I know four ways to save money on ammo.
The first is to buy a 5.56 NATO or 7.62 NATO rifle, use milsurp ammo for practice, and buy good commercial ammo for hunting. For this to work, you have to do some research to find out which milsurp ammo to avoid. Or you can buy commercial FMJ ammo loaded for those rifles, which tends to be cheaper than hunting ammo. I had good luck with PMC 147-grain FMJ in a 308 Model 70 several years ago, but just last weekend, I walked into the range house at the club where I shoot and found a guy nursing a swollen face. He had just destroyed an M-1 Garand shooting bad milsurp ammo, probably Korean ammo loaded in the 1950s. The bolt smacked him pretty hard in the face on its way to parts unknown and he'll have a glorious black eye for a while, but that event could have killed him.
The second is to check the big-box stores about this time of year. They stock up for hunting season and often need to clear out inventory afterwards, so you can get big discounts on good, fresh commercial ammo.
The third is to buy in bulk. Ammoseek.com is your friend for this. It crawls the internet and finds the best prices, but you have to watch the price of shipping. Some places ship for free but make it up on the price of the ammo. Some places charge a flat rate. For others you pay normal shipping, which can ruin deals. No matter what you do, you won't save much if you only buy 1-2 boxes--get at least a case. A few years ago, I found out that one specific rifle shot WW 30-06 180-grain PowerPoints exceptionally well, so I bought 1k rounds through Ammoseek for about $16/box delivered. It was all the same lot number, which was nice, and it lasted a couple of years.
The fourth is handloading, but that doesn't always pencil out like it used to.
Okie John
