Ammo is so expensive

Ammo is like the stock,real estate and commodities markets.
It goes up and down depending on supply and demand and market conditions.
My prediction is in one year ammo prices will be 10 to 15% lower than today.
Iraq will be stabilized,McCain will be President and I will be retired.

I justified a .22 due to ammo costs ....

I think that ammo will go down slightly in price too.

How many rounds did you shoot? $40 is a lot to sight the gun in.

Yeah, I stopped shooting my rifles for target practice because it is so expensive. I also think ammo will go down a bunch once the war is over unless Obama gets elected, then ammo will go up no matter what happens.

Fella's;

Once the various marketing depts find out what the market will bear, that's what we'll be paying. Same as they're doing with fuel prices now.

Take up handloading, component prices are going up too, but it's still significantly less expensive. We can't do much about .22 rimfire except either grin & bear it, or go without. Oh wait, there is a third option, buy enough stock in the company to have it your way.

900F

You might have tried bore sighting it first. But, it's fun to shoot too.

Prices will continue to rise. Buy now if you can afford to. Buy later if you have to. Frankly, is it worth it saving a few bucks and stockpiling when you really can't afford to do so? (Probably not.) Buy ammo as you need it unless you can afford to tie up a lot of money. It is probably better to make money work for you rather than parking it.

I have 22 shells from 20 years ago. Did I really save any money? I have 41 and 357 mag ammo from 20 years ago? Worth doing it? A lot of it will never get shot. Why? I keep buying more.

You need to do a 1-shot or 2-shot zero.

1) Place a target at 50 yards.

2) Using the benchrest, bore-sight the rifle at 50 yards. You really should use a bi-pod for stability.

3) Remove the scope's turret covers.

4) Fire 1 shot into the target.

5) Move the scope's crosshairs from the POA to cover the POI.

You are zeroed. Trust me. You ARE zeroed.

Repeat the process at 100 yards. Repeat, if need, out to your desired zero.

Kindly send me the $39.50 difference. Note that for my purposes, I do this beginning at 100 yards, not 50, then I move the zero adjustment up 12 clicks for a 300 yards zero. Then, I fire 1 round to confirm the zero.

Doc2005

Maybe you should get a handgun. Compared to commercial rifle ammo, pistol ammunition is still cheap. For example, 100 rounds of WWB 9mm can be had for around $20 here. That money might buy you 40 decent centerfire rifle rounds.

Either that or shoot less (yeah right) or shoot more 22LR.

It's a military trick that an elder gentlemen named John (about 93 years young), taught me at Bald Mountain Range here in Michigan back in about 1998. He used to go to the Bald Mountain Range every day to impart all he knew to younger shootists. John was rather the silver-haired fox type, and darned wise. When John spoke, we shut-up and perked up. He taught me a lot! Have fun and try it any firearm. If it does not work for you, your bases or rings may be loose, or your scope may be not tracking properly (lagging POI to POA).

This method works as long as you don't move the rifle from the orginal aiming point. I've done it that way.

I was similarly venting about the cost of ammunition just a short time ago, but then somebody pointed out its cost in relation to playing golf. That made the pain subside.

Plus, I have convinced both myself and SWMBO that a reloading setup is definitely in order.

Wait...what? Ammo is getting expensive? Nobody told me?

Political content removed

Fed Bulk ammo 18 months ago $8.96 then jumped to $11.97 10 months..... today $13.97 and no end in sight!


CRITGIT

Doc2005, I've been zeroing that way for a few years now and I love that method. Makes for a quick and easy sight-in session. Great advice!

I introduce a lot of new shooters to the sport and I let them shoot whatever they want on the first trip for free. It's expensive, sure, but it gets them hooked. After that, they usually buy their own ammo or chip in if I've picked up enough previously.

I like to think that brining more people into the sport and getting them prepared to take their safety into their own hands is worth the expense.

Ammo has gone up because the cost of copper, a key componant of brass has gone up. The cost of copper house wire has gone up something like five fold in the last ten years. As a result, stealing wire and selling it to scrap dealers has become epidimic. The reason is that China and india are going through something like the US did during rural electrification in the
1950's. The demand for copper and other metals can't keep pace with the supply, they literaly can't dig it up fast enough. The same with many other metals that an emerging China is buying. If you saw the opening cerimonies of the Olympics you have a good idea of how China is modernizing. It is physicaly about the same size as the US but has FIVE times as many people and they are suddenly getting cars and electricity.
This has driven up demand and therefore price.

"i handload when im at home but at college my roomates just dont get the whole reloading thing and they arent comfortable with it"

So, EDUCATE them. De-mystify the process so that it is not so scary........

If he's living in a dorm I wouldn't want reloading stuff there. If its a house/apartment, what difference does it make if its kept in your room?

Looks to me like the topic is "Ammo is expensive" - if we can keep on-topic we can leave this open. If not then this thread will be closed along with whatever accounts need to be closed to insure it doesn't repeat again in the future.

I bought a 1000 rounds of Blazer last year for $8.99 a box. I've only got a couple of boxes left, so I wanted to stock up again...wow! Now it's "on sale" for $14.99. I think I'll do just what folks are saying and simply watch it like a stock; when it dips, I'll buy.

You sound like a man who needs a .22 rifle.
I bought two bulk packs of Federal .22 today.
For $26 I can shoot 1100 rounds.
Can't beat that.

BTW - save all brass, even stuff you can't reload for, even stuff you never will reload for, even rimfire brass.
Get a five gallon bucket and fill it with spent brass then take it in for recycling.
It should be enough to get you some .22 ammo or some reloading components when you cash it in.
Just be careful not to accidentally get your good brass mixed up with your bad brass.

It's expensive for all of us but there are ways to at least cope with it, even if it means only shooting 20 rounds of centerfire ammo a month, just enough to keep the rust knocked off.

I bought two more bulk packs of Federal .22 today.
For $26 I can shoot 1100 rounds.
Can't beat that.

Click to expand...

Last year it was 8.96 for the same 13.97 box of bulk!

This price mess isn't cyclical. It has a cause and it's not going to change anytime soon.
Sadly, buying sooner than later will be more effective.
One can do quite well betting against the devalued dollar. If ya can't lick it use it to your advantage!

GRITGIT

Stocking up can't hurt.

Every time I go to the range (1-3 times a week), I purchase one more box than I intend on shooting. This goes into my reserves. I don't see any reason not to keep this up.