Lowest Cost Reliable Ammo

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xiton

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What do most people use for their target ammo? I'm mainly interested in 9mm and .45.

I know a lot of people do reloading, but I'd like to exclude reloads in this thread so I can get an idea of what to look out for in future ammo purchases.

Thanks all!
 
In .45 I shot PMC 230gr fmj for 300 rounds without incident. Cost was about 23$ a box. Fairly accurate, brass reloadable cases, and no issues with jamming or feed issues and all went boom. It was a little dirty but no more so than my reloads.

Reloading cuts my cost to about 20$ per 100 which is far more reasonable.

Not sure on 9mm as I don't shoot 9mm.

You might try some of the ammo price watching sites. Last I looked pmc was the cheapest non steel or aluminum cased rounds that are reloadable.
 
All centerfire ammo is going to be pretty reliable. My only incidents:

Privi Partisan .380: 1 squib out of 300 rounds.
Remington UMC: out of, oh 2000 rounds, maybe, I've had one round with a folded mouth that jammed out of battery. Seized the gun up pretty good, too.
Otherwise, no problems with any other brand. Mostly PMC, Federal Champion, Fiocchi, Blazer Brass.

My failure rate with reloaded ammo is slightly higher at this point, but I'm eventually going to beat this, when I figure out what I'm doing.

Edit: Oh, wait. You asked for the cheapest, and I left out Brown Bear. I have shot 1k Brown Bear in 9mm and ~500 in mak without a single failure. I wouldn't steer away from Tulammo, either, if I didn't reload.
 
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Ammoman usually has quality 9mm fmj if you purchase a thousand rounds for around 23 cents a round and that is delivered and no tax, at least here in Arizona.
 
Remington Bulk Box in .40 S&W has worked wonders for me. $33 for 100 rounds seemed cheap enough for me.

Recently took a crack at Tulammo. Puffs blue smoke instead of fireballs, kinda like a car with bad piston rings and burning oil. Bit dirtier than the Remington, but fires just fine for me. $12 a box of 50 can't be beat, either.
 
The Winchester white box from Walmart is usually quite affordable, and particularly in 9mm.
 
I just shoot whatever. Sometimes I'll get the cheapest, sometimes I'll spend a little more. If a gun can't cycle anything I roll through it, I don't want that gun. An unreliable gun is an uninteresting gun
 
There's nothing wrong with steel-case in a duty or surplus gun (maybe not a good idea in a match gun) and it is cheap.
Beyond that, the only way to find cheap ammo is to actually go looking for it. The cheapest ammo won't be the same brand everywhere, or every day. I've seen junk in almost every brand of cheap plinking ammo:
-damaged cases
-deformed/crooked bullets
-not round
-sideways primer
-corrosion
-wrong length

You just get over it and move on, if you want defense-quality plinking ammo, it will cost far more, even after factoring in the duds from the cheap stuff.
 
I use mostly WWB, Federal, and Remington for my practice ammo. Very reliable and I can usually find those two calibers in stock at WalMart. If it's a less-than-common sort of caliber like .38 Super, or a particular loading like .38 Special wad cutters, then I look for Aquila and Fiocchi at the area gunshows.
 
You can occasionally find good deals on CCI Blazer ammo (the original aluminum-cased version), at around 20 cents per round delivered. I've had very good experiences with it in the 115gr FMJ 9mm Luger persuasion.
 
when i want to go cheap (excluding steel cased ammo) i go for federal every time

have tried Remington and WWB...had problems with both...Federal has never let me down

though i dont own a Glock (yet) and i have heard that Glocks don't like federal ammo since its slightly weak...can cause issues

this has been supported by hickok45 on YouTube
 
http://www.centuryarms.com/pmp.htm

.45 AUTO, 220gr., FJ
50 rds./box, 500 rds./case.
AM085 $10.45/Box
One 500 rd. case $99.87

9mm LUGER, 115gr., FJ
50 rds./box, 500 rds./case.
AM084 $7.49/Box
One 500 rd. case $72.87

not sure if you can still order this or not but I believe shipping is 12 bucks for 500 and free for a thousand or more, also as far as I know the cases are brass sounds like a good deal.
 
Cheaper than dirt sells 250 and 500 round bulk pack of BVAC ammo its reloadable and reliable the 250 is just over $100 I buy by the thousands so I buy 3 or 4 of the 500 round pack for $174 per 500 if you don't by in bulk its not worth it to buy online there's a $20 dollar extra "hazardous materials" charge on every package sent out so if you buy by the thousands they usually put them all in the same box
 
I usually just go to Wal Mart. I have compared their prices to the online companies & for practice ammo I don't see any point in ordering online. I have ordered online to get quality defensive ammunition for less than $20 dollars for 20 rounds but a local shop has that covered now too.
 
I have found CCI's "Blazer Brass" to be decent in .45ACP. Works in my Springfield 1911's and KP-90 Ruger.

Have shot a small amount of steel-case Wolf in my Ruger..havent tried it in the 1911's
 
The Winchester white box from Walmart is usually quite affordable, and particularly in 9mm.
Click to expand...
I agree...Too bad most Wally World's have stopped carrying Blazer Brass, I really liked that one...
 
I actually like the federal champion stuff from walmart. Slightly cheaper than the bulk WWB stuff and works great.
 
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