I’ve always been a big fan of the .38/.357. It is IMHO one of the most versatile rounds ever produced.Until this most recent ammo/firearm crisis, I’ve always believed that the .38 was so common that you would always be able to find it anywhere; and at a reasonable price. Not so long ago, you could walk into any backwoods hardware store or mercantile and it was almost certain that you could find .38 Special in some iteration, even if it was Lead Round Nose.

Today’s ammo situation has proven me wrong. Was just checking ammo prices at Runnings. Federal American Eagle.38 Spcl FMJ, $58/50. Federal American Eagle .45 ACP FMJ, $34/50. Almost makes me want to buy a big bore!

I know that “these things shall pass”, but I think these crises shall become more cyclical and frequent . For the foreseeable future, it’s 9mm/.380 for me.

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otis

Reloading only option cheap with hard cast bullets.

I haven't bought commercial .38 Special loads for quite a while.
Have a pile of reloads on hand though.

sgammo.com

50 Round Box - 38 Special Lead SWC 158 Grain Prvi Partizan Ammo PPH38SS50 Round Box - 38 Special Lead SWC 158 Grain Prvi Partizan Ammo PPH38SS50 Round Box - 38 Special Lead SWC 158 Grain Prvi Partizan Ammo PPH38SS

$24.95

Its out there cheap, you just have to look.

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Chief

It's a tough time to be a wheel gunner if you don't reload.

It's all about supply and demand, regardless of caliber. Right now, 9mm is plentiful, and .38 Special is in short supply, so the price on the former comes down, and the price on the latter goes up.

The inflation we're experiencing right now isn't helping matters, of course, but eventually things will settle down...

(Every time a discussion like this comes up, whether the subject is ammo, gasoline, groceries, or any other commodity, I think back to the writings of geniuses like Milton Friedman and Thomas Sowell, and their explanations of how supply and demand works. Some of that stuff -- well, okay, most of it -- is pretty dry, but it's very informative.)

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Where Law Ends, Tyranny Begins

This is the best site I've found to search ammo prices.

Best Ammo for Finding Ammunition 2022 - Guns Mags Reloading | AmmoSeek.com

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Where Law Ends, Tyranny Begins

I bought ten boxes of Fiocchi range ammo for $23.78 a box. Supposed to arrive Monday. These days I take my Model 17 and Model 18 every other trip to the range to lower the cost of my habit.

Hugh


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Not only is 50 cents a round not cheap, but after shipping it's gonna put you in high dollar country.

These guys are in my town so I don’t have to pay shipping, but they sometimes have free shipping deals. Its good range ammo.

Mountain City Supplies. I’d post a link but I got dinged last time.

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“What you got, ain’t new.”

Yes those are some very high prices for a box of 50.

You better hold on to something, before you look up the price of a box of 50,

357 Magnum ammo !!

Let along how much they want for brass cases.

I'm shooting my 617 more than ever these days.

50 cents a round is very competitive and heck of a lot cheaper than the $58/50 that OP posted.
SGAMMO is free shipping over $200 and $12 flat rate under $200.

It could be free with free shipping and some people would still complain about the color of the box it was shipped in

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Chief

Before the madness of 2020, .38 Special WWB at Walmart was $25 for a box of 50. .38 is unsustainable unless you reload.

Yes times have changed.

Your basic stash should have been established in...
1994
or
1999
2001
2007
2013
2016
2020

just saying!

I like owning a caliber that is readily available. Stocking up thousands of rounds is just not financially feasible for some of us.

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otis

When I bought my first revolver in 2020 due to all the craziness going on, I was shocked to find out how thin the available supply of guns and ammo was at the time. Thankfully my LGS had a new S&W Model 66-8, four inch barrel 357 Mag/38 Special in stock. It cost more than I had planned to spend but worth every penny.

I have since bought thousands of rounds mostly online and normally look for great deals. 357 Mag and 38 Special ammo has become much more available recently and prices are dropping. I kind of paid the high price tax early on for getting into the game so late. I have a couple 357 Mag S&W's now.

Reason I cast close to 500 assorted projectiles today, not to hot. Plan on casting more next week, then few days sizing them and be ready to reload.

Check ‘Ammo Seek’, numerous offerings under 25.00 per fifty, some under 20.00. Things are looking better all the time.

I'm sticking with a 38 spl revolver for the same reasons I went back to it years ago:

1: Any ammo you can find will function in your revolver; no need to fire thousands (or even hundreds, or even dozens) of rounds to establish functional reliability.
2: Dry fire practice more easily duplicates live fire experience, since the essence of shot placement rests in holding alignment during the trigger stroke.
3: Recovery of brass, for reloading, is so much easier.

Don't get me wrong - I don't like shortages, rationing or high prices, and I enjoy my range time as much as anybody. But, after 45 years of daily carry and quarterly quals I don't seem to get the same value from the 49th or 50th round fired as I do from the 2nd or 3rd on range session. It always mattered more to me the location of that first, cold bore from leather shot, than the 60 round qualification score.

I don't do traffic stops, building entries or room clearings any more, and have been pretty successful at being left alone, so 50-100 rounds per year is what I "need". Of course I "want" more but I see no need to get apoplectic about prices when I can get by with fewer rounds.

Besides, revolvers are still just plain cool!

Glad I shoot 40 S&W. Good supply and prices.

Me too. I can't remember when I've fired a factory 38 or 357.

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S&W Accumulator

Since shooting and hunting IS my main sport.......I started way before that.

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S&W Accumulator

All ammo is making a come back. But prices will never be like the old days. Get what you need while you can.

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No baby we aint

The same thing was said during the panics from 2008-on but, sadly, I think this time you’re right. Prices will never go back below late-2019 prices in dollar-adjusted terms. This time it’s not politics, but more the new realities of the market and inflation being here to say for a while. Ammo is still selling just fine, even at 50% higher prices. I always thought ammo, not guns, would be the weak link in the hobby/sport, either through legislation or pricing.

$58/50 is absolutely insane and way, way above what I've seen in big box stores over the last couple of weeks. Before you dump your .38, do a little comparative shopping and you might be pleasantly surprised.

That said, even in the 2017-2019 salad days of ammo pricing, plinking .38 was still way more expensive than plinking 9mm. .38 is pretty much dead in terms of military/police/other government uses, and the people shooting large volumes of .38 aren't really buying factory loaded ammo anyways. It's not going away, but there will never again be as much demand and production capacity devoted to .38spl as there is to 9mm. It almost pains me to say it but it's more and more of a niche round as time goes on, and will be priced accordingly.

I welcome the OP's sentiments.
Locally I have noticed more nice wheel
guns in classifieds.
I only wish I lived in a free state because the prices are high.

I know you've heard it before and I also know sometimes its just not possible but you can leave California for better surroundings.

It took me 50 years to leave NY for a free state.

As for the .38 Special, those will be the last guns I would ever sell. I bring at least 2 to each range trip and carry one daily.

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Freedom is never free!!
SWCA #3437

My last 38 Spl. was Colt 1911 National Match Mid Range, just received 1000 HBWCs to load. The most fun shooting Iv’e had in a while with arthritis . Would have to open the safes to see how many 38 Spl. revolvers are there. None are going anywhere, Son, Daughter, grandsons and at least 1 granddaughter will get them and plenty of ammo.

Well said,me just 42 years of shooting; Qualifying, PPC,USPSA,IDPA and before that High School and College Rifle teams.. Don't need hundred round sessions, rather just shoot 4 or 5 18-24 round sessions.

I tend to carry an auto these days but the last gun I'd let go of is my 3" Model 66 38/357!

Revolvers are also not magazine dependent...... speedloaders are nice but not necessary!!!!!

All you need is 5/6 rounds. The rest is up to each person to judge for themselves.

The 9mm is now as popular as the .38 Special was 40 years ago. The .38 Special cartridge isn't used much as a service round. Maybe some Security guards but it seems even they have gone to the 9mm. I've maintained for a long time that the popularity of the five shot 2" guns is what's keeping it alive. I imagine most of it is actually shot in .357's. That helps too.

Of course with such a huge installed base it's a long way from being discontinued. But it's not what it once was. Fortunately it's an extremely easy cartridge to reload. The brass lasts a long time and you don't lose any in the grass.

For my purposes it's great. I'm just a target shooter, and I reload. Hard to beat a .38 for punching paper. In my experience your average .38/.357 is very accurate with a wide variety of loads be it factory or reloads. I can't say that for the 9mm.

Looks like you're down to two cartridges. 9mm and .223/5.56.

Not necessarily a bad thing, but it's like buying ice cream with vanilla and chocolate as your choices.

Who knows. It might happen.

I tried to buy a new pickup last summer and couldn't get the one I wanted. It was advertised at MSRP but not available at that price. I've never paid anywhere close to MSRP for a new vehicle. First one I purchased was in 73. Things are getting wonky.

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That's just somebody talkin.

True for most of us...... ammo doesn't have a "Best used by" date. Stored cool and dry it's good for decades. Most stashes are accumulated over those decades.

Every year after deer season the local Dunham's would put .243 ammo on sale.... I bought a couple of boxes the first few years then just one a year... nice stash after two decades. Only used about half a box a year.

When I got my first .22mag rifle back in 2011 I bought 2 or 3 boxes at about $11-12/50 ...... weekly trips to Walmart would grab a box maybe every other week when it was still $12-14 a box ...... 26x 50= 1300. .22 mag is not a "range day" round but a "walk in Penn's Woods" round. I shoot maybe one box a year at varmints in the field, which I then replace at today's cost of $19/50.

Unfortunately, the panicdemic caused people to rush out and buy relatively small, often concealable, and inexpensive handguns. Revolvers are expensive to make, plastic pistols are much cheaper. This means the polymer receiver semi-auto pistol business was and still is the hot ticket. Most of these are chambered in 9x19mm, a good number in 45 ACP. With ammo manufacturers saddled with materials shortages and often strict pandemic restrictions on how many people can be inside a building at one time, they focus on the hottest selling products. 9x19mm, 45 ACP, and 5.56mm NATO.

If things ever return to normal, revolver ammo will become available and at reasonable prices, adjusted for inflation. Until then, you either rely upon a stash of revolver ammo you bought years ago or, if you can find or already have components, you load your own.

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VCDL, GOA, NRA

Good excuse to buy a 9mm revolver.

If people are turning away from revolvers, why aren't there a bunch of used ones on the market?

I learned after Sandy Hook and I am pretty well set on Bullets, Cases, and Primers for all of my handgun and rifle calibers.

However in 2018 I started shooting Clays and now do 4 Gun Skeet, so I have presses for 410, 28, 20, & 12 gauge. The biggest issue for shotgun is the 410 and 28 gauge hulls, those are very difficult to come by unless you're willing to pay nearly 20 dollars per box of 25 to get some hulls to reload. Since I do most of my practicing with the 410 I'm walking a bit of a tightrope and using hulls until they literally start falling apart. Note, Skeet is a very practice intensive sport and so far this year I've used up 11,000 primers.

IMO going forward it's only going to get worse. I foresee two types of shooter. Those who own 2 boxes of ammunition and those who reload.

I haven’t bought a box of factory 38 in years but I did just pay $85 for a brick of 22lr yesterday - yikes-
Don’t give up on 38spl it’s a great cartridge that is cheap and easy to load
The shortage of primers is just a bump in the road and a learning experience
When things become available again you could employ the “need one ,buy two” method of stock piling , never really breaks the bank but before long you have a good supply built up
That is how I do it , maybe I can’t afford to EVERYTIME but often as is possible ��

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the rules? there are no rules

Because selling a used gun these days is a hassle.

If it was as easy as selling something on eBay I have a few that would be on the market. I have sold guns locally and on GunBroker and both methods have drawbacks. Selling to a dealer for half what the gun is worth is an option I have not used before but am considering. I don't see any point in keeping guns around that I do not shoot but it takes a few years before I work up the motivation to sell them.

I bought a 686 this spring and knew ammo would not be as cheap. But I really like the gun so I bought it despite the cost of ammo.

I was looking this morning and found some PMC for $21.50 per 50 round box. Free shipping, but only if you order a 1000 round case.

PMC Bronze 38 Special Ammo 132 Grain FMJ - Ammo Deals

Have you tried their reman ammo and has it worked okay for you? I've run a couple hundred or so rounds of their "private reserve" new ammo in my j frame with no problems, but they didn't have that available for a long time so I got a few bags of the "white label" reman. 25 rounds into the first bag I got a squib lodged in the barrel. Luckily for me it lodged between the cylinder and the barrel, and locked the action, because I was doing a rapid fire group and hadn't noticed that the recoil felt different (it did go bang, just not with enough force to move the bullet all the way out). Had the bullet stuck 1/8" further down the barrel I would have ruined my gun, and possibly hurt myself.

Anyway, the owner at the range/gun shop knew of the ammo and said I wasn't the first in recent months to get bad loads- one customer did blow the barrel in his 9mm not long before.

Also, with shipping, last few times I ordered, which was about 4 month ago now, shipping was taking about 2 months, but they charge your card at the moment you order. Customer service is extremely polite, and apologetic about the lead times, and I get it that they're having supply shortages, but it's not indicated on the website about the lead times, and I don't like being charged up front then waiting months for my product.

Regarding prices in general, I find "reasonable" prices on ammoseek all the time, but if I keep a regular eye on Midway they often have decent quality ammo at about $0.40/round, and you can often find a free shipping coupon code. I know it's not 9mm cheap, but it's worth shooting .38 to me.

States like California that are banning semi-autos are creating a market for the .38 Special. The K-Frame with 4” barrel is excellent for home defense / checking for things that go bump in the middle of the night.

The slightly smaller Colt Police Positive Special is a good choice for ladies but it has been discontinued too many years to be commonly available.

The J-Frame .38, while very popular, isn’t a good choice as it is hard to learn to shoot accurately.

Have you considered handloading? The initial outlay for equipment can be minimal. Accuracy seems to be pretty secondary to many nowadays, but if you have an interest in it, you can produce ammunition that's considerably more accurate than factory ammo. Of course, handloading basics need to be learned first.

All I shoot is their cheap stuff (remanufactured) in 9mm, .38 Special, and .380 ACP. I’ve never had a bad round (yet).

They’re local to me, so I just stop in and grab some off the shelf.

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“What you got, ain’t new.”

go price a basic start up reloading kit.

This is on target. I've been around long enough to see the transition from the .38 being on top to the 9mm replacing it. Economy of scale in production accounts for the pricing reversal.

Fortunately I reload and cast my own bullets so I'm not a slave to the market. Even before the recent panic .45 Colt was $50.00 a box for basic lead loads, now I'm seeing $70.00 a box. If I didn't roll my own I wouldn't own my .45 Colt.

Many of us started our handloading hobby with a basic Lee Loader Kit and built up over time. I was one of them. It's still available for under $50.00.

Lee Loader 38 Spl - Lee Precision

I can remember when you could buy factory reloads for 38 for under $8. I was the head firearms instructor for my small department, basic academy and later a security company. When we replaced ammo every year, many did not want their old ammo. I found a home for it. Still have thousands of 38. Mostly Gold Dot or Hydrashock/HST.

Don't shoot that much anymore, but when I do its usually 9mm.