Simple Powder Purchase Cost Comparison Worksheet in Excel

[briannmilewis]

I developed this simple worksheet to calculate the "true" cost of buying powder over-the-counter or online.

The price data is mine as of the date shown. Shipping costs may not be accurate. Research and enter your own data.

If buying powder over-the-counter, you add a Gas cost for you to pick it up, then Hazmat and Shipping must = "0".

To look at the chart, click on PowderWorksheet.jpg.

To instantly download a copy of the Excel file, click on PowderWorksheet.xls.zip.

You can change all of the data without restrictions.

Be careful not to change the formulas in Total P/Up and Total Del. unless you know what you are doing. The formulas are simple, but if they are changed or removed, Total P/Up and Total Del. may no longer be accurate.

Enjoy.

[Graybeard]

Yew really lak playing with excel don't ya? 

[briannmilewis]

Yep, it is a good tool, as long as you work out what you want to do with it BEFORE you start.

I have spent many a wasted hour not heeding my own advice.

[gypsyman]

But what if you buy the powder at a gun show, along with a gun,sling,bullets,etc. Do you add the price of the gas to the powder or bullets? Or split it between the the 2? Or, you ride with a buddy, and agree to buy him lunch to square up with the gas he used, do you split the money for lunch, or just what his meal cost? Or, you drive to the local gun shop, but the barber shop is on the way, and you get a haircut? Do you work in the price of the haircut? Now you have me really confused!! What if my wife picks up dinner, and my powder, but she pays for her own gas.AAAGGGHHH!! I've got to quit this, before I start to drink, it's to early in the day. What if I stop at the bar and have a beer on the way home from the gun shop, do I figure in the price of the beer, even though I won't be using the powder that night since I've been drinking!!AAAGGGHHH!!! I did it again. I quit.  gypsyman

[briannmilewis]

But what if you buy the powder at a gun show, along with a gun,sling,bullets,etc. Do you add the price of the gas to the powder or bullets? Or split it between the the 2? Or, you ride with a buddy, and agree to buy him lunch to square up with the gas he used, do you split the money for lunch, or just what his meal cost? Or, you drive to the local gun shop, but the barber shop is on the way, and you get a haircut? Do you work in the price of the haircut? Now you have me really confused!! What if my wife picks up dinner, and my powder, but she pays for her own gas.AAAGGGHHH!! I've got to quit this, before I start to drink, it's to early in the day. What if I stop at the bar and have a beer on the way home from the gun shop, do I figure in the price of the beer, even though I won't be using the powder that night since I've been drinking!!AAAGGGHHH!!! I did it again. I quit.  gypsyman

Ask your barber and local bar to stock powder, that would make life a whole lot easier.

Seriously now. The worksheet is purely to determine the true cost of your powder, delivered to your house, via UPS or you, or your buddy. The P/Up Gas field can also be used for incidentals like a meal, a beer, or oil for your truck. If someone else pays for gas and it does not come out of your pocket, then P/Up Gas = 0.

If you make a special trip to buy powder (yeah right!) then all the one-time incidentals have to be accounted for in the P/Up Gas field. This does not include a haircut, or any other expense that is recurring in any way and not related to the powder.

If you go to a gun shop, gun show and buy $500 worth of miscellaneous, the way to calculate your powder cost is to find the % of gun related purchases you made. For example: $120 in powder and $380 in other gun related costs. So your powder was 20% of your gun related purchases, so P/Up Gas would be 20% of the gas you used.

Or you could always just ignore the costs and use a powder purchase as any excuse to get out of the house and down to the local gun shop or show... .

[gypsyman]

briannmilewis, I'm truely sorry for that post. Was reading it over lunch and something made me do that. I didn't even open up the spread sheet. And I'm sure that it works. What you'll never know the cost of, is how much fun a pound of powder will equal. Aqain, sorry for the runaway.  gypsyman

[briannmilewis]

briannmilewis, I'm truely sorry for that post. Was reading it over lunch and something made me do that. I didn't even open up the spread sheet. And I'm sure that it works. What you'll never know the cost of, is how much fun a pound of powder will equal. Aqain, sorry for the runaway.  gypsyman

If we can't have fun now and then, it would truly be a miserable world. You have an excellent sense of humor! No offense taken at all.

[Graybeard]

You sure do like to make a simple fun hobby into a complicated process don'tcha? Ya really gotta stop worrying about the small stuff and focus on the big picture. Follow the simple three rules process.

Rule one: Don't sweat the small stuff.

Rule two: It's ALL small stuff.

Rule three: See rule one.

[briannmilewis]

You sure do like to make a simple fun hobby into a complicated process don'tcha? Ya really gotta stop worrying about the small stuff and focus on the big picture. Follow the simple three rules process.

Rule one: Don't sweat the small stuff.

Rule two: It's ALL small stuff.

Rule three: See rule one.

Bill: I only sweat the stuff I have control over, all else is the small stuff.

Our simple fun hobby happens to be driven by the amount of disposable income we have to splurge on it. While some build rifles for $60 like our very own Handi MacGyver, a very big part of the fun for me is seeing just how cheaply I can participate. That's why I chose the 22 Hornet to get started, rather than any other cartridge - 700 reloads per pound of powder basically says it all. Once I got into it, I found the abundance of choices we have about participating was mind boggling, as it allows anyone with any budget, big or small, to play.

I wish I had the $140k income I had a few years back, but unfortunately, shooting and reloading was not on my radar then. Once I started in this hobby my income was cut back to $60k, and now it is $30k of unemployment. Stretching every dollar I can spend on this hobby allows me to do more than I would otherwise. Regardless of my income, I would always want the best deal I could get, and maybe that's a legacy of growing up working poor, if so, I plead guilty. 

I think it all comes down to one man's complexity is another man's fun.

This forum is not only "How-to" heaven, it is way more intellectually stimulating than I expected.

[Badnews Bob]

I realise you are haveing your own kind of fun here but me I never worry about the cost. If I can afford it I buy it, I can't afford it....I don't buy it. A couple dollars up or down dosn't concern me at all.

Usally even if it cast a little more at the candy store I am gonna buy it there. 1) I like to go there 2) I want them to be there and in buisness..

[briannmilewis]

If I can afford it I buy it, I can't afford it....I don't buy it. A couple dollars up or down doesn't concern me at all.

I agree with frequenting and buying what you can locally. Maybe I am in the wrong hobby, because in almost all cases, even with a good income, a couple of dollars either way means I buy it or I don't buy it. But I find that the brilliant part of the hobby. No matter what your budget you can find a way to buy what you want at the price you want, or it forces you to explore other options to fit your budget, if you are willing to put in the time and effort.

I don't have the luxury of visiting the local gun store and spending money without fully researching what I will buy and how much it costs from many sources. A package of 100 primers is no big deal if I pay $6 or $3, but if I was buying a carton, then that is worth the research. I don't mind paying a premium at the local gun store, but it is never out of ignorance, it is always willingly. I just draw the line at spending $27 on powder if I can get it for $19 conveniently elsewhere. That's not a "little more" in my book.

I will always shop the local gun store and buy, unless there is a huge difference at a local chain store. If an unscoped Marlin 336 is going for $399 at my gun store, and Dick's has a scoped version for $329 less discount coupons, then Dick's gets my business - $90 difference in a $400 item is a very big deal to me. If Dick's wants $250 for a 223 Handi, and my local gun store wants $275, the local gun store gets my business. Until recently, Midway, Grafs, and The Powder Keg were local for me, now Cabela's, BassPro, Dick's and the Olathe and Independence gun shops are local once again. So is Walmart's gun counter. When I have lack of funds, I window shop from time to time while I work out what I want to buy in the future. I save a lot of money on vacations as my boys think the gun stores are better than Disneyland.

Yes, there is little else that matches the enjoyment of hanging out at the local gun shop.