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2K views 21 replies 12 participants last post by  soundguy 
#1 ·
A few weeks back I received the new Natchez Shooters Supplies catalog. Most of the prices seem to be in line with the other catalogs I've read lately. Going through the current ammunition offerings I came across Nosler brand ammo. Everything I've read about their product says it's top of the line stuff, then I got to the Safari Ammunition. Safari grade ammo for a .505 Gibbs is $200.00 plus change for 10 rounds, OMG. For a .500 Nitro Express it's the same, OMG again. Twenty plus dollars every time you pull the trigger. Twenty bucks to keep you from being stomped in the landscape, or becoming a snack would be a small price to pay I guess.
 
#7 ·
I reloaded 50BMG (actually 50 DTC, a California loophole modification to be able to have 50 BMG). The bullets could be $2 each. It took about 250grs of powder or about $1 worth. The cases were expensive: once fired about $1 each and maybe $2 new. So maybe $4 to $5 for the components. The effort to reload not much different that other cartridges but it did take special (read expensive ) dies and a bigger huge single stage press. I trimmed on a lathe.

At $20 a shot for 505 Gibbs I'd give up safari hunting. It does't take a 505 Gibbs to kill my paper targets. With the 50 cal we shot at steel plates (the hardest armor plate we could buy as the 50 cal bullet would go right through a cast iron city bus brake drum no problem (as our tests proved).

I think they price the ammo for the person with the means (and more) to go on a safari . That certainly is not almost anyone who reports here.

LDBennett
 
#12 ·
With the 50 cal we shot at steel plates (the hardest armor plate we could buy as the 50 cal bullet would go right through a cast iron city bus brake drum no problem (as our tests proved).

LDBennett
I bet that really annoyed the city bus drivers!:D
 
#10 ·
The folks at Barnes Bullets are big time safari hunters and write articles about their latest conquests. One recent article was about the costs including the hidden fees and bribes necessary and if memory serves she said the typical $20,000 big game hunt could easily run $80,000.

I'm just guessing but imagine that those folks don't consider a couple hundred for ammunition as any big deal and I'll just bet the farm that none of them complain about the high price of 22 LR either!:)
 
#14 ·
rawright54:

Sure did. The bus then failed its next brake test.

Actually my son-in-law runs a bus maintenance station for his city. They don't fool around with brakes on the busses. They change out the drums at the drop of a hat. The drum was scrap. We shot it at about 200 yes in the desert, not in the city. I'll bet we could put one through the block of the bus engine.... but we won't be making that test.

Those drums are about an inch thick but the 50BMG (50 DTC) had no problem getting through one side. It then spun around the inside. We were able to retrieve the bullet. It was steel cored, lead covered and was not all that damaged from the trip.

LDBennett
 
#15 ·
Nice!
I bought a SKS many years ago, which was subsequently stolen, and the seller tossed in 500 rounds of ammo. Many years later I acquired an AK and had the chance to fire that ammo. I was very surprised to see it punch through brake drums, railroad rail, I-beams and such found in the desert! I'm guessing that an engine block would be no trouble at all. I'm also guessing that whatever kind of ammo I had, I probably wasn't supposed to have it in CA.:rolleyes:
 
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#16 ·
The 50 BMG bullets were not advertised as steel core but most ammo is not advertise if it is steel core. It was not metal piercing but steel core like some of the surplus ammo used to be (is?). 223 ammo was sometimes steel core (watched a bullet start a fire that required water bomber and about 100 fire fighters years ago because the shooter chose to shoot at a rock on the hillside behind and above the range backstop hill).

The big surprise to me was Swiss K-31 Match ammo has a steel core. It got me ejected from a club range and I subsequently left the club for their new rule "no steel cored ammo". My shooting partner had a garage full of surplus ammo and all of it was steel core covered in lead. That club range and club became useless to us.

I am not aware of any CA rule or law against the sale of steel cored ammo. All ranges exclude tracer ammo because it easily starts fires. Steel core ammo can start a fire too if it hits a rock and makes a spark.

LDBennett
 
#19 ·
CCholderinmai:

No, not really. The son-in-law has not offered up anymore. Part of the problem is they are VERY!!! heavy and getting them to the desert to shoot and moving them up a hill to place them is hard. We tried leaving the drums where we shoot but they are always gone the next time we go back (??).

He has moved to armor plate swingers. But they have been problematical for breaking the hangers. The supplier tried steel arms (weldment didn't have enough penetration and the disks fell off after several shots), chains but the attachment on the back of the plate (welded on ) fell off. They are still working on the perfect approach with armor plate steel plates.

LDBennett
 
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