Copper prices have went up so much, we have had a real problem with copper thieves around here. I was talking to a guy that owns a air conditioning business. He said he had old coils stored out back and some one broke in and stole them to get the copper tubing out of them. Houses are being broken into to and they tear out any copper plumbing they can lay their grubby hands on. Theft arrest for copper is way up here. I remember back in the early 70's that copper prices were way up and there was the same problem. I am not sure if the war in the middle East is to blame or the Chinese, supply or all of the above. Back in the 70's when copper shot up so high, they talked about doing away with pennies, because the copper in them was worth more than a cent. Then prices dropped and they dropped talk of doing away with the pennies, but here we go again. But copper and lead are not the only things going up. Powder went from about $20- $22 a pound up to $25+ a pound in a matter of weeks. There is no copper or lead in powder to amount to any thing. This suggests to me that the war effort has a big influence on supply. Tried to buy primers lately, hard to get aren't they. Saw an article in a magazine about swedging .224 bullets out of 22 cases. They said to use premium 22 cases shoot in a gun that use a rounded firing pin. The dies would be in the $600 range.
They have to be kidding. Premium 22's are in the 10 cent range up to 25 cents a piece, then you have to buy the dies, do not forget you still have to buy lead to fill that case. I can still buy a lot of bullets for $600. One thing about the higher prices, there is less difference between the cheap stuff compared to the premium stuff. The cheap bullets and cases take as much copper as the good stuff so it makes the manufacturing cost smaller in comparison. The cheap bullets and cases have went up in price, but at a lot higher percent than the best bullets and cases.
