AHHHH, the Joys of cheap ammo

[bullseye67]

Good evening,
Remember the days of low priced 22LR? How about $2.00 boxes of trap loads? I put in a box of LEAD....YES....real LEAD Magnum loads from when I used to go goose hunting.

[carbine]

Just pulled out a brick (500) of Hansen .22 with a $4.99 price tag on it. Shot real well

[flint45]

I remember getting shotgun shells at Sears for $1.95 on sale.

[starmac]

I do not remember 2 dollar shotgun shells, but I did buy 1.75 reloads at high school, during class from my teacher and carried them home on the bus. Try that these days. lol

[beagle]

Was at a yard sale several years back and the guy had many boxes of new 12 gauge shells. Picked up two boxes of Super-X Double X Magnum #2 lead shot for $5 per box. He had two boxes of BB lead XXs and I passed them up. Still kicking myself./beagle

[DxieLandMan]

I remember .22LR being on sale for 99¢ for 50. Regular price was $1.79

[Kestrel4k]

Yes, I certainly recall that "inexpensive" ammo - thank goodness I'm making 8x what I made then. The $20/brick CCI Blazers and $25/brick CCI SV I just purchased is the cheapest .22LR I've ever bought.

[RGrosz]

Years ago, Walgreens sold ammo. They were having a sale on shotgun shells. Stopped in one night after work and bought three boxes of Super X 20 3" gage shells. it came to about $9. The clerk rang it up and I paid for it with a $20. She gave me back the change and stapled the precept and stuff in to the bag. I walked out got in the pickup, and started home. Was going to go hunting the next day, so I looked at the bag and she had stapled the $20 to the bag with the receipt. I was too far along to return the money.
Rob

[redhawk0]

I had found some boxes of Winchester 303 Savage 190gr Silver Tip ammo that had $2.79 price tag on them in my dad's garage attic. I wish I knew where those boxes were today. I think they got lost in one my parents moves. I know dad doesn't have them any longer or I'd have them now for sure. I obtained my 303 Sav. about 20 years ago....but haven't seen those boxes in that amount of time.

redhawk

[3006guns]

Gotcha' all beat...........back around 1959, one of my rare treats was when Dad took me to the local general store while we were on vacation in northern California. If I had been a good boy, he'd buy me a box of Winchester long rifles right off the counter......59 cents! I made those last quite awhile in my Remington 514 single shot...........

Years later I remember chewing out a fellow camper for paying $8.95 for a brick of .22's. Everyone KNEW they were only about five bucks, right?

[woodbutcher]

:lol: Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh Yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.Cheap ammo.I remember .50 for a box of .22lr.$3.50 for a brick. $2.50 a 20rd box of 30-06.Yeah,those WERE the days.Then there was the real bargen of 100rds of GI 30-06 AP for $10.00.
Good luck.Have fun.Be safe.
Leo

[beagle]

I recall Winchester .22 Shorts for $.41 and .22 Short HPs for $.42. Try finding a brick of Winchester .22 Short ammo now. Mission impossible. In high school, one old lady ran a small country store. She always carried Peters .22 Shorts for $.50 a box./beagle

[Walks]

I remember WINCHESTER AA TRAP Loads at the old WINCHESTER-WEST, Watson TRAP & SKEET Range .
1970 $2.75 per box. Jeez, I loved that place. Even worked there in my Junior year of High School.

They tore it down at the end of 1974 to build the ****ed Container facility for The Los Angeles Harbor in San Pedro.

[Outer Rondacker]

Last fall I picked up 227 boxes of winchester 12g bird shot for $245 at wally world. Marked down for mod change. Took every box they had. The following day I got another 91 boxes at another walmart. Good find. I shoot 10-15 boxes a week shooting trap.

[Hickory]

Years ago, TGY was going out of business and had a flyer in the local news paper with 22 lr ammo for 50¢ a box.
While i was in town the next day I stopped in to pickup a few boxes. Being a little short of cash I went to the sporting goods area and waited for someone to show up.
After a few minutes a young girl moved in behind the counter and asked what I needed. "Give me a couple boxes of your 22 you have on sale."
She set two bricks in front of me.
I said that it pretty cheap for that many 22's.
She said everything had to go.
I paid my dollar plus tax and turned to leave and the guy behind me said I'd like to have some 22's also, and I'll buy all you have!
I heard the girl say as I was walking away, you can only buy 10 boxes at this price.

[Geezer in NH]

$5.00 per brick of T22 Winchester at my gun club Team price around 1975. It shot crappy out of my Hi Standard so I used Eley at the $9 per brick.

The T22 did shoot nice out of my bolt action rifle and semi's so I got my ammo there.

Shotgun ammo at the trap range was $1.75 box plus $1.00 per round. Trap or skeet.

1970's in MA inside of US 495 .

[flyer1]

Mid 1960's in Bordentown NJ, the 2 Guys store would have a sale now and then. I would watch the Sunday flyer for .22s. 27 cents for a box of 50. I was allowed to buy one box to shoot after church at the farm dump. I think I about 6 years old.

[TNsailorman]

Our little town was very small in the 40's and 50's. Took about 5 minutes from town limit to opposite end of the town, red lights and all. On the western edge of town was an open air garbage dump. Late in the evening, some of us would go to the dump and shoot rats. There seemed to be hundreds of them crawling all over the dump but you had to be quick. Once in a while, someone living near the dump would call the Police on us and they would come down to "investigate". A number of times instead of asking us to leave (which was all they would do), they would join us for a few shot themselves. The local hardware store knew that most of us boys didn't have much money to spend, so the owner would actually break open a box of .22's or shotgun shells and allow us to buy as many as we had money to spend (.22's were .01 and shotgun shell were .03 to .05) if I remember correctly. There was definitely a different attitude back then. james

[higgins]

In the late 60s I went to the local Big K store in my college town to get some .22s. The practice in that store was to put an adhesive price sticker on the end flap of a brick of 22s. The regular sporting goods clerks knew it was .65 per 50 rd. box. The clerk this particular visit apparently was filling in or new. She laid a brick on the counter and rung up 65 cents, so I told her I probably needed a couple more "boxes". Best ammo deal I ever got.

[weakhand luke]

I remember WINCHESTER AA TRAP Loads at the old WINCHESTER-WEST, Watson TRAP & SKEET Range .
1970 $2.75 per box. Jeez, I loved that place. Even worked there in my Junior year of High School.

They tore it down at the end of 1974 to build the ****ed Container facility for The Los Angeles Harbor in San Pedro.

That's only about $18 in today's money.

[glockfan]

Yes, I certainly recall that "inexpensive" ammo - thank goodness I'm making 8x what I made then. The $20/brick CCI Blazers and $25/brick CCI SV I just purchased is the cheapest .22LR I've ever bought.

was talking about this specific topic of cheap good ammo not long ago with a shooting buddy....maybe a mistake in the stamping,but i'm still getting a box of 100 federal target & field 2 3/4 for 19$.in fact, i'm raiding my local wally world every week to stack up on the 20 box i've already piled up.

[Went2kck]

I went to a garage sale and the people were selling the 50 ammo cans. some had stuff in them ended up with 3 cans of powder 220 new in box 308, 90 308 reloads. 4 lbs or so of 158 grain 38/357 cast, 160 realoads of 38, 4 boxes of 45 acp aluminum HP. Don't remember what else but I am sure I am missing something. Got all this for 25 bucks. I did take all the reloads apart and salvages what was good and trashed the rest.

[Tracy]

I recall Winchester .22 Shorts for $.41 and .22 Short HPs for $.42. Try finding a brick of Winchester .22 Short ammo now. Mission impossible. In high school, one old lady ran a small country store. She always carried Peters .22 Shorts for $.50 a box./beagle

https://www.ammosupplywarehouse.com/west/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=16763

[samari46]

Fresh out of the navy back in '67 and local gun shop fishing store had all the mil surp you could ever want. U.S., British,Argentine, German and others. Now the last bargain mil surp was the Greek HXP 303 British sold off by the Greek Gov't and Sportsmans Guide and others were selling it cheap. At least cheap considering what was out there prior to that ammo being available. Click bang 40's & 50's British 303, and what remained of the nice South African 303. Frank

[Drm50]

When I was a kid we were always a little short on cash. We would head to the dump on Saturday
with our 22s. There was a little Ma & Pa store/ gas station at the city limits. We would pool our
money and buy as many boxes of shorts we could. They were 20 some cents a box. We could do
a lot more shooting for our buck with shorts. Now shorts are specialty ammo. I just bought shorts
on line for about $1.25 a box shipped. The guy had 3000 and I bought them all. From boxes they
are from 70s & 80s, they were stored ok and shoot like a charm. The only 22 ammo I have bought
since the panic was CCI standard velocity at $3 per box, that frosts me but I needed them to plink
with a 41 S&W instead of burning up target ammo. In the 80s I bough up a lot of ammo from
stores that were going out of business. I would walk in and offer to buy all the ammo and usually
I got a very good deal. Then in 92 I went out of business myself and I kept all the ammo. I've still
got cases of Remington Gold in the gift packs of 500rds in Tins.

[bedbugbilly]

I recognize several of those boxes - in fact, I think I still have some full boxes in my stash that are in identical boxes - I'm really feeling old now as I guess I have forgotten how long ago I bought them! :-)

When I was a kid, we got our 22s from the local hardware - owned and run by a cousin who in later years was like a second Dad to me - an old Marine who served int he Pacific only he wasn't "old" when I was a kid. :-) I don't remember what the sales tax was in those days - maybe 2%? We could walk right in, slap our 50 cents on the counter and walk out with a box of 50 22 LR cartridges - Remington or Winchester IIRC. I think I still have a couple of those boxes kicking around. Those were the days . . . . hours spent in the woods hunting squirrels, in the marsh hunting rabbits and once in a while a red fox. We had an old
Remington pump that finally broke and the gunsmith couldn't fix it. Dad bought a brand new Winchester pump 22 - a beautiful gun with nice rich looking walnut stock - my brother has it now and he still uses it. Normally, I would buy boxes of 22 short - they were around 35 cents a box IIRC and I shot those out of my Dad's old 1915 Stevens Favorite. I still have the Favorite - haven't shot it in many years but it sure gives me a lot of good memories of my Dad and of all the wandering through the woods and fields on the farm when I was a kid.

[Crash_Corrigan]

We had a place upstate from NYC near Allergerville NY that the whole family would retreat to in the early 50's. My Dad let me use his Savage Model 23 Bolt .22 LR. There was an ancient frame barn in the small village in Allergerville adjacent to the bridge over the Roundout creek that had been converted to a general store back in the previous century. It was so old that the painted ads on the building were pushing cocaine as an everyday medicine.

I remember buying boxes of 50 Winchester .22 LR's for .49 a box and shorts for a lot less. I only used shorts when hunting frogs. That old rifle was dead on every time in spite of the bollixed rear sight that I fashioned off a busted air rifle to replace the broken sight on the Savage. It was a dangerous gun in that the safety did not always work. If you had a round chambered and the safety on and you jarred the bolt open just a mite and then closed it fully sometimes it would fire. That happened one day inside my friend's dad's car. We patched the hole in the roof of the Ford Woody with Elmer's glue and some blue painted tile to match the color. Lucky his Dad was a short man and never noticed the patch on the roof. Even some years later I recall buying the same .22's for about .75 per box and I was annoyed the prices had risen so much.

I even recall traveling through New Jersey on Route 17 N to our country place and seeing the prices for gas during the early 50's. It was selling for as little as .09 per gallon and .15 was expensive. Our car in those days was a 1941 Buick Special with the long straight eight engine and narrow 16 inch tires. It was pained battleship grey and had real spring mounted bumpers at both ends and running boards. I was really teed off with Dad when he junked that car instead of giving me a chance to buy it in the late 60's. I learned how to drive on that car by practicing in the flat fields around the farm where there was nothing to run into or damage and the worst I could do would be to get stuck in a ditch. Splint front windshield, engine turned dash plate, 3 on the tree, starter button on the column, dimmer switch on the floor, mohair seat covers, real vent windows, fresh air vent on the hood that could be opened or left closed and a very responsive and powerful 8 cylinder motor pushing a heavy and decent riding car down the highway.

Great memories!

[JimB..]

About a year ago Walmart around here was closing out WWB 38super. I expect that they ordered it by mistake and after sitting around for a year they marked it down to I believe $7/box. Might have been a little more, but it was less than 9mm. I never saw it in the stores, but enough folks from across a couple states called me about it that I picked up more than 120 boxes.

[KCSO]

Things, ammo too, were never cheap! I remember buying 22's 10 at a time form a big wooden crate as that was all I could afford. When most centerfire ammo sold for 50 cents a box of 50 wages were a dollar a day! It seems cheap now because our money is worth nothing and backed by nothing. I can remember buying shorts and longs as they were cheaper than LR 22's and My grandfather wouldn't let us shoot quail with the 410 as you didn't get enough meat for the cost of the shell.

Remember how long you had to save to buy that first 20 dollar 22 rifle?

How time clouds our memories!

[fiberoptik]

I remember .22LR being on sale for 99¢ for 50. Regular price was $1.79

As a teen I used to ride my bike over to a guy who sold me .22 LR boxes of fifty for a dollar. Think he had a license.
Was on the 4 position smallbore team in high school. We shot old military Mossberg 144’s with CCI Blazer ammo. They really rang the metal backsplash! Even shot in competition in the basement of the YMCA!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Kylongrifle32]

The city I grown up in had a hardware store we're the owner would split up a box of 22s to sell to us youngens. I would go in on Saturday mornings and spend a quarter on a pop, some Penny candy and ten 22 shorts for a fun morning hunting. If we had meat in the fridge and didn't need them I would sell squirrels for .50 cent and rabbits for $2.00 to some of the older folks in my neighborhood.

[Walla2]

I remember WINCHESTER AA TRAP Loads at the old WINCHESTER-WEST, Watson TRAP & SKEET Range .
1970 $2.75 per box. Jeez, I loved that place. Even worked there in my Junior year of High School.

They tore it down at the end of 1974 to build the ****ed Container facility for The Los Angeles Harbor in San Pedro.

I remember that range. They also tore down the Police Pistol and Rifle Range not far from it on Gaffey street. My father would take me there, buy a box of 22 for 50 cents and turn me loose for the day (Saturday) while he ran "errands".

[beagle]

Too rich for my blood at those prices./beagle


https://www.ammosupplywarehouse.com/west/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=16763

[beagle]

I recall back in the 60s, my mom was a religious shopper at Rose's in NC. They carried Winchester Wildcat ammo and would occasionally run it on special for $.99 a box. Mom would tell me when it was on sale and pick up several bricks with her 10% senior discount. Not the best ammo but it shot pretty well in my Ruger auto. At $.88 a box, I couldn't complain./beagle

[flint45]

Back in the 60's in Pasadena Ca. there was a gun shop[ that had a bunch of bins on top of ammo crates each bin had different ammo in it.45 auto, .30 carbine,.30-06,8 mm Mauser and so on even a bin of old .43 Spanish all kinds of good stuff.All good surplus just ask for a bag and fill it up .30-06 for .07 cents ea. those were good days they had tons of ammo.

[Kimber1911]

I am not all that old, however I do remember .22 at $10 a brick, I still have one my father bought at Kmart it has a $9.99 tag on it. Not sure Kmart exists anymore.

[murf205]

When I was a teenager, I remember going grocery shopping with my parents at a GES store and in the sporting goods dept they had an island of W-W Super Speed 12 ga shells (high brass, naturally) for $3.04 per box. That was pretty expensive for a kid who hunted as much as I did but I can still smell the odor of those fired waxed paper shells. fond memories indeed.

[MrWolf]

Mid 1960's in Bordentown NJ, the 2 Guys store would have a sale now and then. I would watch the Sunday flyer for .22s. 27 cents for a box of 50. I was allowed to buy one box to shoot after church at the farm dump. I think I about 6 years old.

I haven't heard of Two Guys since I was a kid. Used to be one up on Rt 22 in North Plainfield if I remember right. Thanks for the blast from the past.

[rockrat]

I remember going by an OTASCO store (70's) and they had Rem mohawk and Peters 22's on sale for $.69. I had been hauling hay earlier in the week and had some $$ in my pocket. I bought two CASES of mohawk and one Peters case. 15,000 rounds. I was in hog heaven. 15 years later I still had a case of the mohawk left and was shooting IHMSA. I bought a .22 contender barrel to shoot in unlimited. Tried many kinds of 22's in that barrel and you know, it liked the mohawk the best of all, even some match ammo I tried. Think I still have 4 or 5 boxes laying around somewhere, of the stuff.

[unclemikeinct]

I can remember our Dad buying us boys ...Two boxes, one each of Winchester 22LR 500 count boxes.. $3.79 on sale right before Christmas 1969. He told us we each got a years supply, don't waste them. uncle mike

[Bwana John]

The 1440 rounds a case of 7.92 Mauser for $74.95 circa 2002 was the best price I ever saw.

[3006guns]

The 1440 rounds a case of 7.92 Mauser for $74.95 circa 2002 was the best price I ever saw.

Funny you should mention that..........I bought two cases at that time and stashed them. I'd better go looking tomorrow.........thanks for the reminder!

[remy3424]

When the Scheels store in Sioux City relocated into a new addition to the mall, they had bricks of 22LR for $4.99, limit of 1, stopped by everytime I was close. I am not sure they were selling the "bulk" boxes yet at that point. Once they ran out of the Remington or whatever they started with they substituted CC Blazers.
This was only .... 30 years ago?? ish?? I think I sold most of those 10 years ago or so during one of the earlier "hoarding of 22LR ammo periods" at a table at a gun show.

[Winger Ed.]

Back in the 60's, we'd go down to the Hill Country to visit relatives every Summer.
I could bring Dad's .22 and Win. 12 gauge,,, but I had to supply my own ammo beyond a box or two.

After dove season one year, as I was in 7-11 getting a ICEE,,, boxes of 12 gauge #8s were closing out for a dollar-something a box.
About half price.

I was either 13-14 at the time.
I cashed in all my lawn mowing money and made several 1 1/2 mile trips on my bicycle with as many boxes as I could carry.

It never occurred to me then that anyone could ever have a problem with a city kid doing that.
My, how far we've come...………..

[MUSTANG]

Back in the 60's, we'd go down to the Hill Country to visit relatives every Summer.
I could bring Dad's .22 and Win. 12 gauge,,, but I had to supply my own ammo beyond a box or two.

After dove season one year, as I was in 7-11 getting a ICEE,,, boxes of 12 gauge #8s were closing out for a dollar-something a box.
About half price.

I was either 13-14 at the time.
I cashed in all my lawn mowing money and made several 1 1/2 mile trips on my bicycle with as many boxes as I could carry.


You Evil Hoarder - But I reassess my Statement - I Guess it was OK because "It was for the Children".

[Winger Ed.]

You Evil Hoarder - But I reassess my Statement - I Guess it was OK because "It was for the Children".

Well,,,,,,,,, it was on close out after dove season... I figured nobody else wanted it.....:bigsmyl2:

[Dapaki]

In the 80's and early 90's, I was buying bricks of .22 lr for $10.00. I was over the moon last year when I found Armscor .22 lr for $15.00 a brick. No, its not the best but it's better than Thunderbolt!

[3006guns]

Back in the mid eighties, I discovered .22 Remington long rifle on sale at the local Coast to Coast store. I don't remember the per box price, but it was so good that I bought two cases of it.

My joy was short lived though. Upon firing it in my trusty 'ol Remington 514, not ONE would extract! After a detailed examination, I found that the cartridge brass was so darn thin that the pressure would cause a "bulge" in the rim at the extractor groove. As a result, the extractor hook simply rode over the case rim instead of grabbing it.

Years later I ended up handing it out to the kids for the local ground squirrel hunt. Never had any complaints either!

[M-Tecs]

Early 70's Woolworths would have 22 ammo for $3.75 on sale with a super sale of $1.98 with a limit of two bricks. I would make my sister, aunt and my mom goes so to $15.84 I would get 4,000 rounds of 22. That would last me two weeks to a month.

[merlin101]

I could buy .22LR at Harvey's Hardware in town for (IIRC) $.57 a box but I could save two cents if I rode my bike over to the next town and get them at Western Auto store, did it many times.

[LeftyDon]

For our high school rifle team practice we'd buy NRA sponsored 22LR's for a quarter a box. Today, I'm not sure if I'd rather have the 90% silver quarters or the boxes of 22's.

[scattershot]

When I was a kid in Dallas, .22 LR was 39 cents a box, and you could buy them at Cabell’s Minit Market (like 7-11).