OLD PRICES

[huntducks]

I was sitting in my loading room yesterday reminiscing about days gone by and prices along with deals I got on components.

So I started looking for old price tags found a old yellow and white Nosler Partation box when they machined the bullets 270 130gr for $4.99, a box of 100 140gr Nosler BT with a mark down sticker of $7.00 some H-4831 powder marked $1.75 3lbs of Win AA-12 $3.98 some cascade primers now CCI in old orange boxes $2.50 thousand, some Win 338 bullets 250gr Silver tips 100 for $9.50.

Another super great buy was some Midway repack bullets there  30cal 150gr moly cote combined tech 100 for $2.25 these were sold maybe 5 years ago.

Best buy of all time was 2- 4gal full to the top metal bucket of Sierra mixed bullets for $20ea bought these when Sierra moved from SoCal to MO. they had 3 weekends in a row parking lot sale by the 3rd one everything was way down as i'm sure they did not want to move it east I still have almost 1 full bucket I have not sorted.

How about you guys....

[DANNY-L]

WOW,was that the year the gun was invented. Then again during that time $1 was probably like $50 or more today.

[bobg]

  Sure don't remember those prices. Do remember most IMR powder being $4.95 a pound and small rifle primers for $9.95 a thousand. The last powder i bought was $18.98 a pound and primers $19.98 a thousand. Even those prices a long gone now i think.

[DANNY-L]

I doubt it but if you want to sell that bucket of bullets in a large flat reate box run it by me.

[Catfish]

When I first started loading 270 ammo I could do it for less than 4 cents a round in my brass, and I could buy fired brass for 3 cents and time, or on sale for 2 cents ea., sometimes less. Powder was $ 1/ lb. primers about $ .60/ 100, Sierra 110 gr bullets $ 2.50/ 100. At that time I had 1 of the better paying jobs around making $ 3/ hour. That was in 1965.

[Old Syko]

There's more to it than price differences.  As an example, when was the last time you were able to buy a 24# keg of powder?  Used to buy them 4 at a time.  Haven't seen more than 8# jugs for many a year now.  Most guys think if you buy 6 8 pounders at a time you're in the big time.  I guess e-shooters are the norm over the real thing nowadays.

[jabey9210]

WOW that is insane.  If only those prices still remained we'd all be in heaven.

[roper]

when I first started reloading 1965 you buy brass in 20rd box just like factory ammo had.  I still have some of the old yellow boxes and some of the white boxes of win brass and red box Federal brass,Brown box for Norma brass, the Rem green/orange box  and the Rem solid red box.  About the oldest bullets boxed I have still with a price tag is Sierra 6mm 100gr @ $5.35 and a box of Nosler solid base 130gr for the 270 @ $8.50

One reason I started reloading was you could buy 5 boxes brass,box of bullets,100 primers,lb of powder and set of dies for the same cost as buying 5 boxes of factory ammo and you get better ammo.  If you wanted to load Partition cost be more.  It wasn't too many years ago you could buy Rem bulk bullets for less than $10 per 100 and I shot alot of elk with the 30 cal 165/180gr bullet.  I also shot a ton of Rem 17cal 25gr bullets in acouple of my varmit rifles.

I think the last 10yr bullets have really started to improve and it's fun trying to keep up with everything. 

[Dand]

I have an old box of 348 win 150gr silvertip ammo that is marked $5.65 from the 1950's I think. Also some Rem 30-30 ammo that is $6.99 or $7.99 from the 1970's.  Back in the 70's I ordered 250 12 ga wads from Herters to try them - they sent me a case of 1,000.  I think I only paid about $4.  I still have a bag of them.  I'm using primers I bought in the early 90's for $1.69 /100.  I come across other components I bought in the 80's that are incredibly cheap compared to now.  I should check the prices on the Lee Loaders I bought in the late 70's - I'm guessing they were about $10.

But like someone mentioned, I bet some of today's bullets are a lot more uniform than in the past. Tho I did get a box of bullets that seemed very erratic in length in the last 3-4 yrs - can't remember the brand or caliber but I remember getting frustrated while seating them. Might have been erratic location of cannelure on 348 bullets.

[huntducks]

Took a few pictures.

Check out the Nosler bullets W/machine mark's I had a older box then this it was a 2 peice red box with wood inserts for the bullets to set in.

[jedman]

    I started loading shotshells first back around 1971 and at that time there was a gas station/ gunstore  in our area where you could get your stuff for loading.
 As I remember it they used to weigh out powder if you only wanted a pound or two @ $ 2.50 a pound.  Lead shot was $ 4.75 a bag ( 25 lbs. ) primers were about $ 7.00 @ 1000 sometimes you could get Alcan brand for less.
  I was so cheap in them days I rarely bought new wads,  I used to pick up fired ones at a local trap range wash them, dry them and use them a second time.       Jed

[charles p]

When I got out of boot camp in 1967, I could have purchased a Browning A-5 3"magnum Buck Special for $121, and no sales tax, through the exchange.  Passed it up!!!

[wncchester]

Forget the dollar signs when looking at past prices, all that matters is how much we could/can get for a days work.  Fact is, that hasn't really changed very much, if any. 

Inflation is something cooked up by the government and rich Fed. Reserve bankers in the early 1900s to keep workers thinking things are getting better for them because they get to see their pay checks get bigger.  The inflation goal was to keep workers from gravitating to the communists and it's worked.  The only thing that has permitted an actual increase in working homes since 1941 has been the second pay from employed wives, the numbers on their checks simply represent the hours of work.   Inflation is hell on the elderly who actually saved for their retirement but everyone else gets to keep spinning their wheels for no gain, like gerbils in a cage.

[oldandslow]

I just looked at a 3# keg of WW 230 that I bought way back in the '70s. $12.95, can and all. The money to purchase it was just as hard to come up with as the price for it's replacement is today.

[Lloyd Smale]

I dont have one thing in my shop that has a great price on it. Shootable stuff doesnt last much past 6 months in my possesion.

[pastorp]

I remember those prices along with $0.29 gas, as low as $0.19 during price wars......   I remember my wife & I living much better in our first house bought in 1965 for $4500.00 than we do now. We handle a lot more money but     Sadely keep less.

Regards,

[wncchester]

"I remember my wife & I living much better in our first house bought in 1965 for $4500.00 than we do now."

Wonder...how many square feet to that home?  How many bed rooms and baths?  Have both a living room and family room?   Seperate formal dining room?  Central heat and air?   Thermopane windows and R-16 or better insulation in the walls?  Carpet and real tile on all the floors?   A garage for both cars?   Few folks I knew in '65 had really nice homes and NONE of the owners were my 35 year old age!

Meaning, sometimes what we remember of the "old days" is better than what it actually was!   Homes have changed a LOT since '65, especially those that were actually older homes at the time.

[beerbelly]

 Homes have changed a LOT since '65

Yep, most are way larger than they need to be and that extra space cost like hell to heat , cool and maintain. But the developers have brain washed folks into thinking a couple needs enough room for a damn platoon!

[41 mag]

Hey I have a few partial boxes of those old Nosler Partitions, I used to have some Zipedo's, still have a BUNCH of the Solid Bases.

I also got in on those Combined Tech Partitions on the cheap and have more than enough to hunt for a while.

Years ago I stocked up on the Rem CL's in several calibers mainly to do initial load testing, then swap them out for something like a Solid Base or BT when I found something I liked. Nowadays, I shoot them more often than anything else. They just work and work well.