# Why is Bismuth/Tungsten so damn expensive?



## R y a n (Apr 4, 2005)

OK I've wondered this over the last few years... it has something that has really gotten under my craw...

I was extremely frustrated back in the day when we had to switch to steel shot. It was purely a political issue at the federal level, and seriously affected the success of sportsmen. That is a topic for another day, as we are now stuck with this PC BS gone amuck.

Now however we have had several advancements in different composite metals that give lead like performance without the toxicity. These "advancements" gave the shotshell companies the opportunity to increase their profit margins on a "new" shell that they could sell more expensively per box, in addition to less shells per box.

My question is: Why after several years of being on the market, are those damn shells so expensive still? The metal it takes to make them is not any more expensive than lead was... Why do we as sportsman put up with the companies trying to extort more money out of us? Why haven't the shell prices dropped? Is there anything we can do?

Sportman should be pushing to understand why tungsten or bismuth hasn't come down in price, or why the number of shells in a "box" of shells is now different. Both have now been out long enough to offer a box of shells for $10 for a box of *25* shells!

But clever marketing campaigns and resetting of expectations by the companies have worked to increase the average box of steel shells to over $16 a box so that now when Bismuth came along they then felt no worries to jack the smaller box of shells up to *$22 for a box of 10 shells??????*

Geesshhhh

:eyeroll:

Ryan


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## TEALMAN (Sep 27, 2006)

I have no idea why the outrageous prices but I do use a Tungsten load
and seem to have alot less criples then with Steel.


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## Norm70 (Aug 26, 2005)

I'll take my 10 dollar winchester xpert and remington sportmen. I shot enough with them. Although i would be tempting just try a new shot, i do not want to take out a loan to by a case of shells.


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## Tupe (Aug 19, 2005)

Ryan,

Truth is Tungsten is MUCH more pricey today than it was justa few years ago. The primary mining of Tungsten is in China, and the transportation of the metal went way up with rising fuel costs.

I was warned by a shell maker last year that the tungsten price was going to take a major jump, but he even said he was shocked at how high the raw materials cost went.

As far as transportation, well its as simple as the fact that a more dense object takes more fuel to move from point A to point B. More fuel, more money that has to come in the the picture from the consumer end.

I hope the price eases back down over the next year or two, but I fear it will not.

Until we find an alternative that is in large supply, easy to mine and refine and is close to the factories making shot the price of premium non toxic shells is going to stay too high to bring th volume of sales up enough to start chipping away at the price tag.

Tupe


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## Goose Guy350 (Nov 29, 2004)

I know how they make shot is a major issue also, with lead they just heat it up so its molten and pour it through certain size screens into cooling tanks but steel and some of the other shot materials have to be rolled with ball bearings which is much more costly and labor intensive.


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## Horsager (Aug 31, 2006)

So far I'd give the blue ribbon to Goose Guy 350, Lead is cheap because the shot is very easy to make. Tungsten and Steel need to be softened and the pellets need to be ground to a round shape. Bismuth needs a carrier medium to help it "stick" together because it's too brittle by itself.


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## Tupe (Aug 19, 2005)

GG350 hit on anouther good point. Lead "dropped shot" is easy and cheap to make round. Steel and other componants take ectra labor. Some steel shot was, and might still be, made from what I think is called a cut wire method. It makes less uniform shot, but is cheaper to make. Other steel loads are made with rolled shot which costs a bit more to produce.

Good point GG, the economics of waterfowling are, in fact, global. All the way down to the petolium products used in making the shells, cost have gone up. It is astonishing to me that we still see $99 cases of steel shot.
Not that I am complaining.

I just wish I had bought more hevi-shot before the price jump.

Tupe


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