Cheap .303 ammo with reloadable brass

[fatelk]

Maybe you've all seen this already but I thought I'd mention it for a heads up on a good deal.

Cheaper Than Dirt (I know, crooks, but it's still a good deal) has surplus .303 British for 20 cents per round. It's "grade B" but what I got (480 rounds for $96) was about 3/4 clean as is, the rest cleaned up ok, and it's all HXP- non corrosive, boxer and reloadable.

I shot some today, shoots great. Hard to find good brass for that price.

[JeffinNZ]

Wow! Any surplus three oh three these days is a bonus.

[fatelk]

I forgot to mention, buy the 480 rnd case not the 450 if you want boxer cases. There's a thread about it on another forum, and everyone who got the 480rnd case got Greek, whereas the 450 has been a mix of British, Canadian, Australian, New Zealand, and South African.

[leebuilder]

Nice find. HXP is good brass!!!
Be well

[lefty o]

i got principles, wouldnt buy it from cheaperthanscum if it was 75% off!

[Slick Pilot]

I missed a memo. Why the animosity toward Cheaper Than Dirt?

[fatelk]

They have been known to practice some serious "profiteering" during a buying panic, relieving the overly panicked and less informed customers of as much money as possible.

Some examples I've seen were the $100 AR magazines (each), and the $200 brick of Remington Thunderbolt .22lr ammo. I am a little embarrassed to have bought anything from them myself, but it really was too good to pass up.

[tbx-4]

People can't stand the free market! If you don't like the price, don't buy.
But when they do have a good deal then there's more for me!

I don't have that kind of pride to feel embarrassed buying good ammo at a good price.

Thanks for the heads up!

[gunauthor]

To make those cases last a long time, I would recommend neck sizing after the first shot. The 303s I've had all had big chambers and excess headspace. If you full length resize, may last only a couple of times.

[Frank46]

I got in with the 303 "A" grade sometime back. Beautiful brass no tarnish what so ever and pristine chargers. Mostly 69 & 75 dates. Still have a few 69 dated HXP floating around, which is good as I'm just about out of the South African 303. All the HXP, South African and the Privi I have shot do not show the alarming bulge above the case head like the U.S. manufactured stuff which I normally just toss in the brass bucket as it's worthless for reloading. Even have some virgin IVI Canadian brass around here somewhere. Frank

[Speedo66]

People can't stand the free market! If you don't like the price, don't buy.
But when they do have a good deal then there's more for me!

I don't have that kind of pride to feel embarrassed buying good ammo at a good price.

Thanks for the heads up!

It's not a free market issue. Nobody has a problem with a fair markup in times of a product drought. Outright profiteeering is another story. If I thought they'd make a dime off of it, I wouldn't take it for free from them. My feelings are they're totally unscrupulous and I refuse to buy anything from them at any price.

[Silfield]

Wow, $0.20 a pop-I wish I could get hold of some of that.
A few years ago I was talking to my FLO (Firearms Liaison Officer-a dedicated cop who deals with any licensing issues we have-UK) and he had just seen a 50 gallon oil drum full of .303 dropped off at regional police HQ. Where it came from was questionable but I and he made noises about buying it off them for our club. Police would get a good few £'s for their slush fund and we get a load of surplus ammo for the club-not a chance[smilie=b: as it all had to be destroyed!
(and they had to pay top dollar for the privilege of 'safe disposal)
I could have cried!

[N4AUD]

My problem with Cheaper Than Dirt was false advertising. They advertised some ammo at a price in an ad in American Rifleman, when I tried to order it THE SAME DAY I got the magazine, it was increased by quite a bit. I emailed them and the reply was, and this is a quote- "
Thank you for your interest,

All of our ammunition prices has increased, along with other items.

The current prices are listed on the website. We will not be able to honor the catalog advertised price.

Tonya H.
Thank You
Cheaper Than Dirt
Customer Service
1-800-421-8047"

It was an ad in the April 2012 American Rifleman. To me, an ad says "We are going to do this." The ad, IMHO, was a lie. Bait and switch.

[brassrat]

I love my Frankin'303 and am crying

[blikseme300]

They have been known to practice some serious "profiteering" during a buying panic, relieving the overly panicked and less informed customers of as much money as possible.

Some examples I've seen were the $100 AR magazines (each), and the $200 brick of Remington Thunderbolt .22lr ammo. I am a little embarrassed to have bought anything from them myself, but it really was too good to pass up.

Yep, I remember that time when the panic caused people to do silly things but panic does do that. Backstory: I had in error purchased 20 30-round steel AR-15 mags from another source for $10/each before the panic and they just sat in a safe as my buddy had also bought 20 mags and we had split them. (Case of neither remembering who would do the ordering and both did.)

Fast-forward to the panic time and in a conversation the crazy price by CTD came up and I threw it out, in jest, that I had 20 NIB mags and would let them go for $50/each. 5 Benjamins on the table and 10 sold. I told him he was crazy but he insisted - I took the money with a shaking head. A few days later I sold the other 10 for $1K to a nut with more money than brains. Last I heard he did not even own an AR-15.

Fools and their money are soon parted.

[Love Life]

Still all the CTD hate. Makes me ell oh ell.

[tbx-4]

It's not a free market issue. Nobody has a problem with a fair markup in times of a product drought. Outright profiteeering is another story.

Socialists are alive and well in the good 'ol USA...

Free Market means what ever the market will bare. If you keep the price down you have to limit quantity... but that's isn't good business sense when the neck beards buy it all cheap and turn around and sell it on the interwebs and make profit.

A good businessman will raise price to find out what the market top is... if you don't you're a fool and a poor (as in bad and broke) businessman.

No one forces you to buy from CTD at the high or low price... It's your choice. Get over it... on second thought, please don't get over it... so I can keep buying it Cheaper Than Dirt!

Hmm, it just dawned on me what the issue is.
Back in the '90s when there was a glut of surplus ammo, CTD prices were truly cheaper than dirt. They had amazingly low prices. Ya'll liked those prices and got used to it.

But all good things come to an end. Add the gun and ammo scares and ammo got really tight. CTD raised their prices to match supply and demand, but that's "unfair" ya'll say... "you used to sell cheaper than dirt". And you expected them to continue to do just that regardless... The market defines what the "fair" price is. But now you denigrate them for being good businessmen. Even when ammo is coming back and CTD is selling at almost cheaper than dirt prices again. Simply amazing!

Here's a tip for all you CTD haters... buy it cheap, stack it deep.
Don't wait till it's too late and the prices don't meet your definition of "fair".

And yeah, I bought a case of the B grade .303 to go with the A grade I got last time around.

This is 'Murica at it's finest!

[N4AUD]

Well, I'm not a socialist. I just think they are liars and I won't do business with them.

[Love Life]

Winchester bulk 22lr is marked $50.74 at the Wal Mart in Albany, GA. Gougers...

[mjwcaster]

Are you sure it was priced right?

That is about the price of 2 brick (1000rds) packs of Winchester M22.

And many times the walmart ammo shelves are not stocked correctly.

Actually I have seen this exact thing posted before, and upon further review the price is actually for the 1000rd packs, but has other boxes of ammo there.

Just wondering because walmart normally does not gouge.




Winchester bulk 22lr is marked $50.74 at the Wal Mart in Albany, GA. Gougers...

[Love Life]

I asked the fella behind the counter and he said per brick. Even at the exchange on base, federal 22lr 40 rd packs are $9.99. I asked the SSgt why the exchange is gouging people and he laughed and said that is their price as handed down from upon high. Price on Colt pistols was good though.

[Scharfschuetze]

I noted this thread when it was first posted and thought: "What the 'ell, I'll give it a try"

Thanks to the OP for the heads up.

I ordered some of the 303 and was quite happy with what showed up on the porch a week or so later. While I reload for the 303, I'm not adverse to shooting Mk VIIz ammo through my small collection of British Enfields.

This is the first time that I've ordered ammo from CTD. The experience was not onerous at all. I've been buying 303 surplus ammo since about 1964 and this seems to be about as good as I've ever bought, at least for its outward appearance and my experience with the HXP headstamp indicates that it will shoot well too. We'll soon see...

Here's what came. After inspecting all of the boxes in the case, all the rounds match these in the photos.

[Speedo66]

Socialists are alive and well in the good 'ol USA...

Free Market means what ever the market will bare. If you keep the price down you have to limit quantity... but that's isn't good business sense when the neck beards buy it all cheap and turn around and sell it on the interwebs and make profit.

A good businessman will raise price to find out what the market top is... if you don't you're a fool and a poor (as in bad and broke) businessman.

No one forces you to buy from CTD at the high or low price... It's your choice. Get over it... on second thought, please don't get over it... so I can keep buying it Cheaper Than Dirt!

Hmm, it just dawned on me what the issue is.
Back in the '90s when there was a glut of surplus ammo, CTD prices were truly cheaper than dirt. They had amazingly low prices. Ya'll liked those prices and got used to it.

But all good things come to an end. Add the gun and ammo scares and ammo got really tight. CTD raised their prices to match supply and demand, but that's "unfair" ya'll say... "you used to sell cheaper than dirt". And you expected them to continue to do just that regardless... The market defines what the "fair" price is. But now you denigrate them for being good businessmen. Even when ammo is coming back and CTD is selling at almost cheaper than dirt prices again. Simply amazing!

Here's a tip for all you CTD haters... buy it cheap, stack it deep.
Don't wait till it's too late and the prices don't meet your definition of "fair".

And yeah, I bought a case of the B grade .303 to go with the A grade I got last time around.

This is 'Murica at it's finest!

Socialist? I think not. Person with a long memory, you bet. Just as some dealers have a code of ethics, so do some buyers. You're free to patronize a dealer that is almost universally hated here to save a few pennies. To me, they're America at it's worst.