Why is 243 ammunition so damn expensive?

I never found 243 win to be expensive. I mostly shoot reloads these days but when I was buying factory ammo the prices on the 270win and 243win were the same for the 3 big brands (federal blue box, Winchester super X, and Rem Corelokt) Not 308 cheap, but 308 has economy of scale going for it, not to mention cheaper manufacturers like Norinco/barnaul/etc.
 
You can strike Barnaul off that list. What a shame, quality stuff and reasonable in price. The next wave of ammo prices will reflect gasoline prices.
 
.243 has always seemed perfectly in line with .308 prices, assuming similar ammunition anyway. No bulk but other than that the OP doesn't seem to have much of a point. Compare Hornady Superformance, box of 95grn SST .243 has always been same or less than .308 150SST. I can say the same for crappy Winchester Powe-point and pretty much everything else assuming same or similar product lines.
 
Suther said:
I never found 243 win to be expensive. I mostly shoot reloads these days but when I was buying factory ammo the prices on the 270win and 243win were the same for the 3 big brands (federal blue box, Winchester super X, and Rem Corelokt) Not 308 cheap, but 308 has economy of scale going for it, not to mention cheaper manufacturers like Norinco/barnaul/etc.
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barnaul does make 243, labelled under the brand centaur. It shoots ok.
 
jparent said:
Actually the barnaul is a traditional 6mm bullet and is made by Hornady. Shoots pretty well for the $.
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I was about to call BS but the packaging does say that. Hornady doesn't even offer that bullet separately and their 80grn FMJ has been discontinued for a while now. Interesting.
 
B said:
.243 has always seemed perfectly in line with .308 prices, assuming similar ammunition anyway. No bulk but other than that the OP doesn't seem to have much of a point. Compare Hornady Superformance, box of 95grn SST .243 has always been same or less than .308 150SST. I can say the same for crappy Winchester Powe-point and pretty much everything else assuming same or similar product lines.
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Here in Ontario it certainly is not, at least for the last year that Ive owned one. Its a much higher price point then 308WIN for the same bullet type.
 
blasted_saber said:
I'm not referring to the current prices where everything is damn expensive, I'm referring to 243WIN in comparison to other cartridges. I acquired one last year with the anticipation of it being a common, easily sourced, cartridge of modest proportions of it being inline with the other run of the mill stuff you can find on the shelves.

That has not been my experience. Its generally 30-50% more then say a 308WIN, for example

Has it always been like this?
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Whats the prices ? Real street actual prices?
 
.243 is one of the prime arguments for reloading. For .243 to really shine to its full potential for shooting even really big deer, then reloading is almost a necessity. 100 grain Nosler Partitions over H1000 or IMR7828ssc will help the .243 perform all out of proportion to its size. Buy a quantity of quality brass, Noslers and 8 lbs of powder to start with and you will be able to pack the .243 for a majority of hunts.
 
I went to Bass Pro today. They had a grand total of three (3) boxes of 243 in stock! $65.99 for the Hornady 95gr SST and $59.99 for Hornady 80gr GMX (some heritage sh!t). I grudgingly bought just one box of the 95gr SST. Other than high end Norma or RWS centerfire ammunition (which are somewhat worth the inflated cost), I have never seen such INSANE prices!
 
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