Posted on 09/18/2007 2:32:32 PM PDT by neverdem
If you're a hunter or recreational shooter, you may be in for sticker shock when you visit your favorite sporting goods store or gun shop to purchase ammunition this fall. That's because the cost of the materials needed to manufacture bullets and shotgun shells continue to rise, driving ammunition prices higher and higher.
Jim Heebner, owner of The Owl's Nest, an outdoor sports store in Pohatcong Township, said prices are up about 25 percent this year.
"Last year, they went up over 15 percent," Heebner said. "It's the price of copper, brass, lead, all the components that go in the ammo."
Many people who shoot often, whether at the rifle range or in trap leagues, do their own shell loading. Since it's the cost of materials that goes into ammunition that has risen, they, too, are being impacted by the climbing prices.
Anthony Tita, owner of T & T Reloading in Stockertown, said reloading supply prices have gone up more than 40 percent.
"That's just this year alone. Not everything, just brass, bullet tips," he said. "Anything with copper and lead in it has gone up like crazy."
While small business owners are undoubtedly feeling the impact of the rising prices, the reality is that ammunition costs are rising throughout the nation. Tim Brandt, spokesman for ATK Ammunition Systems Group, which produces Federal Cartridges, said his company put a 15-percent price increase across the board on Sept. 1.
"That's a commodity-driven price increase meaning all the materials that we use to make our ammunition have risen," Brandt said. "Copper, lead, petroleum, zinc and things like that have gone up and continue to go up, so therefore we have translated some of that increase down the line."
One of the biggest reasons that materials have increased in price is the growing economies of countries like India and China.
"They're producing a ton of stuff right now and creating quite a demand for the commodities," Brandt said.
With the cost of shooting skyrocketing, sportsmen are feeling the impact, not only in their wallet but also in how often they get out to enjoy their pursuits.
"It does take a bite into your budget as to what you're shooting and how much you're shooting," said John Yarsevich, of Northampton, who trap shoots several times a week, loads his own ammunition and is also a hunter. "I'm shooting almost as much as I have been, but I did change my loading tactics."
Yarsevich noted the rise in prices has cut down the trap shooting tournament sizes because a lot of competitors are skipping the smaller tournaments and just concentrating on the larger events.
Fred Seiler, of Lehigh Township, who shoots trap in the Suburban League and also loads his own trap shells, said that with the costs increasing so much he isn't able to get out and shoot as much as he would like.
"One of the key components of shooting trap is lead shot. Lead shot has gone up I would say almost about 50 percent," he said. "I used to pay about $16-$17 dollars, and even that was a little high, for a bag of hard shot, which is for reloading trap shells. I'm pretty sure they say it's up around $26, $27 $28 right now for 25 pounds."
While many people who do a lot of shooting reload to save some money in the long run, Tita doesn't expect to see a surge in new customers because ammunition prices are up.
"Not really, because the economy is so bad that people are just staying away. It's not really affecting it like you would have thought because it's so expensive to shoot anymore that a lot of people are just doing very little of it," he said. "There are people that inquire about reloading, but there isn't really a big influx on reloading."
As far as how the price increases may affect the average hunter, Heebner points out that sportsmen will still need to buy ammunition to hunt.
"They're gonna have to have it. They're going to look for sales; that's a definite thing," he said. "That's going to probably hurt the local guys, the smaller stores, because of the volumes that we buy. Maybe the bigger stores can take a lesser (profit) margin."
While prices may be high now, other increases may be looming in the near future. Tita said there's going to be another reloading supply price increase of about 10 percent on Oct. 1. Seiler said he was talking to a local gun shop owner who told him that his suppliers said that within a couple months the ammunition prices may go up as much as 30 percent.
"I actually bought some .30-06 bullets for my deer hunting rifle because of the cost increase that's coming so I have an extra box when it comes time," Seiler said.
Mark Demko can be reached by e-mail at sports@express-times.com.
Several places are having hunting ammo sales...
If you pick up any Remington Core-Lokt ammo from them, don’t forget the Remington flyer for up to $10 off you ammo purchase.
http://www.remington.com/pdfs/2007-FallPromoCoupon.pdf
Federal Power-shok rebate:
http://www.federalpremium.com/pdf/FP...kCouponFNL.pdf
Federal Fusion rebate:
http://www.federalpremium.com/pdf/Fu...bateCoupon.pdf
BLOAT
May have to ration ammo to the police. Give them 5-round magazines to help conserve....no more “Spray and Pray” like in NYC. LOL!
Thanks for the links.
Maybe we can get Chavez in Venezuela to send some 7.62 × 39 mm to us cheap.
What the article doesn’t tell us is that ammunition, and especially spare parts and reloading components will be PRICELESS if Hillary is elected. Buy now, buy lots IMHO.
BTTT!
Buy often, stack ‘em deep.
Should have bought a pallet of each two years ago.
An old quote comes to mind: In politics, nothing happens by accident.
-fdr
(that’s as close as I recall it)
Another: Ain’t no ticks like poly-ticks—bloodsuckers all.
-Crockett
~~~~~~~~
-G
Buy now, load later....the target rich environment is on its way....
no problem, a local retailer here is having a sale here, already save ~ $5 a box, then do the mail in rebate and I’ve priced hunting ammo at about ~$6 a box, that’s only 2x what I pay for cheap commie plinking ammo, not bad considering the prices right now...
Buy in Bulk !
My buddy at ATK told me about the rebates!
Amen bro! SHoulda BLOATed to the max.
This is an interesting and timely story. I just bought a vintage Sako .222 and have been trying to find Winchester brass. Nobody in the country has any in stock. I suspect (rightly or wrongly) that someone bought it all up for a stockpile.
“Nobody in the country has any in stock.”
Remington and Bertram brass in .222 Rem is available.
You stock up on ammo, and the liberals say you have an “arsenal”. You see these dramatic headlines in the paper...
Man has assault weapons and 10,000 rounds of ammo.”
Well, now you non-gun people know WHY we have 10,000 rounds of ammo. You never know when prices will leap and you want to have plenty on hand so you can weather the price swings. Of course, if ammo prices plunge, you just add another 10,000 rounds. ;-)
Do shooting ranges shift their berms for lead? At a buck a pound, sounds like it might start becoming worthwhile.
How about scraping up the .22 shells for the brass content?
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