My question above is related to supply and demand. Is .470 ammo even being currently produced? Ammo for all calibers is not continuously made. A run might be made of say, .470 at some targeted quantity based on predictions of the demand for it, thus in essence leaving a limited amount in circulation. I suppose if Federal CAN charge "X" amount, they will. As long as people buy it.

I am really curious about the actual numbers of NE rounds manufactured by both Hornady and Federal compared to the more popular rounds like .308, .30-06, .270, .243, etc., {or even the .458 which I would think must outnumber the NE cartridges substantially}.

And this all begs the question: How much more .470 {or other somewhat similarly exotic NE cartridges} will Federal produce? With the fired cases that exist today "in play" with handloaders, will the need for loaded ammo increase, level off or decrease, or decrease at some point and grow again? Or, is the market for the big'uns merely a short term phenomenon, with opportunities for need of such rounds predicted to decrease say in the next 10 years?

Since the ACTUAL cost of the components is certainly small as some have already noted, it appears to me Federal is hedging their bets. Charge what you can now since the future demand is unknown.

It is all relative also. A poor mealie farmer in southern Katanga Province might find the cost of a single 12 ga shotgun shell barely affordable though he needs it badly to drive off potentially devastating crop raiders, while the cost of a round of .470 might be a mere annoyance to a New York investment banker who really doesn't "need" the cartridge at all.

Federal will charge whatever the market will bear.