. After that the shortage has been painfully obvious and basements are filling up. I was also told that CCI/Federal has not opened new facilities but has dumped $80-90 million into new equipment in the existing plants and operation '24/7'.

They also informed me there has been *NO* change in federal policy, EPA rules/restrictions as all of the materials are made IN HOUSE and *NOT* imported.

Will prices go up because of this scare/hype/hording? More than likely yes it will. Midway told me they are all out of caps and none expected in untill first week or 2 of december. Price for 5,000 caps is $194.99 plus shipping ($9.54 in my case) that's $0.040906 per cap.

[Mike OTDP]

I snagged about 20,000 round balls about 3-4 years ago. Bought 350 lbs of lead. And have buying caps by the 5,000 cap sleeve for decades.

It's supply and demand...so save your money, wait until prices drop, and stockpile THEN.

FWIW, take a look at AK prices over the last two months.

[zimmerstutzen]

I have enough lead to have the homestead declared a toxic waste dump and about 30 years ago, lucked into a deal on caps. $4 a thousand for Navy Arms brand. Still have a several thou. There was a time when the stuff was dirt cheap. Oh the good old days when a gal of gas was 24 cents, a mcDonals hamburger was 15 cents and a bottle of coke from the vending machine was a nickle.

[Ratshooter]

I have enough lead to have the homestead declared a toxic waste dump....

Ha, thats funny.

I do have over 4000 caps and about 40 pounds of BP on hand. I shouldn't run out too soon. I mentioned earlier that I have a new 32 and 36 caliber rifles. I bid on them on two different sites and won them both. I didn't think that would happen.

I have shot the 36, a Traditions Shenendoah and really like it. It works just fine on 20-30grs of 3F. It also has a 1-48 twist and will stabilize a 148gr HB wadcutter. Thats gives me a "Minnie Ball" of sorts.

The 32 is a CVA Squirrel Rifle with a 25" barrel. I haven't shot it yet but do know the bore is too large for a 32 caliber HBWC to work in it.

[zimmerstutzen]

about 6 years ago, somebody decided that they needed my CVA squirrel rifle more than I do. I sure miss it. We used a 38 Spec case for a powder measure.

[bigbadgun]

Just checking prices around Palm Beach county
I found that the Gun Stores are way higher on caps be it #10 or #11 or 209 caps than say Cabelas, Gander MOuntain, Dicks SPorting goods or Bass pro shops.
My local gun store wants $16.00 for a box of 100 209 caps. WHile Dicks sells the same product for 5.95 not that I use 209s. And for 5.95 at the gun store I can get either #10 or 11 caps by the 100. Powder prices are just stupid in South Florida but they do seem to have come down a little. But still need to drive about 60 miles one way to buy Goex.
Sure wish there was more charcol burners around here to set up a group buy of the holy black.

[Ratshooter]

Zimmer was your rifle a 32? If so what size ball did you use in it? I have 310s and 315s. The max size of my bore is about .330.

Bigbadgun the Cabelas website shows #11 caps at close to $50 for a thousand. Thats the highest price I have found so far. I just bought 1400CCI #11s from my dealer for $45 OTD. Too bad he was closing his shop.

[Ratshooter]

The UPS man just dropped off my powder order from Powderinc. Less than 3 days from the time of the order to delivery. Thats great.

[TomADC]

Found this today prices seem okay.
http://www.castboolits.gunloads.com/showthread.php?t=66306

[wittzo]

Right now, one Tupelo Walmart has Winchester Magnum caps in tins of 100 for a bit over $6, but last year after Blackpowder hunting season ended, I bought a few of them for $4 each on clearance. Another place is still selling CCI magnums from the same couple of bricks for at least two years for about $5 a tin (which was overpriced two years ago). I paid $4.50 for 100 RWS musket caps and $6 for CCI musket caps at Lonnie's in Corinth, MS. Since I doubt I'll shoot my Howdah pistol 200 times in the next few years and I don't want to pay the $20 hazmat fee, I'm happy.

Walmart's selling Triple 7 FFg for $29.97 and Pyrodex for $23 a pound, they sold the 777 for $15 a lb and the Pyrodex for $10 a lb after the BP season ended. I should have picked up a few more, but I can wait a month or two.

Ever since our wise and learned state representatives defined .45-70 single shot rifles as primitive, a lot of hunters dumped their BP rifles and bought up all the Handi-Rifles they could get ahold of. I guess they were just in it for the extended season, after all. Blackpowder stuff is getting harder and harder to find here, no one wants to stock it because there aren't a lot of traditionalists left. BP is still cheap shooting, if you cast your own balls with free lead from a tire shop.

[Tomahawk674]

I hope this doesn't count as hijacking, but it's about pricing. What are some people thinking on Gunbroker? Are they really that out of touch with the world?

http://gunbroker.com/Auction/ViewItem.asp?Item=144262022

[bigbadgun]

Ok I went to the local gun shop here and the price they quoted on the phone was a lot higher than the actual price in the store.
They quoted me $6 per 100 on the phone but when I got there it was $4.25 per tin of 100.