.38 Special ammo prices!

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Teddydog

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No, I have NOT been living under a rock for the last couple of years, but recently I was looking to expand my inventory of .38 Special ammo. Of all of the calibers I use, it is the one I have the least of (ok...I have less .454 Casull and probaby less 7.63 Mauser, but you get the idea). Pretty much the cheapest there is runs about $14.50 a box of 50! Yikes! Even remanufactured stuff is selling for this. Is .38 Special SO LOW on the popularity and volume lists now that is goes for this?

Yes, I can reload it for less. But in the past I have rarely bothered for just target/plinking ammo. And my reloading bench is currently burried under "garage clutter".

Anybody got a "source"?

Rob
 
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Ot get a .22 for your "shoot a lot" gun. The wife and I practice a little with our .38s and 9mm but at only about $8 for 100 rounds of .22, we shoot that one a lot. What we save on ammo ($8/100 vs $16/50 & $18/50) paid for the S&W 22a pretty quick.
 
Years ago everyone shot the .38, especially LEOs. That was the standard caliber and ammo. Then along came the pistols in 9mm, then other calibers followed. It was then that you could find all the .38 ammo you wanted for almost nothing (I bought several dozen boxes of .38 Remington WC for $ 12.00 a box - now more than double that price). It's as you say, less popular hence less demand. And those who shoot .38's reload rather than purchase factory loads, further dropping demand.
 
Not as popular as it used to be and raw material prices keep going up. Georgia Arms remanufactured is good quality and $10.50-11.00 in bulk, you have to pay shipping but you get a ammo can and no sales tax.

Georgia Arms - .38 SPECIAL
 
It's pretty sad, when I first started shooting the 38 spl. was the cheapest centerfire you could shoot. Today it's nearly DOUBLE the cost of 9mm. Last time I stocked up on 130 gn. American Eagle it ran me nearly 19 dollars a box. BTW, there are 2 commercial loads I've found to be exceptionally accurate in my 620, the American Eagle and Speer Lawman 125 gn. TMJ. Unfortunately, I'll have to wait until a city like NY or Chicago places an order before that Speer Lawman becomes available, so right now is that Federal or I don't shoot 38's.
 
I have purchased .38 ammo, new PMC 130 grain FMJ, for $ 12.50 a box (per 1000 rounds) from The Armory. A case is $ 249.00 plus S&H,
$ 27.00 for me, UPS. Delivery was within a week. I have no complaints regarding PMC and reload the brass.
 
Widener's has Prvi Partizan 158LRN for $13.90/50. It is an import from Serbia but has performed very well in my Mdl 14.
 
The cheapest stuff I saw at Wal-Mart the other day was more expensive than the .45 ACP of the same flavor.
 
tell you what I did....
I raked off my reloading bench, found my press, scrounged some used molds, grabbed some wheelweights and bought some lead bullets, and I am rolling my own...I PAY for some ammo, but I like my 38's, and shooting them was just ridiculous price wise.....
Now, I am reloading my 41 mag, 45's, 38/357....and I am looking for 32/20 dies and molds now.....
not only do I like doing it, I can tailor my own 38 +p loads they way I WANT them.....as well as hunting and "carry" ammo in other calibers....
 
Teddydog said:
Pretty much the cheapest there is runs about $14.50 a box of 50! Yikes! Even remanufactured stuff is selling for this. Is .38 Special SO LOW on the popularity and volume lists now that is goes for this?
Anybody got a "source"?

Rob
Click to expand...
Actually, $14.50 isn't all that bad around me. The cheapest I've seen is $16 for the Speer Lawman ammo. Sure you can buy it for $13.50 online but after S&H it costs just as much.

Thank goodness my reloading bench is clear and I can still reload a box of .38 Special for ~$4.00.
 
The .38 special is going for @ 15.00 per box 50 and up here in San Antonio, if you can find any. All that is left is the very expensive SD ammo.
I too have some older Federal ammo that cost @ 5.99 a box, and this was
the "good" stuff with nickel cases. I have one older red box of Federal
.357 mag 158 JHP ( nickel case ) that ws $9.57 for a bx/50. Try and find that now.

I will still use the .357/.38 as my primary go to gun though.
Way too good of a caliber when used in the model 19 or any K frame.
I miss the " old days ".....

JW
 
Steve in Vermont said:
Years ago everyone shot the .38, especially LEOs. That was the standard caliber and ammo. Then along came the pistols in 9mm, then other calibers followed. It was then that you could find all the .38 ammo you wanted for almost nothing (I bought several dozen boxes of .38 Remington WC for $ 12.00 a box - now more than double that price). It's as you say, less popular hence less demand. And those who shoot .38's reload rather than purchase factory loads, further dropping demand.
Click to expand...
I don't know... the .380acp pistols are probably more popular then ever before, and yet their ammo is even more expensive then .38spl. :confused:
 
Last edited:
Mack said:
Not as popular as it used to be and raw material prices keep going up. Georgia Arms remanufactured is good quality and $10.50-11.00 in bulk, you have to pay shipping but you get a ammo can and no sales tax.

Georgia Arms - .38 SPECIAL
Click to expand...
Thanks, but every item I checked was out of stock due to component shortage. I guess the .38spl is not so unpopular after all? :confused:
 
Where I live we have a lot of LEO's including myself who really like the .38 Special so even finding ammo is getting tough. Most of the retired LEO's I know all have Model 10's, or some j-frame or snubby .38 that they carry around. Of all the calibers I have handloaded, .38 Special is by far the one I do the most. Brass is pretty cheap and very available, one gun shop near me has a huge bin full of once fired .38 Special brass and the price has been $1 for one hundred for as long as I can recall. I picked up a huge milk jug full of nickel +P brass a couple of years back and there were something just shy of seven hundred in there for a lot less than what other brass for other handgun costs me. I have not bought a box of .38 Special in a very long time except for some CCI shot loads and even those I do myself now. To me handloading is starting to get almost a necessity and for what ammo is going for (and thanks to 51% of the population not having a clue don't expect it to get cheaper either) people better start getting used to prices going up and ammo getting harder to find. I really think everyone should load their own ammo, If you don't have room for a bench press get a Lee Handpress or Lyman 310 tool and even one mould to cast your own bullets and a small Lee ladle pot and you will be amazed at how much you can get done.
 
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