Curious.

Ammo has more than doubled in price in many calibers in the US in the past 2-3 years. I am wondering what yall are paying for ammo over there.

Our prices.
.22LR
550 round of cheaping plinking ammo is about $15. Quality ammo like CCI mini mags is about $5-6 per 100.

30-06
The cheapest is about $15 for 20. And ammo loaded with premium hunting bullets can be near $50 per 20

12 gauge shotgun
the cheapest is a 2 3/4" 1 1/8 oz, 3 dram q target load. That is about $6 per 25.

Hi Duck, I reload most of my stuff, But .22LR I just paid £35.50 for a 500 brick, Deer calibres are about £1.35 a bang, shotgun 12 bore around £4.00 to £5.00 per box 25, don't ask about the Bismuth!!!!

Here's a link to some prices from Frankonia, Germany to give you some idea. I readily admit to being absolutely shocked when I arrived here in Switzerland 8 years ago (from Australia) and I still haven't gotten used to it!

cheers,
- stu

Duckie,

Good question! I just grabbed 4 catalogs, Frankonia, Kettner, AKAH & All-Jagd.

Actually, the least expensive ammunition obtainable in Continental Europe is American. Hornady, Remington (UMC), Winchester, PMC & Federal (Federal Eagle) lead the list by a wide margin. When you start purchasing American brands with Botique bullets though, the prices get right back up there with Norma, Brenneke, Sako, Lapua, RWS, Blaser, ect. Custom Houses like Wolfgang Romey; Sit Down and Buckle-Up; .700 Nitro Express; 1 Box of 5 cartidges = $644.00 and that price outa an old catalog, too! Makes a package of 20 .460 Weatherby's (Weatherby = Norma) appear almost inexpensive at $322.00.

I reload for a German Forester friend of mine; his 300 Weatherby (Norma) ammo goes for $159.00 per 20 (w/Nosler Partitions). I just loaded the equivilant of $1130.00's worth of factory ammo for him w/ TSX's. Wonder why there's always a hunting invitation for Yours Truly?

I'm organizing some 6.5x57R for a Buddy who is back in the States with his so chambered Combo rifle. RWS 127 gr. Cone Points, which are nothing special as far as bullets go; 1 Box of 20 = $89.00. I have absolutely no qualms about asking my Gunshop owners for a deal. If not, I call the next. Sooner or later someone is willing to Horse-Trade. I may get 15% off if I'm lucky.



You'll pay less for non-Premium brands, Sellier & Bellot, Privi-Partizan, Wolf, Mag-Tec & Fiocchi (handgun ammo), PMP (when you can obtain it - actually good ammo) ect. but they are still no where close to a hunting season special at Wally-World. Even Geco; RWS' Knock-Off brand is for American tastes - pricey.

When you take a step-up above .308 Win. & .30/06 Sprg. into the realm of the 9.3x62's, 9.3x74R, .375H&H, .458 Win. Mag. the prices will make you dizzy.

The relavitly Good News is that reloading shotgun shells has never been worth the effort (except for exotics like 28 gauge) here because component prices are so high and overall Wholesale ammunition prices (privately negotiated prices) in bulk a better deal than in North America. I can only summize that perhaps the Logistics Tail isn't as long as across the North American continent either - dunno?. We normally purchase a Pallet (17,000) among 3-4 guys; split the costs and it last us for a coupla seasons. The prices have risen in the past two years though. 24gram (13/16ths Oz.) target loads, purchased by the pallet, we can still squeak under the $4.00 barrier.


Anyway, ammunition is pretty Spendy here.

quote:

Originally posted by Duckear:
30-06
The cheapest is about $15 for 20. And ammo loaded with premium hunting bullets can be near $50 per 20

I'd say that despite the recent rise in prices, you still get it much cheaper than we do.

Over here 20 rounds of factory loaded .30-06 Prvi-Partisan softpoints (which usually tend to be the cheapest) cost around 25-26 USD.
Sako loaded rounds cost from $30 (FMJ) to $57 (Powerhead) US Dollars per 20. The 150 grain Super Hammerheads that I use cost about 40 USD per 20 round box.

Vanilla factory rounds with cup & core bullets in 222rem and 270win run around $30 - $35 per 20 in N Ireland.

Premium ammo is generally not available. Even reloading supplies are expensive. Nosler partitions can run to $1.50 per bullet.

I reload!

Here, the price of 308W, 30-06 and 300 WM rounds varies between 40 and 60 € ($53-79) per box of 20, for the US brands; RWS and Norma are a little more expensive. Rifles price is often the double (or more) than in the US, for the same model. The cheapest powders available, Vithavuori, costs 75/80€ ($97-105) per kg. Norma and US brands cost 20/30% more.

A box of 20 Norma Oryx cost me 600Kr. in Norway last autumn.However the chances after moose are slim so it should last me a good while.
Thats close to 70 Euro !
A box of say Sako 22/250 costs 25 euro here in the Emerald Isle.Federal 6,5SE about 30Euro.

Thanks for all the replies.

At least it is nice to know it can ( and likely will) get at lot worse here............

Duckear, is it true that part of the problem is that many shooters are buying and hoarding enormous quantities of ammunition - allowing some retailers to take advantage of the situation and mark-up their stock?

quote:

Originally posted by Boghossian:
Duckear, is it true that part of the problem is that many shooters are buying and hoarding enormous quantities of ammunition - allowing some retailers to take advantage of the situation and mark-up their stock?

Yes and no. While some retailers are trying to make a quick buck, the problem here is more of a runaway demand since Nov.

Ammo prices went up when oil and base metal prices were going up a year or two ago.

Prices have been relatively stable for the past 6 months or so. And before Obama was elected, everything was easy to find. But demand has gone up since Obama was elected.

I think the reason for the spike in demand is multifaceted.

A number of people think he will try to ban all imported ammo, which is important to high volume shooters of AR and AK rifles. A three day carbine class can cost as little as $500 and you need to bring 1000-2000 rds of ammo! So these guys are buying up all they can find to support their shooting style.

A second fear is the crazy idea some of our liberal politicians have about putting a serial number on every single round of ammunition. That would dramatically increase the price of ammo as you could imagine.

Third, Obama et al have threatened to raise the excise taxes on ammunition dramatically. Some folks want to buy early in case that happens.

Fourth, the green movement wants to ban lead ammunition. Again, this would cause prices to rise dramatically.

Fifth, there are very real fears among 'normal' people here about serious social unrest. A poor economy, an unsecured border with a third world nation (mexico), and an increasingly polarized political climate between left and right has a lot of folks scared.

Sixth, more and more people are getting permits for concealed handguns. We have an interesting disconnect here. While more and more states are allowing citizens to carry concealed weapons, the new administration and democrats in general, seem to want to clamp down on firearm rights, increase the costs of firearm ownership, as well as tax it to death.

And finally, most American gun owners have very little ammo for their firearms. A box of 50 rds of pistol ammo may sit unused for years. But with all the rumors of the above, they are starting to buy an extra box or two of ammo for each firearm they have. And with the hundreds of millions of guns in private hands, that is a lot of ammo!!!

I think you covered that nicely Duckear on the causes for hoarding and the combination of events that leads to it. At issue just might be more of a push to increase the cost of gun related items, permits, taxes, etc to crowd the average Joe into not being able to afford the ammo or permits, then who cares if he has a gun?

I still envy low stateside prices, a pound of Hodgdon cost me Euro 45 or $57 just last week, Waidmannsheil, Dom.

In six months piles of ammunition will be gathering dust on U.S. retailer's shelves, both because demand has been satiated and because prices will continue to be high due to high input costs and lingering concerns about the future value of money.

I just can't get into hoarding ammunition at high prices -- takes all of the joy out of shooting it. That's why I hoard various commodities when their price is unsustainably low, like the 10,000 rounds of .22LR purchased over the last several years whenever retailers put their promo ammunition on for $8.95 per brick. Hoarding after a commodity becomes expensive and scarce is a fool's errand.

I just read test of 338 Winmag ammo in a Norwegian hunting magazine, and according to that a box of 20 Winchester Accubond now cost the eqivalent of 200 USD. Fusion was cheapest hunting ammo and considered best buy at around 90 USD per box.

Bullet prices are also very high but I'm glad I make my own ammunition.