Cost per shot ...

[Flint62Smoothie]

Can you tell I was present at a 'boring' work meeting recently? I came up with this data, while shooting a 20-gauge (62 caliber) smoothbore.

$0.090 Roundball (I buy from E May in Georgia, w/ shipping)
$0.140 Powder (7000 grains/pound, $14/pound (non-volume buy), 100 shots/pound for 70grs
$0.030 Flint (assume 50 shots per flint)
$0.002 Patch (can get 1344 out of one $3 yard from Walmart 'homespun')
$0.006 4F Prime (forget what I calculated)
$0.010 Lube (assumed 500 per tin of $5 TOW mink oil)
$0.280 Total

Or $5.60 for (20) rounds. I was surprised it was this ”˜high’, but need to account for the 70-grain powder charge. FWIW my 45-70 reloads for 100-yards plinking is $0.15 per shot, as that only uses 13-grains of Red Dot.

 

[prowler]

Nobody ever said this was a cheap thrill. :surrender: But................

If you think that is high, do the math on the uninformed, shooting an in-line, 150 gr of Pyrodex pellets, 209 primer, and those $1.00 a piece sabot bullets :thumbsup:

 

[paulvallandigham]

Obviously, if you cast your own balls, you can drop that 9 cents per ball cost down considerably. It depends on whether you scrounge your lead from " sources" or have to buy it somewhere. Unless you run a commercial casting business, it would be hard to estimate how much your power costs. That leaves just your time, and most people don't factor in recreational time in the costs, anyway.

I can get 80 to 100 and some times more shots per flint, so my cost for flints is lower than your 3 cents per shot. Lets say 2 cents. The powder remains the most expensive component, and it has remained such for the 35 plus years I have been around the sport. Anytime you can go together with a group of shooters and order a couple of cases of powder, you are going to get it the cheapest. If you can actually drive to the supplier, and its on your way somewhere, you can reduce the transportation and eliminate the Haz Mat fee all together. Buing your powder at Friendship, or at the Winter Rendezvous near Phoenix is the only other way I know about to cut out the Haz mat fee, and to buy it at rock bottom prices, as distributors take powder to those sites for sale.

 

[roundball]

I keep all sorts of data about my loads...cost of items, # of shots fired, etc, and my overall average shot costs .25cents...targets loads are a few pennies less and hunting loads a little more.

Turkey & Squirrel loads are the most expensive but are still only .37 cents each...but I don't use very many.

Cleaning & lubing supplies are another area that would be interesting to check just out of curiosity...

 

[Britsmoothy]

It,s the main reason I made my own card punches and have been recently messing with making my own shot :thumbsup:

 

[mmahlock]

For comparison consider a 20 round box of 30-30 ammo at $47.00. :shocked2:

We got it cheep. :thumbsup:

 

[roundball]

For comparison consider a 20 round box of 30-30 ammo at $47.00. :shocked2:

We got it cheep. :thumbsup:

$47.00 ????????

 

[nw_hunter]

47.00 for 3030 ammo? :shocked2:

 

[Flint62Smoothie]

FWIW I dpn't consider the price high at all! I just thought it was an interesting exercise and was more curious to see the price as compared to the 45-70 loading. Then again, that 45-70 load is a cast bullet short-range reload as compared to the fairly stout 70gr charge of FFFg in the flint smoothie.

I also know that I can drop this cost by buying flints by the hundred (which I did), by casting my own RBs (not interested ... yet), and buy buying powder in bulk. I've bought a few pounds here and there for $10/pound from others who buy the 25-pound lots, but all I had to go by was a price I saw last week.

 

[akapennypincher]

I once made a sling shot out of a fallen tree branch, rubber bands from fresh vegetables, and and old tennis shoe. Cost was only time, and the ammo were pebble on the ground... :bow:

 

[Many Klatch]

The cost may be 28 cents per shot, but you can spend an hour getting off those 20 shots that you mentioned. Meanwhile some fellow with a 357 magnum down on the other end of the range goes through 2 boxes of ammunition.

Muzzleloading is the cheapest way to shoot all day long.

Many Klatch

 

[mmahlock]

Yep.

Midway USA

 

[roundball]

No idea what that is...

This is the typical price of a box of excellent quality .30-30 shells:
[url] http://www.midwayusa.com/eproductpage.exe/showproduct?saleitemid=277034[/url]

 

[mmahlock]

I don't either but the price really caught my eye. :surrender: :rotf:

 

[buttonbuck]

When you get powder in bulk do you mean the single container has more than a pound, or buying say 20 1 pound cans of goex. In Central Illinois a pound of goex is about 17.00 plus tax. I shoot 2 or 3 pounds a year. but shoot a lot more of 32 cal.

 

[roundball]

When you get powder in bulk do you mean the single container has more than a pound, or buying say 20 1 pound cans of goex. In Central Illinois a pound of goex is about 17.00 plus tax. I shoot 2 or 3 pounds a year. but shoot a lot more of 32 cal.

A case of Goex holds 25 one pound cans, and the total delivered price of a case to my front porch a few months ago was less than $11.00/pound.

Unless money is no object, if you like to shoot a lot it's the only / least expensive way to buy it...just have to get past the impact of the total case price at one time...an alternative is to split a case with another person or two

 

[fw707]

roundball, I got a case delivered to my door a couple of months ago for the same price.

buttonbuck, if you can swing the one-time cost you can get 25 one-pound cans delivered for about the same price you are paying now for 15 cans.