Cost of ammo?

[Ucsdryder]

I keep seeing this brought up on here. Does the cost of ammo really dictate the amount you shoot? I was surprised how close the cost of 300prc and 6.5/6cm is!

At my local gun store, here are the prices of white box Hornady…


300prc - 42.99
6.5prc - 39.99
6.5cm - 39.99
6cm - 37.99
338 Lapua - 119.99

All pretty reasonable compared to what we’ve seen over the last couple of years and hopefully a trend that continues.

 

[svivian]

I’ve been selling my brass to make it even cheaper! At one point I was getting almost $1 per round for once fired Hornady 6.5prc brass.

Only down side with the PRC for me is the barrel life. Will probably go to a cm for my next barrel.

 

[justinspicher]

I sell my brass as well, but it doesn’t even come close to covering the cost of my shooting adventures.

 

[need4sneed]

I'll stress Cheap at times, specifically to people pouring through forums to ask which caliber or which "one and done" hunting rifle. The true shooting hobbyist sport has a lot of barriers to entry and it is just that much easier to develop and grow into if you chose a 308 vs a 300 WSM etc
The overall sentiment being: if you spent three months researching to buy $1000 rifle - It is not likely that you're coughing up $700 in ammo to meet a 200rd ammo requirement for a $400 day-long shooting course.

 

[Macintosh]

Cost of ammo is something to me—it’s by far the largest cost per year for my shooting. I generally dont pay as much as shown in the op for match-grade practice ammo though. Last couple years I dont think I’ve paid more than $28 for a 20-round box. I dont see special buys like that for most cartridges though. I think thats the difference—even if the everyday list price is closer to the same, some of the standard cartridges have frequent opportunities to purchase in volume at significantly lower price.

 

[mxgsfmdpx]

Cost of ammo is something to me—it’s by far the largest cost per year for my shooting.

Now that I have to buy my own ammo I'm in the same boat! Luckily I still have some contacts and get good pricing, otherwise it would hard to justify shooting as much as I do.

 

[wind gypsy]

Ammo at full price is expensive. Luckily there is usually solid creedmoor ammo on sale somewhere online for $1.15-1.50 per round.

 

[Hnthrdr]

Yeah I’d say my current purchases are 26-32 bucks a box for 6cm and 6.5cm, .308 a little cheaper and .223 coming in at 17-19 for hornady black (coyote ammo in Co). Online is better just have to order enough to make the shipping make sense. Blows me away when some box stores want 50+ bucks a box huge margins on that

 

[S-3 ranch]

I feel the pain , shooting a .375 ruger, $80-$120 per box
I hoard my brass from the very low quality hornday factory stuff offered
But the components are almost as expensive, just better quality

 

[SteveAndTheCrigBoys]

Haven’t bought rifle ammo in a store in years.

Ammoseek and >8 shipping, easy.

I’d say time is more of the issue. Too many hobbies. And proximity to quality shooting locations.

 

[Hnthrdr]

Haven’t bought rifle ammo in a store in years.

Ammoseek and >8 shipping, easy.

Shhhhh this is the secret sauce right here

 

[Marshfly]

Yup. Just had a case of 6ARC hit the porch found on Ammoseek. Love how cheap that cartridge is to shoot.

 

[TripleJ]

My strategy is to buy a bunch when it's on sale. Local store had 6.5 cm Hornady Match 147ELDM for $29.99/box last week, was able to score a couple cases.

 

[5MilesBack]

When I started reloading many years ago it was mainly so I could load the bullets I wanted to shoot that I couldn't find in factory ammo. But the cost savings factor immediately showed up as well. To me, I want sub $1/round ammo if I'm going to be shooting much. That limits me to reloads.

 

[JohnJohnson]

My strategy is a lot of .22lr out of my trainer rifle.

 

[Reburn]

What I have learned is the guys that complain about the cost of ammo arent shooting enough for it to actually matter and the guys that do shoot enough generally arent bitching about ammo cost.

Now when I spin a barrel I buy ammo for the life of the barrel or 2000 rounds whichever comes first.

 

[Choupique]

Ammo cost is the biggest factor. Best i can do for .338 wm is $2/ea, and it's barely any cheaper to reload it.

Time is a problem as well, but if ammo was cheaper I'd shoot more. The wife and I each have play money budgets and it's got to be spread out between all my hunting and fishing for the year.

 

[SteveAndTheCrigBoys]

Proximity to a quality place to shoot is huge, especially at distance.

Another reason for me to gtf out of Seattle, but my spots are 2 1/2 hours away minimum. Almost just have to make a weekend out of it.