The effect of ammo cost

O

oldman1946

New member
Does the price of ammo effect your decision as to the caliber of handgun to purchase, carry or shoot?

I shoot many different calibers during the course of a month and never allow myself to be concerned with the cost of shooting. I do not fish, drink, smoke, go to the movies or many other things that people spend a lot of their disposable income for. Mine goes to buying guns, ammo or else spent on my cars.

The one thing I do that others may not is I target shoot with the same type ammo I carry for work and SD. The feel and accuracy of using a different round for practice tends to throw my shooting off. It only cost a penney or two more per round to use the same ammo. I found a long time ago that shooting .38 in a .357 does not feel the same as .357. The same with .40 fmj compared with the jhp.

My findings (opinions) may be different from yours but I see many on here mentioning the cost of ammo entering into which caliber gun to buy.
 
No, but it did effect a decision to reload.

I shoot Glocks in 40S&W. 9mm ammo apparently is somewhat less expensive, but it's not nearly as inexpensive as my reloads. :)
 
Availability

In my case, availability was a major consideration. Pistol cost, ammo availability, ammo cost was involved in the decision but not a the major player.
 
Not sure where these people are having difficulty in finding ammo. I see it all the time in stores in all the calibers I shoot. The one exception to that is .45LC and I have not found it in many stores.

However, I order most of my ammo on line and cases at a time. It is cheaper than local dealers by a wide margin. Since it does not go bad, I figure it will outlast me and not spoil.
 
Doesn't affect what I carry, but it does affect what I shoot. And I'm not alone, as the venerable .22 is gaining in popularity in leaps and bounds. In fact, I just bought a brandy new Browning Buckmark "Contour" to take advantage of cheap plinking. :-)
 
It has no effect on guns I buy .....

but it has something to do with how I practice. I carry a 1911 in .45 acp / and I practice a lot with a 1911 in 9mm .......to keep the ammo cost down a little.
 
Price doesn't, but availability does.
I only carry specific self-defense ammo. For some stupid reason, I shot all my .40 up the last time at the range (thought I had another box back home, but didn't). Therefore, I am carrying my 9mm since I have that particular self-defense ammo for that caliber.

Due to limited availability of .40 Winchester PDX ammo (i.e., I can't get it), I am not carrying a .40 at this time.
 
Yes. I recently added a 9mm to my collection and want to add a .22lr pistol as well. I like to shoot but it has been a drag shooting my .44 mag due to the cost of ammo so I picked up the 9mm for a plinking/fun gun. Ammo is roughly half the price of the .44 mag.
 
The price and availability of ammo does impact my purchases. I also consider whether to add a new gun in an existing caliber, or a different one and then would need to start gathering that one also.
 
For me, ammo prices have no overall effect on what guns I choose to buy but it does affect what type of rounds I purchase for normal practice.

I am going to get into reloading soon to lower the long term cost...

The SD rounds I use for CCW I do practice with frequently but not all the time or Id go broke soon.
 
Since I started handloading, I have deleted the following calibers from my inventory:
--.44 Spl
--.40 S&W
--.38 Spl
I no longer own any handguns in those chamberings. I can load .357 Mag down to .38 Spl levels, but only have to stock one size brass.

I mostly load and shoot .45 acp, but I have also added .41 Mag and .45LC to the flock. The components are really no more expensive than those of the .357. I really can't remember the lsat time I shot a .357--I have more fun with the .41 and the .45LC.

For a time (before I started handloading) I would go to the range and fire 100 rounds of .22 followed by 50 rounds of a centerfire cartridge (9mm/.45acp/.357). It helped my fundamentals, which I really needed at the time. These days I go more frequently, still shoot 100 rounds of .22LR, and then shoot 100 rounds of centerfire. My handloads cost about $6/50 if you consider my time of no value :)
 
I going to pick 6-8 calibers my son,son-in-law shoot and start reloading
and build up the cache like it use to be 5 years ago. I got sticker shock as
one of the guys have purchased a couple of firearms in the last 3 months.
He's lucky his wife (my daughter ) agrees to it. Look forward to learning
how to safely reloading,especially storage.
 
It depends.....

I bought some federal 40 at Wally World yesterday for 13.99 a box (50).

They were out of 45acp.

Seems like ammo is getting back to more available.

I'm still hoarding when the price is right.
 
Price to some extent, but availability to a greater extent has indeed affected not only what I now shoot but also how frequently too.

I am less likely to shoot what I carry now because I may not be able to find, let alone afford to replace it. WWB in .40 and 9mm is the preferred stuff now.

Something else I do more now is enjoy the Kadet Kit on my 75B. I can shoot for hours for $15 and it cycles the bulk stuff from Remington and Federal just fine.
 
The price of ammo did not and will not affect the weapon I carry for self-defense, a .357, how much is my or a loved ones life worth? I assure you it’s more than the 80 cents a round for good quality .357 ammo. Costs. The fact that I can shoot both 38 special and .357 ammo was a big part of my decision when I purchased my Taurus 617.

As shooting for me is no longer an avocation, but something I feel I have an oblation to do, I like Oldman1947 practice with the ammo I carry for S/D, and only 50 rounds a month.

Safe Shooting All!
 
Ammo availability, price, and caliber definitely had a role in what handgun I bought.

I chose 9mm as ammo is widely available 9 times out of 10 and its less expensive than .40 or .45.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top