Price/availability of reloading components

[mac60]

Will the end of combat in Iraq have any effect on the price and/or availability of reloading components?

 

[Hardtarget]

It would be nice but I don't think we'll see prices come down. Prices go up easy but the companies have a hard time rolling back. After all....we've been paying the high price so they figure we'll keep right on. I've just been shooting a bit less.

Mark

ps:I just bought a pound of IMR 4895...$28.99. (Bass Pro)

 

[Robert]

I have not had a hard time finding what I want for what I am willing to pay. But then again I am not building super accurate ammo either. If it rings steel at 400y I am happy. I just picked up 8lbs of powder for $125 shipped. Thanks to some friends I have enough brass to last me a good long time, and I don't mind using pulled military bullets. As long as they are not beat up.

 

[LoonWulf]

haha, pound out here is between 30-60 bucks. I "scored" 8lbs of retumbo for 160 a while back.

 

[mac60]

Maybe just wishful thinking on my part. When prices started really going up the fact that we were fighting in Iraq as well as Afghanistan (along with politics and the expansion of the Chinese and Indian economies) was cited as a possible reason. Oh well, was hoping this would contribute to a price drop. On a side note, I have a half empty can of AA1680 with a $9.99 price sticker on it. I don't remember it as being all that old - maybe it is.

 

[Wildbillz]

Well the draw down should take a little pressure off of the MFG co to make ammo solely for Goverment use. This would allow them to to make more for public consumption. More on the shelfs, if it sits we might see the price come down a bit. but the way guys are still buying at the high prices? I would bet they have little incentive to drop the price anytime soon even if they can keep up with the demand.

Now on the bright side, I have noticed that the prices on some of the reloading supplys have come down sence 2008. Not much mind you and some of the prices are still up there. But the supplys are building up.

WB

 

[beatledog7]

It will have the opposite effect. More shooters/hunters back home, more demand for the things they need.

 

[SSN Vet]

no...

manufacturers have been working extra shifts and lots of OT to keep up.

they'll scale back to normal production schedules and reap the benefit of not having to pay the extra cost (which is likely factored into the higher prices), untill some one comes along with a large glut of cheaper product (i.e. Wolf primers) and forces them to lower prices to compete.

 

[essayons21]

A huge portion of the increase in price of ammo and components is not simply supply and demand for ammunition due to the wars overseas, but an increase in the price of the metals used- copper, lead, and zinc. These price increases are mostly due to the surge of construction and infrastructure investment going on in China.

 

[Ignition Override]

For those of us who Don't shoot .223, the net effect of many troops coming home (not to Afghan.) could be more demand, despite less .223/5.56 ammo going to central/south Asia?

Will the Russian plants at Tula/Ulanovsk probably ship more 7.62x39 or 5.45 ammo to Asia, even though armies and police in Iraq/Afghan. now use many M-4 rifles (5.56)?

 

[Jackqm]

Wow nearly $30 for 1lb of powder??? I thought the prices was high here at $18-$20. I watch for the sale and get it for around $16 which I still think is highway robbery, but $30??? I better stop complaining.

 

[Pacsd]

Essayons, I just checked the market price for shell brass. Down from 1.70 a pound to 1.20 in 3 weeks.

 

[BeerSleeper]

I wonder if they'll use more ammo training at home than during a deployment...

 

[Drail]

Based on what I have read during the course of the last ten years the companies you buy reloading components from have very little to do with supplying the D.O.D..With the closure of government armories and bases during the Clinton years once we invaded the middle east it was immediately realized that with only one plant (Lake City) producing small arms ammo for our military we were going to have to outsource the majority of the demand. We have been buying huge amounts of small arms ammo from Israel and South Korea. If something were to happen to either of those sources our military would be in serious trouble. We cannot produce enough ammo to keep our guys in ammo even running the plants 24/7. The prices you're seeing on reloading components are due to simple greed and China buying up as much of the world's supply of materials as they can get. Our military is going to be paying for the stupidity of the Clintons for many years.