Tag Archives: Ammo

Ammunition

Palmetto State Armory has a great sale price on Winchester 5.56 NATO 62gr Green tip XM855 ammo

I was pleasantly surprised to see that Palmetto State Armory has 500 round boxes of Winchester XM855 on sale for $279.

I have shot tons of the stuff and found it to be reliable and accurate. It’s a pretty good price plus they’re offering a bundle where you can get 10 PMAG magazines also for a discount if you’re interested

Definitely a good sale price if you’re interested.

I just snagged the box and thought I would share the news.

If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@ro*********.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.

Ammunition

Will Ammunition Prices Keep Dropping?

The short answer is “yes” and I think the forecast bears some explaining. First, there was massive demand due to civil unrest and Biden winning the presidency making people fearful of more gun control via regulations and executive orders. Second, there was a general concern about COVID and self-defense due to various “defund the police” movements at the same time that crime was increasing due to liberal policies reducing prosecution and incarceration. These factors all pushed existing gun owners to buy both more firearms and ammunition while at the same time creating a very definite increase in new first-time gun owners. In short, this all put demand for ammunition through the roof.

Why did prices increase?

While demand was increasing, factories, suppliers and distribution firms were all sorely short-staffed due to COVID. Making this even worse was the government paying people to stay home which continues to affect staffing levels – a lot of people simply do not want to work. The politically correct term many use is “we are having supply chain issues” meaning the vendor you want to buy from is having a hard time finding raw materials or components causing delayed shipments, higher prices and general uncertainty about what will happen next.

If we look at these two forces coming togeter – increasing demand and shrinking supply, prices went up and availability went down. For a brief while, you could not even find 9×19/9mm Luger FMJ range ammo unless you were willing to pay $0.40/round or more of sites like Gunbroker.

Why are prices going down?

Now over the past year, what has happened? Prices for 9mm ammo have steadily gone down and now dipped well below $.030/round and will continue downwards. Now why can I say that? We’re going to look at factors influencing demand and supply at this point.

Demand Side Factors

These are things that happened to influence whether people buy ammo or not:

First, inflation – the increase in prices you pay – is hitting everyone hard. People are making hard decisions about whether to buy ammo, food, gas, fix something at home, repair the car … in these scenarios, ammo is often put on hold because you can’t drive or eat a case of ammo. This is causing demand to go down.

Second, panic buying is dropping. Gun owners can only panic buy for so long and then they either run out of money to spend or they feel they have enough / are safe enough and then stop. Again, this causes demand to go down.

Third, all things being equal, if ammo costs you a fortune, are you going to frivolously go and shoot tons of ammo at the range or are you going to conserve it a bit more? Or to put it differently, are you going to waste a case of ammo that cost you $300-400 just to have fun or will you maybe shoot a bit less and save the rest for another day? A lot of folks will respond with the latter and not shoot more than is necessary. Again, this causes demand to go down.

Supply Side Factors

Now let’s look at the supply side – what influences groups to sell ammo:

First, the major US ammo makers are running their plants non-stop trying to make ammo. For example, Vista Outdoor, the holding company who owns CCI, Federal and Speer bought the Remington ammunition plant and brought it back online and has it up to speed now. Why are these groups doing this? Well, they exist to make a profit and when prices are high, they can afford to invest to do just that – to make money. This is also why Palmetto State Armory has spent over $100 million to bring their AAC ammo plant on-line – to make money. So what does all of this do – these producer actions increase the supply of ammo in the market.

Second, not only did the bigger firms try to produce more but lots of smaller firms either started or are trying to scale up to to meet demand and make money. Some examples include Ammo Inc , Frontier, Gorilla and Sergeant Major. The result is an increase in the supply of ammo.

What else is going on? Well, importers are bringing in tons of ammo (literally). This includes established brands like Aguila, Eley, Fiocchi, IMI Systems, Lapua, MagTech, Norma, MEN, PMC, S&B, brands of ammo I have never heard of before such as Belom, DRZ, STV Scorpio and Turan. The increased prices created an opportunity that made it worth the time and investment needed for foreign suppliers to make and sell the ammo as well as for importers to bring it in by the container load and this all increases supply.

Fourth on the list, I notice vendors are finally advertising they have primers, powders and other reloading components back in stock. For ammo buyers who want to reload, or get back into reloading, they can which takes some buyers for finished ammo out of the market. This factor is both supply and demand related in a sense so I am just sticking it here.

The Result

In short, demand is contracting/decreasing and supply is expanding/increasing. When this happens, prices go down. To put it simply, you have more ammo chasing fewer buyers and so the sellers begin to compete on the basis of price – whether it is lowering the price of the ammo itself, throwing in free shipping or some per bundle “buy this ammo and get two free magazines” or even some combination.

As of my writing this post, I checked Ammoseek.com and the cheapest 9mm 115gr FMJ ammo in case quantity (meaning 1,000 rounds) is $0.24/round and the most expensive is $0.60/round — the $0.60 listing is from a single seller who appears to be premium pricing their Tula steel case. There’s quite a spectrum of prices for sure – quite a few sellers are offering sup $0.30 pricing. Far from its peak price but also far from it’s bottom before all of this happened.

By the way, due to its popularity, I have watched the pricing of 9mm FMJ case lots for a while now to judge how things are going. When you get into the unique wildcat calibers or obsolete/hard-to-find calibers they are different and my prediction doesn’t necessarily apply.

Government Regulation Risk

At this point, there doesn’t seem to be a huge risk of the government introducing regulations that impact the free market in terms of ammo. The ATF does have a new head and, in general, the current administration openly despises both gun owners and the firearms industry but they don’t have a ton of support for gun control at the moment. Granted they have more after all the public shootings as of late but hopefully it will not increase.

So this is my riskiest part of the prediction – at least through the mid-term elections the politicians and the bureaucrats they control are not going to want to rock the boat or they are apt to put some of the more conservative democrats from areas with large populations with firearms at risk of re-election. There are gun owners in all political parties at this point.

Conclusion

To sum it up, demand has shrunk and supply has increased. Vendors are starting to compete on the basis of price and this is driving down prices, at least for popular calibers, across the board.

We’ll see how my forecast holds up and I feel pretty confident about it.

Note, I have to buy all of my parts – nothing here was paid for by sponsors, etc. I do make a small amount if you click on an ad and buy something but that is it. You’re getting my real opinion on stuff.

If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@ro*********.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.

Ammunition, Shooting in General

What’s Up With Palmetto State Armory And AAC Ammo?

In 2021, there were reports that Palmetto State Armory (PSA) was going to start producing their own ammo. For those of you who don’t know PSA, they started with discounted AR parts and sporting goods stores and grew rapidly now producing a variety of platforms including AK rifles and pistols and a Glock 19 compatible pistol known as the Dagger.

At any rate, the ammunition market could not keep up with demand starting with the fear of what would happen when Biden took office, the pandemic, etc. When and where there is unmet demand there is potential opportunity and that is what PSA went after. PSA is investing in a new ammo plant being built in Columbia, SC, with plans for it to be fully operational in 2023 using the letters AAC – America’s Ammo Company.

Uh… wait … isn’t there already Advanced Armament Corporation (AAC) using a similar logo? Why yes, there was. Emphasis on “was”. You see, AAC was a brand owned by Vista along with Remington. When Vista tanked, the parent company of PSA, JJE Capital, bought them so AAC is a sister company to PSA.

JJE Capital also now owns DPMS Panther Arms, Stormlake, AAC, H&R and Parker Brands. The JJE website doesn’t mention those but I read them in another post about the sell-off of Vista. JJE does identify PSA Defense (safety and training), Palmetto State Armory (PSA), and Palmetto Outdoors Shooting Facility.

11/12/22 Update – PSA has a new sister company – Caliber Coffee. Plus there is an insurance company that they’ve had for a while that I overlooked – Right to Bear – that sells carry/self-defense insurance.

PSA itself is actually a family of companies including: DC Machine, Ferrous Engineering, Special Tool Solutions, Spartan Forging and Lead Star Arms. This means these firms are owned by JJE Capital as well.

Okay, returning to Advanced Armament Corporation’s fate: Going forward AAC was split into two divisions – AAC suppressors and firearms (which are to be resurrected) and then AAC Ammo adopted the slogan “America’s Ammo Company”.

What about the ammo?

When I first heard about it, they planned to stick to major calibers – 5.56 NATO, 7.62×51 NATO, 5.45×39, 7.62×39, 7.62x54r and 9×19 Luger but that was hearsay. Now they are still ramping up I am sure but what is on the PSA website right now as I write this post are some components – 9mm 115 gr, and .223 55gr that are in stock. For ammo, they list 9mm 115gr FMJ and 9mm 124gr FMJ and both are in stock.

These are 1,000 AAC .223(.224) 55gr projectiles ready for reloaders. For folks unfamiliar, these are just the bullets – not the entire cartridges.

Some of the items have one to four reviews – it’s all new after all and they are largely scoring 4-5 starts. One reviewer criticized the quality of the .223 (.224) 55gr bullets/projectiles and said accuracy suffered.

This is 9mm 115gr FMJ ammunition. They have 9mm 124gr as well.

Conclusion

I think it’s good for all of us that PSA/JJE has entered the ammunition market. There was a blog post back in October 2021 that they had spent $100 million on starting up ammunition production including primers up to that point – I’ve not seen a total amount referenced. Clearly they are just getting started and it will very interesting to see how they do over time as they come up to full production.

All photos are the property of Palmetto State Armory.

Note, I have to buy all of my parts – nothing here was paid for by sponsors, etc. I do make a small amount if you click on an ad and buy something but that is it. You’re getting my real opinion on stuff.

If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@ro*********.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.

Ammunition

What is +P and +P+ Pistol Ammo

Okay, let’s dive into the world of arcane ammunition industry acronyms. If you are into pistols at all, I bet you have seem ammo rated, or claimed to be, “+P” or even “+P+” and maybe you’ve encountered pistols that claim to handle the same. What does that really mean? That’s a good question and let’s review the two in the world of pistol calibers.

In the US, there is a standards group for ammunition loads called the Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers’ Institute (SAMMI). This group was formed in 1926 with the goal of safety and compatibility. Having standards allows gun manufacturers and ammo producers to have a “meeting of the minds” about what is required for a given caliber such as 9x19mm (9mm Luger or “Parabellum” — I’ll just write “9mm going forward). Without a standard, there could be safety issues as a given firearm may be not be able to handle the pressure of a given load and fail (explode). In short, standards allow us to switch between brands of ammo with a degree of safety and consistency.

Notice how I said a degree of consistency – it’s far from perfect and many factors affect whether a given firearm will function reliably and accurately with a given round from a specific manufacturer. For example, I had a .44 Magnum Desert Eagle Mark V way back when. It could shoot just about any ammo but there was this one brand, I don’t recall who, that had an odd looking crimp in the middle of the case. My Desert Eagle absolutely could not extract that stuff. It was a brand name ammo and I am sure it worked fine in revolvers but definitely not for me in my specific pistol. In short, you always want to confirm what ammunition your firearm “likes” and include your various magazines in that testing as well.

+P Means Higher Pressure

What “+P” refers to are standard over-pressure loads and there are actually very few of them. By over-pressure, I mean over standard pressure — +P rounds are loaded to what is called “peak pressure” and since there are a number of factors that affect peak, you can see variations in +P loads.

One consideration take into account is a degree of safety. If we make a broad generalization, if a firearm in reasonably good condition fires one, it should be okay. For example, a 9mm pistol in good shape should be able to handle 9mm+P. With that said, I need to make a safety comment:

+P Safety Considerations
1. Only use +P ammo in a firearm that the manufacturer states can handle it either in the manual or on their website.
2. If a firearm manufacturer tells you not to then don’t.
3. Never run +P ammo in an older firearm
4. Due to the higher operating pressure, bear in mind that you will likely accelerate the wear and tear on your firearm by using this ammo.
5. It’s going to recoil more and may adversely affect recoil-sensitive people or take you longer to get back on target after firing.

Why have +P?

The standardized +P rounds are all common defensive rounds – 9mm Luger, .38 Special, .38 Super Auto, and .45 ACP. The intent was to produce higher velocities and energy levels as a result of boosting the pressure. The following table was generated from the 2015 specification for pistol calibers Z299.3:

CartridgeStandard PSI+P PSIIncrease
9mm Luger (9×19)35,00038,500+10.0%
.38 Special17,50020,000+14.3%
.38 Super Auto26,50036,500+37.7%
.45 ACP21,00023,000+ 9.5%
Source: SAAMI Z299.3 Centerfire Pistol & Revolver

All things being equal, by boosting the pressure, then the velocity and energy of the round go up. In short, a +P pressure load hits harder with the same bullet. That’s something that you often want in a defensive caliber but there are limits lest you have over penetration, etc. It’s also important to always point out that energy levels are not a substitute for accurate shot placement.

These are IMI 124 grain die cut 9mm +P hollow points. IMI dipped the tips in black paint so they are easy to identify as +P – not all firms do that. What ammo makers should do, and IMI did, was to ensure the headstamp on the case clearly identifies the load as +P.

What if a caliber is not on the list?

If a caliber is not listed above, then you have entered the world of marketing where “+P” sells more ammo. If a manufacturer decides to use some internal rule of thumb to increase the base pressure then that is totally of their own accord. You have no idea what it is and neither do the folks who build pistols chambered for that round. For example, consider .380 ACP +P rounds you sometimes see for sale. My Ruger LCP Max points out in a number of places in the manual not to run +P ammo in their pistol because they can’t guarantee performance or safety since there isn’t a standard for Ruger to build and test against.

Note that groups who make non-standard +P ammo are quick to point out that they stay under what the “proof” loads are that are standards based and are intended to test the safety of a firearm design. Well folks, cumulative stress is cumulative stress – it builds up over time. You go running a real hot round in a real world pistol or pistol caliber carbine with a lot of real world use and it’s impossible to predict the results.

This is why I do load my defensive weapon magazines with 9mm+P but practice at the range with regular range loads. I always verify a combination of firearm, magazine and ammo load before I count on it but then I shoot the lighter stuff for practicing to reduce the wear on my pistols.

By the way, this is also why my Ruger LCP Max only had standard .380 ACP loads in it and no hotrodded ammo.

What about +P+?

Ok, now when we talk about “+P+” rounds we have completely left the SAMMI standard. You only run this ammo if you know it was made for your firearm. You should not run it on a whim without first investigating your firearm and the ammo.

When it comes to +P+ and safety you do need to be careful. When used appropriately, it’s just fine. However, if you are thinking “oh, it’s just a few thousand PSI more – that’s not much”, I want you to remember something – a little bit doesn’t matter until it does.

Am I anti +P+? Actually, no, I’m not. I used to encounter +P+ for 9mm sub guns with heavier mechanisms that could handle the higher pressures and heavier recoil. If you run it in a regular 9mm pistol, well, it’s hard to say what it will do – at the very least it is going to prematurely wear the pistol’s components even more than +P will.

In short, only use +P+ ammo if you know what you are doing and have done your research about using it in your particular weapon. Certainly don’t just pick it because your think it will hit harder.

Conclusion

+P and +P+ ammo have their uses and you need to make sure you read up on what your firearm, be it a pistol or pistol caliber carbine, can handle a given load before you use it. Also, one last comment – be sure to thoroughly test a combination of firearm, magazine and round before you rely on it.

References

Note, I have to buy all of my parts – nothing here was paid for by sponsors, etc. I do make a small amount if you click on an ad and buy something but that is it. You’re getting my real opinion on stuff.

If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@ro*********.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.

Ammunition, Politics - EOs, Regulations, Legal, Shooting in General

Ammo Prices Will Continue To Fall

Okay, I’m a closet economist – I admit it. When I look at the current ammo shortage, you can tell it is predictably coming to an end provided nothing crazy comes out of the Senate, White House and ATFE that is lasting.

Not Our First Panic

For those old enough to remember past panic buying such as with President Obama, the same thing happened. People got worried about not being able to buy firearms or ammo in the future so they started buying everything in sight. When this happens, an interesting and predictable tug of war happens between the demand for ammo and the ability of businesses to sell ammo. Let’s look at it in terms of three time frames – immediate, medium and longer-term.

Short-term – less than 6 months

When a panic hits, there is very little the manufacturers, importers, wholesalers and gun shops can do in the short-term other than sell what they have. What do I mean by short-term? Within about a six month window. They can only produce so much ammo so fast given their labor, component availability and machine capacity. In addition, importers only have so many import orders in the pipeline so the ammo supply starts to dry up. As supply dries up, prices start to go up – you see ammo that was going for $249/1000 rounds start to push almost $1,000/1000 rounds if not more plus it can get pretty hard to find.

In the mean time, as the supply gets limited, people tend to panic even more and buy whenever they can afford, sometimes even if they can’t with credit cards, keeping the prices elevated. Making life even more colorful this time around were COVID causing supply chain problems and the stimulus checks.

The stimulus checks have caused a number of issues. First and foremost, a lot of people don’t see the point in working when they can stay home, collect unemployment and get the stimulus checks. This means that firms who are trying to make equipment, supplies and ammo itself plus firms who distribute and sell it are frequently short staffed limiting what they can produce.

Another impact is that quite a few people take the checks and buy more guns and ammo that further adds to the shortage. I’m less worried about this than I am about otherwise able people getting money paid for by taxpayers – nothing is ever free folks – we the people who pay taxes will pay and probably for years to come.

Now the rush of new gun buyers is also a factor – people are scared. How will they defend their families in an era where violent protests and assaults are deemed acceptably while politicians and activists talk about defunding the police? I applaud law abiding citizens buying firearms for self defense, hunting, target shooting, or whatever their desire is. The fact of the matter is that these firearms reflect a sizable investment for most people and losing them due to gun control will not sit well with anyone — especially when you look at the violence that is taking place. Politicians – representatives, senators and governors – know this because they worry about re-election. The gun control zealots and elites don’t care but that is a different story.

An interesting thing that happened this time around was that ammo never completely disappeared. You might not have found it at local gun stores but you could find it online with a lot of searching and paying some astronomically high prices. Gunbroker sellers were typically an option for almost any type of ammo through the whole ordeal. I’m not criticizing- it’s an observation. People will go to extra lengths to make money.

Another observation is that shooters also investigated alternative brands of ammo as well as methods of training. For example, the training systems that were either a bullet-shaped laser that would trigger when the pistol’s firing pin hit it or even complete subsitute pistols.

People moved to reloading very early on and supplies, notably primers, became next to impossible to find. This created a lesson for many new reloaders – start it when things aren’t nuts and stock up because it is not a guaranteed backup plan.

Medium-term – 6 months to one year

Getting back to the ammo shortage, as time goes on manufacturers continue to output all that they can. More and more import orders are placed drawing ammo from all over the planet including known and unknown brands. Some small ammo producers appear as they can make money but may not survive as prices fall.

At the same time, panicked consumers both run out of money to buy ammo and they begin to calm down. Demand contracts.

The first signs that the shortage is coming to the end is that you will notice more and more websites have ammo available for sale and it isn’t disappearing within minutes of going online. Breadth and depth of options slowly increases but the prices are typically still far higher than before the panic.

Next, the vendors (gun stores, wholesalers and websites) begin to realize that they have a ton of money invested in ammo and better get it sold. This when you start to see tons of emails stating “We have ammo!”. The emails and alerts do generate some sales but not enough. Vendors start having to compete again and prices begin to come down. Ammo that was $1,000/1,000 rounds drops to $749/1,000 rounds and continues to drop.

Somewhere in this timeframe, buyers also started trying substitute brands they would not normally go for. For example, some guys who always declared they would never shoot steel cased ammo started buying TulAmmo and Wolf. In most guns, steel case runs just fine – you never know for sure with any combination of firearm and ammo until you test it. In other words, order in a smaller amount for testing before you go and invest in a case(s).

Longer-term – After about a year

The price drop will continue as vendors attempt to sell the ammo to finance the loans they took out to buy it or to free up working capital to invest elsewhere. At the same time, stores and website have more and more ammo available for sale and compeitition based on pricing starts to heat up again further causing prices to drop until some form of equilibrium is reached – in other words some price that is agreeable to buyers and sellers is reached.

Lessons Learned Thus Far

  1. It was predictable. We knew if Trump lost the panic would set in so people hedging their risks started stocking up starting in earnest in the Summer of 2020.
  2. It’s better to stock up before a panic than during a panic. Buying a little here and there and saving it adds up.
  3. Don’t add calibers during a panic. Finding ammo might be surprisingly hard.
  4. Subscribe to as many vendor sales emails as you can. They would regularly send emails when they got shipments in and are now sending even more emails to move what they have: Brownells, Pametto State Armory, Natchez, SGAmmo, Midway USA, Sportsman’s Guide and more.
  5. Most ammo could be found on Gunbroker in a pinch albeit at high prices.
  6. A lot of brands showed up that people knew nothing about but was actually really good so be sure to search around on the web – you might be in for a pleasant surprise. For example: Aguila, Fiocchi, MagTech, PMC, S&B, and ZQI are all good brands that you may not have previously encountered.

Conclusion

Where are we right now? As of this writing, we are seeing more ammo on the websites and prices have just started to come down off their highs so we are somewhere in the medium time frame. How fast prices will fall is hard to say due to COVID and anti-second ammendment stance by some politicians. I actually think President Biden has limited options because politicians usually follow their own logic but staying in power and making money are certainly drivers for them. People have a ton of money invested in their firearms and ammunition and aren’t going to give them up lightly.

My guidance to you is to buy what you need but hold off on more panic buying. I don’t have a magic crystal ball mind you but I am holding off big ammo purchases. It’s hard to say what will happen past the next 90 days but you ought to take note that the Biden administration is almost five months into power and has accomplished little on their gun control agenda.

My last comment is a big ask for all of you – stay active. Keep reading what is going on, support your favorite pro-2A special interest groups (I like Firearm Policy Coalition and Gun Owners of America) and be sure to reach out to politicans to make your opinion known on hot topics — the liberals are trying to push tons of absurd gun control proposals and we cant let those happen.

6/27/21 Update: Prices continue to plummet. You can find brass case Federal 115gr FMJ 9mm ammo for $450/1,000 rounds +S&H – this price point was only for imported steel case in early May. Vendors are bundling things like red dots, scopes or magazines with ammo to try and entice buyers. In general, popular calibers (such as 9mm, 5.56 Nato, 7.62 Nato, 7.62×39, and .300 BO) are surging in availability. Some of the traditional rounds such as .30-30 are still challenged. SGAmmo, one of my favorite ammo suppliers, continues to have more and more inventory available. I’m getting a bunch of “Ammunition Available” emails each day from Natchez, Brownells, PSA, etc.

5/1/21 Update: It seems like I am getting several emails a day from vendors saying they have ammo in stock. I saw my first 20% off sale this past week so we will watch the prices start to drop. I’ve already seen steel cased 9mm at $500/1000 well off it’s peak high. The new round of stimulus checks may prop sales up a bit but not enough to fund all the ammo entering the distribution channels.

If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@ro*********.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.

Ammunition, Self Defense, Shooting in General

Gorilla Ammunition – Quality Ammo From Florida And They Have Rounds In Stock!!

Everyone is trying to find ammo and some prices have gone through the roof when you do find some. An option you may not know about is Gorilla Ammunition located in Vero Beach, FL.

Mrgunsngear visited their factory in 2017 and shared a video showing their ammo, AR-10 and AR-15 rifles.

Kit Badger visited in 2018 and talked to both sides of the house – brass case and their polymer case ammo. His coverage of the polymer ammo was very interesting and he assembled the following video:

Good to Go

So, from everything I have read and watched, their ammo is reliable and accurate – by all accounts I read, very accurate. They aren’t the cheapest but the quality in terms of reliability and accuracy are there and that’s what I want these days.

Now here’s the kicker – they also sell direct and they have ammo in stock as well as waitlisted on their website!! For example, they have their 9mm Silverback self-defense ammo in stock right now. Check them out:

If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@ro*********.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.

Ammunition, Pistols, Shooting in General

Yes, Sellier & Bellot (S&B) Makes Good Ammo

Many folks are new to firearms these days or they are experienced and scrambling to find ammo. This means they are encountering brands they may never of heard of and Sellier & Bellot (S&B) is one such example. I get asked regularly if they make good ammo and if I would recommend their pistol or rifle and the answer is a definite YES.

First off, S&B is a Czech company that was founded in 1825. The Czechs produce some excellent small arms, such as the cz.75 pistol, and S&B turns out some great ammo. My point is that they know their stuff.

I have been using S&B ammo for years including 12ga shot shells, 8mm Mauser, .308, 9mm 115 grain and 124 grain full metal jacket (FMJ) plus 10mm 180 grain FMJ rounds. I use it for firearm testing and shooting at the range and have shot thousands of rounds with not one failure that I could attribute to the ammo – bear in mind I am using it often to test and break in guns. For example, the recoil impulse of the 9mm 124 grain ammo is great for breaking in pistol caliber carbines (PCCs) as well as newly built Polymer80 pistols.

I’ll keep this post short, S&B ammo is good to go. Below are some vendors with S&B offerings:

If you find this post useful, please share the link on Facebook, with your friends, etc. Your support is much appreciated and if you have any feedback, please email me at in**@ro*********.com. Please note that for links to other websites, I may be paid via an affiliate program such as Avantlink, Impact, Amazon and eBay.

Shooting in General

The Best Websites To Buy Ammo From

1 Comment

A common question I’ve been asked over the years is where to buy ammo from online. I can definitely understand the question – there is a bewildering number of online vendors that sell ammo and some offer great deals and service and others don’t – plain and simple. I’ve been involved with firearms since my dad held a .22 for me in the 1970s and have been involved with the Internet since the early 1990s. The combination of the two really took off around 2006 when I got interested in AK rifles and started frequenting the AKFiles, the AKForum and other boards as part of that.

It’s been an amazing ride to say the least. A lot of great guys have helped me over the years and part of my blogging is me trying to give back some. So, back to the topic at hand – where to find ammo? The short answer is that there are a ton of places and it does pay to shop around, wait for sales when you can, sign up for vendor newsletters to get discounts and sales info, etc.

Remember that ammo is heavy. I’m not joking – be sure to look at what the delivered cost will be when comparing vendors. One group might have a great ammo price but real steep shipping charges that nullify the savings. Likewise, a vendor might have a sale one weekend where they have a discount and free shipping and you may only know about it if you sign up for and read their sales emails. I can’t stress signing up for the emails enough – some places will send you a coupon code right away.

What I am going to try and do is list the websites/vendors that I’ve had very good luck with. I’m going to split them between Highly Recommended and Recommended. I’m not going to disparage any vendors but I’ll say that if they are not on my list, just do some searching around and see what others say about them. There are tons and tons of great vendors out there who I have probably never heard of and never will but there are also some not so great groups out there as well.

What follows is my trying to give a bit of guidance about things to consider and sites to go:

Is Buying Ammo Online Legal?

Guys ask me if they can legally buy ammo online – meaning from a website. The problem is that the answer to this question depends on federal, state and local laws. At a federal level it is ok. For most states it is ok. Once you get down to the county and city/town level, it depends. You need to check around and find out the answer to that question. Use the Internet to research, ask your local gun club, sheriff’s department, etc.

Are Websites Always Cheaper Than Buying Locally?

The short answer is a very strong “Not always”. A lot of gun stores can be very competitive. Ammo is heavy and local gun stores can buy in bulk plus they can do a number of things to lower their cost. For example, Modern Antique Firearms in Benton Harbor, MI, is owned by my friend, Scott Igert, and they regularly get great deals on ammo that they then pass along to their customers.  They will also group special orders together to further lower cost for people looking for relatively rare ammo.

Speaking of, if you are in an area that lacks competition or are looking for specialty loads or relative rare calibers, online is probably your better option if not your only option. For example, I had a .50 Beowulf. You aren’t going to walk in a store and find that ammo. The same tends to be true for my .338 Lapua.

One other shout out I want to give to the local gun shops is customer service. Again, pointing to modern antique firearms, you can go in there and get a lot of advice about how to select ammunition and what would work good in your situation. Never underestimate the value of good advice.

Highly Recommended Websites For Ammo

Websites in this category are ones that I have bought from many times and are usually the first ones I check when looking to buy ammo. I have no hesitation in recommending them to you as you start your journey to find ammo.

By the way folks, I get no money at all from any of these places. I’m telling you purely based on my experience. All the vendors on this list are groups that I’ve ordered from at least 10 times.

  • SGAmmo – this is a family-owned business that has been around for a long time. They were recommended to me many years ago and I have ordered a lot of ammo from them over the years. They have very good prices and are quick to ship. When I thought who to list as my number one go-to, it was these folks hands down. You absolutely need to subscribe to their email newsletter. There’s no two ways about it.
  • J&G Sales – I first ran into J&G Sales many years ago. People were recommending them as a place to get combloc ammo from and I bought a lot of 7.62 x39 from them over the years. They have expanded their offerings to include a lot of ammo from different companies such as Wolf, S&B and many others.
  • Midway USA – Midway has a huge online presence selling gun parts, ammunition, and many other things. I have bought so much from these folks over the years my wife knows those boxes on-site 🙂
  • Sportsman’s Guide – this is another big online website. Sometimes they do have good deals on ammunition and are worth checking out especially when they have sales and free shipping.

Recommended Websites For Ammo

Groups in this category I have ordered from a number of times and have been very satisfied.  The websites below are listed in order they came to mind,

  • Palmetto State Armory – Palmetto is a interesting low-cost vendor out there. I have bought a lot of AR parts from them over the years and been very happy. Once in a while they will have a great sale on some popular ammunition in a given caliber. You definitely want to sign up for their sales newsletter.
  • Cabelas – sometimes these folks have good prices on ammunition but they are good to remember because sometimes they will have inventory when other groups do not.
  • Buds Guns – they often have competitive prices and are definitely one place to check. Another good example of a place that may have in unison in stock when others don’t. For example I recently bought some S&B 124 grain 9 mm ammo from them.
  • Able Ammo – definitely one vendor to check. I have bought firearms and ammunition from them over the years.
  • AIM Surplus – they carry quite a selection of ammunition, magazines and so forth.
  • Mile High Sports – these folks are a good source for match ammo. For example, I bought 338 Lapua from them.
  • Gunbroker – if you have never used it, GunBroker is an auction site for all kinds of firearms, ammunition and related items that are for sale from literally hundreds of sellers on their site. You really have to do some research before you bid to know whether you’re getting a deal or paying a fortune. Never assume you are looking at the lowest price just because you are on an auction site. I have gotten some fantastic deals on GunBroker over the years but I have also seen a lot of ridiculously high-priced items as well. One last comment, as I mentioned earlier, ammo is heavy. Find out what your total cost will be before you buy.

A Recommended Ammo Purchasing Strategy

If you are new to firearms, bear in mind that ammo is not all the same even within a caliber or bullet type. Each different type of round is designed for a specific use be it plinking, self-defense, hunting and so forth. Decide what you want the ammo for. For example, you would not want to buy a boat load of very expensive self-defense hollow point ammunition just to go plinking. Conversely, you ought to consider spending the extra money to buy some really well regarded self defense hollow point versus Full Metal Jacket range ammunition.

It is interesting how fireams can still can differ even within a model. For example, you could have to virtually identical pistol sitting next to each other and find that one likes a particular type of ammunition more than the other pistol does.

Certainly it pays to research recommendations on ammo for your particular firearm but bear in mind that you must always test ammunition before you buy a bunch of it. I can’t stress this enough. Your gun may not function at all or it may have horrible accuracy with a particular type of ammunition. Do not leave it to chance. You sure do not want to buy ammo and go straight out hunting or rely on it for self-defense. Test test test test. Also, be sure to test it with the magazines.

Once you have an idea of what you want to buy, then check the various websites listed above.

Ammoseek

Have you ever wished there was a website where you could search across many vendors to see what prices are? I found a service called just that – AmmoSeek.  It’ll help you get an idea of pricing for a wide variety of ammo.  Again, look at total cost – product + shipping + insurance when comparing vendors.

If you see a vendor you have never heard of before, do some searching with Google and see what people see.  Try phrases like “Is vendor X any good”, “vendor X reviews”, and so forth.

Summary

Like I said before, a lot of guys helped me out when I first got started. It began with my dad and his friends, then my friends and their fathers and it just grew from there. I truly hope this helps you enjoy your firearms and be prepared.

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