A couple of weeks ago I picked up a Smith & Wesson Bodyguard. A few days after my purchase, I headed over the range to give it a try. Knowing that I had some left over .380 in my range bag from when I was shooting my Beretta Model 70S, I didn’t bother to pick up a box for my range trip.
When I got to the range, I realized that I only had a handful of rounds (twenty-four to be exact). I fired all of my rounds and made a point to get over to Walmart to pick up some more for a future range trip.
Needing to pick up some milk for my daughter, I decided to head over to Walmart on Saturday night and pick up some ammo while I was out. I made my way over to sporting goods and my jaw nearly hit the floor when I saw the price of .380. I knew it was expensive in comparison to 9mm and that I haven’t needed to buy any in a while, but damn! Almost $40 for 100 Round Value Pack of Winchester White Box. The last time I picked up the same box it was no more than $30.
I wound up going with a box of fifty from Federal for nearly $18. This ammo buying excursion was an eye opener. I really need to look into reloading if I want to shoot my new Smith & Wesson Bodyguard anywhere near as often as I shoot my Smith & Wesson M&P in 9mm.
6 thoughts on “Great Googly Moogly – That Ammo Costs How Much!”
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I didn’t even know there was different kind of ammo? What is the difference between “target/range” ammo and “regular” ammo?
Jerry,
Target ammo is typically either a lead bullet or a lead bullet with a full metal jacket. Self defense ammo is generally much more expensive and is designed to expand on impact. The expansion allows the bullet to transfer more energy on the target and helps prevent over-penetration. Something like a full metal jacket target bullet would punch clean through your target (a person in a self defense situation). The self defense round is typically a hollow point or has the hollow nose of the bullet filled with some sort of polymer to prevent it from clogging if it were to hit heavy clothing (making it, essentially, behave like a full metal jacket round)
I had no idea .380 ammo was twice the price (or more) of 9mm. Makes me really glad I opted for another 9mm when I got my CC gun earlier this year.
My first pistol was a Beretta Model 70S in .380, so I’ve always been conscious of the increased cost over 9mm. Back when i was buying it regularly, the same box as pictured about was no more than $30 (About 1.5 times the cost of 9mm). I don’t know when the priced climbed to nearly 2 times the price of 9mm, but it definitely hurts when stocking up on practice ammo for my new pocket pistol.
yeah, seems like self-reloads or factory reloads (if you can find a good source) is the way to go at this point. I use factory reloads for my 9mm when I’m at the range…picked up 2 500ct. boxes for about $100 each a few years ago at a gun show and still have quite a few left (no…I don’t go shooting nearly as often as I really should, otherwise I would have used them up by now).
I had actually considered a .380 when I was looking into a CC weapon in the last year or two, but Keith1911 talked me out of it. From what I can remember, he said that many .380s have problems with feed and jams, although maybe he’ll chime in and correct me on that. Can’t remember all the details, but I ended up convinced to go for either a Kahr CW9 or the one I ended up buying, Taurus PT709 Slim.
My comment was about the lesser power of the .380 cartridge. Up until recently the .380 was relegated to cheaper guns that did have lots of problems with reliability. The newer pistols out now don’t really have that problem.