Price of reloading powder

[TheSinfulSaint]

I started reloading a little over a year back so I never followed what was going on in the reloading world and how much did the powders cost.

As we all know IMR and Alliant are one of the most expensive powders right now compared to Ramshot, Accurate and at times Hodgdon. This does not apply to types of powder but for the most case these two are on the higher side. All powders are higher than before but these two are on the top.

So asking this question, have these powders always been historically higher than others as they are now or can we attribute this to inflation and supply-demand economics? Not only 3-5 years back but going back further.

- Saint

 

[usmcpmi]

I remember IMR 4064 going for $13 a pound in the 1980's. Also Bullseye and Unique. So on average probably gone up 4x since then.
Partly fueled by stupid Democrat ideas about the 2nd amendment and trying to restrict access to ammunition.

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[usmcpmi]

And I also remember primers for $1.30 per hundred.

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[Eastexasrick]

Back when IMR powder was DuPont, and Alliant was Hercules they were not more expensive that other offerings. If my memory serves me, which it does not often do, Norma and WW ball powders were the most expensive.

 

[Moonpie]

I can remember finding surplus military "pulled down" powder such as IMR 4895 for $40 per eight pound jug. I used boat loads of the stuff in the M1, M1A, AR, etc back when I shot competitively.
Primers were .02-.03 ea.
Brass was cheap. Old mil surplus by the bucket full. You had some work to do on it tho.
Sierra Match King .30cal bullets were between $10-14 per hundred. Hunting bullets were slightly less.
Pulled down USGI bullets were about 1/3 that. Not much choice here tho. 150gr FMJBT was pretty much it.
Components from Norma and Lapua were top of the line then. They were approx 1/3rd more expensive. Their brass was especially prized.
Were they actually "better"? I dunno. I couldn't really tell. Using USGI brass I often got 8 to 10 reloading out of LC brass. The trick was to load it down a bit.

 

[Gordo]

 

[MTA]

Hodgdon seems to be a bit higher than the rest or atleast it seems like it. I get the best performance out of it though in comparison to IMR or Winchester.

 

[deemus]

I recall them all being around the same price, but within $2-$3 of each other. And I have a box of primers thats marked $16 for 1K. I came into a little money a few years ago so I decided to invest in my reloading future. I bought a bunch of primers and 2-3 8lb jugs of powder. It turned out to be about 6 months before the prices skyrocketed.

Prior to that I loaded and shot at a pretty quick pace since I had plenty of everything. 44mag was costing me about $8-10 a box, others similarly cheap. Since the prospect of paying so much more for components now is a reality I have slowed down considerably. Wish I had done so way before I did, as I burned through a lot of supplies that would cost me hundreds more to replace now.

To the OP, all the manufacturers were fairly close together from a price perspective. I used to use several Hercules (Alliant now) powders because they were a little cheaper, but they also burned much dirtier. I switched to Accurate for pistol rounds, and switched between IMR and Hodgden for rifle rounds, and they all burn much cleaner. I have a couple of rifles that burn so clean that I just run a bore snake down the barrel, and only do a deep cleaning very rarely.

Once I settled on an accurate round for a bullet, I have stayed with that powder to avoid having to do another ladder test to develop a new load for a new powder. I won't save much if any by switching to a new powder, so I'm sticking with my developed loads.

Would hate to have to gear up at todays prices, but reality is you can still load for a fraction of todays ammo prices. Saw a factory deer round recently that was around $2.50 per round. I am loading it with my old brass for around 45 cents a round with newly purchased bullets.


ETA - Check at garage sales. I have bought a bunch of stuff at garage sales at rock bottom prices. And on the classifieds here. I have bought some stuff pretty cheap here too. Recently bought some powder at a great price. I was actually shocked it was available when I saw it.

 

[Texasjack]

Some sources of powder have dried up. I think Hodgdon no longer gets powder from Australia. Some costs have gone up because of inflation on raw material prices. Politics, Covid, inflation, and market consolidation have all conspired to jack up the prices.

 

[TexMex247]

When I got started almost 15 years ago, the only expensive powders were vithavuori or however you spell it and varget. Other powders were all hovering at $20/lb, less when you'd buy in bulk. I think those days are long gone. I'm still hoarding my varget and a few others since the meteoric rise in prices. Luckily I'm sitting on enough Tac, blue dot and titegroup to keep my chugging along for a while. Just wish I could get a few 8 pounders of stuff suited for the 6.5 creedmor but I have a few pounds for load development.

Primers back then were right at 3 cents. I bought several thousand the last few years when I could get them for 6-7 cents a piece and I was ok with that but I won't be restocking unless the hit a nickel or I run dangerously low.

 

[popper]

Paid for college working as an estimator for construction. At that time a cost plus 10% was a GOOD deal. Now it's more like cost, taxes and 20%.

 

[Eastexasrick]

 

[TheMailMan]

When I got started almost 15 years ago, the only expensive powders were vithavuori or however you spell it and varget. Other powders were all hovering at $20/lb, less when you'd buy in bulk. I think those days are long gone. I'm still hoarding my varget and a few others since the meteoric rise in prices. Luckily I'm sitting on enough Tac, blue dot and titegroup to keep my chugging along for a while. Just wish I could get a few 8 pounders of stuff suited for the 6.5 creedmor but I have a few pounds for load development.

Primers back then were right at 3 cents. I bought several thousand the last few years when I could get them for 6-7 cents a piece and I was ok with that but I won't be restocking unless the hit a nickel or I run dangerously low.

I just ordered 16 lbs of powder for under $300 delivered. Another 8 lbs was $213 delivered. Primers are hovering right a 5-6 cents each right now.

In early 2019 I was getting 5000 piece cases for $150+tax.

 

[TheSinfulSaint]

I just ordered 16 lbs of powder for under $300 delivered. Another 8 lbs was $213 delivered. Primers are hovering right a 5-6 cents each right now.

In early 2019 I was getting 5000 piece cases for $150+tax.

Was this from an online sale or an estate sale?

 

[xdmikey]

Online probably, since "he just ordered".