An older guy where I work told me years ago that he used to cast lead and had about 3,000 pounds he had melted into ingots. I heard he was moving recently from property he had leased for 30+ years and had to clean up. I asked him about the lead and he told me I was too late, he had just sold it to the local scrap yard for 15 cents a pound! I missed out on a lifetime supply and then some!
As to the price of metals affecting the price of ammo, it's easy to assume that's the #1 big reason, but the math says otherwise. When you look at the trends in copper, lead, and zinc over the last couple years, this can only account for about two to four cents a round increase (depending on the size of the round). That adds about a dollar to a box of 50 9mm's. The actual increase seems to have been at least double that. I suspect demand accounts for the rest, whether it's the war or people getting paranoid and buying 25 cases to stock the garage.
As to the cost of fuel affecting the cost of ammo, why hasn't everything else gone up as much? Ammo isn't the only thing shipped across the country. It would have some effect but very minimal.
As to the price of metals affecting the price of ammo, it's easy to assume that's the #1 big reason, but the math says otherwise. When you look at the trends in copper, lead, and zinc over the last couple years, this can only account for about two to four cents a round increase (depending on the size of the round). That adds about a dollar to a box of 50 9mm's. The actual increase seems to have been at least double that. I suspect demand accounts for the rest, whether it's the war or people getting paranoid and buying 25 cases to stock the garage.
As to the cost of fuel affecting the cost of ammo, why hasn't everything else gone up as much? Ammo isn't the only thing shipped across the country. It would have some effect but very minimal.