Hi,
Those prices are pretty much "pre-panic" level around here! Right now, there are considerations that go beyond price, the most important to me being "Do you have it in stock?" or "Can you GET it for me?"
There have been times recently when I've had to bite the bullet as it were, such as paying a hair over $30 for a pound of H-4895 from the only guy in three counties I could find who had it. My alternative choice was to wait until someone else had it, which could be months! Someone else posted having to pay something like $65/m for primers cuz they were faced w/ the same alternatives.
Haz-mat fees aggravate me, but "proper" planning for me means making orders of a good enough size to amortize all the costs out over the entire cost of the order. For example, let's look at one powder I use and my three usual sources for it:
Online price: $20/lb plus $22.50 haz-mat
Gunshow price: $22/lb plus $14 admission plus $16 gas
Gunshop price: $27/lb plus unknown gas charges depending on how far I have to go (figure a minimum of $5)
So I were to buy only one pound of powder...
Online, it's gonna cost $44.50
Gunshow, it's gonna cost $52.00
Gunshop, it's gonna cost a minimum of $33.00
Gunshop wins!
But, if we get out the calculator and work out an order for the three pounds it looks like you're gonna need just to get started... well, you see where I'm going!
I'd buy components at the price you mentioned and pay the haz-mat willingly, as long as they HAVE the stuff in stock AND cover the whole order under one haz-mat fee (some vendors will, others will ship primers and powder separately, w/ extra haz-mat fees.)
Ya always gotta do your homework... it's just a bit more complicated right now!
Rick C