The Cost of Competition

There was a time when I could load .45acp ammunition for about $2.50 a box of 50, or less than five cents a round.

Hard-cast lead bullets, cheap powder and primers, the brass lasted forever and it was easy to pick up 'used brass' from the local indoor shooting range for next to nothing.

When I started shooting .38 super, things got more expensive.

But now, what with the skyrocketing increases in all materials used to reload ammunition, the cost is almost astronomical.

I want to compare the cost of reloading components today with the cost five years ago. These are actual costs (although for convenience I may round off some numbers).

Here's the load I will use as a standard; although it is not actually the load I use, so please do NOT assume that I am providing you with a safe, reliable .38 super load:

Brass: Winchester .38 super, unprimed.
Primer: Winchester or CCI Small Rifle, per 1 brick of 1000 primers.
Powder: Vihta Vourhi Nxxx (never mind the actual details) at about 7 grains per round, or 1000 rounds per 1# container of 7000 grains.
Bullet: Montana Gold 115gr FMJ .355" dia., at 4,000 bullets per case

Note about the BRASS:
I expect to lose about half the brass every time I shoot. I buy them in lots of 1000. The loss to split cases is negligible, but given the loss factor, here's how many times I can expect to reload them.
1: 1000 loaded rounds, half of them are lost;
2: 500 loaded rounds, half of them are lost;
3: 250 loaded rounds, half of them are lost;
4:125 loaded rounds, half of them are lost;
5:70 loaded rounds, half of them are lost;
6: 35 loaded rounds, half of them are lost, and other losses end up with no cases left out of the original lot.

So out of 1000 cases in the original order, I can prorate the cost over less than 2000 loaded rounds. When calculating cost of brass, I'll divide the purchase price of 1000 rounds by 2 to arrive at the cost of brass per 1000 rounds.

Note about the BULLETS: I buy bullets by the case, which is 4,000 bullets. The cost per 1000 rounds is the price of a case of bullets, divided by 4.

_______________________

2003 cost of reloading:

Here are the approximate costs of components ...

Brass: $72/k loads 2000 rounds, extends to $36/k
Primer: $15/k
Powder: $18/k
Bullet: $185/4k = $46/k

Total: $116/k, $11.60/100, $5.80box, 11.6 cents per round

_______________________

2008 cost of reloading:

Here are the approximate costs of components ...

Brass: $176/k loads 2000 rounds, extends to $88/k
Primer: $30/k
Powder: $22/k
Bullet: $274/4k = $69/k

Total: $209/k, $20.90/100, $10.45/box, 20.9 cents per round

_____________________________________________

While normal inflation would not account for this dramatic 56% increase in price (NB: See UPDATE, below), or about 11% per year (an annual inflation rate of 5% hasn't been seen since 1990), the demand on ammunition, components and metals has been most often attributed to the requirements of providing these materials to the military.

Well, I'm as patriotic as the next man. I'm not advocating a military withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan to relieve my own petty economic turmoil.

But the fact is, in recent years I've been increasingly reluctant to compete in "Lost Brass" Matches; that is, matches where the competitor is not allowed to pick up his brass on each stage.

In fact, at this time I have about 800 round of multiply fired brass, 300 rounds of once-fired brass, and about 500 rounds of new brass. It's my habit to keep at least 2,000 cases, and order another 2,000 cases when my on-hand stock of brass falls below this level.

Now, when 2,000 cases of new Winchester brass will cost me $350, and if both SWMBO and I would compete in any Major Match the lost brass would double in price, I can't afford to shoot a 250-round Major Match ... it would cost me $130 for ammunition, plus travel, food and other expenses.

This is leading up to the announcement that I will NOT be shooting the (218 round minimum) 2008 Area 1 match, which has historically been a "Lost Brass" match. The entry form doesn't say it is NOT a "Lost Brass" match, so one can only assume that it is. The entry fee is currently $125.

The cost of ammunition, match fees and gasoline would be on the order of $430 for what is, essentially a local match.

I'm not sure that I could afford to shoot this match even if we were allowed to recover our expended brass, which would only save me about $70 ... but I would appreciate the gesture.
__________________________________________
UPDATE: 4-Jun-2008
I just corrected a typo; I had left out a decimal point in the 2003 per-round cost.
Norm the Ungrateful just corrected my calculation on price increase (thank you, Norm). I won't dispute that I badly under-calculated, I was doing the math in my head on the fly. If nobody corrects other calculations I'll be very surprised.