Should I stock up on components?

[LotI]

Here are some specific prices for components purchased in the past.

On 4/7/05 I ordered 1k of .223 brass (Grade 1) from Midway for $35.99. On 2/28/06 I ordered 1k of once-fired 223 brass (grade 3) from Grafs for $22.99

When I started reloading in 2005, CCI primers were $89.95/5k from a local supply shop. (Recob's Target Shop.)

55gr. Winchester FMJ-BT bullets cost $35/k

Around the beginning of 2005 I built an AR and bought 1k of XM193 from Ammoman for $$229 and found 1k of Q3131A for $185 locally.

Powder hasn't changed a whole lot. I bought 8# of H335 for $90.

So you can compare...Here's a link to the January 2006 Natchez catalog. And here's the March 2006 MidwayUSA dealer flyer.

 

[zxcvbob]

I'd hate to have a homeowner's insurance claim denied -- in the tragic and unlikely event of a fire -- simply due to the fact that I kept more powder/primers in my house than fire code would allow.

I've moved all my larger-than-one-pound containers of powder out to the garage (detached) and put them in a wooden footlocker. I haven't quite figured out what to do with the primers yet. I'm not sure if I should store the bulk of them with the powder or not. Currently the primers are broken up into small lots in different places in my basement. But I don't have nearly as much primers as I do powder. I still need to take an inventory of my primers. I have plenty of small pistol and large rifle primers, but I have no idea about LP's and SR's. (I just buy a thousand of whatever's cheap whenever I find them on sale somewhere.)

I suspect I should store the bulk of the primers in the garage in a separate locked box from the powder, and just keep a few hundred of each kind in the house. If my garage ever catches on fire, the reloading supplies are the least of the fire department's and insurance company's worries (welding tanks, pesticides, propane, tires, etc)

 

[brighamr]

Buy in bulk if you can, the more you buy at one time the greater the savings IMO.

 

[USSR]

I'm still really wondering what some specific powder prices were 2 years ago.

Well, 3 years ago, you could buy USGI surplus IMR4895 for $78 per 8 pound cannister. Sadly, what with the last of the stock of demilled .30-06 gone, this great powder is no longer available. In the same time period, you could buy surplus M80-type FMJBT bullets for $.05 each. As you can see, the time for you to stock up, purely on a financial basis, has passed. As I see it, the major reason to stock up now is more on a supply disruption basis (whether that be for economic or political reasons, I'll leave up to you).

Don

 

[TurboFC3S]

Thanks LotI, just what I was looking for!

 

[socaldan]

JFH....
Its a beautiful day in your neighborhood...can I be your neighbor???
I AGREE TOTALY..!!!
THANKYOU !!!

 

[Navy joe]

In 2002 9mm Berry's plates 115gr were $29/1000, Titegroup was $13/lb, and WSP primers were $70/5000. I made 9mm for about $65/1000. Good luck doing that now. Stock up as much as you can. I'm in kind of a bind, I have several thousand pounds of brass, buying the stuff to stick in them is going to break me I believe. I'm going to cast for .45, but the rifles, and 9mm will still need bullets bought for them. Buy it now, in 2012 we might all be talking about how cheap shooting was in 2008.

 

[evan price]

Once upon a time, I wanted to have bullets, powder and primers in stock to fill every case I had.

Now I can see how silly that idea is.
I've got, what, 10K 9mm luger cases alone right now??? While I would love to have that capability, I bow to the reality that spending $1000 a month on supplies is not in my financial picture. That's a yearly budget for me!

I will say this: The time to stock up at what were cheap prices five years ago has passed.
The time to stock up on what we will look back on in five years and say were cheap prices has just begun.

 

[taliv]

to the best of my recollection...

3 yrs ago, i was buying cci 400 small rifle primers for around $15/1000. today, $22.40

i bought 10k pieces of 1x fired 223 from a prison range and paid $300. today i don't even know where you would go for that, but i bet you pay a lot more.

hi-techammo sold m193 pulldowns for $75/3000 bullets. today they only have new ones for $190/3000.

powdervalley sold accurate dp 2230c for $59/8lb keg. by the time i'd gone through 32lb of that, they were selling dp74 or 73 for $69 and then $79. (i can't remember which order, but i got 32lb of each and am down to my last 16lb or so.
today you're looking at $115-125/8lb. (or possibly ramshot tac for $105)

i bought a ton of hornady xtp 200g .451 from midway for $9/100 a couple years ago. they're $19.99 today.

I bought 10k 200g LSWC from wideners for $35/1000 a couple years ago. $60 today.

the absolute most annoying though are etronx primers. midway wants $164/1000 right now. i paid $100 and then $115 2 yrs ago and last year.

one interesting thing i've found though... is that the prices of premium stuff aren't going up quite as much as regular stuff. for example... up until march or so, lapua brass was a bargain. VV powder is currently only a little more expensive than hodgdon/alliant. i'm going to place another powder order this week i think and i'm going to be buying N140 instead of varget/R15. and i found lapua bullets were only a little more than SMK so i bought 1000 of those instead.