Why 9mm so cheap now but others not?

[Catfishmoon]

I would guess 9mm is cheaper because it is mass produced compared to other center-fire cartridges.
.380 ACP seems to always cost more than 9mm even though .380 is basically a smaller version of the same cartridge and has to cost less in material for the manufacturers.

 

[Longwalkhome]

Hahaha, Longwalk you're always a bright ray of sunshine. Do you do kids birthday parties?

many years ago I didn't read much and I was young and dumb. I had a great job and bought my first new truck for my construction job. GMC with a big Ole 454 engine that got about 8 mpg down hill.

Along comes the 1972 oil crisis with long gas lines and high gas prices.

If a guy pays attention he is less likely to get screwed.

You are right though, people don't want to hear bad news. I will do my best to keep it to myself.and just watch.

 

[fstdraw]

Until 9mm hit's $9.00 per 50 again, it's not cheap.

 

[kmk1012]

Just checked. Found blazer 9mm 115gr ball for $159//1000. Cheapest I could find 32 ACP, 73 gr ball was $379/1000.

.

Show me 9mm for less than $.16 nowadays please and I'll stock it deep. I think you mean $260/1000 and not $160/1000. If I'm wrong I'll buy you 1000 of them.
Sorry to edit but meant to ad shipped, or even close to my statement.

 

[Bobbygun]

Show me 9mm for less than $.16 nowadays please and I'll stock it deep. I think you mean $260/1000 and not $160/1000. If I'm wrong I'll buy you 1000 of them.
Sorry to edit but meant to ad shipped, or even close to my statement.

He might have been looking at ammoseek.com. They have plenty listed in the 16 cents range. I've never ordered from any of the sellers listing it that low and would be a bit skeptical as to whether they actually exist. The seller with the 15.9 cents price has a limit of 2 - 50 round boxes. Some of the cheap ammo listed is from manufacturers I've never heard of as well, so maybe? I'm stocked pretty good so not looking to roll the dice.

The lowest I've personally seen it from what I knew to be a legit seller was in the $250/1000 range, and that didn't sound too bad considering I bought at $200/1000 back when Bi-Mart was selling the UMC 1000 round boxes years ago.

If it turns out the stuff is legit, does the offer to buy 1000 of them apply to me?

 

[Alexx1401]

When it comes to ammo price nothing really changes. Price of components has always been part of it. Other is how much is made. Things like .32 and .380 have ALWAYS been higher than 9mm. Reason is 9 is made if FAR larger quantities. When there is a panic shortage price goes up because people who sell it can no longer buy huge lots of it at a time to get the best price. Now when you get into large rounds like .45 then there is a little more lead to buy but it also costs more per round to ship it all over and that adds up. Bit ago I bought a case (1K) of 230 Ball .45 in a 50 Cal can. I had forgotten just what that much weighs. That one can was HEAVY. That adds up to shipping cost. Last of course is inflation. People waiting for 9mm ammo to be $150 a case must never go to the store or buy gas.

 

[NeoBlackdog]

.40 is for suckers

Lick me!

 

[Tony617]

.45acp has always been expensive, .40 is for suckers , and anything else is probably considered "specialty " ammo.

If the price of 9mm rounds goes up, I have a bunch of 40 S&W that I can shoot instead. Years ago I was having issues finding cheap 9mm ammo so I shot my USP 40 quite a bit instead. Probably will not see Federal 9mm 147gr HST rounds for less than $20 ever again.

 

[Knobgoblin]

147 always stayed off the big box ad flyers. If I saw even American Eagle ball ammo at $12 a box , I'd empty my wallet on the spot.

 

[PORSCHE928S4]

Word , .380 is spendy and scarce

I picked up a case of Geco 380 and will last forever the P232 isn't exactly a target plinking kind of gun

 

[Knobgoblin]

German gun , German ammo. Nice

 

[AshWilliams]

Bi-mart in Oregon had it on sale for $13/box last week and I returned home with a haul three times.

 

[PORSCHE928S4]

German gun , German ammo. Nice

 

[PORSCHE928S4]

Bi-mart in Oregon had it on sale for $13/box last week and I returned home with a haul three times.

Yes sir BiMart had their shelves kinda full picked up a big stack of 6.5c for $22 a box

 

[oremike]

I'm an ammunition manufacturer, just one man working out of his garage. My pricing is based on cost plus profit. It takes me the same amount of time to set up for any one caliber as any other. Big manufacturers have much bigger machines to run much bigger production runs and corresponding much greater set up times. What I'm saying is I might be able to set up and run in a day a couple different 1000 round runs while it might take them a full day or more just to get one machine to run a small lot like that. Bottom line is my 9mm is $14.00/ box of 50 and I know that it can be bought sometimes for less than that. On the other extreme I just did a work up on 480 Ruger and I can sell it for $75.00/box of 50 when the going rate is around $4.00/round from the big guys.

 

[Bobbygun]

I'm an ammunition manufacturer, just one man working out of his garage. My pricing is based on cost plus profit. It takes me the same amount of time to set up for any one caliber as any other. Big manufacturers have much bigger machines to run much bigger production runs and corresponding much greater set up times. What I'm saying is I might be able to set up and run in a day a couple different 1000 round runs while it might take them a full day or more just to get one machine to run a small lot like that. Bottom line is my 9mm is $14.00/ box of 50 and I know that it can be bought sometimes for less than that. On the other extreme I just did a work up on 480 Ruger and I can sell it for $75.00/box of 50 when the going rate is around $4.00/round from the big guys.

Just curious Mike. Do you load .380 ACP? If so, what do you sell it for? I was wondering if it was over 60% above your 9mm loads, since that is what Bi-Mart's .380 was running over the 9mm.

 

[oremike]

Just curious Mike. Do you load .380 ACP? If so, what do you sell it for? I was wondering if it was over 60% above your 9mm loads, since that is what Bi-Mart's .380 was running over the 9mm.

I do make 380acp with a 95 gr Polymer coated bullet and sell it for $17.00/ box of 50. So only about 30% more than the 9. It's the cost of the brass that causes the increase.

 

[Wombat of Doom]

Just checked. Found blazer 9mm 115gr ball for $159//1000. Cheapest I could find 32 ACP, 73 gr ball was $379/1000.

.

where?

 

[Jay Walk]

Corporate consolidation.

My last Norma online purchase just a few months ago THEN BERETTA PURCHASED NORMA

.380 $18 $23 Now 27% increase
.40 $20 $28 Now 40%
.45 $22 $33 Now 50%
5.56 $20 (50 rounds) $32 Now 60%

Nov 28, 2022Beretta Holding S.A recently acquired Norma Precision and will now be investing up to $60 million in a brand new 300,000-square-foot manufacturing and distribution hub in Savannah, Georgia.

Glad you're here, take it in the rear.

 

[2ndtimer]

Now that Im a few years out of 9mm.... of course this is how it goes.

Ive been seeing 9mm consistently going for around $250/1000 in a number of places for different brands.... But things like .40 & .45, etc are not coming down in price... those being over $400/1000

I thought maybe its just common/popular caliber and that more production capacity is given to it... but the same should be true of 5.56 but that is still over $400/1000

Whats up?
Maybe Im just salty because its so cheap now and everything I shoot is still 2x as much, but seems odd

The answer is simple economics. Supply and demand. When demand increased dramatically, prices skyrocketed, since supply of necessary components also was shrinking (supply chain issues). That is when 9mm prices more than doubled. Manufacturers cranked up production to meet increased demand (and take advantage of increased profits) to the point where supply now has (finally) exceeded the demand, so prices have returned to a more reasonable level. Given the current inflation, those prices will never return to pre pandemic levels, but they do appear to be heading to the $12.50 per box of 50 for Blazer brass 115 gr FMJ. I don't anticipate prices going lower than that.
As for primers, manufacturers make more profit off ammunition, so it will take longer before those prices fall, as demand still remains very strong and there is little motivation for manufacturers to increase production to reduce the prices (and profits).
Prices of ammo that isn't .223/5.56 or 9mm remain stubbornly high simply because the demand for those cartridges is not as high as the demand for the most popular cartridges, so supply of those "niche" ammo has not been ramped up.