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I picked up a .308 for my boys a while back for the simple fact that you can get the ammo just about anywhere where I'm at. Hell even the local hardware stores carry .308 ammo

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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


Originally Posted by Brad
If Montana had a standing army, a 270 Win with Federal Blue Box 130's would be the standard issue.
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The "white box" 147 gr. fmj stuff for 308 has mostly been marginal in my experience.

For one example, a while back I did a favor for a friend of a friend who heard of me as having some experience mounting scopes. He had just bought a Rem 700 VTR and a Meopta scope, and if he supplied some ammunition would I mount the scope and zero it for him? I said sure, in those days I had more free time and it was an excuse to have fun at the range.

The ammunition turned out to be some of that white box fmj stuff, I don't remember if it was the Federal or the Winchester version. I got the scope mounted and had a bit of a bad time zeroing it because of the groups (verging on patterns) it shot. But I was dealing with a new rifle and a new scope, so no solid conclusion could be drawn.

I took everything home and prepped the brass. It was heavy milspec stuff, so I filled it with one of the old school loads with IMR 3031 and a 168 grain match bullet. I used best practices sizing the brass and seating the bullets so the assembled cartridges came out pretty straight despite the fact they weren't built in some of Lapua's finest. On the return trip to the range the rifle plunked those into nice tight groups. Rifle and scope were both OK.

I have shot some Norma fmj stuff in 308 that was quite good, but you don't find it cheap all over the place.

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Watch out for shooting old military ammo because for some reason military ammo was loaded with corrosive primers or powder way longer than the commercial stuff that we all shoot. I think it had something to do with better temperature ignition, but I know I was surprised at how recently it had been loaded. I'd be real careful about the 7.62x39 military stuff. I know we dropped some ultra hot 7.62x39 stuff out of helicopters in Vietnam to blow up an AK-47 for someone finding it and trying to shoot it.


My other auto is a .45

The bitterness of poor quality is remembered long after the sweetness of low price has faded from memory
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Originally Posted by Elliot
I've been looking for to buy a new hunting rifle with an all around caliber. I know how expensive shooting can get when you don't reload. Is .308 caliber the cheapest round for deer you can buy from factory? I have a .243 but I was looking for something with more power.


Reloading is an expensive hobby, and most of us wind up spending a lot more money than if we had just bought ammo. Plus if you factor in your time at the reloading bench there isnt much cost savings. However, it is a great skill to learn and rewarding when done correctly.

If all you're hunting is deer, then the .243 has more than enough power and will be more enjoyable to shoot.

IC B2

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