Insane Gun Show Ammo Prices.

[Model39]

My friend and I got a table at the Greater Rochester Gun Show. We set up last night (Friday), and I went around to various tables to possibly score some ammo. Just about every vendor that had any kind of ammo for sale were asking unbelievable prices. A 1000 round box of Winchester 22's was going for $165. 500 round boxes of Remington 22's were $85. 333 round boxes were selling for $65. Center fire ammo also was high, $55 for 50 rounds 45 FMJ, $60 for 50 rounds of 158 grain lead 38 specials. 380 ammo was $55 for fifty rounds. I also did not see any 357 magnum or 41 magnum or 38 super ammo at all. The shortage of all kinds of ammo and the fear of the upcoming hassle with record checks for ammo purchases starting in October here in New York has created an almost gouging scenario like when power goes out and people charge double for gas generators for those that need to keep their basements from flooding. Our local big name stores never have any volume of ammo, and no 22's to speak of, and when they do have any ammo, it is all target rounds, nothing for self defense. Are any of you others in different states seeing this kind of ammo pricing? I hope this is just in the New York State area.
*Another Note* There were rumors going around that our governor is going to not only require checks for ammunition purchases, but also for reloading supplies, to counter persons who say "I will reload so I don't need to by ammo and go through the record check". I hope that is not true for those who do reload. Time will tell.

 

[blujax01]

New York is not a good place to live if you aspire to be an American. Sorry.

 

[CatSnipah]

New Yorkistan.

Poor souls.

 

[scooter123]

An Old Fashioned Hardware Store about 2 miles from my house sells Remington UMC 250 paks of ammo. The 9mm is 99.00, the 40 caliber is 114.95, and the 45 ACP is 129.50. The local Walmart also sometimes has the Winchester 100 paks of 45 ACP for something like 44 dollars. However, since I started reloading 2 years ago I really don't pay attention to the prices for centerfire ammo. In fact the only reason I noticed the prices at my hardware store is because they are a Spyderco and Benchmade dealer and the ammo is in the bottom of the showcase for these knives.

BTW, just placed an order with Extreme Bullets for 230 grain 45 ACP plated bullets for a total of 1000 bullets at 109.12. Add in 3.5 cents for the primer and about 2 cents for powder means that my assembled cost per round will be about 16.5 cents, or 8.25 dollars per box of 50. I also have a good sized stash of 185 grain Speer Gold Dots purchased at 30 dollars per 100 so with a 10 grain charge of Accurate #5 I can put together an excellent SD load for about 38 cents per round.

 

[ladyT]

An Old Fashioned Hardware Store about 2 miles from my house sells Remington UMC 250 paks of ammo. The 9mm is 99.00, the 40 caliber is 114.95, and the 45 ACP is 129.50. The local Walmart also sometimes has the Winchester 100 paks of 45 ACP for something like 44 dollars. However, since I started reloading 2 years ago I really don't pay attention to the prices for centerfire ammo. In fact the only reason I noticed the prices at my hardware store is because they are a Spyderco and Benchmade dealer and the ammo is in the bottom of the showcase for these knives.

BTW, just placed an order with Extreme Bullets for 230 grain 45 ACP plated bullets for a total of 1000 bullets at 109.12. Add in 3.5 cents for the primer and about 2 cents for powder means that my assembled cost per round will be about 16.5 cents, or 8.25 dollars per box of 50. I also have a good sized stash of 185 grain Speer Gold Dots purchased at 30 dollars per 100 so with a 10 grain charge of Accurate #5 I can put together an excellent SD load for about 38 cents per round.

Like many you forget to add in the cost of your equipment, its mainitance and upkeep, your time and utilities.

I would suggest since you are primarly reloading that you keep some factory ammo as backup for those periods of time when one cannot secure sufficient,powder,primers,bullets and cases for reloading. If anything the past 15 months have taught us is if we wish to continue in our sport we must be prepared for periods where supplies are not available.

Oh well I'm off to the gun show to see how things are progressing. Interested in ammo prices and I'm also in need of some 44-40 for my New Service.

 

[traderdell]

Model39 I have for the past ten or twelve years purchased the majority of my ammo on line in case lots. Now, as you know, our state safe act makes that impossible. So we're pretty much screwed, having to by at inflated prices, traveling out of state hoping to find ammo at reasonable prices or having ammo shipped to an FFL.

The problem with all of the above is availability. Would we find ammo across the ny/PA border? What would a FFL holder charge and would they even accept a shipmen. Again all predicated on availability.

 

[blujax01]

Like many you forget to add in the cost of your equipment, its mainitance and upkeep, your time and utilities.

....

LadyT this has been beat to death.

When you buy ammo do you figure in the time it took on your regular job to get the money to purchase? How about the money lost that could have been spent elsewhere? Or the gasoline to get to the store? Or the wear on your vehicle driving? Or the calories expended to walk in the store and cost of the food necessary to replace that lost energy?

I contend that it's a one-for-one tradeoff.

 

[gdnagle]

Like many you forget to add in the cost of your equipment, its mainitance and upkeep, your time and utilities.

QUOTE]

Looks like your NY laws created a good market for capitalism. I don't have a problem with capitalism, you pay their price find it yourself or do without. You can't get it shipped to you so you have to pay to play. Even GM prices aren't that high.

Like many reloaders talk about, they do it for relaxation and don't consider it as a job or a chore. There are time you can't get to shoot for one reason or another and want something to do. After your intimal purchase of equipment there is no other major cost except powder, bullets, and primers, which at times can be hard to get. The equipment will last many lifetimes especially if you buy blue or any of the others with a lifetime warranty, as long as they stay in business. I don't know if you can have the components shipped to you in NY but if you can't it will be the same as buying cartridge, you are at the mercy of the capitalist. Remember I don't have a problem with them as what is the next option, not being able to get it at all. NY is one of the states that wants to curtail your 2nd so either you have to change management, move or live with it sorry.

 

[chaparrito]

Let me take a whack at the dead horse. I've only been reloading about 2 years. I didn't spend a fortune on my setup. Total is under 400 bucks for everything including dies for 9mm, .45 and .44mag/spl. I did the math about a year ago and figured it took about 8 months to amortize the cost of my reloading equipment comparing my costs against WalMart retail ammo.

Regarding the OP. Prices are still nuts here in AZ too. At our last show in Feb. there were a ton of sellers with bags reloaded ammo asking big dollars. Most of them couldn't even tell me what the load data was. It was going begging. Who'd buy some stranger's reloads??
WalMart and Big 5 are our only other options here, and they are starting to get in 9mm and .45 at fairly normal prices but availability is still sketchy at best.

 

[Florida J Frame]

LadyT this has been beat to death.

When you buy ammo do you figure in the time it took on your regular job to get the money to purchase? How about the money lost that could have been spent elsewhere? Or the gasoline to get to the store? Or the wear on your vehicle driving? Or the calories expended to walk in the store and cost of the food necessary to replace that lost energy?

I contend that it's a one-for-one tradeoff.

LadyT has a valid point. If you add the shipping cost to mail order ammo to arrive at the price you have to amortize your equipment to come up with the price of reloads. If you enjoy reloading as part of the hobby that's great but it is still part of the cost. Right now new 9mm is available on line for about .30 per round. At that rate reloading wouldn't be worth the investment in equipment or my time. If availability drops off that may change. Your mileage may vary.

 

[Krogen]

Seems to me people often overthink the cost of reloading equipment. I reload because I enjoy it, can tweak my ammo to my needs and I can't stomach the cost of factory ammo. I admit that the cost of my equipment has long been amortized since I started reloading so long ago. Still, don't overthink it. If you want to reload, then do it! You don't have to justify it to anyone, not even yourself. Just do it!

 

[jag22]

I went to a show this morning here in Dallas, 22 prices were about the same, ridicules. The best I found (and bought) was tin 325 Federal for $26. I have found that if you find the guys that are selling those really old boxes of ammo (there are usually a couple at every show) you can get those fifty year old boxes for less than the new stuff and they work just fine. I was truly hoping that the 22 prices would be coming down but I guess not. At this rate the ammo is going to cost more than the pistol to shoot it in.

 

[ladyT]

Well I"m back from the gun show, One person had 22 and judging by what they had it came from local retailers. I guess the only good thing was there was only one person selling stuff at the local gun show. Kinda puts the belief that those standing in line to buy it were doing it just to resell. The prices were out outrageous. The Winchester M-22 was going for $100 for the 1,000 count box. They were also selling Monarch 9mm steel for $20 a box and brass Monarch 9mm for $25 a box. There wasn't much of a selection ammo wise available. The show itself was horrible. Hardly any dealers, I guess they were in Midland and way too few people.

 

[rwsmith]

My goal......

Like many you forget to add in the cost of your equipment, its mainitance and upkeep, your time and utilities.

I would suggest since you are primarly reloading that you keep some factory ammo as backup for those periods of time when one cannot secure sufficient,powder,primers,bullets and cases for reloading. If anything the past 15 months have taught us is if we wish to continue in our sport we must be prepared for periods where supplies are not available.

Oh well I'm off to the gun show to see how things are progressing. Interested in ammo prices and I'm also in need of some 44-40 for my New Service.

My goal is to obtain enough reloading components over time that I won't have to worry about any shortages ever again.

 

[Bkreutz]

Like many you forget to add in the cost of your equipment, its mainitance and upkeep, your time and utilities.

I would suggest since you are primarly reloading that you keep some factory ammo as backup for those periods of time when one cannot secure sufficient,powder,primers,bullets and cases for reloading. If anything the past 15 months have taught us is if we wish to continue in our sport we must be prepared for periods where supplies are not available.

Oh well I'm off to the gun show to see how things are progressing. Interested in ammo prices and I'm also in need of some 44-40 for my New Service.

Well, to add fuel to the fire. I shoot and load over 50K rounds a year. I can buy range ammo (Federal WB at my LGS for $18.00 per box, that's $.36 per round. I can load 124gr 9mm for $.11 per round so that's $.25 per round I'm saving (more if you figure that I'm getting a tailored round for competition, but that's another discussion) factor that into how many rounds I shoot a year (.25 X 50,000 = $12,500 per year). I've got appx. $2,000 to 2,500 invested in equipment (blue of course) I hardly think that I'm spending the rest of the $10,000 (first year calculations, the savings jump a couple of thousand after that) on electricity, dishwashing soap and Lemishine for my pin tumbler. I also have a few thousand factory rounds for matches that don't allow handloaded ammo (very rare anymore, I haven't used any of it for a long time) and I've built up a 5000 round stockpile of handloads in case some components become temporarily unavailable. Admittedly I shoot more than most, but the savings are still there for those who don't shoot as much, it just takes longer to amortize the equipment costs.

If I didn't handload, I couldn't afford to shoot at the level that I am. (and since this is my retirement activity, I'd have to sit around and watch soap operas until I went nuts )

 

[scooter123]

Like many you forget to add in the cost of your equipment, its mainitance and upkeep, your time and utilities.

Oh well I'm off to the gun show to see how things are progressing. Interested in ammo prices and I'm also in need of some 44-40 for my New Service.

So, do you add in the cost of gasoline, your time in traffic, the cost of parking to the elevated costs for purchased ammunition at gun shows for your total shooting budget? Do you also add in the wasted time and gasoline spent on unsuccessful ammunition foray's to the cost. If you do all of that I will still come out way ahead in terms of cost per round.

I happen to enjoy the quite time spent reloading so adding my cost for that Time would be rather foolish. As for the equipment cost, again reloading is something I enjoy so adding the equipment cost to my ammo cost would be about the same as adding the cost of a firearm to the cost of the ammunition used in it. In addition by all accounts my reloading equipment will likely last for 40 years or more, so if you amortize the equipment cost over 40 years of building ammunition the cost per round will trend to ZERO.

As for component shortages, it has taken some effort but at present I have beyond a 2 year supply of primers and powders and maintain a 2 month stock of bullets on hand at all times. In addition I have a stock of factory ammunition acquired over about 5 years prior to the point when I started reloading. So, I'm pretty well set for my lifetime and if push comes to shove on re-stocking I'll simply cut back on shooting a bit.

PS; I'd be willing to bet that NY's Safe Act will encompass reloading supplies. Glad I live in Michigan.

 

[ladyT]

First off who pays for parking and there is no such thing as "unsuccessful ammunition foray's" or high costs for ammo at gun shows. As far as travel time thats not even a concern as I never make a trip just for ammo. I never make a trip for just one thing plus the grocery store,bank and LGS are together in the same block. Then I have to drive by walmart to get to the LGS, bank or grocery store and all are within walking distance too boot.

Anyway I picked up a P30 today for $475. Happy dance. Happy dance.

 

[scooter123]

Lots of gun shows charge for parking, in some areas that can be more than 10 bucks. Last time I check basic 9mm American Eagle had an asking price of 50 bucks for a box of 50 at a local gun show and IMO that is a rather high cost for ammo. As for unsuccessful foray's for ammunition, you must have just started shooting yesterday. Because about a year ago you couldn't find any handgun ammo at a Walmart. It's also a 20 mile trek for me to get to a Walmart that used to be a somewhat predictable source for handgun ammo prior to the Newtown shooting. It doesn't matter what you drive, going 40 miles to not find any useable ammo is money flushed down a toilet on an unsuccessful foray.

Contrast that with ordering reloading components in bulk quantities over the Net and having them delivered. Yeah, there are HAZMAT charges on Primers and Powder but when you purchase by the case or keg those costs get spread over a lot of ammo. As for bullets, RMR and Extreme have proven to be reliable sources for plated bullets and both factor standard ground shipping into the cost of the bullet, so that 11 cents per bullet for 45 ACP includes the shipping.

 

[almarz]

Ammo prices

$ 341.16 for a case of 5250 (10 x 525 bulk) Federal High Velocity .22 LR

$ 358.33 for a case (5000 rounds) of CCI standard 40grain .22 LR

$ 515.00 for a case (1000 rounds) of .38 SPEC SELLER & BELLOT 158 grain JSP.

$ 433.00 for a case (1000 rounds) of .38 SPEC Magtech 158 grain LRN.

$ 265.00 for a case (1000 rounds) of 9 MM GECO 124 grain FMJ

Ammo seems to be less expensive in Norway than in America. Considering it has to be shipped across the Atlantic (Federal and CCI) to get here, you guys seems to be paying too much.

 

[blujax01]

$ 341.16 for a case of 5250 (10 x 525 bulk) Federal High Velocity .22 LR

$ 358.33 for a case (5000 rounds) of CCI standard 40grain .22 LR

$ 515.00 for a case (1000 rounds) of .38 SPEC SELLER & BELLOT 158 grain JSP.

$ 433.00 for a case (1000 rounds) of .38 SPEC Magtech 158 grain LRN.

$ 265.00 for a case (1000 rounds) of 9 MM GECO 124 grain FMJ

Ammo seems to be less expensive in Norway than in America. Considering it has to be shipped across the Atlantic (Federal and CCI) to get here, you guys seems to be paying too much.

Now those are some interesting numbers. Thanks for posting!