Why ammunition costs are up

[Fjold]

Cartridge brass and bullets use copper.

"China is the world's biggest copper user, with consumption expected to reach 5 million tonnes in 2008, up from 4.8 million tonnes last year, according to China's chief copper smelter Jiangxi Copper Co. Ltd."

The amount of copper used in the small arms in Iraq and Afghanistan is a drop in the bucket.

[Dr Rockso]

It's threefold, there's the construction boom in China (and India) using a lot of materials, there's the loss of surplus ammunition because of the war, and there's the increased cost of energy which increases costs of production and distribution.

[USN CHIEF]

Maybe China is shooting alot

[troyus]

In this kind of market, metals are UP as well.

[xbananax]

Isn't the cost of ammunition increasing due to the high demand for lead and its continually rising prices?

That's what I was under the assumption of

[SemiAutoSam]

Ammo costs are up because the value of the FRN Dollar is falling.

I would bet that making the same level purchase in the UK has not risen as it has here as the value of their Currency has not fallen like ours has.

[Ironchef]

I read here somewhere that ammo will see a solid 70% increase in price. I've noted Walmart's 100 rounds of 9mm WWB going from $15.72 to $18.xx this year so far making that a 13% hike so far.

All components of ammo are getting more expensive.

[bohoki]

Ammo costs are up because the value of the FRN Dollar is falling.

I would bet that making the same level purchase in the UK has not risen as it has here as the value of their Currency has not fallen like ours has.

yep in a world market commodity rich products (copper,lead) will rise in price as the local currency is devalued

too bad the UK doesnt have ammo as an indicator product

steel is still cheap if only there was some way to make bullets and casings out of that

(gee i guess i wasnt being faceciuous enough i'm aware of foreign steel ammo byt how about us and is USA)

[SemiAutoSam]

I have a large # of cases of Norinco 308 and that ammo is steel cased .

But its not something I would use in 99% of my rifles.

I mainly bought it as a barter item for TEOTWAWKI.

yep in a world market commodity rich products (copper,lead) will rise in price as the local currency is devalued

too bad the UK doesnt have ammo as an indicator product

steel is still cheap if only there was some way to make bullets and casings out of that

[FallingDown]

Oh, I thought it was because the anti-gunners took Chris Rock's advice.

[Mac]

....

[rivviepop]

Isn't copper used in the production of all the electronic gizmos, circuit boards, etc.? Wouldn't that be a big reason China shows as the largest user, as they're the largest manufacturing point of all this stuff? (and I would guess those figures include Taiwan, which they don't recognize as non-China)

[1lostinspace]

it's times like this I am glad I reload and bought brass and bullets when the prices were cheap

[Mac]

....

[bbguns44]

I just got 2 cans of 7.62 x 25 for under .10/rd shipped.
Could've got Bulg x25 for .08/rd shipped. 7.62 x 25 is
similar to 9mm yet the price has stayed the same for the past
2 years. It's not China that's driving the price of ammo up,
it's demand in the US.