Blr243 wrote:Primers I saw in stock recently locally at 28 cents each. Add powder 40 cents and bullet 50 cents Roughly 1.2 dollars for a 308. So make your own 100 pieces of ammo 118 dollars. Vs cleavers factory 100 factory loads 145 dollars. I’m not sitting at a reloading bench anymore to save 37 dollars … if there has not already been so , I anticipate a significant move towards the purchase of 308 and 223 Ppu is 18 bucks for 20 rounds. My next pta will be for a 223 I have not owned one since my mini 14 … I admit it’s great to see primers agsin. Pretty sure they are the Indian primers. I definitely want to continue reloading for 450bm and 4570. The factory ammo prices are uncomfortable
IF I was able to buy the sorts of .223 or .308 ammo that I find works best for me, I'll happily pay the extra for the factory ammo.
In the case of .223, I have a couple of roo-shooter mates who buy the once-fired .223 brass from me(de-primed and tumbled clean).
[Already have a few thousand .223 cases that are mostly not more than 2-3 firings, so selling the excess isnt hurting..]
The cans of ADI ammo are something of a no-brainer for me; quality ammo, we get another lockable steel box, and if I dont like the projectiles, I can pull them and load them up with my preference, without needing any primers. And decent brass to boot.
5-6 years back, I was buying maybe 3/4 of the ammo we were using through the year; mostly either .223 or .308.
At that point, it was often cheaper for me to buy decent factory ammo, than to poll my own.
Now that we only have one ammunition retailer left in our local town(and a VERY limited range available), I'd guess that for the next few years at least, 90% of the ammo fired here will be home-made.
I cannot easily buy factory rounds that I prefer in either .308, 7mm-08, .243, or .223:-
Factory 125gn ST ammo for the .308(a projectile I use quite a lot) are a lot slower than I load, and look to be available from a gunshop about 1500kms distant..
Factory 7mm-08 ammo in 120gn SST are a lot slower than I load, look to be available from a gunshop about 1500kms distant..
[I've never found the 7mm-08 factory ammo in most shops to be loads I prefer, so that hasnt really changed much.]
Factory 87gn V-Max .243 rounds look to be available from a gunshop about 1500kms distant..
Factory 69gn .223 rounds look to be available from a gunshop about 1500kms distant.
While I have a range of factory ammo for each caliber on the shelf, I'm reloading because I simply cannot get 'Best-Fit' ammo from a retailer, without a 2-3 day drive.
(and thats assuming they still have my preferred ammo when I get there..)
So, any new reloading supplies coming onto the market, is a positive thing in my book.
I'm lucky enough to have decent stocks of projectiles, powder and primers on hand for maybe 3-4 years of our current ammo usage.
But any visits to a gunshop these days, is to see what they have that I can add to my stockpile.
I look back on the days of visiting my local gunshop, and seeing cans of ADI .223, .243, and .308 ammo, and I'm now regretting I didnt buy 4 of each...
Ahhh well; If wishes were horses, we'd all be knee-deep in 1080 Poison dog-baits..
My 2 cents..