Rifle Ammo (30-06) more expensive online

R

RubenX

New member
On small gun shops and ranges around here, the cheapest box of 20rds of 30-06 is anywhere from $25 to $45. On bigger stores you should have no problem finding a cheap Federal or Remington at $19.95. Recently I found them on sale at $15.95 and that's as low as they will go. Those sold out a day after the sale started.

Now, looking at online ammo stores, even the cheapest FMJ is more expensive than this. And when you factor in the shipping, it goes up even more. Similar story happens with bulk where 100 rounds cost $125 online when locally, you get 20 rounds for $19.95 of the same bullet/grain/brand/etc.

Being a noob at this, my question: "Is this is a typical situation for this specific caliber or is this something common for ammunition in general? Are gun shows any cheaper?
 
A good price on ammo is wherever you find it. Once you start looking for ammo, your mind will hardwire to see a good deal when one pops up, and your brain will start figuring prices in the per-cartridge mode. As long as we're talking .30-06, lets see what's available.

The first thing you have to ask yourself is what do you want to use the ammo for. Different ammo has different purposes and what might be good for one use might be not so good for another use. For example, I can get good Greek ball ammo from the DCM for about 50 cents per pop, but it wouldn't be good for hunting. It's good practice/plinking ammo, but I wouldn't use it for hunting. One thing I like about buying from the DCM is that a quasi-governmental agency will sell me guns and ammo and send them to my house. That's cool.

But, on the commercial side, you have to look at one of several of the online outfits. Lucky Gunner has .30-06 ammo for 90 cents per round, and it doesn't matter if you buy on box of 20 or a case of 10 boxes. Powder Valley has Prvi ammo for 83 cents per each and the prices will go up from there depending on what you might want.

For standard hunting ammo, there's nothing wrong with "cheap Federal or Remington" at under $1.00 a pop. If you can find ammo at those prices at your local store, buy it there. Ask if they'll give you a discount on case prices. Let them pay the shipping.

It costs money to enjoy our hobby and lots of us started reloading simply to save some of that money. What we get in return is better ammo, tailored to our rifles at half the cost. Do we save money? No, we spend more money, but we have better ammo, and more of it. There was a time when I bought one box of ammo per year for hunting. I'd shoot 10 rounds at sight-in and save the other 10 rounds for hunting. My total ammo expenditure per year was one box of ammo. Nowadays I spend lots more, but I do a lot more shooting.

By reloading, I figure I spend less than half what I'd spend buying ammo, and in some cases my ammo is almost free. My .30-30 ammo costs me 6 cents per pop. My .30-06 ammo costs me 25 cents per pop, my 7mm mag ammo costs me 40 cents per pop.

But, to answer your question, deals are where you find them. If your local store can get ammo cheaper than the online guys, buy your ammo locally.
 
Think about all of your expences to get the ammo, like gas for your vehicle or shipping. I can save 3 bucks a box at cabelas over my local shop, but it takes 50 bucks in gas to get there and back. Not realy worth the savings.
 
Recently I found them on sale at $15.95 and that's as low as they will go. Those sold out a day after the sale started.
Click to expand...

If the brass was reloadable, I am suprised it did not disappear faster than that.....
 
I ran into a good deal on .35 Whelen ammunition about three years ago. I walked into Dick's sporting goods and they had 200 grain Remington Core Lokt on sale $9.95 a box. I walked out with 200 rounds (all they had) of loaded ammunition for less than $100 after I got my 10% discount for having thier club card.

I reload but the deal was too good to pass up. Plus I found out my Whelen likes the factory ammunition and I can shoot it for three rounds under an inch. It will be several years before I reload it again as I don't shoot it a whole lot.

Try Ammo Engine for online deals. Buying in bulk will lower your price per round costs. Especially once you figure in shipping.
 
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