Randy, whenever I walk through your shop, the level of inventory $ required for you to service your customers is amazing. And staggering.
Add in the costs of the many, many high end dies, core seating equipment, core inventory requirements, maintainance, all the modified and one-off presses and tooling, chemicals....wow. Then, after all the work, they have to be packaged up and shipped. And then there's keeping track of the orders and the 'business end' of the business....forecasting inventory, timely shipments from suppliers, etc.
That's the 'behind the scenes' stuff that customers don't see when they order great bullets.
This paragraph from Tony Boyer's book certainly rings true:
"A tremendous amount of work goes into making bullets. The next time you write a check to a bullet maker, imagine his true labor rate. Be glad they charge so little!"
Thanks to all the
Big Guys for the trickle down effect we little guys benefit from and enjoy.
Good shootin'
-Al