The UK's Finest Independent Forum for Shooters and Gun Owners. Est 2010.

Ive just bought a Lee buckshot mould at 56 quid and then realised I needed handles for the mould as its a pig to use without which are sold separately at 15 quid.
A grand total give or take a few bob at 71 quid
A very similar mould for fishing leads is 20 quid
Why is the cost of this hobby so extortionate?
A red or green powder funnel is 8 quid when a similar funnel at the pound shop which is neither red or green is, well, a pound.
I could go on and probably will later

At least for some of that it tolerances/materials.

A bullet mold needs to be accurate to a few thousandths of an inch. One for Fishing weights can be a few hundredths.

A good powder funnel should be made of an antistatic (conductive) plastic. The pound shop one doesnt' need to be, a static spark is less of an issue for measuring cooking ingredients.

The one that annoys me is $15 magazines costing £40 here.


(Edit, noticed shot mold not bullet, true that doesn't need to be quite as accurate dimensionally, but it must be spherical to a high level of accuracy or the shot wont be.)

Excellent post from Sam and I echo his sentiments.

Rip off...................

This made me feel like crying.

https://www.calvertsporting.co.uk/shop/ ... pod-stool/

Graham M wrote:Rip off...................

This made me feel like crying.

https://www.calvertsporting.co.uk/shop/ ... pod-stool/

Only an idiot would pay that serves them right.

Alpha1 wrote:

Graham M wrote:Rip off...................

This made me feel like crying.

https://www.calvertsporting.co.uk/shop/ ... pod-stool/

Only an idiot would pay that serves them right.

But if you were the sort of person that drives to a shoot in something like a Bentley Bentayga you'd think nothing of it.....it is all subjective.

Gazza wrote: A red or green powder funnel is 8 quid when a similar funnel at the pound shop which is neither red or green is, well, a pound.

strangesam wrote: A good powder funnel should be made of an antistatic (conductive) plastic. The pound shop one doesnt' need to be, a static spark is less of an issue for measuring cooking ingredients.

Just taking that as an example - yes, it required a different plastic, however the actual incremental cost of that plastic is maybe just a few pence. So, yes more expensve, but at most it should translate to 50% or maybe even 100% and not teh rip-off pricing that does occur.

Polchraine wrote:

Gazza wrote: A red or green powder funnel is 8 quid when a similar funnel at the pound shop which is neither red or green is, well, a pound.

strangesam wrote: A good powder funnel should be made of an antistatic (conductive) plastic. The pound shop one doesnt' need to be, a static spark is less of an issue for measuring cooking ingredients.

Just taking that as an example - yes, it required a different plastic, however the actual incremental cost of that plastic is maybe just a few pence. So, yes more expensve, but at most it should translate to 50% or maybe even 100% and not teh rip-off pricing that does occur.

As someone who designs moulded components, its not quite that simple.

As the demand for anti-static ones is much smaller, the tool used for it will be much smaller with less cavities. Meaning an operator stood at a mould press with a 10 minute cure time will produce maybe 12 per lift instead of 48. That means the labour price is higher as well as the cost of the material. And in those numbers labour and press fees are driving the cost more than the material itself. Lower cavity tools also have higher flash (wasted material) rates etc. And some fillers to make plastics flame resistant and anti static can be extremely expensive. We have 2 identical rubber compounds but one has a filler to make it compliant to an EN flammability standard... The compliant rubber costs us 3 times what the normal rubber does. And its terrible at its job frankly....

You then have some risk cost which the company moulding them is undoubtedly adding in as, if it did catch fire somehow, they would be liable. They offset that risk with a higher base cost. Add in some economy of scale factoring and its not hard to see how a £1 item suddenly becomes £6 or £7 consumer price. I agree though, that £15 is pushing it somewhat....

I use these https://www.lymanproducts.com/brass-smi ... funnel-set , £30...............................just sayin'

Pete

Pete wrote:I use these https://www.lymanproducts.com/brass-smi ... funnel-set , £30...............................just sayin'

Pete

Me too, they are very good.