.30 Carbine Ammo: Why so much $$

[culpritish]

I have a question for THR members out there, because this one eludes me.

Why is .30 carbine ammo exspensive, that is, compared to other surplus ammo?

Or for that matter, the major ammo manufacturers, like Winchester,Remington, Sellier & Bellot, etc. sell it for prices one would expect of larger caliber/ obsolete ammo.

Cheaper Than Dirt is selling it for about as much as .22-250, and I would like to belive that there is much more of the former floating around(i used to see alot of surplus Lake City, headstamped late '60's not too long ago).

110gr FMJ, push by(if my memory serves me)13 or so grains of powder, in basically what amounts to a large pistol cartridge case.
What gives?

 

[buttrap]

They guit making the stuff in like 1944
so all the surplus was surplused and shot up by 1970.

 

[Sunray]

"...Why is .30 carbine ammo exspensive(sic)..." Supply and demand. There isn't much, if any, U.S. made milsurp around. The Carbine hasn't been regular issue for nearly 50 years so there's no military ammo being made for it. What ammo there was has been shot, sold or given to countries that still use the carbine. Not that there's many of them.
The CMP is selling non-reloadable, steel cased, Wolf .30 carbine ammo for $190.00 per 1,000 and reloadable, brassed cased, Aguila at $249.95 per 1,000. Lake City 1962 to 72 vintage .30-06 runs $220.00 per 960. The National Guard was still using M-1 rifles in the 60's. They have no LC .30 carbine and won't. It's not being made.
"...major ammo manufacturers..." The size or calibre of any ammo means nothing to ammo makers. Demand and how much profit they can make determines their selling price.
"...What gives?..." What do you mean? A jacketed 240 grain .44 mag load using IMR4227 starts at 20.0 grains of powder. My .30 carbine load uses 14.5 grains of the same powder. The same .44 bullet using Unique, starts at 9.0grains of powder. There are 405 grain bullet .45-70 loads using Unique that start at 11.0 grains. Another powder for the .45-70 and that bullet starts at 34.0 grains of powder. A whole loaded .30 carbine cartridge will go into a .45-70 case. Mostly it's the chemical make up of powder that causes it to need more or less for a given cartridge to get the required velocity.
If you want to lessen your cost of ammo and use better ammo, get into reloading. You'll never have to search for the best price for ammo again and you'll have better accuracy.

 

[M2 Carbine]

Supply and demand.

Like Sunray said, if you want good inexpensive ammo get into reloading.
If you cast your own bullets you can shoot 30 Carbine for about $3.20/50.

If you buy good bulk JHP bullets it will cost about $7.20/50.

 

[GRIZ22]

They guit making the stuff in like 1944

I've used some LC72 in the recent past but in any case it was over 30 years old.

There were only 3 firearms made to shoot 30 carbine as far as I can recall,
the orginal M1 (Plainfield, Iver Johnson, and Universal copies included), Marlin made a carbine with a tube magazine, and the Ruger Blackhawk.

As M2 said supply and demand.

 

[Husker1911]

AMT chambered a pistol in the caliber.

Also, when comparing pricing to other centerfire calibers, most carbine ammo is sold in 50-round boxes.

 

[bthest86]

There were only 3 firearms made to shoot 30 carbine as far as I can recall,
the orginal M1 (Plainfield, Iver Johnson, and Universal copies included), Marlin made a carbine with a tube magazine, and the Ruger Blackhawk.

Also thr San Cristobal M2 made by the Dominican Republic.

 

[M2 Carbine]

GRIZ22
There were only 3 firearms made to shoot 30 carbine as far as I can recall,
the orginal M1 (Plainfield, Iver Johnson, and Universal copies included), Marlin made a carbine with a tube magazine, and the Ruger Blackhawk.

Marlin also made a lever action magazine fed rifle chambered for the carbine.

Back in the late 60's I saw a no name full auto chambered in 30 Carbine. It had two triggers for SA and FA and a wood stock.
It looked like an Italian machine gun of the time.

The 30 Carbine Marlin is second from the bottom.

 

[ArfinGreebly]

M2 Carbine

You have a Marlin Model 62 ??

Arrrgh!

You're looking to sell it, right?

Can't wait to get rid of it?

It's just too ugly to keep in the safe?

Tell you what, I'll do a fifteen-year test suite on the rifle at no charge.

After all, what are friends for?

 

[ArfinGreebly]

Oh, yeah, . . .

There was a carbine or two made in Israel for a time.

Don't recall model or maker, only that I couldn't get one.

Well, at least one company (Auto Ordnance/Kahr) is still making the M1 Carbine, and Ruger still makes the .30 Blackhawk.

Does Taurus still make the Raging .30 (double action revolver in .30 carbine)?

 

[Dave Markowitz]

They guit making the stuff in like 1944
so all the surplus was surplused and shot up by 1970.

World War 2 ended in 1945. I doubt that they ceased production of .30 Carbine before the war was over. Not to mention Korea and VietNam. The US military used the M1 and M2 Carbines at least through 1970. Ammo was made for the US military through then at least.

I have some 1952 Remington stuff that I bought on clips and bandoleers still sealed in the spam can in 2001. It's definitely USGI ammo.

But most milsurp .30 Carbine was gone by the late 1990s.

Israel still arms some police officers with M1 Carbines, many of which have been put into Choate folding stocks.

 

[scrat]

if your worried about so much. why dont you start saving your brass and start reloading.

only makes sence

 

[M2 Carbine]

ArfinGreebly
You have a Marlin Model 62 ??

No I don't have it any more.
That picture is right old. I don't remember when or how I let it go.

It's one of those guns I wish I hadn't gotten rid of.

 

[Caimlas]

Huh? I don't know what you're talking about. It's cheap! Or, at least, a cursory glance at CTD shows me that it's as cheap as, if not cheaper than, .223 - and there's more selection and quantity available than .223 as well.