More on Ammo Prices

[Griff Murphey]

I was at Cheaper Than Dirt in Fort Worth yesterday. The Catalog lists S&B at $35 per box of 50. They are still listing 120 rd. USGI LC Carbine ammo at $125 per 120 rd. Bandolier, that's a dollar a round for you accounting majors. Wolf, which I would not consider due to the steel cases, was going for $27.95 or thereabouts. CTD also was selling some .380 Auto pistol for $39/box/50. Now I have no argument with marking up the collectable Lake City because they ain't makin' that no more. But the rest is just highway robbery. Last week I passed on a single sole survivor box of Remington at Wal Mart for $24.95. You can't tell me that $35 bucks is a fair price for Czech made S&B; they are just marking it up like they are that .380. Another example of how ridiculous this whole thing is; a week an a half ago Wal Mart had a stack of 10 boxes of Remington 9mm for $9.95 each. I will say one thing for Wal Mart vs. our "gun dealers" - they are not trying to fleece us. Wal Mart has empty stock areas for Winchester .380 priced at $13.95. Granted the prospect of ever seeing any may be remote which is why CTD has theirs marked up to $39!

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[USSR]

I keep telling you guys, if you want affordable .30 Carbine ammo, you've got to start casting and reloading.



While finding small rifle primers at the present time is somewhat of a problem, you can reload for the carbine at nearly the cost of .22 rimfire ammo.

Don

[landtrain]

As USSR says, Cast and reload your .30 Carbine. Find a tire dealer and either beg or buy his removed wheel weights. A 5 gallon bucket will weigh about 75 pounds and will produce 40 to 50 pounds of wheel weight material. Remove all the trash and you will have30 pounds of material suitable for casting. NEXT, Buy a book on casting bullets. READ IT. Casting is not dangerous if you follow a few simple rules. Then a set of LEE molds for .30 Carb. READ THE BOOK AGAIN. When I first began, I posted a help wanted add in our local paper for bullet casters. Had several responses. One who had all of the stuff I needed at no cost. First thing he told me was: READ THE BOOK! I now load for Carbine, 45ACP/Auto Rim. 38/357. .380 and 9mm. If you live in Northern Virginia I would be willing to donate some time/advice.

[JimF4M1s (Deceased)]

Why cast bullets? Are FMJ 110 that hard to find?

[Tired Retired]

Last time I was at Cabela's in Fort Worth (several weeks), they had S&B FMJ for $23.99 with about 40 boxes on the shelf. As far as bullets for reloading, they had Remington 110 FMJ and SP on the shelf - prob about 20 bags total. The FMJ was $14.99 and the SP was $15.99...

Now, ya'll can have all the S&B you want, but I call about 10 bags of the SP reload bullets on this coming payday!

[Faulkner]

I'm just glad I didn't sell off my Y2K ammo stash. I'm thinking that if I hang on to it a bit longer that instead of shooting it I can use it as money.

[chemeng]

Yeah, I'm keeping all my Y2K ammo for the Y3K scare.

[USSR]

Why cast bullets? Are FMJ 110 that hard to find?

Not if you want to pay $.16 - $.18 a piece for them. I can cast them for next to nothing and do alot of shooting.

Don

[Harlan (Deceased)]

I'm just glad I didn't sell off my Y2K ammo stash. I'm thinking that if I hang on to it a bit longer that instead of shooting it I can use it as money.

OK, I'll make a deal with you -

If ammo prices go down over 15% in the next 12 months, you give me your stock pile of Y2K carbine ammo...

But, if the prices go up in the next 12 months, I've let you sell it for a profit.

Sound fair enough?

Honestly, I think the ammo companies (and some retailers) are 'gouging' just as the gas companies did last summer. When people gave up things and changed their way of life to use less fuel, the gas companies began to hurt and lowered cost at the pump substantially and not in scale with crude prices. Many of the people who could afford to, or able to adjust their fuel consumption have kept their ways even though gas prices came down and it's helped to keep prices down.

There's no arguing that a lot of ammo panic buying and hording has gone on since, uhm... 'the last election' (Was that innocuous enough for the mods? :-)

I think the ammo manufacturers simply couldn't keep up with the demand with their present resources. They couldn't responsibly justify financially the expanding of production facilities or hiring new workers for different shifts for what they know is a short term situation. You can bet your bottom dollar if they felt this would last forever they'd expand and produce more ammo.

I just hope the prices go back down to near where they were when the shelves are stocked full again. Who really knows, but 'supply and demand' works both ways.

JMO,
~ Harlan

[Griff Murphey]

The demand for SOME ammo will never go down; such as 7.62 NATO and to a lesser extent '06.
.380 shortage...? There HAS to be a bottom to that. I mean if you own a .380 how many boxes do you BUY in a lifetime? 2 or 3? Even .357. Fun to shoot, but... not really a match caliber. Even Bubba will, I think, reach a saturation point. Match shooters; NRA, CMP, and 3 gun, .06, 7.62, .223; will NEVER have enough ammo...

There's plenty of .38/40 on the shelves...