About how much will it cost to make a chainmail shirt?

Question

I don't need the cost of tools included, just the approx. cost of the wire for rings.

Answer 1

next to nothing

Answer 2

that actually depends on a lot of things - are you making the rings yourself, what size rings are you going to use, what gauge wire and what size shirt.  

a good place to start is www.theringlord.com

they sell all kinds of differnet size rings and I believe they have a calculator to tell you how many rings you need based on what size and wire gauge you use - which will help you figure the cost.