Cost of using a black powder gun.

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thirty-ought-six

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4 lb of pydrodex is about 28,000 grains or 700 shots.

$72.99/700= roughly 10 cents a shot for the powder.

Caps= 79.99 per 1000. 8 cents per shot.

Patches, $6.95 per 100, 7 cents each.

Lead balls= $15 per 100 or 15 cents each.

Grand total= 40 cents per shot.

Granted the lead seems to be the highest cost, so casting your own would probably be the best way.
 
I've never checked my cost per round on BP. However I spent several hours at the range recently and shot around 15 PRBs. While seemingly everyone around me shot magazine after magazine out of their ARs. I think I came out dollars ahead [emoji1]
 
I'm sure mine cost a little more since I don't usually shoot round balls. But the main difference for me is that I don't go through it as fast. When shooting an AR, handgun, or anything like that I can blow through several hundred rounds in no time, especially if my brother and I (and sometimes others) are all shooting. With a black powder gun, I don't shoot near as much in the same time period. But still have all kinds of fun doing it :).

I go through a pound of smokeless powder very quickly. But I've been shooting the same pound of Pyrodex for at least 3 years. Of course, we don't shoot muzzleloaders near as often as everything else, so that definitely stretches it out a little.
 
I guess it depends on what your time is worth. Lead is around $2 per pound, so you could cast .44 balls for 4 cents apiece.

People are making serviceable BP for $4 per pound, which would be roughly 2 cents per shot.

If you're willing to spend the time, those two items would cut the costs in half.
 
As of spring 2014 casting own bullets and prices we last paid for lead, pyrodex p, and caps, in our local market (original casting equipment costs not figured in)

Cost per 50 using a loading of 35 gr. Pyrodex P 141 gr. RB

Caps=3.25 (.07 ea.)

Lead= 1.50 (.03 ea.)

Powder= 4.42 (.09 ea.)

total per 50= 9.17 (.18 ea.)


Cost per 50 using 30 gr. Pyrodex P 141 gr. RB = 8.75
 
Pyrodex weighs less than BP, and so you'd actually get a few more loads from a pound.

I got my lead for $1/lb. I quite casting balls for my pistols and cast 170 and 195 grn bullets mostly. That's forty-one 170 grn or thirty-five 195 grn bullets/lb. Or forty-eight 144 grn (.457") balls.

I don't count the cost of the casting equipment as it's money spent, and could be sold to recoup some cost.

I also make my own wads and lube. I haven't figured out the cost but it's likely less than store bought.
 
Howdy

I can tell you it is much more expensive to load cartridges with Black Powder than it is to load the same cartridges with Smokeless.

Shuetzen FFg costs $16/pound from Maine Powder house.

Haven't bought any Unique in a long time, but last time I bought it I think it was around $18/pound.

Cases and primers are the same. But 35 or so grains of FFg for 45 Colt or 44-40 vs 7.5 or so grains of Unique makes a big difference. Only get about 200 rounds per pound of BP. Just for the powder, about 9 cents per round for BP, about 2 cents for Unique. BP bullets are more expensive too.
 
You can make your own black powder from charcoal and a few other ingredients, cast your own lead from free sources or scrap yards, and can even make percussion caps with a Tap o' Cap tool, some soda cans, and toy cap gun cas from the dollar store.

Using cloths from the salvation army and unwanted grease from eateries, you can make your own lubricated patches too.

In this way, shooting black powder can be nearly free or under 5 cents per round. It's an unbeatable value... if you don't count your time as very valuable! Resourcefulness is key to shooting cheap on a black powder budget.
 
The sound of a real black powder boom. The smoke covering your target. That unique smell. The target revealing a bulls-eye hit. The grin on my face. PRICELESS.
 
It's what, 30-35 cents/round for 45 ACP right now? And you'll be shooting a lot fewer rounds with cap and ball?

Much as you can get the price way down by reloading factory ammo you can start making components for cap and ball. You don't even have to use wads at all, or some people make them out of old felt hats or similar.

In terms of casting if you get into it, it turns out that they really gouge you on the larger sizes and it's well worth it if you shoot .50 or .54 let alone .715 or whatever. It's hard to find a good commercial minie ball. And I have a muzzleloader so odd sized I had to have a mold ordered, let alone finding balls. So casting some .454 balls while I have things fired up is no big deal. Your mileage may vary...
 
Yes, oh yes it is!

It cost me right about 25 cents per shot for my Navy Colt last time I checked, that's about a buck fifty for a whole cylinders worth of shootin' fun! It takes about 5 minutes between cylinders the way I load it, so for an hours worth of shooting I've spent maybe 10 bucks.

I enjoy every minute of that time.

The loading, the smell, the boom, the wonderfully historic time-machine type effect when you touch off a round, hell... it's just a good time and it brings you back. One of the most profoundly visceral demonstrations in history you can do for yourself is spend some time behind an old Colt cap n' ball.

It looked JUST LIKE IT. It smelled JUST LIKE IT. It sounded JUST LIKE IT. It felt JUST LIKE IT... the list goes on, and if you're a history buff like me...

That buck fifty is worth every dang cent!!! :D
 
I guess I am living in the past!

I have about 400 pounds of lead I paid 50 cents a pound for that I use for casting round balls, caps I bought by the thousand from Powder Valley for about 3 cents each, and Pyrodex I bought on clearance at Wal-Mart for $5.00 a pound. Still have a couple of cans of Elephant black powder with a $7.50 price tag on. For my 50 caliber Hawken I make my own patches from pillow ticking my grandma had for free and I never use over powder wads in my cap and ball revolvers. I figure I have about 6 cents per shot in my 30 grain cap and ball loads and about 9 cents in a 60 grain plinking load in the Hawken.

I shoot my revolvers a lot when I take them out usually 48-60 shots at a minimum on a private range and no less than 100 for the weekend. I hate cleaning them so when I dirty them up I go all in! So cost per shot is a big factor for me. When I run out of cheap powder and caps I will probably retire them or sell them.
 
Why am I suddenly having this vision of buying up a lot of PVC pipe and small bore hydraulic cylinders then advertising with the disclaimer "do not add niter,charcoal and sulfur to these products or a dangerous mix will result?"

Ball mill and medium about 60$ and the corning press another 30 to $40 sell them both for $175... Hmmm.
 
I hate cleaning them so when I dirty them up I go all in! So cost per shot is a big factor for me. When I run out of cheap powder and caps I will probably retire them or sell them.
Click to expand...

That's not a good sign. But I agree with you. You have to love it all, even the cleaning.
 
You have to love it all, even the cleaning.
Click to expand...

No, that's strictly optional. I don't love the cleaning one bit, I just have accepted that it's part of the deal. My deal with myself is that I don't bring more than one gun per range trip that HAS to be cleaned. Might be black powder, might be corrosive surplus ammo, might just be something I haven't cleaned for a while and it's due.
 
I figured my expenses thus:

$13.00 for a pound of Goex 3Fg, which gives me 100 shots of 70 grains each. .13

$2.00 for a pound of lead = 28 bullets to the pound for .530 round ball, = $.07 each

I've never priced out how many patches I get from a yard of ticking, so I'll go with the same figure as the beginning of this thread, $.07

Fints, $1.80 and I get about 70 shots each, so that's .025 so lets say $.03

So for me that's $.30 a shot....

GEESH you caplock shooters should give up that fad and go back to flint, to avoid going broke!

LD :p
 
The HQ catalog lists Ely .22 RF for 17.1cents per shot, so BP really isn't very expensive by todays standards.
ZVP
 
I still think you have to calculate in the time spent loading and reloading also. May be a problem though but I've shot at public ranges and see people come and go out of ammunition while I'm there shooting away.

I normally bring 50 balls and if someone there were to bring 50 rounds of cartridge ammo they would be all shot up and long gone before I'm finished.
 
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