Ammo - 9mm vs .38 special?

caljay30

caljay30

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On the flip side, AB
I retitled this thread, go to page 2 for question on 9 vs .38?

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I see when different caliber's are compared that price is often mentioned of course. What are the approx. prices of a box factory ammo in each of these calibers? Oh and how many are in a box? :redface:

Just wondering if shooting handguns will be any cheaper than my .308 and by how much... :sniper:

While I'm at it, do you have to let a handgun barrel cool down like you do a rifle? It sounds like guys go through quite a few rounds when at the range.

Just trying to get acquainted with the other side of the coin here... :)
 
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I shoot mostly 9mm factory stuff.As for price the more you can buy at once the cheaper it will be.It can be anywhere from $13.00 to $20.00 a box of 50 for your basic ammo.Your hollowpoint ammo and premium stuff can run around$30.00 a box of 50.
 
45 is all I know, it's pricy for factory. $20-$25/50 rounds factory. Some places give you price breaks at 1000 for around $300. I highly recommend reloading for 45. I just bought a box of 1000 230gr round nose TMJ bullets, a pound of powder and 1000 primers for $140. So that's a considerable savings.
 
I hand load for the 45 acp and the 38 S&W.

Got a BIG shock the other day, the local gunstore has box's of this load on for almost $50.00 for fifty!!:eek::runaway:
 
caljay30 said:
I see when different caliber's are compared that price is often mentioned of course. What are the approx. prices of a box factory ammo in each of these calibers? Oh and how many are in a box? :redface:

Just wondering if shooting handguns will be any cheaper than my .308 and by how much... :sniper:

While I'm at it, do you have to let a handgun barrel cool down like you do a rifle? It sounds like guys go through quite a few rounds when at the range.

Just trying to get acquainted with the other side of the coin here... :)
Click to expand...

I have not bought factory ammo for 2 years now. I bought re-manufactured ammo from Canadian BDX. Their price is typically half of factory price. Google them and check the price.

I do not wait for my pistol barrel to cool down.
 
To take local variances and rip-offs out of the equation, just look at the prices of these calibres on Wolverine's webpage:

9mm (American Eagle) - $237.84/1000rd (24 cents a round plus tax and shipping)

.40 S&W (American Eagle) - $313.00/1000rd (31 cents a round plus tax and shipping)

.40 S&W (WinClean) - $175.00/500rd (35 cents a round plus tax and shipping)

.45 ACP (WinClean) - $230.00/500rd (46 cents a round plus tax and shipping)

In comparison, .308 WIN is expensive. Wolverine doesn't have them on their site but but I can tell you that at my local shop you can't really get anything in a .308 WIN that works out to much less than a buck each - and of course you can pay a lot more than that if you want higher tech hunting bullets. .223 REM are generally around 50 cents a pop for the plain jane (like the ones on Wolverine's webpage) - hollows can be double or more.

I buy a lot of factory 9mm. I like Remington the best. These days it is around $135 or $145 for 500 (27 or 29 cents each - 115 gr. or 124gr. I think 147gr. is about the same) for the stuff I mostly use. Really premo cop-style ammo like +P jacketed, bonded, hollow-points can be $30 a box (of 50) or more (60 cents each). I bought some Golden Sabres (a box of 25) but never fired them. I just wanted to have them "on hand" and check out what the top of the line looks like. I have shot lots of those +P 9mm hollows though. They put a big smile on your face. They are similar to a .40 S&W with a more supersonic sound to them.

The cheapest 9mm stuff around here (Vancouver) is either that Blazer brass (used to be able to get 1000 rounds for $200, now it more like $230 for 1000), or that crappy Fiocchi stuff where myself and other guys were getting parts of the primer cap stuck in our P7's firing pin channel. That stuff was around the same price. I see now that Lever Arms has both the Blazer Brass and the Fiocchi on for $260 for 1000. That is not bad, but I try and buy Remington whereever possible (better accuracy, better quality, no problems, IMHO) or Winchester as a second choice.

I did a thread about 9mm ammo awhile ago. I'll see if I can find it.

(Edit)... o.k., found it:
http://www.canadiangunnutz.com/forum/showthread.php?t=170067&highlight=9mm+ammo

The most expensive 9mm rounds I've bought (Golden Sabres) are pictured at the end of that thread. They were regularly $32.99 for 25 rounds! (a whopping $1.31 each). Fortunately for me they were 20% off that day, and I just bought one box to check them out. It worked out to be about $26 for the 25 rounds. They are still in my safe!
 
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Handguns burn ammo in a way that long guns rarely do. On an afternoon at the range it's not that unusual to run through a few hundred rounds of ammo. My personal limit is about 600 rounds, but that's due to time limitations :D. An average day would be about 300-350. As far as cooling down goes, if I can still hold it I'll shoot it some more. Reloading is really the way to go, it gives you control over your ammo supply.
 
I haven't bought factory ammo in a couple of years (other than .22)

Prices of ammo are ridiculus now; the other day I was shocked to see a price sticker on box of Rem 9mm ammo -16.99 or 17.99 don't remember. (bought at shooters choice). I remember paying $12 and complaining the price went up from $10 or so...Once I bought a case/500 of 9mm Win clean for $89+tax...

I don't even want to know how much it would cost to feed my .45's with factory ammo...:(
 
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Cheapest I have found (by the box) is $20 for a box of 50 CCI Blazer Brass .45 FMJ and $14 for 9mm AE FMJ. I hope to start reloading this winter. The most I've paid is $28 for 20 .45 Silver tipped hollow points.
 
Reloading the best option

ian_in_vic said:
Handguns burn ammo in a way that long guns rarely do. On an afternoon at the range it's not that unusual to run through a few hundred rounds of ammo. My personal limit is about 600 rounds, but that's due to time limitations :D. An average day would be about 300-350. As far as cooling down goes, if I can still hold it I'll shoot it some more. Reloading is really the way to go, it gives you control over your ammo supply.
Click to expand...

I agree! Get a decent quality progressive press and load for 10-12 cents per round. Comparing the cost of factory stuff vs handloads, my ammo log tells me that the Dillon 650 has already paid for itself in just 15 months.
Geoff
 
Roll your own 9mm FMJ/JHP with free brass run $140.00 / 1000 - comes to
approx. $7.00/box 50

That amounts to a $9.00 savings per box of 50 over factory.

You can recoup the cost of a $500 progressive reloading setup
after 56 boxes of ammo or after 18 ranges trips (150 rounds
expended per trip).
 
I just don't have time,...nor the desire to reload. I keep most of my brass,..and sell it. I buy my ammo in bulk (9mm- .40)from Canadian BDX/Combat Masters. I sell the brass to local guys and subtract that from cost, and would probably save more if i reloaded,,..but to save 20 bucks....I just can't be bothered.
 
So .40cal is relatively expensive then? I went with .308 instead of .223 on the rifle side and have come to appreciate spending a mini fortune on factory ammo for the bigger cal. I would prefer not to spend more than i have to on ammo on the handgun side, but I do like the idea of .40 vs 9mm... I've shot my cousins Glock 22 and I believe the words out of my mouth after finishing off the clip were," wow that was like butter", found pretty easy shooting. (wasn't really aiming, just getting a feel for it so don't know about accuracy, but it felt good.)

Yes at some point I will reload, but most likely not until this winter or next spring...
 
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maurice said:
I just don't have time,...nor the desire to reload. I keep most of my brass,..and sell it. I buy my ammo in bulk (9mm- .40)from Canadian BDX/Combat Masters. I sell the brass to local guys and subtract that from cost, and would probably save more if i reloaded,,..but to save 20 bucks....I just can't be bothered.
Click to expand...

$20?

Cheapest factory 45ACP I see is Federal 45ACP 230Gr FMJ going for $20 a box from Frontier. We won't bother about taxes and shipping for this calculation....

$20 x 20 = $400 for 20 boxes of 50.

Reloading cost. 230Gr CMJ from Marstar are now 129/1000, but I stocked up at around 45 per 500 a few months ago. Anyways. $130 for bullets, $20 for powder and $25 for 1000 primers. Total reloading for 1K rounds is.... $175. So I can shoot 2300 rounds for the price that you can shoot 1000 rounds of factory. 9MM is even cheaper and if you cast your own your just paying for primers and powder....
 
your math is off,..I am talking $20 per 1000 I might save if I get a bulk deal and sell off my brass.
 
Ok I changed the title of this thread and now I'm wondering what the ammo difference is between 9mm and .38sp ??

I was thinking of getting a glock in 9mm, but then I'm thinking revolvers are just too cool and maybe a .357 would be great, but then i'm not a fan of expensive ammo right now. (I'll start reloading next year) But then it occured to me that a .357 can shoot .38 special and hey that would be the best of both worlds!

I just can't find much on .38special prices?? Can anyone elighten me, and if ya want to toss in some opinions on weather 9mm glock or Rugar GP 100 .357 would be more fun, i'm all ears! :)
 
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