I didn't expect $1.36 Per Round?!?

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Shytheed Dumas

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I've been buying up everything I need to take my new 12 ga Pedersoli SxS to the range this weekend, and I'm reeling from the price shock! Using an online reloading calculator (http://www.trapshooters.com/reloadcalc.htm), I come up with a pre-tax price of $1.28 per round, which takes me up to to $1.36 with Kentucky tax! Am I buying from the wrong places, or is this just the way it is to use vintage style firearms? I'm planning on buying a 50 cal Lyman Great Plains this fall; is it the same story for shooting supply costs on rifles?

I know shot cups aren't absolutely necessary, but this is going to be my turkey setup, so I will be using them for now. Even without them, it seems crazy to spend 80 cents for a cap, a little powder, some loose shot and a couple of pieces of fiber!

Here's my pre-tax breakdown...

Hogdon 777: $23/lb = $0.28 per shot, based on estimated 85 gr
CCI #11 Magnum Caps: $6.99/100 = $0.07 per shot
Prelubed Over Powder Wads: $14.95 / 50 = $0.29 per
#5 Lead Shot: $42 / 25lb = $0.13 per
Knight Shot Cup w/ Overshot Wad: $9.95 / 50 = $0.50 per
 
That's what happens when you buy retail-premium, off the shelf. Buy circle-fly wads, group-buy your caps and real black powder with a couple friends and you can cut the cost per shot significantly.
 
Yikes! :what:

Blackpowder can be had much cheaper but you have to buy it in bulk to get the big price break.
Wads- Can you make your own with a punch and free scrounged materials ?
 
Here is what i came up with.

12 gauge, .740" ideal for .729" bore, .125" over powder card, 1000 $7.50 = $0.0075/shot
12 gauge, .740" ideal for .729" bore, .025" over shot card, 1000 $7.50 = $0.0075/shot
blackpowder from powderinc. 25-50 lbs. $13.60 per lb. = $0.165/shot
used your price for the lead shot $42/25 lbs = $0.13/shot
used your price for primers $6.99/100 = $0.07/shot

So that's what? $0.38 per shot?
 
Blacknet, you forgot to add price for cushion wad or plastic shot cup. That will increase your cost some; but certainly not anywhere near $1.38 that Shytheed Dumas came up with.

SD, as stated, you need to buy in bulk to keep your costs down. If you're gonna shoot your scattergun more than 50 to 75 rounds a year, it's well worth buying 500 or more of each component. If you aren't going to shoot more than 50 rounds a year, you just gonna pay more for smaller quantities.

FM
 
Shytheed Dumas said:
Knight Shot Cup w/ Overshot Wad: $9.95 / 50 = $0.50 per
Click to expand...

Paying $9.95 for 50 shot cups is 20 cents each, not 50 cents each.

A large bag of standard or higher capacity (3 in.) modern plastic shotgun wads have a starting cost of about 3 cents each when bought in bags of 250 or 500, but if the Knight's work really good then they could be worth it just to try them out and for experimenting with.

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/t...pla=shotgun wads&cm_ite=netcon&rid=2146251080
 
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Blackpowder isn't measured by weight though, is it? It's measured by volume and different granualtions would have different weights, right?
Just wondering how this would work out because I've also been trying to figure out how much shooting my Remington New Army costs.
 
Goon. BP is sold by the pound and traditionally referred to by weight, but folks don't carry little scales around to measure it out. The powder has a certain density per volumne which is fairly constant between different granulations. Therefore we commonly measure volume equivalents for weight of Black powder, but we call it by weight. It is an irony of life, like parking on a driveway and driving on a parkway. Farmers sell milk to the dairies by the hundredweight, but in the store it is sold by the gallon.
 
Prelubed Over Powder Wads: $14.95 / 50 = $0.29 per
Click to expand...

Holy crapoly! I believe I paid less than that for 500 unlubed fiber wads. Let's see... yeah, $13 for 500. Look for some in that price range, and lube with bore butter or a homemade concoction, or even skip it as, IMO, the main reason to use grease is to keep powder fouling soft. Unnecessary with 777.

I also paid only $5.50 per bag of 200 shotcup wads.

I would shop somewhere else.

Also, do the shot cup wads you mentioned have a crush base? I would avoid a crush base, as they probably won't help anything with slower-burning BP compared to smokeless, and there's a possibility that they could mess with how it burns. Just use a 1/2" thick fiber wad for cushioning.
 
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Fingers McGee said:
Blacknet, you forgot to add price for cushion wad or plastic shot cup. That will increase your cost some; but certainly not anywhere near $1.38 that Shytheed Dumas came up with.

SD, as stated, you need to buy in bulk to keep your costs down. If you're gonna shoot your scattergun more than 50 to 75 rounds a year, it's well worth buying 500 or more of each component. If you aren't going to shoot more than 50 rounds a year, you just gonna pay more for smaller quantities.

FM
Click to expand...

Honesty you don't need that. If you do want to include it then.

12 gauge, .740" ideal for .729" bore, .500" thick fibre wad, 500 $7.50 so $0.015 per shot

All you need is powder -> over powder card or thick fiber wad -> shot -> over shot card. A cardboard box works wonders for this as well.
 
I use a .22lr bullet trap for plinking .22's and then recycle that lead into .50 balls for my BP guns...keep that in mind for the GPR.

Also, a wad-cutter/punch is a cheap onetime investment and there's a lot of free cardboard out there.
 
Ball: "Free" (Cast myself using a $20 Lee Mold using 33 cents a lb. lead from a tire store on top of my coleman stove using a $15 lead pot and a $12 dipper. One time investments don't count, since they'll amortize over the thousands of balls I'm going to cast in the future. I'm just out a few gallons of propane, but haven't done the math on that.)

Patch: "Free" (cut up an old sheet, mixed up some Ballistol with water for the lube. Ballistol amortized over thousands of patches or fixed expense attached to gun ownership, not ammo. Scissors/patch knife cost amortized over thousands of patches.)

Lubed wad: Maybe one penny, depending on caliber (punch them out myself using a hole punch. Hard felt from Durafelt. Cost ammortized over hundreds of wads, along with the cost of beeswax, paraffin, and lard. Electricity for stove to heat up the free tuna can. The $1.50 for the cat food tin lid ammortized over the thousands of wads punched and stored in the tuna can.

Powder: 4 cents per 20 grains (.002 lbs.). $20/lb of 777 or Shockey's Gold, rounding down, sales tax not included. 60 grains of FFFg weighs about .006 lbs., but my digital kitchen scale wouldn't read anything less than 60 grains. My powder scale would be better, but I have to dig it out. I don't know how much Pyrodex or BP weighs yet per volumetric grain.

A lot of the stuff involved in making ammo for BP is found around the house, minus one time investments, you're out a nickel a shot, depending on how much powder you use.
 
Man, I reload brass hulls for cheaper than that with BP and cushion wads, etc. Last I calculated it, I'm reloading 00 buck for something like $.50/rd!
 
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