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The cost of shooting just in ammo/components

A dollar a round sounds expensive for handloads

As you can tell I have not bought components in awhile
lol. Someone hasn’t taken a close look at what his cost per round fired is, because I guarantee it’s close to, if not over $1 per round (assuming you are firing quality bullets from a larger caliber rifle, ie .264/ .284 / .308)
Dave
 
Friend of mine that I shot IHMSA with, had a T/C 7mm TCU barrel 10" he used in production class. It had only about half the rifling left but still shot fairly well. He would load a 162 SMK to where the case mouth barely held the bullet and it still had a long way to go to touch any rifling. He did finally send it back and T/C sent him a new barrel.
 
Thanks for sharing. That Barrel definitely gave all it had…lol

On our recent 1800mi ride back from our prairie dog trip we were discussing rhe cost of the trip. Then I said don’t forget the ammo we shot and started adding it up since I was bored..shouldn’t have done that! lol I run (2) 6br’s out there and a 22/250.

-900rounds of 6br@ about .90/rnd reloaded(not counting the initial cost of 900pcs of Lapua brass). So approx $810 plus the initial brass purchase of approx $1200(would be much more now).
-600rounds of 22/250@ about .60/round plus the brass cost. So $360 plus the initial brass purchase of about $450-500.

Adds up quick!
 
That should be 1 cent per grain of powder.
I couldn't get it to edit.
Close enough for rough calculations in the pits. But $140/1000 for primers seems really high!

My expense per round
Bullet $0.64
Powder $0.007/gr ($0.31)
Primer $0.09
Brass fired 10x $0.11

$1.15/round for an F/open gun
 
Close enough for rough calculations in the pits. But $140/1000 for primers seems really high!

My expense per round
Bullet $0.64
Powder $0.007/gr ($0.31)
Primer $0.09
Brass fired 10x $0.11

$1.15/round for an F/open gun
Just rough figuring on newly purchased (online) prices using match primers and $400 per 8# powder (shipped).
 
This is another reason I want a 30 BR.

On the other hand, I’d like to know why some barrels last longer than others. I have a good friend shooting a 6BR that’s for 4780 on it (all suppressed) and it’s been cleaned about every 5-700 rounds. It shot back to back .230 groups last week. We know it’s an anomaly, but it’s still cool.
 
FrankG - What was the distance they were testing at? I'm assuming it was 100yards or less?

The reason I'm asking is I've often heard that accuracy can last at short range much longer than long range, say 600 yards.
This is true
My old practice upper would still high x clean the 200 yd stage
But move to 300 and would hold the 7 ring
Douglas barrel .223 with estimated 7500 rd ct
Would completely swallow the throat erosion gauge and was firecracked halfway down
 
Frank, do you know what the cleaning protocol was? I’d be interest what solvents or abrasives they used. Did they remove carbon rings, and how? Any damage attributed to cleaning?

Interesting subject! Thanks for posting.
 
Is interesting in that it paints something of a picture on what it costs these companies to test stuff every year, even if the material costs were 1/2 of what Frank figured them at, it adds up in a hurry over the number of cartridges they have to test in a given year, with the cost of facilities, test equipt, labour and investment in components, it isn't a small percentage of expenses.
 

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