Muzzleloader vs Modern

[Zonie]

Every time I get another catalog from the places selling modern ammo and such I am amazed at the prices.

After reading thru the latest I got to thinking, "How can a person shooting a modern hunting rifle ever afford to shoot enough to get to know his/her gun and where it's shooting?"

With this question in the back of my mind, I decided to compare a .50 caliber percussion gun loaded with 70 grains of Black powder, a .490 diameter swaged roundball, a commercial pillow ticking patch and a bit of Crisco for lube against three of the more popular deer cartridges listed in the sales catalog I have received.

Knowing that Dixie's prices are usually a bit high I used them as a source of information on prices.
I did not include shipping because I figured most shooters will buy their ammo or ML supplies locally.

For the Modern guns:
.270 = $19.47/20 = $0.97/shot
.30-30 = $15.27/20 = $0.76/shot
.30-06 = $19.87/20 = $0.99/shot

For the muzzleloader:
.490 swaged roundball = $17.75/100 = $0.18/shot
.50 cal pillow ticking patch = $4.75/100 = $0.05/shot
RWS #11 caps = $9.95/100 = $0.10/shot
Crisco patch lube = almost nothing
Black Powder = $20.00/100 = $0.20/shot
Grand TOTAL = $0.53/shot.

Even comparing the muzzleloader with the low cost .30-30 we save 23 cents/shot. Put another way three shots from the muzzleloader costs $1.59 while 2 shots from the .30-30 cost $1.52 so for the difference of a few cents we can get 33 percent more shooting (and a lot more satisfaction). :grin:

Of course we can improvise by casting our balls for about 5 cents each if we use $2.00/pound lead and cutting our patches out of a yard of store bought pillow ticking reduces the cost per patch to almost nothing. Those two things alone will reduce the cost by about 13 cents ending up costing about $0.40 cents per shot.

40 cents per shot for something that will knock down a deer with equal effectiveness out to a range of 100 yards? That's a pretty good deal if you ask me but, the biggest gain is because our guns cost less to shoot we can afford to shoot more.
That allows us to become intimately knowledgeable of where our guns are shooting which makes a good accurate hit almost automatic on the chest cavity of a deer.

Good shooting to you.

 

[Norinco]

Most hunters don't shoot their hunting rifles that much.

Personally, I target practice with military surplus rifles (collect them too). Ammo is cheaper. For hunting, I use handloads. I shoot off a few rounds to sight in and get familiar every now and then.

Ammo prices have been coming down, but they are still high.

 

[vern faulkner]

I reload everything except .22 rim fire. Helps keep the cost down some and the gray haired woman leaves me alone. A win-win situation for me. Vern

 

[Idaho Ron]

For the Modern guns:
.270 = $19.47/20 = $0.97/shot
.30-30 = $15.27/20 = $0.76/shot
.30-06 = $19.87/20 = $0.99/shot

For the muzzleloader:
.490 swaged roundball = $17.75/100 = $0.18/shot
.50 cal pillow ticking patch = $4.75/100 = $0.05/shot
RWS #11 caps = $9.95/100 = $0.10/shot
Crisco patch lube = almost nothing
Black Powder = $20.00/100 = $0.20/shot
Grand TOTAL = $0.53/shot.
__________________________________________________

The smell of the smoke, and the cloud you can't see through as a huge buck just took a solid hit to the lungs..... PRICELESS

Ron

 

[longcruise]

Zonie, those are interesting comparisons. Itt prompted me to do some calculating on my own costs. Firstly, I'm shooting modern stuff way cheaper than the guys who buy factory ammo!

I load .270 and 30-30 and came up with these figs for my .270

Brass .045 per shot based on 10 loads per case
Bullets .25 per shot based on $25 per 100
Primers .0379 per shot
Powder .149 per shot
Total = .48 cents per shot

The 30-30 is a bit cheaper due to less powder but still comes in around .42 cents.

Still, my bp costs are different from yours. These figs are for a .54 caliber. I cast balls from lead that I buy for .38 cents per pound. Making my own patches cuts way down on those. You pay way more for caps than I do. :shocked2: Mine are $5 per 100. Like you, lube is too cheap to calculate and figured my 80 grain load and $16 per pound of powder got that down a bit. Final figs look like this:

Balls .012
Patch .003
Caps .05
Lube .00
Powder .18
Total= .245 Per shot

Interesting that the big cost per shot for modern is the bullet, while the bigger cost for ML is the powder.

Modern can be much cheaper by shooting cast bullets. I shoot my 45-70 loaded with bp and cast bullets for about .24 cents a shot and even less if using modern powder.

 

[Problem Child]

I was thinking about this a few weeks ago.I can still shoot my Russian 7.62x.39 for about $.27 a round,but my 30-06(haven't hunted with it in 6 years)cost about $1.75.But it sure ain't as much fun as shooting my BP .36cal.Think we could get Wolf to cast round balls???

 

[dbutch]

bp- powder 12.60 per pound delivered-Goex
flint 1.00 ea 2 per 100 shots
lead-no cost
patch 4.99 per yard
lube-little if any cost


my cost-15 to 19 cents depending on powder load

My shotguns cost more due to the non-toxic shot used.

Do not miss modern ammo prices!

I shoot a ton more now that I'm rolling my own with bp.

 

[sepiatone]

Shooting my flinter all day costs the same as shooting about 6 rounds from my 308 norma mag. Needless to say...it doesn't come out often.

 

[Gotspark]

Interesting, :hmm: velly,velly interresting. I knew it was cheaper but had no idea it was that much cheaper.The reasons just never end for shootin flints!

 

[nkbj]

And cap prices are getting up the high side of goofy.

 

[BrownBear]

I guess I'm just cheap, but I do most of my casual shooting with 35 grain or so loads, for 200 shots per pound of powder. Even at the $20 Alaskan for powder that's only a dime a shot. I paid $5 Alaskan for the last tins of caps, so call that a nickle. Make my own lube, cast my own balls from scrap and virtually free for ticking.

Seems like barely over $0.15 a shot for me. That's not a heck of a lot more than 22 rimfire at local prices.

 

[Kentuckywindage]

some choose to invest their big bucks into custom rifles, others choose to use affordable production muzzleloaders and use that extra money on ammo. I shoot both types of muzzys and shoot nearly every day.

Buying sabots in bulk are cheap too. It gets even cheaper when you find free wheel weights and cast your own, then you're looking at $6 for a package of 50 sabots of your needing.

 

[stubshaft]

Being frugal myself I have been shooting my rock lock alot! Caps in Hawaii run 10.50 per hundred and I have to dip into my stash of holy black 3F. But i learned many years ago that I could shoot all day for less than 10% of the cost of the cost of shooting modern guns, and that was taking into consideration reloading.

More importantly I LIKE making smoke!

When I shoot at the local public range all of the black rifle shooters look at me with disdain because of the clouds of smoke I produce (it blurs the image in their $800.00 scopes). But all I gotta say is that...

...I EAT MEAT!

 

[hanshi]

I've owned and shot a large number of calibers over the decades though I don't shoot them nearly as much these days. I've always handloaded all my ammo for rifle and pistol; this includes all hunting, target and plinking ammo. I did use some factory cartridges on deer twice after I gave out of my favorite handloads, specifically my .22 Hornet and a favorite .357 mag revolver. Many tens of thousands of rounds have come from my presses over the past 40 plus years. I also cast most of the bullets for handgun cartridges.

For several years I've hunted with flintlocks-and occasionally a cap lock-exclusively. In fact it has probably been three years since I've even fired a CF rifle.

I cast all my own round ball and so far the most I've paid for lead is 22 cents a pound with over half being free. So yes, ML (especially flint) shooting is dirt cheap by any measure.

 

[HOGGHEAD]

Cost is one of the main reasons I got into bullet casting a long time ago. And I am really glad I started casting because I also found out that I really enjoy doing it. A lot of people consider reloading and casting as a job. But I sure do not. I can take a couple of cold Pepsi's and a bag of chips and spend an entire evening at the loading or casting bench, and just really enjoy myself.

 

[Bill Hall]

Even though I obtained probably a lifetime's supply of good, pure lead a few years ago (for free :grin: ), I still dig out most of my balls from the dirt where I shoot. Just seems like a waste to leave that lead there. I figure with all that free lead, I'm way ahead on the cost of ammo, but maybe a little behind on the cost of propane for my plumber's lead pot. Bill

 

[Rock Island]

I am a military surplus rifle collector and a few years back I was shooting an average 120 rounds a day on my own range, double that or more on the weekends. That was then, this is now, ammo prices have shot through the roof, even the cost of components for reloading has gone sky high so I have shelved most of my Mosins, Mauser's , Arisakas, Lebel's, Enfields and US milsurps in favor of my charcoal burners. I get my lead for nothing, cast my own for everything from .31-.75 buy my powder in bulk, and I still have thousands of caps I bought years back. Much cheaper for me to shoot all day with my BP guns, and a lot of fun.

 

[MSW]

ayup- what the fella said... waste not, want not.

perhaps i'm just a natural born cheapskate, but i've always considered part of the fun was looking for bargains and 'scrounging lead' is a great way to dig in the dirt and get your clothes dirty and save some money into the bargain.

then you get out your tools and you make stuff which you use to shoot your gun.

i have tried to explain this to my wife and kids, who roll their eyes and stare incomprehendingly at me.

it's a guy thing. you wouldn't understand.

 

[mykeal]

Zonie,

Good information, but you left out the price of tooth whitener for the muzzleloaders....

 

[4deer]

A modern deer rifle supposedly requires less practice to hit a target at 100 yards. I have probably fired my 30-06 more times at a deer then I have at paper. Of course the convenience of four fast follow shoots helps with the hitting. :redface:

In about one years time I probably have three or four hundred shots through my flinter at paper and I still am not a good shot with it. I need the practice with that gun. If the cost per shot was as high or higher than a modern rifle I probably would never have bought my gun.

I just started recently shooting into a sand filled barrel. So, since I cast my own balls that cost goes to zero (I never miss the barrel :wink: ). I cut my own pillow ticking and use crisco so that cost is very low. I use rich pierce flint and bought my last few cans of powder in person from a goex dealer for about $13 a can. Shooting 50 grains I just figured costs me about $0.09 for powder. Figure maybe 50 shots with one flint so that's about $0.02 per shot. So it would probably be fair to say it costs me around $0.15 per shot total.