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Old June 10, 2008, 09:17 PM   #1
Rugerno1shooter
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.308/7.62x51 costs these days

So I thought the whole Idea behind surplus ammunition was like this...

Factory ammo=most expensive
Reloading ammo=less expensive plus lots of choice every which way
Surplus ammo=cheapest and sometimes the prettiest!! (ever seen surplus 6.5x55....or swiss 7.5x55....=pretty_

But now it seems that it goes like this a lot of the time
Surplus 7.62x51=almost as much and sometimes more than factory ammo
factory ammo=usually second most expensive
Reloading=cheapest with the most flex

anyone else amazed by this??
What does
South African 7.62x51 run per round these days?
Portuguese 7.62x51???
I have trouble even finding those!!!

Pat

Last edited by Rugerno1shooter; June 10, 2008 at 10:03 PM.
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Old June 11, 2008, 07:57 AM   #2
Sevens
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I don't buy any surplus ammo and I never have-- not because I rail against it, but because I have only one firearm in my collection that would make great use of it, and that's my K98 and I've already been down the corrosive ammo road and I won't EVER go down it again. My handloads in Winchester brass work pretty damn well, though!

But what I've noticed it that now you see milsurp type ammo being sold in such places as "The Sportsman's Guide" and it occured to me that it's starting to get popular-- folks see & read "surplus" and they equate it with "screaming deal on large lots of leftover ammo" and frankly, it's just not a great deal. Popular? Marketing coup?

IMO, a lot of it is suspect in origin and make-up, a lot of it is in steel and bardan primed cases, and none of it interests me.

If I owned and enjoyed an SKS (currently, I do not own nor to I desire to own one), then I'd certainly be busting hump to find good deals on surplus .30 hammer & sickle. And not that I'm a tree hugger or pointing fingers, but steel case and berdan primed surplus schitt is absolutely polluting the holy hell out of any/every public outdoor shooting range I've ever seen, and it's worse now than it's ever been.

I police my own rimfire brass if I'm able. Some rifle ranges, you damn near slip & trip on the mounting piles of this surplus crap.
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Old June 11, 2008, 10:56 AM   #3
nbkky71
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Count on around .50¢ per round for surplus and at least $1 per round for quality/match ammo.

The only surplus ammo I have left around the house is the Greek HXP M2 ball for the M1/M1903 rifles and some .303Brit for my No4.Mk1* Enfield.

I shot off the last of my M852 surplus last year and just started reloading all my plinker ammo. I've reloaded all my match ammo for a while now and cost savings is significant since I shoot a couple hundred rounds a month in practice & highpower matches.

I've always policed up my own brass for reloading, but have started scavenging anything leftover at the range to go into my scrap bucket. The money offsets the cost of rifle bullets.

Last edited by nbkky71; June 11, 2008 at 05:25 PM.
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Old June 11, 2008, 10:55 PM   #4
Rugerno1shooter
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My awe is with the 7.62x51 Nato.......man if I had known it was going to be jacked the way it is now I would have bought 50,000 rounds or so about 6 years ago. I think I paid around 10 cents a cartridge for Portuguese. I've only seen Portuguese one time at a gun show and it was running 75cents a shot if you bought 2K of it.....Mil Surp ammo seems to be a pretty darn good investment if you can restrain yourself from shooting it!!

I have no problems not shooting it since I can build a Lapua cased, BR2 primed, Varget or IMR 4895 fueled and sierra tipped .308 for around 40-45 cents a shot!! (at least for now)

Hooray for reloading!
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Old June 11, 2008, 10:58 PM   #5
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Hey nbkky71, Do you pick up a lot of .22LR brass? Seems that you could prob sell that for quite a bit since you can't reload it but someone could surely melt it and sell it??? Anyone know what Grade .22LR brass is considered? Or will the scrap places take it?
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Old June 12, 2008, 12:20 PM   #6
nbkky71
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Quote:
Hey nbkky71, Do you pick up a lot of .22LR brass?
If there's a pile of laying around I'll usually scoop it up, but I don't go actively hunting for .22LR brass.
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Old June 12, 2008, 12:42 PM   #7
Lavid2002
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.22 Lr

SO little its noit even worth it, find a larger cartridge that has
*Ticker walls
*More brass
Dont waste time :P
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Old December 3, 2008, 07:40 PM   #8
asmotj
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.308 30¢
reload or mil Surplus
I'll take surplus and then reload it
17¢

Cheap ammo
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Old December 3, 2008, 07:47 PM   #9
kraigwy
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I dont buy factory ammo, I reload. But, you cant always say reloaded ammor is cheeper. Of course I only shoot my 308s in target shooting and I'm picky regarding components.

If I want plinking ammo I use case bullets. Cheeper yet. In the FOULING SHOT, the Mag of CastBullet.org (I think thats it) they produced the results of sever cast bullet matches across the country. They include the scores and components/rifles used. You'd be supprised of the accuracy you can get in 308 and other rifle cart.
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Old December 6, 2008, 08:05 PM   #10
velocette
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You want cheap & good? Try the Federal 150 grain Power Shok ammo at wal mart. At last check it was well under $15.00 box of 20. It shoots (much) better than any of the other factory hunting ammo I have tried. Usually sub MOA in my DPMS LR308B.

Roger
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Old December 6, 2008, 08:15 PM   #11
oldcspsarge
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308 surplus starts @ .55 per round and was .75 cents per round at the gun shows.

There will be little762X51 on the market in the future..sale was banned by United Nations.
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