Ahhhh....the good ol Days !!

[Nessmuck56]

Just found this in the basement......must be from the 80’s..... cheap back then !

 

[Larry Akers]

I remember I paid $1.00 for the first pound of powder I bought. It was Dupont and about 1965.

 

[mooman76]

That's about right price for early 80's or late 70s if I remember right. I remember my first couple pounds. I bought a Navy revolver used. I was a young guy back then( late 70s). Pyrodex was no where to be found because the plant had recently blown up. I had to travel quite a ways out into the country to find a place that sold the real stuff. It was so much trouble I told the guy I wanted 4 # and he laughed at me. Said that would last forever so we settled on 2 #. I think I paid $5 a # but I don't know for sure being so long ago.

 

[tenngun]

Powder was about a dollar a pound when I started, and lead .25.
when powder was Five dollars it took me near two hours to make that much money, now I can get it in less then an hour.

 

[flintlock al]

I belonged to a club in the 80s would pay $2 a pound still have some 2f 3f 4f left

 

[olskool]

I have been handloading ammo since 1967, I am not old I just started as a kid, I am only 62! just a young man. anyway smokeless powder in the 70s was around 5 bucks and primers was about 60 cents a 100 I still have some powder I use from the 70s man times change,,,,,,,,,,,,

 

[Flintandsteel]

The obvious question is...... how much did you make back then?
The only job I've ever been fired from was in 1976. I was making $3.10/hr, asked for a .25 raise, and was told they no longer needed my services.
That means I would have to work 2 hours to buy a pound of powder.
When I retired, I was making $39/ hr. Powder is pretty cheap now huh?

 

[Smokey Plainsman]

Black powder is the most vulnerable resource of our hobby.

There’ll always be scrap lead about, and flints... well flints have been about for millions of years and there’s plenty to still be had. But real Holy Black?

As governmental restrictions squeeze the powder makers and older members pass on, there will be less and less demand in the coming years and the powder will become even more expensive and hard to find than it is now.

 

[Carbon 6]

As governmental restrictions squeeze the powder makers and older members pass on, there will be less and less demand in the coming years and the powder will become even more expensive and hard to find than it is now.

I'd say demand is pretty high.

 

[Smokey Plainsman]

I'd say demand is pretty high.

I read somewhere the US Navy is GOEX biggest customer? Something about the shells they use have a black powder initiation charge?

I just thank God we have outlets like Maine Powder House, Graf’s, Powder Inc., etc. that make getting reasonably coated powder a reality for many in this country where powder isn’t sold locally or is too expensive.

 

[rickystl]

I don't remember $1.00 a pound. But I do remember $2.00 a pound for the original Dupont. That was in 1963/64 when I was 14 years old. Had a weekend morning paper route. Made $35.00 a month. When I turned 15 in 1965 I bought an original 3rd Model Brown Bess - in shooting condition - for $125.00. It sat in lay-away for 6 months till I finished paying for it with a weekend job at McDonalds at $1.15 an hour. LOL But it was enough to keep me in powder and lead. I recall the old Dixie mould was $3.50. I cleaned the bore with one of those surplus .50 caliber cleaning rods that I think was $1.50. Couple of you guys might remember those. LOL

Rick

 

[Eric Krewson]

I checked the inflation calculator; a buck fifty in 1965 would be $12.29 in today's money.

 

[mushka]

I still have one of those 50 cal cleaning rds. It's more of a look at piece rather than a use piece. It is still usable tough.

 

[nhmoose]

That was most likely bought mid-90's as I also bought powder there at times. I preferred buying at Kittery trading post, they were a buck cheaper or at one of the 1st Congress matches from a powder dealer who also shot at them for even less. Those were the "Good old days"

The last time I went by Riley's a month or so ago they had gone out of business.

 

[Howard Pippin]

The obvious question is...... how much did you make back then?
The only job I've ever been fired from was in 1976. I was making $3.10/hr, asked for a .25 raise, and was told they no longer needed my services.
That means I would have to work 2 hours to buy a pound of powder.
When I retired, I was making $39/ hr. Powder is pretty cheap now huh?

Good morning. You brought up a good point when you said, how much were you make it back them? I bought my 1st pound of surplus 4895 powder that was packed in a 1 pound coffee can by Hodgdon. It cost $1.50 in 1959 and I was working for $10 a day. I retired 16 years ago and was making $184 per day, it seems like to me, that powder was about $12-15 pound then, though I wasn't shooting much at least not black, never got into much black until I bought my Flintlock. Pyrodex was actually more popular in this area back then. There were 2 muzzleloader shooters from my town, at that time, and now we have 3.
Squint

 

[hanshi]

When I started in the 1960s I could buy Dupont BP locally for a $1.00. The dollar just isn't worth very much today.

 

[Nessmuck56]

I don't remember $1.00 a pound. But I do remember $2.00 a pound for the original Dupont. That was in 1963/64 when I was 14 years old. Had a weekend morning paper route. Made $35.00 a month. When I turned 15 in 1965 I bought an original 3rd Model Brown Bess - in shooting condition - for $125.00. It sat in lay-away for 6 months till I finished paying for it with a weekend job at McDonalds at $1.15 an hour. LOL But it was enough to keep me in powder and lead. I recall the old Dixie mould was $3.50. I cleaned the bore with one of those surplus .50 caliber cleaning rods that I think was $1.50. Couple of you guys might remember those. LOL

Rick

I was waiting for the S&H green stamp story....just messing with yah !

 

[Nessmuck56]

That was most likely bought mid-90's as I also bought powder there at times. I preferred buying at Kittery trading post, they were a buck cheaper or at one of the 1st Congress matches from a powder dealer who also shot at them for even less. Those were the "Good old days"

The last time I went by Riley's a month or so ago they had gone out of business.

Out of Business Dec 2019

 

[mooman76]

I have heard that some people got BP in bulk for really cheap. They would sell it to them in a paper bag.

 

[sussexmuzllodr]

For Myself early nineties it was $7.50 a pound Goex

SM