18+ Content Warning

By clicking Enter, you confirm you are 18 years of age or older and agree to comply with all applicable local, state, and federal laws.

Notice: Any content or member activity - including anything you may buy, sell, transfer, or discuss - must comply with current and upcoming laws.

Members are encouraged to stay informed: California Firearm Laws: 2026 Outlook & 2025 Recap . Responsibility for compliance rests solely with the individual member.

caguns.net

Welcome to CAguns.net!
Join our growing community where you can ask questions, share knowledge, or browse our classifieds section.

Sign up for a free account today and unlock full access! Once registered, you can search, post, and take advantage of exclusive features unavailable to guests.

A note on why more of the site now requires an account: automated scrapers and AI systems have been crawling our forums and classifieds at a scale. Requiring sign-in for those sections is the most effective tool we have. It takes a minute to register, it's free, and it keeps what happens here between actual members.

New to California gun ownership or trying to keep up with the changing laws? Check out our sister site CA2A.com — free courses, plain-English legal updates, and step-by-step guides built for California owners.

Advanced features are available only to registered members. Register today!

Anybody else notice the price of ammo keeps creeping up lately?

I may be misunderstanding your comment here as I don't understand the whole context here, but if you are referring to him being an FFL03 allowing him to sell more than 500 rounds a month that would be incorrect. He would be transferring them as a private citizen still constrained to those limits.
My reply was directed at a question regarding whether someone could transfer more than 500 rounds per month as a buyer if ordering online to be shipped to an FFL, which any eligible purchaser can. You're correct that FFL03+COE does not circumvent the 500 rounds per month that someone is allowed to sell, as you would need an ammunition vendor license for that.
 
I may be misunderstanding your comment here as I don't understand the whole context here, but if you are referring to him being an FFL03 allowing him to sell more than 500 rounds a month that would be incorrect. He would be transferring them as a private citizen still constrained to those limits.
It was a joke clearly lost in translation. I have an FFL-03 and don't have a limit in my purchasing ability. I don't think he was saying it with the idea of going into business but 13 cents/rd is attractive if he ever does!
 
My reply was directed at a question regarding whether someone could transfer more than 500 rounds per month as a buyer if ordering online to be shipped to an FFL, which any eligible purchaser can. You're correct that FFL03+COE does not circumvent the 500 rounds per month that someone is allowed to sell, as you would need an ammunition vendor license for that.
Got it thanks for clarifying!
 
It was a joke clearly lost in translation. I have an FFL-03 and don't have a limit in my purchasing ability. I don't think he was saying it with the idea of going into business but 13 cents/rd is attractive if he ever does!
One of the joys of the internet 😆 appreciate the clarification
 
Powder prices are elevated- makes reloading almost not worth it
Powder per bullet is .02-.03 per lb. for 9mm. More for ,45 and .556 ( 24.4 gns)

There are still sales and it pays to buy 8 lbs at a time. I am afraid that primers are going to become scarce because of the war effort like they did at the beginning of the Ukraine conflict. I still have scored some decent powders in bulk at $38 a lb with no hazmat or free shipping. I got a crazy price on Vito Vuori N320 and grabbed 4 lbs. I've seen 8lbs of 231 for 300 very recently.

I was told before the last shortage to always have a few years worth of components. I've kept primers and powders at 4 year supplies. There never seems to be a projectile shortage and you can get good deals on sales. I would never buy locally.

I try to have at least 24K small pistol primers. 5-6000 small rifle and 2000 large pistol.

I'm still loading 9mm for .14-17 cents a round. Summit City, Blue bullets or Precision Delta. All run sales. Just got a good deal on 147 gn projectiles from Summit, 16% off , free shipping. I think it was .09 cents a projectile with shipping. If you order 2600 from Summit, it's free shipping always. A lot of sites sell pulled bullets or seconds. They are fine for practice.
.09 + .03+ .06 =.18 cents for a 147 grain bullet. You can't buy for anything close that. 124 grain and 115 are even less.

Before I started reloading I bought 10k of 22lr and since I've reloaded I never touch it.
 
LOL Wut?

That’s 2 cents per round. The 11% ammo tax costs you more per round.


View attachment 161209

From what I can see its actually pretty expensive to do reloads, at least for 9mm. I was just sourcing from Midway and their cheapest stuff for 1,000 rounds was:

primers - $60.00
bullets - $110.00
casings (reloads) - $90.00
powder - $20.00

$280 plus tax and shipping and its knocking on the door at around $300. Thats about 70.00 more than what I pay from Target and it doesn't account for the equipment costs to get up and running. Am I missing something?
 
You are looking at the wrong sources.

There is a Discord server for reloading that was invaluable during the COVID shortages.
I get sale notifications from them . You can also subscribe for sale notifications from suppliers. I get 8 or 9 a day and there are sales and deals monthly. Memorial Day, Veterans Day etc

I got Winchester SP Primers for $38 per thousand if you bought 5. I just got more for $48.00. Powder Valley, Sportsman’s, Natchez, Republic Ammunition, American Reloading and more run primer and powder deals “ while supplies last”.
 
From what I can see its actually pretty expensive to do reloads, at least for 9mm. I was just sourcing from Midway and their cheapest stuff for 1,000 rounds was:

primers - $60.00
bullets - $110.00
casings (reloads) - $90.00
powder - $20.00

$280 plus tax and shipping and its knocking on the door at around $300. Thats about 70.00 more than what I pay from Target and it doesn't account for the equipment costs to get up and running. Am I missing something?
Primers - 45
bullets - 80
casings from the floor at the range and the 9mm you already bought and matches - free
powder 20

=~13-14 cents per round
 
Ammo has been jumping up for a couple months. Gas just spiked in the last couple weeks. Also, got back into the 380 game after 6?+ years of not having anything chambered in it and it's pretty dry out there. Fun times.
 
Last edited:
I primarily order through TSUSA and have noticed since the last two notices of industry price increases (since end of last year) 9mm has crept up by about 1-2 cpr on average. Not much of an increase and expected since ammo was at an all time low since COVID.

The bigger issue I'm noticing is the popular brands going out of stock for longer periods of time. TSUSA supply of affordable .380 has been absent for weeks now, the cheapest going for 43 cpr.
Wow, I just looked. I paid .34 per rd for Federal American Eagle 380 ACP 95 grain February 15th. Now I wish I had ordered more!

TS is always coming in and out of stock quickly, recommend the text alerts if there's something you really want.
 
From what I can see its actually pretty expensive to do reloads, at least for 9mm. I was just sourcing from Midway and their cheapest stuff for 1,000 rounds was:

primers - $60.00
bullets - $110.00
casings (reloads) - $90.00
powder - $20.00

$280 plus tax and shipping and its knocking on the door at around $300. Thats about 70.00 more than what I pay from Target and it doesn't account for the equipment costs to get up and running. Am I missing something?
First, buying brass is a mistake. If you must buy brass, buy used brass. 9 cents for 9mm is pretty expensive but if you only use it 9 times that’s still only 1 cent per use. Here’s 9mm brass for 4 cents but you can usually find it for 5 cents shipped.

Midway isn’t the cheapest. You have to look around I use a lot of pulled or blem bullets. I ended up getting about 7K of these. They are out of stock but they will be back. 3.9 CPR

1772798659675.webp

I’ve been finding mag tech and Winchester SPP for 4-5 cents. I’ve been playing with factory 2nds for under 3 cents and been very happy.


If you are keeping your brass

4.5CPR primer
4CPR projectiles
2CPR powder
1CPR brass

Works out to 11.5CPR shipped tax included. Or $115/1k for better ammunition tailored to your gun and shooting style.

I went through the entire 4 year scamdemic without running short or having to buy anything. How much is that worth?


As far as equipment, yes it is an investment but it tracks better than the S&P. Do not neglect to buy a good bound manual. Don’t trust the interwebs without verifying. $40 used


If you are a IDPA/USPSA competitor, start loading to PF and watch the seconds melt away. That’s priceless.

If you are a rifle competitor, you aren’t even asking these questions.


The best I can find on ammoseek is $173/K. + 20% tax and $10 shipping = $217 and I don’t think that’s even something I’d want to shoot. Does an FFL charge anything to receive ammo? It’s about double the cost of making your own.
 
Republic ammunition was selling the Magtech primers very cheaply. They worked fine.

I’ve been leary of the factory seconds but the price is tempting. I still have around 3k Servicios I haven’t had 100 % success with. I shot about 4k anyway because they were so cheap.

My reloading costs for 62 gn.223,230 gn .45 ACP and 124/147 gn 9mm are half the costs of any factory ammo. I don’t know if I’ve even seen 147 practice 9mm.

I only use pick up brass and load easy to find brass calibers. Don’t pay for brass unless it’s something hard to find. 223 costs .22 to .25 cents a round to load.

If you save a 5 gallon bucket of brass calibers you don’t load, rejects , mistakes and all your spent primers you can sell that for a few hundred bucks and buy more components.
 
What are you using for pills? thats how much I get 147/150gr fmjs
I was mistaken, I paid 36 cents for them and they are 220 grain SMK’s (pulled) but they look and shoot like new. I actually bought several thousand of the 220’s the only issue is they are mixed runs of SMK’s. 2 different connelure locations, easy to sort and they are extremely consistent in weight with no deformities or pull marks I use them for sub MOA .300WM also

1772801726277.webp

These were 11.5CPR

1772802353892.webp
 
Last edited:
Republic ammunition was selling the Magtech primers very cheaply. They worked fine.

I’ve been leary of the factory seconds but the price is tempting. I still have around 3k Servicios I haven’t had 100 % success with. I shot about 4k anyway because they were so cheap.

My reloading costs for 62 gn.223,230 gn .45 ACP and 124/147 gn 9mm are half the costs of any factory ammo. I don’t know if I’ve even seen 147 practice 9mm.

I only use pick up brass and load easy to find brass calibers. Don’t pay for brass unless it’s something hard to find. 223 costs .22 to .25 cents a round to load.

If you save a 5 gallon bucket of brass calibers you don’t load, rejects , mistakes and all your spent primers you can sell that for a few hundred bucks and buy more components.
At PRG USPSA, magtech primers seem to be preferred, the scoff at Winchester reliability (SMH). I’ve loaded up about 1K .223 with the factory 2nds, I’ve ran through 100 with no problems. With 7 cent pills and pulled powder I’m well under 20CPR for 3,000FPS 55’s I haven’t run any of the SPP’s but the guys over at glock talk seem to like them except for the supply chain issues

I figure that in the next scamdemic or terrorist attack, those SPP factory 2nds will be worth their weight in gold in barter value. $165 for 5k? The biggest issue is storage space.


I love Milsurp. I hate corrosive primers almost as much as I hate having to ship ammo to an FFL. I’m loading 8 mauser, 7.5 Swiss, .303 Brit, 8X54R adn a few others. Boxer brass is usually $1 but my sets of 50-100 will probably last my lifetime.

SG Ammo simply removed California from their pull-down menu. They won’t even ship to a CA FFL, FFS

1772804237774.webp
 
Ammo has been jumping up for a couple months. Gas just spiked in the last couple weeks. Also, got back into the 380 game after 6?+ years of not having anything chambered in it and it's pretty dry out there. Fun times.
8.5CPR for V-Crown pills… not too shabby. That’s actually a really nice self defense bullet. All you need is brass, powder, primers and a press. I haven’t carried .380 in years otherwise I’d be all over those at that price.
 
Back
Top Bottom