Reloading costs and inflation.

Z

zeke mccune

Member
Hi:

I just received two Wilson bushings for their neck sizing die and was shocked to see that the cost came to $46.50 including shipping. The die retails for about that much.

The bushings were $20.00 each! I think the last time I bought Wilson bushings was in 1995 and they were about $5.00. The rate of inflation since then has been 51.1% bringing that $5.00 to $7.55. Surely, the cost of wages,benefits and raw materials have not been that large to justify the price increase!

Am I the only one who is shocked by the cost of goods today? Tell me that I am living in the past! Lol

Stay well my friends,

Leomat
 
I've spent significant parts of my shooting life participating in sports where surplus ammo was accurate enough and actually cheaper than reloads. Back when Russian steel-cased ammo topped with Hornady 75-grain match bullets or brass-cased South African 7.62x39 were available for $0.09/round, it didn't make much sense to reload for many sports.

Those days are behind us, I'm afraid. I picked a heck of a time to retire and rekindle my interest in certain shooting sports where the round counts are high and so are the accuracy standards. I've been pricing a few tools and a lot of components lately and believe me when I say "I feel your pain."
 
inflation happens....simple as that..in a "progreesing" society....
but in the gun stuff..some of it is cost of labor
some is we as reloaders have shown them how much we are willong to pay for stuff...
primers...
i do not remeber exact cost of primers when i started in 1970...i bought 100 packs...for a buck or so..

1995 when i when i went in with both feet i bought primers for 10-12.50 per 1000.......
very little change in pricing till yommas election.....
after his election and the primer shortage hit in march or so and people started paying in excess of $75 on a regular basis for 1000....
primer makers sat up and said.."i want some of that money"
they did not get greedy but the days of 1000 for less than $20 is gone...
but that was not inflation....that was a "market adjustment" based on the post election buying.
copper/brass raw materials cost have gone up as has lead...more people(china) using the products.
gas cost have gone up...more people(china/india/???) using gas than in the past

i would think that in the case of neck bushings, the dealer must stock a lot but have low turn over...so to justify the stocking costs, the single sale price goes up..

it cost him money to have the size you want on hand plain and simple...

to check your actual price increase...do a search on the cost of a loaf of bread, or big mac in 1995...and today...

mike in co
 
Look at the match turn out such as Camp Perry.They won't have to legislate gun's out of existence. Ther being priced out of existence. Who anymore can go out of town, and shoot for weekend anymore? $46.oo for a set of bushings in hopes they will do what you want.
 
My first loading set was: RCBS Jr. Press, RCBS .22 Hornet and .222 Dies, Cheap scale, Lyman 55 powder measure, and misc. other stuff for the princely sum of $98.
It is a lot higher now but so are my wages(before retirement) $1.25 per hr. versus $19 to $27.
I still set aside money to shoot because it is what I like to do.
 
My guess is that the cost of raw materials is the biggest reason for the big jump in gun related stuff. With instability in markets, fear of inflation, more people are investing/speculating on gold, silver, copper, lead, metals. Along with that is the tremendous growth of China using tons of raw materials. I think we have enought companies making primers, etc so they can't get away just raising
prices to pad their bottom line. Still the free enterprise system.......at least for a while until Obama finishes his work.
 
Benchrest.com vendor Bruno's has them for $13 and Midway $14.49 each.

Concerning other reloading products such as primers, brass and bullets right now is not a good time to buy. I'm stocked up good to ride out the mad rush currently going on.

Then when this over buying BS slides back into its hole I will be ready with cash on hand to buy again, hopefully at lower prices. That's how primers and bullets have cycled up and down in the last few years.

Four years ago in this area they wanted $40-50 for a brick (1000ct) of primers. Then it went back down to $28-30 this last summer. I actually paid just $20 for 1000ct Rem 7.5 primers a month ago. Now it's starting again with high prices and hard to find primers.
 
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It is greed,plain and simple,they charge what the market will bear,the rich don't care what the costs is,they buy what they want and we are left to scrap and pinch to get ours.
 
zeke mccune said:
Hi:

I just received two Wilson bushings for their neck sizing die and was shocked to see that the cost came to $46.50 including shipping. The die retails for about that much.

The bushings were $20.00 each! I think the last time I bought Wilson bushings was in 1995 and they were about $5.00. The rate of inflation since then has been 51.1% bringing that $5.00 to $7.55. Surely, the cost of wages,benefits and raw materials have not been that large to justify the price increase!

Am I the only one who is shocked by the cost of goods today? Tell me that I am living in the past! Lol

Stay well my friends,

Leomat
Click to expand...

You are not a alone,I worked for Edelman's back in the 70's and 80's and have had Remington and Winchester brass that I have used and the price sticker was $2.75 for a box of 20,and Imr powder with price stickers that were $5.00 for a pound.
I refer to those prices as the good old days,yes I am long in the tooth !
Tom
 
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