What're you guys paying for surplus .30-06 these days?

[Joe Link]

As I was typing out the thread on .308 it dawned on me that I should probably be looking for ammo to feed my M1 Garand as well

What're you guys paying for surplus .30-06 these days?

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[gmerkt]

There isn't much decent .30-06 "surplus" ammo left around for sale. CMP is out of surplus Greek. They have new commercial S&B, their listing says, "M2 Ball Military Spec" but I've found that S&B brass may be made within SAAMI specs but the cut of the rim in the head of the case doesn't always fit into a recommended shell holder. The S&B bought in a quantity of 400 rounds costs $340, free shipping on orders over $100. That's 85 cents apiece.

Cabela's sells PPU in cans of 500, supposed to be M2 equivalent, price $410, estimated shipping about $20 (which must be subsidized by Cabela's because that's way cheap for the weight of this product), so with shipping thrown in, costs about 86 cents per round. Same comment re. the brass cases on these, sometimes they present difficulty fitting in a standard shell holder. Sometimes you have to use a .30-30 shell holder to work with these.

Federal .30-06 compatible with the M1 Rifle, about $27 per 20 rounds, that's $1.35 apiece, plus shipping.

The last time Midway had some true surplus .30-06, it was made in Pakistan, I believe it was Berdan primed, came in quantities of 128 rounds, cost $100, that was about 78 cents apiece. Gun Deals.com had the same ammo, 500 rounds for $300, about 60 cents a round but that might've been plus shipping, I'm not sure because they no longer have it for sale. From what I read on the internet, this Pakistani ammo wasn't highly thought of.

I got lucky today, I went down to the Cartridge Collector's Annual Meeting at Castle Rock, Wash. I bought 256 rounds of clean LC 54 M2 Ball, loaded on 8 round en bloc clips and packed in bandoliers for $100, that's about 39 cents each. Which in the past might've seemed like a lot of money but not today. Same guy had boxes of GI .45 ACP 1911 Ball, I got eight boxes of 50 for $10 each, WCC dated 1963 and RA dated 1968. I didn't get there early; I don't know why this ammo hadn't already sold except most of these guys were cartridge collectors, not shooters. That stuff would've been gone in 30 seconds at a gun show. I left the .30 Carbine ammo he had on his table, I had carbines when I was a kid and outgrew them.

I don't shoot much factory ammo, most of what I shoot I hand load myself.

 

[Joe Link]

Great information, thanks.

These things are expensive to feed! I guess I need to miser this Greek stuff that came with it.

 

[jordanka16]

Great information, thanks.

These things are expensive to feed! I guess I need to miser this Greek stuff that came with it.

.30-06 is a great candidate for reloading, especially for feeding something like an m1.

 

[Joe Link]

.30-06 is a great candidate for reloading, especially for feeding something like an m1.

Then this might finally be the push I needed

 

[Mark W.]

Joe Reloadong is the way to go as Ammo gets more and more expensive you can really save a bunch.

The example I like to use is my 30-40 rounds for my model 1895 Winchester. Almost impossible to find on a shelf and when you do they run at least $2.00 a round.

Yet the 30-40 uses the same powder and ball and primer as a .308 and if hand loaded for a strong rifle like the 1895 can be loaded to just a few FPS under that of a .308. Last time I worked it out I was saving almost $0.92 a round on my 30-40 reloads.

I haven't fired a factory 30-06 round since 1980 And I own 4) -06 rifles. Reloading just makes way to much sense.

 

[Quartermaster]

No one here followed the news out of shot show?

Winchester Shoots New Line of Ammo through World War II Classic

 

[American123]

Then this might finally be the push I needed

Reloading is a ton of fun and a good way to relieve some stress performing a task you will be able to enjoy later.

I highly recommend a progressive press for high volume reloading. But if you have nothing but time, a single stage will make loads just fine.

 

[Joe Link]

I highly recommend a progressive press for high volume reloading.

I think once I go for it I'll start out with a progressive