The High Cost Of Ammo...NOT

In checking the Bloomberg financial reports, copper prices are expected to be down all year, tumbling after US construction spending dropped as compared to 2006. To the tune of a 19%, with investors try to unload as much as possible. Finding copper at $.16 an ounce is quite doable.

Lead is hovering at approximately $.44/lb. and expected to remain close to that number for the entire year. That's $.0275 per ounce for those of you in Rio Linda.

Brass dropped over 22% compared to 2006, and hasn't hit bottom yet.

In summary, copper and brass are down and lead is stable.

So why are the ammunition manufacturers, and dealers spouting all of this doom & gloom about soaring raw material costs?

Simple. We got to used to it in 2006, so why not. Fact of the matter is the overall raw material expenditure for ammunition manufacture has been lower this year than last, and most of the big names are working at full capacity due to the war so it isn't as if we're paying for idle production lines. A call placed to an investment portfolio pain in the ass who's been crank yanking me to switch to his company, returned the advice to not even think of investing in anything other than gold because the metals market wasn't going up anytime soon.

We are being screwed, gang. The average finished ammunition cartridge should be cheaper this year, and labor costs haven't changed because none of the majors have been arm twisted into signing any new labor agreements lately, either.

Raw Materials: Lower
Labor Costs: Unchanged
Shipping: Up an average $.09 per pound.

Might be time for as many of us as possible to begin rolling our own and telling them where to stick these ridiculous prices. Each and every query to an ammunition manufacturer returned the same lie. RM costs are going through the roof.

Guess these guys haven't learned all about the information age and how we can check this stuff for ourselves. Sure, fuel costs are higher so paying a little more for shipping isn't out of the question. But not for the product itself, and try, just try to purchase something from Cheaper than Dirt, or Midway, or Cabela's without that ludicrous "HANDLING" fee tacked on.

Handle this.

Winchester White Box has gone up 37% from mid-2006 to this date, far exceeding any raw material price increase incurred last year, and I don't see them lowering the cost to reflect the 2005 RM levels they are at now and will be for the foreseeable future.