pre-crazy ammo prices

[taliv]

anyone know of a historical site that recorded ammo prices over time?

or remember specifically what 9mm 147g defense ammo was per round in 2019 or 2018? (e.g. Federal HST or Hornady custom or similar)


i am thinking normal 115-124g stuff was like 80 cents a round or even $1 / rnd, but could be misremembering and i never bought the 147g so i don't know about it but assume it would be more

 

[Hartkopf]

In 2019 SGammo had 50 round boxes of Federal HST for $30. I think TargetSports might have run sales on the same 50 round boxes. GoldDots could also be had for $30 and $20 on sale.(also 50rnd).

Prices were the same for all grain weights from the online discount places.

 

[taliv]

Thanks!

 

[lionking]

March 2020 a case of brass 1000 9mm $169.00 , a case of brass.223 per 1000 was $299.00, stuff like average 7.62x51mm per 1000 rds was $470.00, just looked at my receipt from SGammo from last March. Now even Prvi .303 British and 8mm Mauser is up $5 or $6 more per box of 20 than it was in March. Go back twenty years and ammo was about that price as well overall I remember Walmart in early 2001 a box of 9mm was $7 or $8.

that is for bulk FMJ ammo by the way.

 

[reddog81]

I have emails from SGAmmo from earlier this year. 500 rounds of Winchester 147 grain +P Service Bonded Hollow Point Ranger ammo was $219+14 shipping. So a little under $.50 per round. Same email has 200 Speer Gold Dots 124 grain +P at $119 +12 for shipping. 1,000 rounds Sellier and Bellot 115 grain HP was $209 plus 16 for shipping. Buying individual boxes from SGAmmo was only slightly more expensive.

The emails don’t have the exact ammo you mention but do have a variety of other rounds at similar low prices.

 

[defjon]

I started buying ammo in the GWB administration and 9mm was 2 dollars a box.

100 round Winchester white box for 5 bucks.

 

[lionking]

I started buying ammo in the GWB administration and 9mm was 2 dollars a box.

100 round Winchester white box for 5 bucks.

Been buying ammo a long time myself and don't think ammo was ever that cheap in that timeline. $5 a box for some kind of 9mm 50 rounds maybe but never $2.

 

[.455_Hunter]

A few days before Sandy Hook in 2012, Walmart had Federal Champion .22 LR for $1.47 / 50, or just under $15 for a brick.

I laugh when people lovingly talk about $.97 per 50 .22 LR back in the 70's/80's.

Given inflation, the 2012 price was WAY cheaper.

 

[T_Walker]

anyone know of a historical site that recorded ammo prices over time?

or remember specifically what 9mm 147g defense ammo was per round in 2019 or 2018? (e.g. Federal HST or Hornady custom or similar)


i am thinking normal 115-124g stuff was like 80 cents a round or even $1 / rnd, but could be misremembering and i never bought the 147g so i don't know about it but assume it would be more

I'm not sure about any websites in particular, but in April of this year I bought 1k of 9mm + P Federal HST 124 Grain Hollow point LE ammo for $579. I don't recall what 147 was, maybe a little more.

 

[commygun]

I became a gun nut around 1990. At that time .38 special was consistently cheaper than 9mm. But I never saw any centerfire pistol ammo, even cheapo factory reloads (3D wadcutters and such), lower than $4.50/box. Great days for a new .38/.357 shooter.

 

[mjsdwash]

Been buying ammo a long time myself and don't think ammo was ever that cheap in that timeline. $5 a box for some kind of 9mm 50 rounds maybe but never $2.

yea, I was buying 9mm during the first years of Dubbya, 9mm at around 8-9+tax, new at retail and commercial Reloads I went through like crazy of 38spl at 8.50/50, and .357 for around 12/50 from HSM. I remember back in 05 hearing a friend say he was "never buying a 45.... $12 a box is too much"..... Now on the other hand, 7.62X39 WAS going for 2/box, actually at retail here Wolf was 2.09$/20 rounds for years. I don't think I have heard of 9mm that cheap since the early 60's.

 

[ozarkhillbilly]

I remember getting 22 on sale for $.50 for 50 in the early 80's. The first box of 30-30 I purchased was around $8 in the mid 80's I bought it at a wal-mart and I could not have been but 12 or 13 and they sold it to me with out question.

 

[dirtman]

We used to pay 6 to $7. for a brick of 22lr back in the mid 60s There were weekends when i would burn through 2 bricks myself.... it wasn't healthy being a mud hen back then........

 

[JeeperCreeper]

If you go on gun deals and scroll back far enough, you can see old ammo and gun prices.

For those of you that don't know, it's like a user posting site for random deals. So as long as a deal hasn't been refreshed or updated by a user, you can still see them

 

[Speedo66]

Go back to just before the news of the pandemic hit, AIM Surplus was regularly selling Russian steel 9mm for less than $6 a box, and some brand of brass 9mm, i.e., Fiocci or Geco, for $7.99 or $8.99 a box.

 

[Ru4real]

I remember getting 22 on sale for $.50 for 50 in the early 80's. The first box of 30-30 I purchased was around $8 in the mid 80's I bought it at a wal-mart and I could not have been but 12 or 13 and they sold it to me with out question.

We must be about the same age. I bought at Pamida, which is now out of business. The 22 ammo was locked up, and waiting for the lady to come and unlock the cabinet glass door was more exciting than Christmas!

 

[GBExpat]

A few days before Sandy Hook in 2012, Walmart had Federal Champion .22 LR for $1.47 / 50, or just under $15 for a brick.

I laugh when people lovingly talk about $.97 per 50 .22 LR back in the 70's/80's.

Given inflation, the 2012 price was WAY cheaper.

Now I am going to have to find my Inflation Calculator so that I can better understand the ~1¢/rd .22LR that we paid, buying by the box, as a kid thru most of the '60s.

I have a vague memory of buying ~$6-$7 500rd bricks in the mid'70s.

 

[defjon]

Maybe wwb was 5/50 and the 100 round loose ammo boxes were 10/100.

I remember it being cheap even for a college kid making pizzas.

Oh this old mind will wander so! Back in my day they handed out 9mm fmjs for free, we had to walk 16 miles in the snow and use the wwb cartons to fashion boots.

 

[defjon]

380 was around 7/50. 38s were similar.

12/50 kept me out of the 45 acp game in 2004..

 

[RavenTai]

A few days before Sandy Hook in 2012, Walmart had Federal Champion .22 LR for $1.47 / 50,

Yep, I have an ammo can full of federal 510 from a little before that era, it was $1.47 and pretty good ammo. The 50 rd boxes seam to be more reliable than the bulk packs, possibly more accurate also. It was a great value.

 

[taliv]

Now I am going to have to find my Inflation Calculator so that I can better understand the ~1¢/rd .22LR that we paid, buying by the box, as a kid thru most of the '60s.

I have a vague memory of buying ~$6-$7 500rd bricks in the mid'70s.

it's odd, but true. in the early 2000s, walmart sold 550ct boxes of fed for about $8 before they jumped to $12, then $15 then $20 and back to $18 or so iirc with the various panics. but I bought tens of thousands of rounds at $8-12 (to feed a full auto 22lr).

if you use a calculator like https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/ it says if you paid $6 for something in 1970 it would be worth $31 in 2006. so in practical terms, ammo was 1/3rd the price in 2000s. (and that's using the gov inflation numbers, not the actual numbers)

 

[Walkalong]

I bought 124 Gr standard pressure HSTs for $22 a box of 50 about three years ago.

 

[magyars4]

Been a serious shooter for 40 years or so....
Thought this was worth taking a picture of.
357 (50 rnds) for 18.2?... Can't make out the last number

 

[Jrdolall7]

I have loaded up on every ammo we shoot over the past 5 years and haven't even glanced at ammo prices since Covid came along. I noticed the shelves were empty at Academy a couple of weeks ago when I needed some high-brass shells for a squirrel hunt and I have had a couple of friends hit me up for a box of ammo when they couldn't find any.
After Sandy Hook I remember people bemoaning the good old days and talking about how, if they were an ammo maker, they would tool up new production lines to keep up with demand because prices would NEVER get low again, especially on 22LR. 22LR was the only ammo I thought would remain cheap after SH so I didn't load up immediately. Boy, was I wrong! I had my phone set to ping me when ammo became available online and I often got up at 2 AM to buy as much as some website would let me have, regardless of price.
Next week will go a long way to determniing how long prices stay inflated.

 

[Mr. Zorg]

Now I am going to have to find my Inflation Calculator so that I can better understand the ~1¢/rd .22LR that we paid, buying by the box, as a kid thru most of the '60s.

I have a vague memory of buying ~$6-$7 500rd bricks in the mid'70s.

I remember my father buying bricks of .22LR for $5 each when on sale at Woolco into the mid-70's for me and my brother.