Holy black powder Batman! Has anyone checked the price of black powder lately? pnic Buying 20 pounds of Graf Brothers house powder in 2ff and 3ff just set me back $353! And that is with a waived hazmat fee. hdslp I have been checking around and that was the best deal I could find. I thought Red Badger or at least Hanshi were keeping an eye on this and would stop these outlandish astronomical powder prices.
For clarification, I made this order for a couple of friends I have tricked into being muzzleloader addicts. I still have a couple of years before I will need to order more for myself. Of course by then I might need a home equity loan to purchase 5 pounds or so.
Yes, the price has gotten pnic srndr but I plan to use some of mine over the Labor Day weekend at the Colorado State Shoot.
It has gotten high, but at least we can still get it.
Most of the substitute powders are even higher.
it`s high because there so many black powder shooters now . and the much higher wages of those producing it compared with just ten years ago ! not because the ingredients are expensive or hard to find !if the lunatics running for office get elected and raise minimum wage to $15.00 per hour , and raise our taxes the way they want , I`ll be kissing black powder shooting goodbye . this is the lefts way of going after the guns the claimed they were`nt interested in ! in my area black powder is right around $19 to $21 a pound , over 4 times the price it was when I first got into the hobby , the factory made production guns I used to buy at reasonable prices are not going for what were custom prices on plain custom pieces at that time ! all of this has taken place since 2008 !
:o :o Just checked my go to place in Winchester Va...Goex is now 20 bucks a lb or 425 bucks for 25 lb bulk,,,,Yikes Good thing i still have 25 lbs left from our last trip up there
WOW! You guys are lucky, though. I only have a pound of Goex and maybe a total of 1/2 lb of JBP divided between two small horns (and I'm broke!). The friend storing my ammo, etc, down in Va. also has my BP which is only around 4 lbs or so. I am powder poor!
Back when I started buying BP (Dupont) in the mid to late 1960s I paid $1.10 a pound locally! The price has gone up higher, quicker than most other things I'm aware of. Even three or four years ago when we ordered a 25 lb case of Jack's Battle Powder (a Goex product) it had just gone up from $11 a pound to around $12.80 a lb. Now it's right up there with Goex $19 per lb and JPG $16 per lb from Jack's Powder Keg! That's been in just the past couple of years! I don't know what to do since I'm no longer connected with the mob. pnic
I really lucked up at the flea market a couple weeks ago. I got 2 cans of fffg and 1can of ffg, a 45 cal. bullet mold and a powder measure all for $20. The powder had never been opened. I shot some of ffg and it shot fine. The lady selling it said her husband used powder pellets and didn't shoot powder anymore. His loss is my gain.
I just checked with my people at Powder Inc. and yup even for me powder is up to $18.89 Lb and I have to get 25 lbs minimum order and #11 caps are $ 1.24 a 100, and #10's are @ $ 1.11 a 100 but I have to get 1000 min on caps...
The way things are now, we're not the windshield, we're the BUG! hntr
Just got a pound of IMR 4198 and it set me back $36. So it's not just the Holy Black! pnic
~WH~
Quote from: Winter Hawk on September 06, 2019
Just got a pound of IMR 4198 and it set me back $36. So it's not just the Holy Black! pnic
~WH~
well ! that one moron running for the presidency is talking a 50% tax on fire arms , and 30% tax on ammo ! dont think for a minute that would not affect our hobby ! I started distrusting the left when jimmy carter was in office , and he was almost harmless , this new batch are foam at the mouth ranting lunatics ! next election may very well decide if our hobby will even exist anymore !
I started distrusting the left when jimmy carter was in office , and he was almost harmless
[/quote]
Almost harmless?? He kicked out the Shah of Iran that put the Ayatollah in power who then locked up 52 of our embassy staff and then he gave away the Panama Canal. He also gave amnesty to all the draft dodgers in the Vietnam War.
I'd hate to see someone harmful.
Quote from: Patocazador on September 08, 2019
I started distrusting the left when jimmy carter was in office , and he was almost harmless
Almost harmless?? He kicked out the Shah of Iran that put the Ayatollah in power who then locked up 52 of our embassy staff and then he gave away the Panama Canal. He also gave amnesty to all the draft dodgers in the Vietnam War.
I'd hate to see someone harmful.
[/quote] he just served two terms , and got the ball rolling on the bs we are putting up with now , all the truly bad has taken place since 2008 !
Let's face it folks. The prices will rise and like gasoline prices, we'll have to grin and bare it. When gas prices went to $5.00 plus a gallon we survived. The same mind set will prevail here. We'll just have to wring out the most pleasure from each shot we take. I seriously doubt the hard core of our ranks are going to stop shooting. I'm not a hard core, but I'll still go to my shooting doing's and enjoy it. I remember an old man from my youth that said "If you are going to dance, you have to pay the fiddler". YMMV.
doggoner
Quote from: Red Badger on September 05, 2019
I just checked with my people at Powder Inc. and yup even for me powder is up to $18.89 Lb and I have to get 25 lbs minimum order and #11 caps are $ 1.24 a 100, and #10's are @ $ 1.11 a 100 but I have to get 1000 min on caps...
Caps $1.24? They are about $6 here and Musket caps are $10 plus tax of course.
How much is the HAZMAT fee these days? I might need to order some since I'm down to my last 1,000.
The last time I ordered powder I paid about $14.00 dollars by buying a case. That was about 8 years ago. Now if, that is not really I read the chart correctly it is 18.90 a pound. Considering the price of every thing else that is not the great a price increase. Caps have big increase, but I remember buying cap for #1.25 a 100.
Thus end the economics lesson for today
hotfxr,..My Muzzle loading Club buys black prouder in case-lots and it is still $14.50 a pound for Goex 2, 3 or 4 f,..Sounds like I should stock up!?!
Quote from: Watauga on September 10, 2019
hotfxr,..My Muzzle loading Club buys black prouder in case-lots and it is still $14.50 a pound for Goex 2, 3 or 4 f,..Sounds like I should stock up!?!
That's the way to do it in order to get the best deal. If your club doesn't buy powder then get as many buddies as you can to go in on a case. Just give the money to one person in the group prior to the purchase and hand out once received.
Powder Inc. was my go to for many years but I recently got a better deal through Graf & Son although there is a five pound minimum.
Quote from: Watauga on September 10, 2019
hotfxr,..My Muzzle loading Club buys black prouder in case-lots and it is still $14.50 a pound for Goex 2, 3 or 4 f,..Sounds like I should stock up!?!
That is a good deal. I have to admit, I get my powder from an alternate source and it costs me next to nothing. (Less that $3 per pound) So rising costs don't exactly worry me. But not everyone knows who I know and if it affects them, it does indeed bother me. I have had several conversations with my local BATF&E investigating agent about the rules and regulations pertaining to the sale and storage of black powder and there are many rules and regulations (I know, I repeated a phrase in the same sentence, sorry RB) that make no sense at all. The bottom line is, if you read all the regs, they are trying to restrict our ability to buy black powder in any affordable way. Right now, according to the latest California rules (which I steadfastly ignore, fed trumps state) says we cannot have more than 1 pound of black powder
in possession, which includes stored at home.
Quote from: hotfxr on September 10, 2019
Quote from: Watauga on September 10, 2019
hotfxr,..My Muzzle loading Club buys black prouder in case-lots and it is still $14.50 a pound for Goex 2, 3 or 4 f,..Sounds like I should stock up!?!
That is a good deal. I have to admit, I get my powder from an alternate source and it costs me next to nothing. (Less that $3 per pound) So rising costs don't exactly worry me. But not everyone knows who I know and if it affects them, it does indeed bother me. I have had several conversations with my local BATF&E investigating agent about the rules and regulations pertaining to the sale and storage of black powder and there are many rules and regulations (I know, I repeated a phrase in the same sentence, sorry RB) that make no sense at all. The bottom line is, if you read all the regs, they are trying to restrict our ability to buy black powder in any affordable way. Right now, according to the latest California rules (which I steadfastly ignore, fed trumps state) says we cannot have more than 1 pound of black powder in possession, which includes stored at home.
as I was saying ! the morons fear us front stuffer shooters more than they fear Isis !
Brother, less than $3 a pound???!!! I am now effectively scarred for life. :'(
I don't fear Isis or the terrorists, I fear our government! pnic
"as I was saying ! the morons fear us front stuffer shooters more than they fear Isis ! "
beowulf thmbsup it just stands to reason, somebody that gets only one shot is going to be a way better shot than most anyone else. hntr pnic pnic
Quote from: Watauga on September 11, 2019
"as I was saying ! the morons fear us front stuffer shooters more than they fear Isis ! "
beowulf thmbsup it just stands to reason, somebody that gets only one shot is going to be a way better shot than most anyone else. hntr pnic pnic
ROFL ROFL ROFL thmbsup
The members of The Ancient Ones of Maine pool their orders at Maine Powder House and get a better price and no hazmat fee. Just one more Club benefit. :applause:
Quote from: R I Jerolmon on September 21, 2019
The members of The Ancient Ones of Maine pool their orders at Maine Powder House and get a better price and no hazmat fee. Just one more Club benefit. :applause:
Another benefit of ordering in bulk, some dealers waive the Hazmat fee if the order contains a minimum amount of powder. Last time I ordered it was 10 pounds or more.
All you guys down there in the lower 48 really seriously need to quit yer sniveling about the price of real black powder!!! Ain't no sympathy up here fellas...first of all A) At least you have choices in available powder, ie. Goex, Swiss, Grafs, etc. B) Anything less than $25 a pound is CHEAP...to us here in Alaska!!!! There are only like half a dozen sources for GOEX ONLY here in a state 2.5 times the size of Texas, and we are happy to get it at $29 a pound!!!! WHAH...cry me a River, guys!!! ROFL ROFL
Quote from: R I Jerolmon on September 21, 2019
The members of The Ancient Ones of Maine pool their orders at Maine Powder House and get a better price and no hazmat fee. Just one more Club benefit. :applause:
Being a member of "The Ancient Ones" (in good standing I hope) I need to somehow get to a gathering and look into acquiring a bit more powder. "Health" issues prevent me from doing anything other than "around town" traveling. It sucks being restricted by physical problems, but I do still shoot occasionally at a local range. And it's still a burr under my saddle that when I started with muzzleloaders I bought Dupont for $1.10 a pound.
4 bucks a pound when I started back in the 70`s , but then I could buy a kit gun for under a hundred , colt repros were going for 60 bucks , and leather was affordable even for a young guy who worked a crappy low paying job ! think I`ll hop in the old time machine and take a trip back to stock up ;D ,if it was only that easy ! ROFL ROFL
Minimum wage was about $1.35 / hr back in the early 70s when I started my first real job . $100 was a LOT OF MONEY to me back then. Time machine would only work if I took cash back from the present.
in 78 I was making $2.10 an hour , my rent was 30 bucks a week for an actually nice apartment , food was cheap and my first muzzleloader was bought at a sporting goods store in westminster md, for the price of $19.95 , a colonial pistol kit from markwell arms . great kit , had instructions in 11 different languages , none of them english ! ROFL ROFL ROFL, so at least some things never change !
Since we're now crying about how little we made, I can probably top (bottom?) you all. As an usher in a movie theater in 1960/61 I worked 48 hours a week for $12.50 plus free popcorn. 25 cents/hour wasn't much even then but I was in high school and didn't have any time to spend it between school and work hours. I saved up enough to pay for my first quarter's tuition in college the next year.
Back then the stores closed at 5:00 and were closed on Sundays and there was no on-line shopping. ;D
Beowulf, I remember getting my first BP rifle. It was in the mid 1960s and I ordered it from Numrich Arms. It was a .45 Heritage model underhammer. It was very nicely built with a real walnut stock. Price is a bit foggy now, but I paid somewhere in the $70s, IIRC. But it also came with a (two, actually) fringed heavy leather scabbard, one of which I still have and use. It also came with a cheap scissor type bullet mold. I still have the mold - I used it for years and did okay - although the ball is not as nice as what I get from my Lee & Lyman molds. I killed bobcats and squirrels with that ball and 60 grains of Dupont & spit patch. Later I bought a nice .58 zouave for well under a "C" note and a .44 c&b from Navy Arms for around the same $$. My most proud moment with the Remmy c&b was when I astonished a close friend by shooting a buzzard out of the sky. My best shot with the zouave was with a prb. I killed a large fox squirrel with a shot through the neck, exactly where I aimed. AND, it only made a small entrance and exit slit that was hard to see. Those were wondrous days.
Quote from: Patocazador on October 29, 2019
Back then the stores closed at 5:00 and were closed on Sundays and there was no on-line shopping. ;D
I remember the days of "blue laws" when it was impossible to buy anything on Sundays.
Quote from: Patocazador on October 29, 2019
Since we're now crying about how little we made, I can probably top (bottom?) you all. As an usher in a movie theater in 1960/61 I worked 48 hours a week for $12.50 plus free popcorn. 25 cents/hour wasn't much even then but I was in high school and didn't have any time to spend it between school and work hours. I saved up enough to pay for my first quarter's tuition in college the next year.
Back then the stores closed at 5:00 and were closed on Sundays and there was no on-line shopping. ;D
got me beat ! lol worst pay I ever got was for digging potatoes .50 cents a bushel ! which was ok , I was 9 years old so 1966 . I like telling kids what kind of pay I got .and what I could do with it ! ;D and you know danged well they think I`m lying like a congressman seeking re election ! ROFL ROFL ROFL
IN 1965 I had a whapping pay of 90 dollars a month as a full time navy sailor, oh that was before taxes.
amazing and somewhat frightening how much things have changed the last 50 years or so ! pnic
In 1947 after my dad got out of the Navy, we bought a brand new brick house on a corner lot. It cost $9700.00 Now you can't buy the cheapest car for that, maybe not even a decent motorcycle.
When I worked in Rochester, NY as a 19 year old, a draft beer cost a dime and McDonald's hamburgers were 15 cents. Of course gas was .29/gallon as it had been for ages. I once brought a bunch of Coke bottles to a gas station to trade the refund in for a few gallons.