Now is the time to stock up on brass. With the high prices on fuel(shipping) and the scrap metals being at an all time high everything is going up. I been buying new brass from Grafs in 7,5mm French and 7,62x54r Nagant. We do get a C&RFFL03 discount from Grafs and Midwayusa so it does save us some pennies in the long run. You can also try to watch midwayusa for specials on brass/bullets they have time to time too.
The 7,62x39 ammo is just starting to show up now too at around $125 a case. I have already purchased the reloading dies for it but i haven't planned on reloading for it yet. Between the .223rem and the 7,62x39 russian i think a LEE progressive press is the way to go too it speeds things up. These can be found at guns shows used and affordable too. I just received a LEE Pro-1,000 setup for 45acp and its quicker than snot and pops out the 45acp round like popcorn. For mass producing a lot of ammo in a short time its the way to go. I hate being tied to the reloading bench all the time. If i see any deals on 7,62x39 new brass i'll post it.
I have read that some are using berdan primed cases too for reloading. It may just pay off saving the berdan primed cases right now too. There are a few different ways of pulling out the berdan primers too. I have also read about reloading the wolf 45acp cases too some are going that route too.
With the military surplus ammo running low and some are running out as we speak lets face it, its not an endless supply as some think it is. My point is to buy our reloading dies now too while its affordable and get ready now for the future. Once all the surplus ammo is long gone i'm sure with everything else going up the reloading stuff will too.
I was just given a RCBS Rockchucker, a LEE Pro 1,000 press, a furnance for doing leadcasting along with some molds/lead. I'm not sure if i'm going to get into casting yet but its nice to have an option. I'm not sure of the cost savings of casting my own lead yet too. But in the near future it could keep the cost down i guess. I just wanted to run some options we have right now to plan for the future too. I stress this to my kids too that nothing stays the same things do change often as time goes on and whats affordable/cheap today just maybe expensive tomorrow.
I don't know how old you guys are or if you remember but I remember my very first sks came with a free case of ammo for $59 back in the late 80's. And i remember the sks didn't really catch on because of this new strange caliber that wasn't easily available. I watched the 7,62x39 ammo go from $59 a case to $79, to $89, to $99 then to $125 a case when the first shortage happened. The 7,62x54r dried up too what little we had available to us and i paid $99 for half a case of chinese 7,62x54r. We must remember too this was a time when the surplus military ammo was very expensive too(8mm, 7,62x54r, 8mm lebel ect.). Then we got lucky the market became flooded for many years with a few shortages inbetween but overall we had it really good for many years. Back then i paid $28 for my first box of norma 7,62x54r sp ammo and i dug deep back then to buy it too and i still have it today still not used yet. I'm just too cheap tp shoot it because i paid so much for it back then. You guys/me reload but there are many who don't and it can be very costly for a day at the range even if they shoot one caliber. I watched a guy shoot 6 boxes of new winchester 30-06 at $25 a box with a garand one day in about an hour thats $150 just for ammo thats scary to me. I'd have nightmares if i did that, for there are better and cheaper ways of doing it. I found a clearance on 30-06 FMJ russian made barnaul ammo for $1.99 a box of twenty and i used the plastic very quickly on that one. For plinkin ammo we can't go wrong and i mainly reload for hunting with my '06. I try to stay on top of the deals and look for them all the time to save $$ when we can. I'm sure with the economy slowing up right now we just may see more deals comming our way so we can shoot more for less thats the key.