Good buy on h4831,if.....
- Thread starter Mainiac
- Start date
462
California's Central Coast Amid The Insanity
1963's $25.95 is $261.02 in today's money. Powder Valley's current price of an 8-pounder is $348.99. Tells me that, despite the Fed's planned yearly devaluation of the dollar, handloaders are being raped by every entity involved with the getting powder and primers into our hands.
462
California's Central Coast Amid The Insanity
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RicinYakima
High Steppes of Eastern Washington
Inflation is interesting to me in that it has different effects depending up where you are in life. In the 1970's with two kids in school and inflation hitting almost 20%, it was a real struggle when I didn't get a raise for three years. We had to buy everything in the "grocery basket" of the CPI. In the 1990's with kids gone, house paid for, etc., it was only the medical insurance that was doubling every year until we turned 65. Last year the price of eggs going from $1.99 to $3.50 a dozen didn't hurt at all. But gasoline going from $2.99 a gallon to $5.10 a gallon this summer put a crimp on camping and traveling to matches.
Luckily we were yard-sale goers for about 10 years and bought enough tools, dies, powder to last the rest of my life. Now as my shooting friends are passing on, more stuff is available. Now with just retirement income, those $2-$4 cans of powder are a real savings.
Luckily we were yard-sale goers for about 10 years and bought enough tools, dies, powder to last the rest of my life. Now as my shooting friends are passing on, more stuff is available. Now with just retirement income, those $2-$4 cans of powder are a real savings.
Tomme boy
Well-Known Member
I watched a guy do a tour of the all new Hornady plants. They were bragging about all the new machinery they bought in the last 5 years for 10Cents on the dollar. He was saying the cnc machinery companies were giving the stuff away just over cost to build to stay in business. He was talking about how they saved almost 50% on their lead by getting it in like 1200lb pigs instead of what they were using. About how their operating cost has signifyingly been cut down with all the new equipment. As it speeds everything up and reduced hands work as the cnc does it all.
I am sure the other companies have been doing the same. But our cost is going up but their cost has drastically been reduced since the bat flu. I am all for these guys to make $ but sometimes it is just gouging
I am sure the other companies have been doing the same. But our cost is going up but their cost has drastically been reduced since the bat flu. I am all for these guys to make $ but sometimes it is just gouging
For something like this--getting an idea of relative cost on something fairly recent--I usually use the federal minimum wage. In 1963, some guy working minimum wage would have to work ~21 hours to buy a 25# can of H4831. Today someone working minimum wage would have to work ~145 hours to buy the same quantity of powder.
Inflation is a significant factor, but so is the fact that we've exhausted the supply of left-over WWII powder. Surplus was a major influence on supply for much of the 20th century. Until the '90s I was still able to source my preferred 30/06 load (M1 ball) even though it hadn't been made in quantity since 1938; 1992 marked the first year I had to pay more than a dime apiece for stripper clips for the Springfield or en-bloc clips for the Garand.
Inflation is a significant factor, but so is the fact that we've exhausted the supply of left-over WWII powder. Surplus was a major influence on supply for much of the 20th century. Until the '90s I was still able to source my preferred 30/06 load (M1 ball) even though it hadn't been made in quantity since 1938; 1992 marked the first year I had to pay more than a dime apiece for stripper clips for the Springfield or en-bloc clips for the Garand.
Bret4207
At the casting bench in the sky. RIP Bret.
Good points. The mid to early 90's was when a lot of stuff changed in the shooting world, for good and bad. I still have 1 lbs cans of powder from our gunshop that closed in the mid 80's marked under $10.00. Primers under $1.00 a hundred. Good times!