Does the price of ammo impact your choice of a rifle caliber

[jpr9954]

I realize when you get into the upper medium bore and large bore rifles that factory ammunition and reloading components are going to be expensive.

However, if you are looking at anything from let's say 9.3x62 and down, do you consider the price of ammunition or components when buying a rifle? Do you go with the cheaper ammo or a more common caliber as opposed to the one that is $10-20 or more higher per box?

For example, would you pick a 7mm Rem Mag over a .280 AI? You can find plenty of S&B ammo for $20 per box in 7mm mag for practice while you start at about $35 or so for anything in .280 AI. The price of premium ammo does start to even out.

Or here is another real world case. I found a custom .300 H&H with beautiful wood, Timney trigger, glass bedded, etc. with a barrel band for $600. However, when I looked for ammo the price per box was $100 and higher. Brass, if I could find it, was likewise expensive. Mentally, I just gave it a pass even though I love less common calibers just because.

 

[375Fox]

I’d say ammo availability is a bigger consideration than ammo price for me for choosing a hunting cartridge. I wouldn’t buy a 375 Ruger over a 375 H&H because I don’t expect the Ruger to be widely available soon. Price per bullet isn’t really a consideration. I own a 300 H&H and am glad to have it, but probably wouldn’t buy a new one today over a 300 win for the same reason. The cartridges I have that I expect to fade away (300 H&H and 450 Rigby) I’ve bought up ammo as I’ve seen good deals available for them.

Strictly speaking about price though I’d probably never buy a 22 Hornet over a 223 rem just because of pricing on factory ammo. Same with 17 HMR over 22 LR. Larger standard hunting calibers though where I typically wouldn’t shoot that many rounds cost per round isn’t much of a consideration.

 

[CZDiesel]

I agree with @375Fox and if loaded ammo and or components for loading are available I’d not pass on a great dealer something I want…

 

[CBH Australia]

Not really. Ammo is the cheapest part of the hunt.
I have .308 and .223 for culling, pest control and volume shooting and I reload.
To be fair I haven’t had anything super rare or exotic so average price is what it is.

If I needed ammo that’s $5 or $10 a round for occasional use I would probably accept that if it’s something I wanted to use or own.

I’m careful with .280a.i and 7mm-08 brass so as not to waste money but if it meant losing an animal to save a $3 case I’m taking the next shot and looking for a case later

 

[mdwest]

I do t worry about price much. I reload.. so for me its availability of components..

 

[kdenn]

No, so far fortunate to buy what I want and always buy dies and some components to reload. Ammunition usually least expensive part of hunting, especially on some African game and especially on a lot of NA draw tag animals.

 

[Inkgardener]

No, as I have not bought factory ammo in years.

 

[YancyW]

Nope

 

[Mark Biggerstaff]

Simple answer NO!
I don’t reload so shoot only factory ammo. Price has never played a part in caliber choices. I will spend whatever is needed for quality ammo. Ammo is the cheapest part of a hunt.

 

[JimP]

If you are not a reloader it may factor into purchasing a larger caliber rifle. I have a 340 Weatherby that factory loads are around $130 if you can find them. I can load the same bullet at the same velocity for less than a couple bucks, once I have a case.

If you want to shoot enough to become proficient with a rifle you pretty much need to reload the cases, unless you can afford the factory rounds.

 

[BGHNTR416]

Nope. No way. Not a chance. All the more reason to roll your own! Brass might be expensive but so what? Usually it's a one time purchase.

 

[Sabre]

Yes, that's the only reason I didn't buy that .577 Tyrannosaur that recently came available on here. Otherwise I would have definitely bought it to protect my house from F-47s and Pterodactyls.

 

[Fatback]

Not typically. I don’t reload so I m dependent on factory offerings or paying for somebody like Hendershots or Safari Arms to reload ammo for me, which I’ve done for several of my rifles.

I will say that on a recent rifle build when I was considering either a 25-06 or 7x57, I went with the 25-06 because I already have 600 or so rounds of ammo for that caliber and don’t have any 7x57 ammo and the 25-06 is easier and cheaper to acquire ammo for.

 

[mark-hunter]

I consider following:
Availability of ammo.
Velocity of bullet.

Equation with these two variables::
If bullet is high spped, then I beleive it will require exclusively premium ammo. (Nosler and moose story)

This for me annules rare high speed magnums from my choice.
And when i come down to results of my choices, here it is:
Roe deer rifle and ammo is 30-06, nosler ballistic tip. Cheap.
Boar and red deer rifle is 9.3x62 (velocity cca 700 m/s), standard soft point, 286 grains. Cheap.
Thats for backyard hunting at home.

Africa is another ball game altogether.
Price of hunt, esepecially for DG, brings another way of thinking.
African animals are tough! And large!
Bullet is the cheapest link in overall picture.
So for DG, or large PG my choice is 375 and premium bullet, swift a frame 300 grain.

So, far this logic worked perfectly for me on two continents, with reasonable ammunition expenses, and great success.

Training with any rifle, always done with cheapest ammo on the market. Bulk of my training done on FMJ in 308 win and 30-06, common vanilla calibers with plenty of cheap FMJ avaiaability.

If i will ever need 300 win mag, or anything faster, like 8x68, etc i will use premium ammo for those rare occasions but since I dont hunt long range, thus so far i never had a need to switch to fast velocity magnum ammo or rifles.

 

[Muskox]

Not really.

It is a corollary of the cost of hunting.

I have always been a reloader and a hoarder. I buy things that I can get when they are on sale and stock up.

I do buy a ton of new ammunition when I can get a deal on it.

As I am not a gun writer and no one cares what I shoot for ammunition brand, bullet and whatever I don't have a ton of brand loyalty. Saying that I like Hornady, Norma, Lapua, RWS, Barnes and Nosler and some boutique companies as well.

I don't own or care about cartridges like the 500 Jefferies or 505 Gibbs that are expensive through the laws of mass production. As they aren't mass produced. I do own a 5.6x57 RWS. I have enough brass and bullets to make it work for a long time. When this barrel is done, I will re barrel it to a 6mmx57 Ackley improved.

Yes a 30-378 is more expensive than a 30-06. I don't own one and I don't care. But I don't own a 30-378 for any reason other than I don't own one. Not that the ammo is expensive.

I am not rich, but I shoot enough $3 bullets into hillsides for testing that I am not going to bitch about the cost of $150 box of ammo.

 

[Rule 303]

The cost of ammo has never come into my thinking when considering a rifle/calibre. If it was I reload so the cost is lower. I have not bought factory ammo for 35cal and up for years. I have bought factory ammo for 223, 22Hornet and 303Brit because of specials that made them almost as cheap or cheaper than reloading.

 

[Tusker]

Yes for me. I do not reload and like to shoot. When hunting for day to day animals (culling deer) I rather do it with my 30-06 ($60/box) than with a 270wsm ($120/box).
Also, if going to Africa I rather shoot without taking into consideration cost of ammo. For instance I rather shoot 10 times 375hhm ($70/box) than my 470NE that is at least ($200/box).
I guess it all depends on how much you shoot.
Having said this, I have all these rifles, but use each one of them for specific use.

 

[BeeMaa]

I've always chosen the caliber based on the game, say .375" caliber for instance. Then it's what specific cartridge in that range would be the most plentiful. Naturally it's 375H&H over the likes of 375RUGER, 375WBY, 378WBY, 375RUM...etc.

The more plentiful means there is a (relative) surplus of this cartridge. Meaning that if all other things are equal, the rules of supply and demand still apply and the price should be lower. So a 375H&H shooting 300 grain TSX will be less expensive than nearly any other .375 caliber.

However, I'd choose the most commonly found cartridge not based on price, but on availability in remote camps. As a traveling hunter it's one of the most important decisions you can make.

 

[odonata]

I shoot mostly classic long-action chamberings that are a mixture of the common & the obscure. Some of my ammo can be found in very affordable loads (e.g. 30-06, 303 British, 7x57). Others chamberings (e.g. 9.3x74r, 405 Win) can be a bit spendy to shoot in large quantities.

But I've never let the cost of ammo decide what I was going to purchase. Since I hunt with everything I own, if I want to shoot a lot at the range, I just pick one of my rifles with inexpensive ammunition for practice. The other rifles I shoot less often just to verify they're still sighted in well before taking them out in the field. If I really want to burn through some ammo plinking, that's what my pneumatic & rimfires were made for.

 

[WyoBull]

As an avid reloader since the late [emoji[emoji6]][emoji[emoji6][emoji6]]’s, factory ammunition prices have no effect on what calibers I shoot.
I am at a point where I have all the rifles I really want or need and for those calibers I shoot I have plenty of components to last my shooting lifetime.
I used to shoot hundreds of rounds a day sitting at prairie dog towns but we don’t have a lot of those on public land anymore so I don’t shoot the quantity of rounds in my varmint calibers that I used to.