Suggested ratio to buy components in

[TapRackBang]

With components being easier to find and while higher priced not at eye watering price points I have been slowly stocking up.

What would be the ratio of powder to primer to bullets for common caliber categories?

For example -

5.56
308/6.5 Creed
Magnum

Thanks.

 

[MarshallDodge]

Primers>Powder>Bullets

 

[simonp]

Exactly what he said
SRP will dry up again next year, Fed 210’s are still hard to find

 

[doubloon]

From a purely no waste point of view which is mostly useless except for mental mastrubation unless you're a manufacturer.

Bullets and primers are essentially 1:1 ... no bullet no need for a primer.

Bullets and brass are also 1:1 if you're not reusing it, like a manufacturer. Brass to bullets gets trickier if you're reusing the brass because brass eventually wears out so you can get by with a lower ratio for straight walled cases than bottle necked cases.

powder depends on what you're loading and how many grains you use per round but like primers it can depend on how many bullets you have.

But generally it's good to have more powder and primers on hand than bullets.

 

[TapRackBang]

Exactly what he said
SRP will dry up again next year, Fed 210’s are still hard to find

That is priority of buying and I am doing that now, heavy on primers and powder.

For example 5.56= 1 pound of powder/200 bullets/200 primers.

Just looking for some estimates from people with more experience reloading than I have.

Appreciate the responses.

 

[Aftermath]

Ammo Prices Are Set to Spike Due to World Wide Shortage of Gunpowder | The Gateway Pundit | by Anthony Scott

Vista Outdoor, the parent company to several ammunition makers such as Federal, CCI, and Remington, has warned prices for ammunition are expected to rise in 2024 due to a worldwide shortage of gunpowder.

www.thegatewaypundit.com

 

[6.5SH]

With components being easier to find and while higher priced not at eye watering price points I have been slowly stocking up.

What would be the ratio of powder to primer to bullets for common caliber categories?

For example -

5.56
308/6.5 Creed
Magnum

Thanks.

How many pieces of brass for each do you have and how many times do you plan on reloading each? 1 to 1 for primers and bullets just to be able to use what you have. As to powder, usable case capacity divided into 7000 will give you the number of reloads per pound of powder (and likely a small amount of excess powder). Those would be your minimums if wanting to use all of what you have to your planned usage.

 

[MarshallDodge]

I based my previous post on 30+ years of experience.

Bill Clinton got elected in 1992, the year after I started reloading. There was a panic then, similar to what we have now. Back then I had a single stage press and was buying primers by the 100 pack. One day I went to the gun shop to buy primers and there were none on the shelf. I had to wait about a month for them to come back in stock, and I panic bought a thousand.

Powder has always been a little easier to find but I still keep quite a bit on hand. Weird things have happened over the years. Factories will burn down, wars start, and panics happen.

Bullets will usually fly off the shelf during a panic but they become readily available soon after, usually 6 months or less.

All that said, I try to keep at least 2 years of inventory on hand.

 

[6.5SH]

I based my previous post on 30+ years of experience.

Bill Clinton got elected in 1992, the year after I started reloading. There was a panic then, similar to what we have now. Back then I had a single stage press and was buying primers by the 100 pack. One day I went to the gun shop to buy primers and there were none on the shelf. I had to wait about a month for them to come back in stock, and I panic bought a thousand.

Powder has always been a little easier to find but I still keep quite a bit on hand. Weird things have happened over the years. Factories will burn down, wars start, and panics happen.

Bullets will usually fly off the shelf during a panic but they become readily available soon after, usually 6 months or less.

All that said, I try to keep at least 2 years of inventory on hand.

I started with a Dillon 550 so I've never bought less than 1000. In the early 90's 1000 Winchester primers were in the $11-12 range. A splurge purchase at a fun show would be a "sleeve" of 5000 for $50 and save a few bucks.

 

[TripleBull]

Covid made it pretty weird around here (Colorado) but I took it as a personal challenge and searched out all the mom-and-pop shops within ~200 miles and managed to build my stock of everything. Primers were the crux, so a few times I overpaid on Gunbroker. You needed to be ready, cash-wise, when product was available. You also had to be willing to try alternate powders and bullets, but in the end, it all worked out and I learned more about a range of loads. I'm still trying to add to the stock, selectively.

 

[rustyinbend]

The math is pretty easy ...

Let's say you want "2,000" reloads worth of capabilities for a given caliber ... about a "barrel's worth".
There are about 7,000 grains in a pound of powder.
Keeping it simple, if you charge with 70 grains, that's about 100 charges per pound.
Multiply that by 20 and you get what you need to shoot out your barrel (2,000 shots) ... so you need 20 pounds of powder in that example.

I always keep about a barrel's worth of my preferred powders and primers on the shelf ... so I never run low.

Primers and bullets are much easier, and would obviously be 2,000 if that's what you estimate for a barrel.

 

[TapRackBang]

How many pieces of brass for each do you have and how many times do you plan on reloading each? 1 to 1 for primers and bullets just to be able to use what you have. As to powder, usable case capacity divided into 7000 will give you the number of reloads per pound of powder (and likely a small amount of excess powder). Those would be your minimums if wanting to use all of what you have to your planned usage.

This helps, I can use this to model it out better. My first idea was just use the max grains for a typical load find an average and then extend the other components and add in brass life to brass on hand.

Not meant to be exact for a forecast model that gets me close enough.

 

[TapRackBang]

The math is pretty easy ...

Let's say you want "2,000" reloads worth of capabilities for a given caliber ... about a "barrel's worth".
There are about 7,000 grains in a pound of powder.
Keeping it simple, if you charge with 70 grains, that's about 100 charges per pound.
Multiply that by 20 and you get what you need to shoot out your barrel (2,000 shots) ... so you need 20 pounds of powder in that example.

I always keep about a barrel's worth of my preferred powders and primers on the shelf ... so I never run low.

Primers and bullets are much easier, and would obviously be 2,000 if that's what you estimate for a barrel.

I like the barrel life as a variable, thanks.

 

[Dead Eye Dick]

Proportion? As much as you can get as often as you can get of….Everything!

If all else fails, plenty of pistol primers, lead and Alliant Unique (and a good pair of 44’s, one rifle and one revolver to shoot it in).

Even at my age, I simply have no optimism of our nation’s future, despite being an optimist all my life.

 

[chevy_man]

I just keep buying.

Primers, powder, bullets...

Brass is the easy part. It's pretty much always available even if you have to buy factory ammo to get it. Or you may have to pay more.

I'm at the point where I do things like see if I can buy a flat of 5000 primers, if they're large or small rifle I buy brass to suit instead of buying primers to fit my brass. Then I have leftovers when the barrel is done too roll into other things.

Some things like CCI 450s or WLR I use across a lot of calibers. Some like Fed 210 I rarely use unless it's all I can get.

I buy everything by the thousand or more when I can. I still remember gun stores giving $1-5 discounts on buying 1000 primers at a time. A year later they were only selling 100 at a time to try and spread them out.



Your space will look like an episode of hoarders. I could put together anything from shotgun to pistol to 338 Lapua with what I have in odds and ends.
The nice thing is you start digging into the stock when prices rise and you can always shoot something for a reasonable price.

 

[rustyinbend]

I just keep buying.

Primers, powder, bullets...

Brass is the easy part. It's pretty much always available even if you have to buy factory ammo to get it. Or you may have to pay more.

I'm at the point where I do things like see if I can buy a flat of 5000 primers, if they're large or small rifle I buy brass to suit instead of buying primers to fit my brass. Then I have leftovers when the barrel is done too roll into other things.

Some things like CCI 450s or WLR I use across a lot of calibers. Some like Fed 210 I rarely use unless it's all I can get.

I buy everything by the thousand or more when I can. I still remember gun stores giving $1-5 discounts on buying 1000 primers at a time. A year later they were only selling 100 at a time to try and spread them out.



Your space will look like an episode of hoarders. I could put together anything from shotgun to pistol to 338 Lapua with what I have in odds and ends.
The nice thing is you start digging into the stock when prices rise and you can always shoot something for a reasonable price.

The only issue with that strategy is with those of us shooting for long range accuracy and competing. Mix-and-Match supplies make it harder to keep and manage an optimal cartridge made with consistent components ... but using what you can get is admittedly part of the game lately.

 

[BuildingConceptsllc]

The only issue with that strategy is with those of us shooting for long range accuracy and competing. Mix-and-Match supplies make it harder to keep and manage an optimal cartridge made with consistent components ... but using what you can get is admittedly part of the game lately.

Yeah I try to keep enough of everything for a few barrels worth and buy it in that quantity. I like to have 2k bullets for each of my main calibers of Berger that can be hard to find and I only use a few different powders so it's easy to keep at least 16lbs around. I've been waiting to get more components for a while thinking the crappy economy would cause some prices to go down but that may not happen before the war shortages cause low supply

 

[johnnyvw]

I based my previous post on 30+ years of experience.

Bill Clinton got elected in 1992, the year after I started reloading. There was a panic then, similar to what we have now. Back then I had a single stage press and was buying primers by the 100 pack. One day I went to the gun shop to buy primers and there were none on the shelf. I had to wait about a month for them to come back in stock, and I panic bought a thousand.

Powder has always been a little easier to find but I still keep quite a bit on hand. Weird things have happened over the years. Factories will burn down, wars start, and panics happen.

Bullets will usually fly off the shelf during a panic but they become readily available soon after, usually 6 months or less.

All that said, I try to keep at least 2 years of inventory on hand.

That's why I added to my stock on October 8th....

 

[BugIn762]

I hope to leave this world with primers on hand.

BugIn

 

[diggler1833]

I do the math as stated above when I get a new barrel. I usually figure somewhere around the median for life, based off of others experience. Then I just buy that amount of reloading supplies, focusing on primers first.

^ I already had the supplies on hand, I'm just ordering to replenish what it'll eventually consume from my stash.

Unfortunately, with the limited availability of certain supplies (and high prices), I have been buying in bulk of at least 5K primers and 8lbs powder at a time, and sticking to components that I know work in other barrels...just in case my desired combo shoots like crap in the barrel I wanted it to. Had that happen before.

I started stocking up after Sandyhook in 2012. Allotting maybe $250/month into reloading supplies. At the time, i still had several years' worth on hand. Now i have more. When I find a decent deal (rare), I just buy as much as I can with no limit other than what I am allowed to purchase.

If you're buying stuff for next year, and not ten years out - you're behind. I'm in my mid-40s, and am getting what I think I'll be using in my 70s. Store it right, it'll last that long.

 

[Haney]

I try to keep a 1/1 with primers and bullets . Powder I just stock pile and make sure I have at least 3 powders for each primer/bullet combo . I have never really given brass a thought , I just got to a point one day and realized I have enough for rest of my days .

 

[oldnewguy]

I think in terms of time. I want to have on hand enough components to shoot as much as I normally do for at least 2-3 years. I've seen the ups and downs since 1992-94. I'm never getting caught with my pants down. At least in relation to shooting. lol

In reality, I probably have enough stuff on hand to shoot for 5 years, and have some left over to help out friends who need something.

For me, part of that is growing up poor and on welfare. I don't like the feeling of needing (not wanting) something that I don't have, or can't get my hands on. I adopted my daughter from CPS/foster care, literally just as Covid started. I told her, there's nothing we need that we don't have, or I will get it. You're safe and don't need to worry about it. To me, that's one of the best feelings in the world.

 

[fpgt72]

I look at what was missing in years past. I see primers and specific powders as being rough. I also see anything "not main stream" and not a high production being hard to find. I was amazed last time that the black powder stuff went missing.

During the shortages I had thought hay this will be a good time to get into the smokey side of things. Caps could not be found, powder could not be found. I could find wads and stuff like that, perhaps balls or bullets, but those are hard to find at the time.

It could be anything, I remember paying $200 for a box of 3006 brass......3006 for petes sake. But if you need it you need it.

My world runs around LRP, those back at the last shortage, very hard to find.

 

[spife7980]

Buy what you can and stack it deep enough so that you can do what you want, when you want, and eventually you’ll be much happier reloading overall. You can then just buy to replenish when there’s a sale or coupon on shipping, less stressful when it feels like you can wait to find a deal.