30-30 WIN Ammo prices|General Discussions & Questions|Forum|Winchester Collector

A handy way to check for availability and prices on-line is through the ammoseek website.  They scan all the distributors out there (e.g. Midway, Natchez and dozens of others) and know what’s available, almost to the minute.

Here is the link to .30-30:

https://ammoseek.com/ammo/30-30-winchester

Note that you can modify the search to any caliber, including shotgun.  I find it amusing that new .38-55 Winchester ammunition is available for about half the price of .30-30:

https://ammoseek.com/ammo/38-55-winchester

$2 a round doesn’t seem bad at all – and FREE shipping if you purchase ten boxes (200 rounds).  

clarence said

steve004 said
$2 a round doesn’t seem bad at all…  

It doesn’t??  Paying these prices stokes the panic.  

For .38-55?  I don’t pay a lot of attention to factory ammo prices.  I thought .38-55 was typically a good bit more than .30-30.

By the way, I just did a search on ammoseek for .32 spl. and .44-40 – none available anywhere!  

TXGunNut said

Agreed. I seldom buy factory rifle ammo but have a few dozen boxes sitting on the shelf today. Most of my 30-30 ammo was purchased for less than $8/box of 20. At that price I saw little point in loading that cartridge. Maybe I need to move them to a safe, lol. Factories are producing as fast as they can and I doubt their price for a box of 30-30 to a distributor is much over $12. The only reason prices are so high is because someone is willing to pay it. 

 

Mike  

To be clear, I was saying $2 a round doesn’t seem bad for .38-55.  What have you guys been paying for .38-55?

steve004 said

To be clear, I was saying $2 a round doesn’t seem bad for .38-55.  What have you guys been paying for .38-55?  

I agree, but these aren’t normal times. I’ve never purchased factory loaded 38-55 but have probably paid as much as a dollar apiece for brass. During normal times I think the ammo was going for about $30/box so $2 is probably a very good deal today.

Mike

steve004 said
It seems to me, before the non-normal times started, I was seeing Winchester .38-55 for about $37 a box.  Today, I see Midway prices it at $66 a box – and it’s out of stock.  And were it in stock, you’d pay shipping on top of that.  So, ten boxes for $400 with free shipping doesn’t look bad at all to me.    

If it’s good ammo and I needed 38-55 ammo I’d buy a few boxes. At the rate I shoot I suspect the prices will be closer to normal before I went thru ten boxes. 

Mike

In December 2020 I bought 12 boxes of new production Winchester 38-55 at a cost of $500. Very weak loads. The listed velocity on the box is 1320 fps. Across my Crony they are only going 1050 fps. For hunting purposes I pull the bullets and powder and replace the powder with Shooters World Buffalo Rifle to get the speed up to 1320 fps.

As for 30-30, I have not seen any around here science last September. There is still 32 sp ammo for sale locally though for $39 a box. Go figure!

I just found a 2017 Natchez Shooters Supply catalog I had laying around.  This is obviously pre-panic pricing.  A box of 20 of Winchester .38-55 soft point ammo was $50.  So again, the above offering of ten boxes for $400 (with free shipping) looks like a favorable deal and does not reflect panic pricing.  However, for me as a handloader, that’s way too expensive.  I appreciate the performance report above on the velocity of this ammo.  That is too anemic for jacketed ammo shooting.  If I’m going to shoot bullets at that low velocity, it will be lead bullets.

By the way, the 2017 Natchez price for a box of 50 .25-20 was $71, a box of .32 special was $31 and a box of .30-30 was $17.79.

tionesta1 said
Why do you suppose common 30-30 ammo is in short supply and very expensive? Do you think it’s because ammo company’s are diverting resources to the more “in demand” ammo?  

When the county deputies shoot at my range, they bring a special box truck just to haul their ammo–literally more cases than I can count without unloading the truck, 9mm & .223.  Usually it’s Speer Lawman brand.  A day’s shooting leaves enough brass to fill two 5-gal buckets, which the club sells for scrap.  The “diversion” that’s going on all over the country is to law-enforcement, esp. fed agencies like the most worthless of them all, Homeland Security:

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/why-is-the-department-of-homeland-security-buying-so-many-bullets

The US ammo industry hasn’t been nationalized, yet–they’re doing this voluntarily; we have been stabbed in the back.

mrcvs said

Is it just me or is it really irritating to read articles such as this where a supposedly educated author repeatedly refers to rounds of ammunition as “bullets”.

What do you expect from the left leaning media?  

Fox?  Sure, it’s ignorant, but haven’t you also heard shooters or clerks in a gun store say the same thing?  I’d say the important thing is, the story was covered, not ignored, as it was by the rest of the media.