Ammunition

For those who hunt, either as sport or for food, have you ever looked at the costs of your ammunition?

Reloading can be a great way to cut costs, but only if you shoot alot. The equipment investment can start as low as a couple hundred dollars, plus the components needed to assemble the rounds. So while I have reloaded my own ammo(and small quantities for close family members) for the past 25 years, and have not fired factory ammo for 15 years, I understand that not everyone has the time or inclination to load their own ammo.

So that leaves you with shooting factory made ammo. Picking out what ever may be on sale at the time you need some is a bad plan. The stores discount what they cannot sell due to customer volume and demand, that box of shells might be the right caliber, but not right for the game you are going to hunt, due to bullet weight or design. Ammunition sales during the "off season" are when you should buy. The stores want the shelf space for whatever the current popular activity or event is. Buy more than a full years supply, two maybe three boxes. If you shoot more than that, revisit reloading. Four or five boxes of shells per year is where reloading starts to make sense.

For self reliance and being frugal take a good look at what the settlers and explorers of this country brought with them. I'm talking about the period between 1400 and 1700 AD. Their rifles and shotguns were flintlocks that fired real black powder. Most were in the caliber range of .38 to .48 and they were able to feed themselves quite well. Flintlocks are not hard to find these days, Cabelas and Dixie Gun Works offer several. My first is a .32 cal. The flints last for many many shots, the frizzen lasts for thousands of flints, and a pound of powder will last for a couple thousand shots (in this caliber) So the next time some politician starts making noise about guns or ammo, ask yourself again about that flintlock idea. Cheap to shoot, as accurate as any other rifle (if you buy a quality gun to start with) and 99% of the people around just do not understand that they really can make meat.

Great info as always Keith, you’re like the Christian homesteader encyclopedia. I’m going to look into it, I’ve got a co-worker who has bought a lot of reloading equipment but I’m not sure if he’s started using it. He did tell me that you could make Black powder if you had to but I haven’t been able to research that and in today environment I don’t think I want to be Googling How to make Black Gun Powder …LOL

Look for the "Foxfire" series of books. One of the volumes describes the process in depth. Making a gun quality Black powder is very difficult at best. Now it is legal (under Federal laws) to possess and store up to 50 pounds of black powder, and since you no longer have to sign anything to get it, and it is shelf stable I recommend keeping about 5 to maybe 10 pounds on hand.

We have several of the Fox Fire books, but haven't seen the one you're referring to. I got a few of the books for Christmas and haven't had a chance to read them yet, so it may be in one of those.

I don't remember if it is 7 or 13, or if I am totally off base on the number, but one of them has it in there.