Holy Crap!

[Adaminak]

A little history first: I'm a skeet shooter. Have been for about 10 years now. When I left Alaska and ended up in Korea (2003), I packed my shotshell presses, wads, and whatever remaining shot I had into a few storage containers and hid them away for the next time I could get set up and start shooting seriously.

Fast forward 5 years: So here I sit in Iraq, dreaming about things I'd like to do when I get home and I decide I should get back into competitive skeet. I start digging through the online sites looking at equipment and components and whatnot, and I decide I can order a little at a time and have it mailed to the house...ready and waiting for me to return, when I noticed something odd: WHEN DID THEY CONVERT LEAD TO GOLD!? The last ton of shot I bought cost me $13.25/bag, or $.53/lb. Now the cheapest I can find is $48/bag, or $1.92/lb, a 362% increase over just 5 years! I'm sure I can get it in bulk for a little less, but c'mon. $18/bag was expensive a few years ago, and now it's worth another $30 for the same stuff?

What gives?

[Fronty Owner]

yup. I have only been loading for a couple years and seen a nice price increase

wait till you go buy actual ammo. its doubled in a couple years.

[Redleg]

I imagine the war has it inflated along with ammo.

[Equalizer_2]

About 5-7 years ago lead sold for about $500 a ton. About 1-2 years ago it was going for about $3200 a ton. It has so many uses in the developing world (China) that thieves are ripping it off the roofs of the old churches in Europe. They used to roof them with sheet lead as it lasted so long. There was a small news blurb in "The American Rifleman" a year or so back that told this story.

[Adaminak]

This keeps up it might not be worth my time to reload. I haven't figured the new costs yet, but a case of 20ga shells used to cost less than $25 to reload, with the biggest expense being shot. I'm sure it'll be closer to $50/case now, and I've seen factory ammo running $62/case. Is it really worth an hour of my time to save $12? It'll still pay off for the little guns, but for my 20ga stuff, I may start shooting factory.

[XLR8R]

Yes, the high demand for lead has exerted upward pressure on the market price, and government mandated compliance costs have increased dramatically.

The lead at the shop is probably going to end up in the same category as the jar of mercury.

[Gunlovingvet]

I only have 8 lbs of Mercury.

[XLR8R]

... that ought to be more than enough!

[Redleg]

Scrap prices took a dump, so maybe things will become sane again?

[Gunsmith/Administrator]

One thing no one has yet mentioned is the cost of shipping that lead