Dave:
I have a couple of rounds here and there........
I did a lot of experimentating with different loads right after I got my first .257 Wby. Once the gun told me what it likes, I have components sitting.
Same for about every other one that I have. My cousin moved from Ohio to NC, and the moving company wouldn't move his reloading stuff. So, he called me and said that if I wanted some reloading stuff, to hop in the car and make the 5 hr drive to his place. I came back home with 6 copy paper boxes full of stuff as he used to shoot Garands and Palma matches. Some of the stuff I traded off, some I used, but I still have a bunch of things left. Enough that I have to split it up between a few buildings to keep the fire marshall happy.
I agree about buying components when the price is low, not high. I'm still kicking myself when I didn't buy the 4 pallets of shotgun wads at one auction that I was at. I wasn't thinking and could have sold them for 5x-6x what they went for.
I used to shoot more shotgun than I do now, and would buy shot by the ton. That wouldn't last me a year. There were days when I'd go thru 500 shotgun shells...... I'd usually shoot Wed nights, and most weekends I'd shoot Sat night and a couple of rounds on Sunday. When I was reloading for shotgun then, I'd just put a 5 gallon bucket under the reloader and fill 'er up.
I had a Savage bolt action .22lr re-barreled so I could shoot the 60g Aguilar SSS shells. I'm glad that I bought a supply of them when I did - have you seen the prices of those now???
I agree, prices will come down (some) in the future, but not much unless the price of energy comes down too (oil). It takes a lot of energy to produce and transport ammo.
If you keep ammo dry and somewhat out of the heat, it'll last for a long, long time. Same with powder and primers. IIRC Alliant (Hercules) tested some powder that was made around the turn of the century (1900) and it was still just as good as when it was made.
