Cost of reloading vs. gun show ammo

Simply put... sorta.

I can't quote from a recent gun show, but my usual source, TargetSports USA, has a number of .45-70 ammos available for... the cheapest... $1.25/rd. BUT. None of it's in stock... and not likely to be at that price.

Another source... Midway... has .45-70 in stock... but the cheapest is at $3.20/rd. The only cast bullet selection is over $5/rd.

I wouldn't expect any prices at a gun show to be lower than an online price... gun shows have turned into an opportunity to extract as much money as possible from everyone. My opinion.

Well the last time I saw any 45-70 ammo at a gunshow it was in the $4.50 range. He might have seen some reloads or some such but IMO that would have been in the distant past. Looking on Ammoseek there was NONE in the $2.50 to$6.60 price range. Actually there was nothing shown. Seems reloading might be about the only option these days if you need more unless you happen onto a box or two at a LGS. As the above post you might search around and find some at Midway, Natchez, Midsouth Shooters, or such. But it does not look inexpensive. Also reloads from a gun show are a no go to most unless they are from a licensed reloading dealer for safety reasons.

The current pricing at AmmoSquared is $1.82/rd for 45-70 Government Medium Game Hunting, $1.82/rd for 45-70 Government Large Game Hunting. $2.02/rd for 45-70 Government Cowboy Action, and $4.00/rd for 45-70 Government Practice.

At that price I think I'd practice with hunting ammo;

presspuller, If "gun show" ammo means remanufactured/reloads, or anything other than major manufacturer factory ammunition, I would not consider that ammo at any price. There is always such ammo available, loaded by entities most never heard of, at any gun show I've ever attended.

The very few times I ever bought gun show ammo, did not turn out well. The PD where I worked used remanufactured ammo for years. It caused chronic functional issues in some guns, culminating in one of the Glock KaBooms one night. Afterwards, another manufacturer of "remanufactured" ammo wanted to supply us. A sample of that ammo damaged a Glock barrel. The second company did not get the contact either. We started using major manufacturer ball ammo for training. Never experienced, or even heard of, another ammo problem.....

$2.20 sounds kind of high for assembling your own loads using cast bullets. I would.not count the cost of brand new brass into the mix. Right after Biden got elected, I purchased 100 brand new Remington 45-70 brass for $44. Add a dime for the primer, a few cents for the powder and a cast bullet... should be well less than $2. Re-using the same brass drops it down big time. Maybe I got some good deals...

Staying with your 405gr weight Ammoseek shows only two vendors who have any and the cheapest is $3.00/rd so staying with an apples to apples comparison it's a no brainer to load your own.

BUT, how much of this ammo are you going to shoot? Starting from scratch in building a reloading set-up is a pretty fair sized initial investment. You'd need to shoot a good bit before the dollars and cents begins to pan out.

If you're already set up to reload then the initial investment can be much, much less, Maybe just a set of dies if you don't already have them, plus the consumables of powder, primers, bullets, and brass, of course.

For some calibers and/or load types rolling your own is pretty much the only way to go these last several years. More common stuff much less so.

I agree with Rock185. If the "gun show" ammo is provable factory and not reloads I might buy it, but purchasing ammo goes against the grain for me and I reload because I like to not to "save" money!

presspuller said:

Me and a buddy was discussing the cost of me reloading my ammo vs what he can get it for at the gun show. Caliber in question is .45-70. The size bullet I use ( 405gr coated cast) and the brass I use (if brand new Starline), and the particular power I use (IMR 3031), my cost at current prices is almost $2.20 per round. Of course that goes down with each reloading of the same brass.
My buddy says he can get .45-70 ammo at the gun show for $40 per 20 rounds. I think he is thinking of prices from 5 years ago maybe. I don't hardly ever go to a gun show anymore and I never priced ammo from there anyways.
Is there currently .45-70 ammo out there for $40 per 20 rounds?
Thanks for helping fix my ignorance.

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Meh...your buddy is technically correct, but completely wrong. Since there is none in stock anywhere. And you should be able to get your cost of loading it down much much lower than that. If he sees it at a gun show for that, it is most likely somebody's homerolled, and they may or may not be making good ammo. The only new production .45-70 I"ve seen on a shelf anywhere in the last 2 years was upwards of 3.00/rnd, and that was S&B (not the best IMHO).

markr6754 said:

The current pricing at AmmoSquared is $1.82/rd for 45-70 Government Medium Game Hunting, $1.82/rd for 45-70 Government Large Game Hunting. $2.02/rd for 45-70 Government Cowboy Action, and $4.00/rd for 45-70 Government Practice.

At that price I think I'd practice with hunting ammo;

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Mmmmhmmm. Yeah, sign up and buy that ammo and see what you get. My personal opinion is that AmmoSquared is basically an outlet mall for ammo, unboxed from bulk lots, mix and matched into "lots" and sold. It's all 2nd and 3rd tier manufactures, and likely tails from lots or batches that failed QC. If you actually ever get any. But that's just my opinion. Maybe they're great, and the answer to the world's ammo problems.

Starline is excellent brass, but expensive. Calculate your cost per shell by amortizing it over 5 reloads. Or, since your buddy is buying 45-70 but not reloading it, you could use his empties and shells will cost nothing.
I haven't been to a gun show in several years, and I don't know how much the ticket is, but I always figured that buying a box of ammo there plus the cost of admission made the ammo too expensive. I had to spend a lot of money to make buying at a gun show cost effective.
Sure, there is the entertainment value, but gun shows ain't nearly as entertaining as they used to be.

I'd be curious how you get to your cost per shell. I cast, so for me (being very generous) the cost would be maybe 12 cents a bullet, 15 for the primer, 20 for the powder, swag 20 cents for a use of the brass. 67 cents per shot, give or take?

brewer12345 said:

I'd be curious how you get to your cost per shell. I cast, so for me (being very generous) the cost would be maybe 12 cents a bullet, 15 for the primer, 20 for the powder, swag 20 cents for a use of the brass. 67 cents per shot, give or take?

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Yeah, based on MBC coated bullets, current brass prices and primer prices..I'm at a buck a round with new brass. The only way I can see 2.25/rnd is if you're using really expensive bullets, like XTPs or something. And then a commercial hunting load like that would be about 4.00/rnd these days to buy, so still a value.

EricBu said:

Mmmmhmmm. Yeah, sign up and buy that ammo and see what you get. My personal opinion is that AmmoSquared is basically an outlet mall for ammo, unboxed from bulk lots, mix and matched into "lots" and sold. It's all 2nd and 3rd tier manufactures, and likely tails from lots or batches that failed QC. If you actually ever get any. But that's just my opinion. Maybe they're great, and the answer to the world's ammo problems.

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Actually, I did sign up for that well over a year ago. Have received 2 shipments (I always wait for free shipping limit). I've been more than pleased. I saw what my son received in his first order and signed up myself. 458 SOCOM from SBR Precision, Sig Sauer Law Enforcement 9mm JHP, Sierra Outdoor Masters (9mm, 40S&W, 45ACP), Winchester Super Suppressed 350 Legend, PMC 5.56 Nato, Speer Gold Dot LE, Federal Premium HST. What I like best is the surprise factor. I've never seen half of this stuff in my lgs, or even online...although 2 months after I received my Sierra Outdoor Master ammo I started seeing it at Cabela's.

Sorry to OP for jacking your thread. And apologize to moderators...I'm not trying to promote AmmoSquared...just sharing my experience with them. YMMV.

The one and only overpressure I ever had was a 7.7 jap that blew brass past the bolt in my forehead and it plasma cut the case from web to primer pocket.... I will never shoot a gunshow round or an untrusted reload.

presspuller said:

Me and a buddy was discussing the cost of me reloading my ammo vs what he can get it for at the gun show. Caliber in question is .45-70. The size bullet I use ( 405gr coated cast) and the brass I use (if brand new Starline), and the particular power I use (IMR 3031), my cost at current prices is almost $2.20 per round. Of course that goes down with each reloading of the same brass.
My buddy says he can get .45-70 ammo at the gun show for $40 per 20 rounds. I think he is thinking of prices from 5 years ago maybe. I don't hardly ever go to a gun show anymore and I never priced ammo from there anyways.
Is there currently .45-70 ammo out there for $40 per 20 rounds?
Thanks for helping fix my ignorance.

Click to expand...

Well, given the current availability, shipping, hazmat, etc., ask your buddy to order his ammo and let you know when it comes in, and show you the invoice. My pops-in-law fell prey to that kind of thinking. He was bragging about finding .22LR for "$9/box of 100, limit 2" so I asked to see the invoice. Sure enough, he got 2 100rnd boxes of CCI MiniMags for $9/box - plus $15HazMat, $10 S/H, and $1.26 in FL Sales tax. So those two bricks of "$9 .22! " actually cost him $22.13/100 . He never would believe it was $22/100, not $9/100, even after I showed him the math.

AJC1 said:

The one and only overpressure I ever had was a 7.7 jap that blew brass past the bolt in my forehead and it plasma cut the case from web to primer pocket.... I will never shoot a gunshow round or an untrusted reload.

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The only reason for buying "gun show" ammo, in my opinion, is if you're desperate for components. I've bought reject ammo from commercial loaders for components and not been sorry - and it has always been cost effective - but when you add in the hassles of breaking it down, inspecting, cleaning, fixing whatever went wrong, sorting, etc. - and add to that, the powder is a waste since it's a blend and not a cannister product with published, pressure- or time-tested loading data - then it's less of a bargain. You have to run the numbers when playing that kind of a game.

Reload your own.

I would never buy someone else's reloads. Over the years I've seen too many guns blown up from gun show ammo. I don't care who they are, I've known guys that were loading professionally for many years and still have a squib or a double charge. Both will destroy a gun if you don't catch it fast.

presspuller said:

Me and a buddy was discussing the cost of me reloading my ammo vs what he can get it for at the gun show. Caliber in question is .45-70. The size bullet I use ( 405gr coated cast) and the brass I use (if brand new Starline), and the particular power I use (IMR 3031), my cost at current prices is almost $2.20 per round. Of course that goes down with each reloading of the same brass.
My buddy says he can get .45-70 ammo at the gun show for $40 per 20 rounds. I think he is thinking of prices from 5 years ago maybe. I don't hardly ever go to a gun show anymore and I never priced ammo from there anyways.
Is there currently .45-70 ammo out there for $40 per 20 rounds?
Thanks for helping fix my ignorance.

Click to expand...

If he can get 45-70 for $2 a pop! I would get a few for self defense and practice/function then you can reuse the brass. Starline 45-70 brass goes for $.60 a pop???

n2omike said:

$2.20 sounds kind of high for assembling your own loads using cast bullets.

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^ This. Using Star brass I bought but not factoring it in to each load (since, cmon, straight wall seems to last forever) my loads with 405gr commercial coated cast and I4198 are somewhere in the neighborhood of $.55/rd.

Maybe if you only bought 1bers of I3031 and your charge is quite higher than mine (which probably is since i load my soft and 3031 being slower requires more powder anyway) but $2.20 sounds kind of high. how much did you pay for your primers and bullets?

I jusr did some searching. 405 gr bullets around 40 cents, new brass 50 to 60 cents. Powder varies but even at $30 per pound 17 to 20 cents per load. Primer, whatever your cost is or was if you have them already. I'm not shooting heavy loads so can load brass multiple times. So, 40c bullet, let's say 10c brass, 20c powder, primers for me 4c. 75 cents per round approximately.

Mark_Mark said:

Starline 45-70 brass goes for $.60 a pop???

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I payed $.526/case for a case box of 250 total back in Dec '21, can't remember what it was last time it was avaialble, maybe $.55 for the small 250ct pack.

If it helps the OP, I can recommend these for cast coated 405gr bullets, $.30/ea pre any shipping.

https://www.snscasting.com/45-70-405-grain-round-nose-flat-point-red-coated-250ct/