Has .38 Special ammo become cost prohibitive?

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Since law enforcement has changed from .38 and .357 revolvers to pistols, with others following, the demand for .38 Special ammunition of all kinds has fallen. With less demand, prices went up. Then at the same time all ammunition has gone up as cost and availablity of components increased. Consider loading your own. It's not difficult, and you can use reasonably priced lead bullets. The resueable cartridge case is the most expensive part of most ammunition.
 
.38 Special is probably the cheapest and easiest cartridge to handload. Brass lasts forever (and its still pretty cheap once fired), it doesn't get lost during firing, and cast bullets are great for low to moderate velocities and don't present any feeding issues.

Factory ammunition is getting more expensive for everything, .38 Special is no exception. Its an excellent reason to start handloading.
 
All in all, it's still cheaper than many other calibers, but the cost is higher than it used to be.

The .38 is a reloader's dream, however. Very easy to reload, with tons of different bullets and bullet moulds available. I haven't price checked in a while, but my reloads are much cheaper than even Wal-Mart prices, and I get to shoot exactly what I want, because I make it myself!

If you ever wanted to try reloading, the .38/.357 is a great place to start.

All my best,
Dirty Bob
 
$25 for 50 .38 special's sound very steep to me. Shop around, and when you find a better(much better) price on line, see if your local store will price match.
 
You can order an ammo can of 500 .38 spl. in 125 or 158 grain lead nose for $110 (+ shipping) at georgia-arms.com
 
In my area $15/50 is a good price. (+5.5% sales tax)

Even factoring all S&H, taxes, and components, I reload and shoot .38 special for about $6/50. And I don't even buy in bulk or use "economic" powders either.

Shooting .38 special is the reason I started reloading.
 
+1 to checking the web for a lower price for .38 special practice ammo. You may have to buy bulk to offset the shipping price. $25 a box is nutz.
 
I've seen 38 special LSWC reloads- Ultramax brand, I believe- for around $16 a box of 50.

Me personally, I have maybe $2 a box/50 into 38 special ammo. I cast my own bullets and load my own.
Even if you do not cast your own bullets it is possible to reload 38 specials with storebought components for under $6 a box. Buy a Lee turret press and a set of dies on eBay for under $100 and you can load all you want.
 
Ive gotten 38 ammo cheaper than $25 for 50 at Dick's. IIRC I got Rem 38 spl 130 gr FMJ for around $16 a box and saved 10% when I bought a case (500).
 
I think it's FUN to cast bullets. Get a Lee tumble-lube 148-gr. wadcutter mould, and you can cast simple practice bullets. I lube in a ziploc bac with Lee Liquid Alox thinned to double its original volume. I seat them over a small charge of Win. 231 (from the Lee manual). They are accurate, with light recoil, and more penetration than I expected. One of my bullets went completely through 4 1-gallon jugs of water (24" of water) and was stopped in the fifth jug.

Casting my own really helps drop the price of my reloads. Combined with the long case of my brass, I'm able to shoot more.

All my best,
Dirty Bob
 
I'm glad that I cast and load my own, my Walmart has Winchester white box for $38 a hundred. A friend of mine had about 800 pounds of range scrap, I smelted all the lead and gave him half back. I have two molds, a 158 grain swc, and a 105 grain swc. I get 2,000 reloads per pound of Bullseye and primers are $34 per thousand. That makes the cost of my reloads $44 per 1,000.
 
You shouldn't have to pay that unless it is your special carry ammo. For punching holes in paper there are tons of options. Reloading is the easiest if you have time but other options are at: http://gun-deals.com/ammo.php?caliber=.38 Special
I tried several boxes of the LRN Prvi Partisan at 12.95/50. It performed very good for outside shooting. I don't care for bare lead inside.
 
Yeah, look around - IME dick's doesn't have competitive prices on any shooting equipment.
 
Check out http://www.ammoengine.com/find/ammo/.38_Special. They have practice ammo as low as $0.26 a round.

If you are paying $0.50 or more it should be premium practice stuff or carry level. You can get Fiochi 125gr SJSP for about $0.36 a round and Blazer 125gr HP for $0.37 a round. You can get +p SJSP and HPs for $0.53 per round or cheaper.
 
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Except for a couple of boxes of factory 158 gr. +P LSWCHP for carry in a snubby, I don't think that I've bought factory .38 Special ammo in the last 20 years. It's about the easiest round to load for that there is, and cases last forever.
 
A local chain store (with locations outside the Chicagoland area) called "Blain's Farm 'n Fleet" recently had Blazer .38 spl on sale for $9.99 per 50-round box. I bought all they had
which was only 300 rounds. At the same time, they had .357 on sale for $14.39 per 50-round box. That's 287.80 per 1,000-rounds. I got an even 1,000 of them.​
 
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