Ammo Prices

[whalerman]

Here in far upstate NY, ammo prices are going up fast. It seems to be an across the board deal. I don't see it effecting handgun ammo any more than rifle fuel, but it is noticed every month. I know about the election fears and how that influences prices. I just don't know whether to try to buy as much as I can now or just throw in the towel and hope things come back down after the election. What are you guys hearing?

 

[mrvco]

I haven't seen any change in prices for 9mm, .40 S&W and .45 ACP from my usual sellers. I'm actually paying less per round than a year ago, but I'm also buying smarter now rather than making a trip to Wal-mart before each range visit.

 

[sleepyone]

seeing lower prices in general for most ammo than a couple of years back. The one exception for me is 5.56 in bulk. It is going up fast. .45 ACP at WM in the 100 round Winchester white boxes is now 36.97. A couple of years back it was 39.97.

 

[Remllez]

Whalerman,

I can't see prices going down significantly anytime soon. Like someone mentioned earlier try to buy smarter...usually that means waiting for a sale locally or saving your dough and buying larger quantities online.

You may well find that driving a few miles to a larger area with more competition will net you lower prices as well.

 

[BSA1]

Consider this;

The current holder of the Presidency is believed to be anti-gun even though he has not proposed any anti-guns since taking office.

The other major party contender has neve owned a firearm, has supported anti-gun bills, has signed anti-gun bills into law and pubicily made statements supporting laws restricting gun ownership.

Regardless of who wins in November we will have a anti-gun President. And how is that going to improve things for gun owners?

"These guns are not made for recreation or self-defense. They are instruments of destruction with the sole purpose of hunting down and killing people.” Romney 2004

 

[HoosierQ]

No change here...that I've noticed anyway.

 

[MrDig]

Haven't seen a price change, but availability is becoming an issue. Took me forever to find two boxes of .44 spcl. I only got 100 rounds and drove to three stores, plus did a web search to find those. Lots of 44 mag and .45 Acp but other calibers are spotty depending which store you are at.

 

[Prince Yamato]

Buy online if the prices are that bad locally.

 

[Capybara]

Three months ago, I paid $279.00 per 1,000 for PMC Bronze .223. Today, the cheapest I can find the same thing is $379.00. Ouch! I never thought I would switch but Russian ammo and a 7.62 are looking better than shooting my ARs.

 

[smalls]

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?t=649691&highlight=ammo+shortage

There's even a MEGA thread on this.

My opinion: BSA1 is dead on, and it's only going to get worse/ more expensive. Invest in reloading equipment. I haven't gone shooting in a month and a half because I'm saving up for some stuff to get me started reloading.

 

[kb58]

The bigger the caliber, the more reloading makes sense. Not sure where the cross-over is... somewhere in the .3x range I think. Last I checked, reloading 5000 rounds of 9mm was about $0.16 a round, not counting powder (or equipment depreciation.) Yet I can buy already-reloaded 9mm for $0.18, so I'm not convinced that reloading is the answer to everyone's needs. Large caliber, sure, 9mm, not so much.

To be fair though, the $0.18 quoted above assumes that you can actually get the stuff you ordered... I'm on my 8th week waiting for my 9mm shipment, and the weasels charged my card immediately... not cool.

 

[smalls]

But how much ammo do you have to buy to get 9mm at $0.18? 1000 rounds? 2000? Not worth it for me, I rarely have $300 to spend on ammo at one time. Plus, I've seen people reload 9mm for way cheaper than $0.16. And you can buy disposables (bullets, powder, primers) whenever you have a few extra bucks, instead of all at once.

And my point was that ammo is going UP in price, and the more it goes up, the more reloading sounds good.

 

[single stack]

I haven't seen any price changes or shortages
in Texas.

 

[kb58]

Plus, I've seen people reload 9mm for way cheaper than $0.16... And my point was that ammo is going UP in price, and the more it goes up, the more reloading sounds good...

Only if the components aren't going up as well, which they are.

I thought that I was being generous with the numbers... Below is what I wrote yesterday using current prices:

---

9mm
Round nose bullets 5000 $500 $0.10 each
Brass (new) 5000 $880 $0.17
Brass (once-fired) 5000 $200 $0.04
Primers 5000 $140 $0.03

Total, excluding powder, about $0.30 using new brass(!) or about $0.17 with once-fired brass. However that’s misleading since the cost of brass is more-or-less a one-time hit. New brass is good for 7-10 reuses, knocking the total price down to about $0.15 a round.

----

So I'm not sure how I'm way off on this, and as was said, figure a penny or so for powder, and another penny or two for equipment costs. And I also gave the process the benefit of doubt by going with 5000 units. The price per assembled round would be higher if working with only 500 at a time.

 

[oneounceload]

Ammo is increasing due to world market conditions, not our election. The steep increase in fuel prices has a massive ripple effect all the way through the supply chain from raw materials to finished goods delivery - and everyone jacks it up a little to cover costs. Add in increases in insurances and taxes, annual COL increases taken this time of year, etc., costs go up

And you can buy disposables (bullets, powder, primers) whenever you have a few extra bucks, instead of all at once.

Don't bother then - buying one pound here a few bullets there, you are better off just buying the ammo - the ONLY way reloading really saves is when you buy generic components in bulk (talking about your vanilla cartridges here, not some exotic) - that means primers by the sleeve of 5,000, powder by the 8# jug, etc.....

 

[oldbear]

Supply appears to be stable for most common calibers, prices don't appear to have dropped much if any in the last 2 -3 years. If I don't get my ammo from my reloader I order everything on line. I've used both Ammo TO Go and Georgia Arms and have been very pleased with both.

 

[smalls]

What I meant by that was that you can buy powder this week, then primers next week, etc.

 

[writerinmo]

Prices in the calibers I buy locally haven't changed since about six months ago when .40 seemed to take a jump up. I watch my three local places that I buy ammo from for their sales and buy accordingly, I don't have $300 to spend at once, more like $25 or $30. Yesterday the local farm and home had CCI Blazer .22 LRN on sale for $15.97 a 500 round brick so I picked up another even though I have around 3k on hand, my magic number on those would be 5k. Also been picking up at least one 20 round box of Tulammo for the 7.62x38 Saiga I bought a few months ago, would like to have 3k of those on hand, am sitting right at 1k at the moment. 9mm I have mixed, mostly PMC as the same farm and home has been running a sale on them about every two weeks for $9.97 a box of 50, also have a few boxes of Tulammo that I get when the PMC isn't on sale, and local sporting goods shop had Blazer brass for $10.99 so I got a few of those too.

 

[captain awesome]

I heard from a very reliable source that ammo prices will be dropping. Dropping to the lowest prices seen in years in abut 3 months. Don't buy till then!

 

[smalls]

Very reliable source being who?

 

[mgmorden]

9mm
Round nose bullets 5000 $500 $0.10 each
Brass (new) 5000 $880 $0.17
Brass (once-fired) 5000 $200 $0.04
Primers 5000 $140 $0.03

Total, excluding powder, about $0.30 using new brass(!) or about $0.17 with once-fired brass. However that’s misleading since the cost of brass is more-or-less a one-time hit. New brass is good for 7-10 reuses, knocking the total price down to about $0.15 a round.

Bargain shop a little bit more.

Brass is free for me (and many others). I go to a local public outdoor range and can pickup all I need and more.

Primers? I buy by the case when they're on sale. Last bit I bought was $240 for 12k (only a few months ago), which is $0.02 each. That was a local shop that I found those at, but I've frequently seen one brand or another on sale at $100 per 5k (Grafs has run Magtech on sale several times in the last few months at that price). Works out the same.

Bullets? Lately I've been shooting commercial hard-cast lead (if you're willing to cast your own this can be driven down even further, but I do draw my effort line there ). Z-Cast Bulletz 147gr 9mm is currently $25 per 500 - $0.05 each.

Powder? Lead takes less powder than jacketed - the heavy 9mm bullets even less. I use 3.5gr of Unique under those bullets above. Buying at the right times I can get Unique at around $18 per pound. 7000 grains per pound = 2000 rounds per pound = less than $0.01 per round, but we'll round to a whole penny.

So, free brass + $0.02 primer + $0.05 bullet + $0.01 powder = $0.08 per round. That's less than half the cost of factory ammo (which I probably could bargain shop for that too, but I haven't seen lately for less than $0.18 per round or so).

I'm sure components will go up some, but so will factory ammo, so the disparity will likely be maintained going forward. Realistically, there are almost no cartridges that "aren't worth reloading". Pretty much everything is cheaper to shoot when you reload - at least per round. A common truism is that people have a certain amount to spend and they'll spend that regardless of the cost of shooting. Ammo prices really just determine how far that budget will take you (ie, you'll spend the same amount, but shoot a lot more ).

 

[captain awesome]

Very reliable source being who?

A source that's right time and time again. Selfful fillingpro phecy

I find it interesting how many doomsday panic buyers believe it and go nuts when someone says the sky is falling, but many are septic and few relax and wait when someone says no worries, whether the source is accurate or not.

 

[happygeek]

A common truism is that people have a certain amount to spend and they'll spend that regardless of the cost of shooting. Ammo prices really just determine how far that budget will take you (ie, you'll spend the same amount, but shoot a lot more ).

Ain't that the truth. Problem is centerfire ammo was already too expensive for me. I'd say 95% + of my off-duty shooting is 22LR. Hopefully prices on rimfire don't go up much, I'd have to drop the hobby.

 

[crazyjennyblack]

Honestly, I think reloading still pays off. Consider this: I just looked on Midway, and the cheapest 9mm I could find was out of stock. That stuff (Tula steel case) was $195 plus shipping. Call it an even $200. Using 9mm cases that I swept up myself from the range (free), cast lead bullets ($70), primers ($40), and a pound of powder ($20) I made 1,000 rounds of cheap plinking 9mm over the last month. This is BRASS cased, not steel, which adds to the value. So think about it - I got the bulk ammo I wanted at the relative velocity I chose, for almost a third less than the price of the cheapest product in the same quantity.

The biggest sign I've seen of rising ammo prices - a lot less brass to pick up at the range!

 

[mortablunt]

I last checked about 2 and something weeks ago. NoVA prices seem stable but elevated.