TexasCHLforum.com

Just a note about one of my favorite retailers:

Midway USA
Invoice Date: Dec 2 2013 1:28PM
Status: Backordered
Product: Remington Golden Bullet Ammunition 22 Long Rifle 36 Grain Plated Lead Hollow Point Bucket of 1400

Yeppers, I've been waiting almost one year for that back-order. Reminds of me of waiting for delivery of my POF .308 rifle.

To its credit, Midway provides periodic updates. Not hopeful updates...but updates.

Xikar wrote:What are a few online sites that sell ammo at a competitive price, even if in bulk, compared to local retailers? Seems that my local Academy matches nearly all prices I find online.

One place I like to start is http://gun-deals.com/ammo.php. This is a crowd-sourced info site; in other words, users submit ammo deals that they've found either online or locally, you select a caliber and can sort the display in several ways, including cost-per-round. Even if I buy locally, I feel this site affords me a valid glimpse of current market conditions and helps me understand what a specific type of ammo is selling for.

As for direct experience with online vendors, I've never had a bad experience (knock on wood) and have dealt with many, including Graf & Sons, Natchez Shooters Supplies, Freedom Munitions, Sportsman's Guide, ABLE Ammo, AIM Surplus, Widener's, GT Distributors, and others. One factor, of course, is to determine shipping costs and sales tax, if any, and calculate the real cost-per-round with all cost factors included. If you buy locally and the retailer isn't exactly next door, also factor in time and expense to drive there to pick up your ammo.

Especially for certain rifle rounds, one advantage to online dealers compared to, say, Academy, is that they'll purchase milsurp lots from time to time, and you can get some good deals on decent range ammo. I'd estimate that 70% of what I have in 5.56 and 7.62x51 is bulk milsurp.

Murindo wrote:Anyone have a lead on .22 LR?

Nope; but I can share this. On December 2 Midway had Remington .22LR, 36 gr plated HP bullet, a bucket of 1,400 rounds for $62.99. It was backordered; expected arrival date of January 31.

Plated .22 rounds (I'm okay with lead round-nose, but I'd rather have copper plated to reduce barrel fouling) at 4.5 cents each sounded almost like the good ol' days, so I ordered up (limit one per customer); I could wait two months for a decent deal. Right after the first of the year, Midway notifies me that the new expected availability date is now June 1. But, they haven't changed the purchase price, so I'll keep the backorder alive. If they would let me backorder more than one bucket, I would. I'll either receive the ammo at a fair price, or Midway will never see it from Remington and I won't be out any money.

I used to keep an Excel spreadsheet on commercial ammo prices before I started relying on http://gun-deals.com/. Just for reference:

• .223 Fiocchi 55-grain, 2007, $0.319 per round
• .223 Prvi Partizan 55-grain, 2008, $0.33 per round
• .308 Prvi Partizan 145-grain, 2008, $0.47 per round
• .308 Winchester 150-grain, 2008, $0.485 per round
• .40 S&W Sellier & Bellot, 180-grain, 2007, $0.208 per round
• .40 S&W Winchester White Box, 180-grain, 2007, $0.210 per round
• .45 ACP Sellier & Bellot, 230-grain, 2007, $0.218 per round
• .45 ACP Winchester White Box, 230-grain, 2007, $0.233 per round
• 9mm Sellier & Bellot, 115-grain, 2007, $0.14 per round
• 9mm Federal American Eagle, 115-grain, 2007, $0.15 per round

These were prices just five or six years ago. Not the five decades ago we saw 20-cent gas.

Compare (if in stock) the current best prices on brass-cased ammo:

• .223 Federal American Eagle, 55-grain, $0.465 per round
• .308 Prvi Partizan 145-grain, $0.68 per round
• .40 S&W Remington UMC, 180-grain, $0.4 per round
• .45 ACP Winchester White Box, 230-Grain, $0.495
• 9mm Remington UMC, 115-Grain, $0.45 per round

For commercial ammo, any way you cut it I'm paying twice as much per round for .45 ACP and .40 S&W as I was six years ago. And I'm paying over three times as much per round to shoot 9mm.

I wish I'd tracked .22 LR because I think it's over-the-top, too. I haven't found any decent .22 LR for months.

puma guy wrote:Natchez SS also has some CCI
http://www.natchezss.com/product.cfm?co ... =bckrdAlrt

Ya got me excited!

Unfortunately, the link is to .22 CB Short ammo, not LR. Natchez has no .22 LR in stock in any brand. Good thing I still have a little left. You'd think .22 would loosen up before larger calibers, but it's still choked in the marketplace.

I wonder if Joe Biden is even cognizant of the current, absolutely amazing market conditions, or if he's still preaching that a double-barreled shotgun is the best, and only, defensive firearm anyone ever needs. According to Biden, just go out on your front porch and discharge both barrels; don't bother aiming at anything in particular. Your tactical problem, no matter what it is, will then be solved.

Teamless wrote:With the recent shortage of 9mm and even .22LR, I am considering buying a case online.
However, I do not want to pay local retail for that volume for internet purchase, and cannot seem to find any place online that has even reasonable pricing for target rounds of either.

Do you buy online?
Where do you buy and do you have any tips and tricks for getting better prices (or at least reasonable prices?)
Thanks!!

I almost always start at http://gun-deals.com/ammo.php. Pick a caliber, then you can sort the resulting listing by any of the table headings, which lets you sort by manufacturer, vendor, etc. The default sort is cost per round, cheapest first. Enter your zip code to get an estimate of the shipping costs, however, I'd recommend you always view the actual deal itself (click on the description, and then click on the button labeled "Visit Deal") to see if there are any special shipping prices happening. For example, sometimes you can find free shipping if you buy in a larger quantity.

Once you settle on a product and vendor(s), check the coupon codes at Gun-Deals.com as well as doing a Google search for the name of the vendor and "coupon." There may be some active, coupon-code specials active and available.

Also look at the shipping/sale policies. Some vendors will only ship ammo as "signature required," while others don't have that restriction. The vendor's policies may affect your choice to buy.

Thanks, Weldon.

Interesting concept. Kudos to Freedom Munitions for thinking outside the box and being the first to try this.

It certainly won't be an attractive proposition to folks who reload, but there are enough people who don't hand-load--and who do shoot enough--that this might work.

And a belated thanks for running http://gun-deals.com. It's a great source of unbiased information. I've been contributing info now and again since 2007.

shh83 wrote:someone please check for me, but I think I just saw wolf 7.62x39 at CTD for less than 5 bucks a box....It was exactly 11.79 per box a WEEK ago (I checked) and around 17 a box a month or so ago.

You're correct: $4.97 per box of 20, 122-grain, polymer-coated steel case. That's 24.9 cents per round, and a good price currently...but it's already backordered. http://www.cheaperthandirt.com/AMM631-5.html

Sportsman's Guide does seem to have some of the same in stock by the case, either HP or FMJ, for $299.22 (club price) plus shipping, or 29.9 cents per round plus shipping: http://www.sportsmansguide.com/net/cb/cb.aspx?a=217522.

Cabela's had Wolf Military Classic 124-grain, poly-coated steel case, FMJ for $284.99 per 1,000, but it's also backordered. If you're in Texas, of course, CTD and Cabela's will charge sales tax and, if you can't pick it up, shipping. Sportsman's Guide may be pretty much an equivalent value right now and, for the moment, it seems to be in stock.

timdsmith72 wrote:LOL!!! Sorry, the ammo I found was just over $10 a box of 50. Don't remember exactly, but it was like $10.30 or something like that.

As things are, that's not bad for 9mm. Geez; just two years ago that's what I was paying for good .45 ACP.

Just keepin' this visible: http://gun-deals.com/ammo.php.

Even if you don't like to buy online, it provides a pretty good basis for comparison shopping. And the more of us who register and contribute to the data, the better the resource. A couple of years ago maintained my own Excel spreadsheet for factory ammo pricing/sourcing, but stopped after I found Gun-Deals.

Your experience may be different, but I've bought many (many) cases of quality brass .45 ACP from Sportsman's Guide over the past few years. They have always honored their price. I have boxes of S&B tucked away that I bought at less than $9.

If only I had sunk all of my 401(k) savings into ammo a few years ago...

mr.72 wrote:According to the Academy flier, WWB 9mm 100-rd value pack is $17.99/box. I bet that goes quickly.

Yep; max of five boxes per person. An FYI is that Wally World is advertising they'll meet anyone's advertised Black Friday specials.

But this is a rare and treasured day off for me, and there's no way I want to spend it as one of the sardines packed in a store.

I still think we should show support to http://gun-deals.com/ammo.php.

Post what you know.

KC5AV wrote:Where was this? The .40S&W is $29.97 per hundred in Marshall.

Northwest Harris County; the Wal-Mart just south of 529 and one light west of Highway 6.

After I got home, I glanced at the old ammo pricing spreadsheet I used to keep (I abandoned the Excel file and started relying on http://gun-deals.com/ammo.php). On 8/24/2007 I bought two cases of Sellier & Bellot .40 S&W for 20.8 cents per round, and on 10/6/2007 two cases of S&B 9mm for 14 cents per round. I won't mention the eight cases of S&B between May and July 2007 for 21.8 cents per round. Without tax my purchase today was $479.40, and the same volume of S&B (rather than WWB) last summer was $348.