Walmart bulk ammo

[Questor]

I'm just getting into trap. On calculation, I find that I may as well buy WalMart 100 packs of economy ammo instead of reloading AAs or something similar.

Am I missing something about reloading costs versus the benefit of reloading?

Thanks for any advice you can give me about trap ammo.

[jbmi]

I shoot a lot of trap (18,000 rounds so far this year) I reloaded about 2/3 of them but will buy any brand of shell I can find that are 1 oz or 1 1/8" oz #8 at speeds of 1150 to 1290 fps if the box is $4 or less. I've found that Federal Top Guns, Estate, Gun Clubs, Remington and Win. Sport loads work great from the 16yd line back to the 24. At $4 a box the cost come close to my reloads using quality components. I'll shoot my reloads for most registered shoots but find the above loads work just as well in most cases. With lead pushing $50 a bag, $4/box looks darn good vs. almost $7 a box for the good stuff like AA and STS.
Buy a box and try them out, use a couple of different chokes to see which pattern the best. I'm seeing more and more good shooters using these loads for their 16 yard programs.

[Questor]

Thanks! I'll have to keep a sharp eye out for the lower velocity options. I started loading for 20 gauge when I wanted some mild recoiling loads to train my kids with. As I recall there is a significant difference in recoil between the Walmart cheapies and handloads.

18,000 rounds? Uh oh! I think I just bit off an expensive hobby! I doubt that I've shot 1,000 rounds total in the past 10 years.

[jgalar]

When I was shooting trap at my local club I would load up soft shooting 1 oz loads. The field loads can be inexpensive and work fine, but they can hammer your shoulder when your shooting a couple hundred a night.

[Questor]

Thank you for the information. I decided to pay a little extra and use the low-cost Federal target ammo, which is about a dollar more per box for trap loads, and compare them with the Wal-Mart promotional ammo. There is about a dollar per box difference. I'll see which I like.

It doesn't look like reloading for 12 gauge is in my future, however.

[rbwillnj]

Eventually the price of the ammo will catch up with the cost of lead shot, it has to.   The ammo producers most likely have long term contracts with the lead suppliers, or they have hedged on the futures market, but eventually they will have to renegotiate at what ever the current rate is.

The current spot price for lead is $1.59/lb which is actually down from $1.78 a month ago,.......but it was $0.40/lb two years ago.   $1.59 /lb equates to $39.75 raw material cost for a bag of shot.

I used to save $1.30 to to $1.50 per box reloading for trap,  and I shoot a lot of trap.   Now it doesn't make sense to reload because there is little or no savings.   But some day in the future I'm betting it will make sense again.

[jgalar]

One of the clubs I belonged to would make a group purchase once a year. Rather expensive to purchase a year's supply of powder, primers, wads, and shot at one time - But the cost per was very low.

You may want to see if your club does any group buys.

[rbwillnj]

Our club does a group purchase a couple of times per year, usually from the same outfit we buy clays from.  that way we get free shipping, and because they come in from out of state, no tax either.   In late summer I bought 50 flats of Rios for a little less than $38/flat.   A month later they were up to $42/flat, and I'm sure they are a lot higher now.  In any case, I don't have to worry about reloading for a while.  Course when you have that many shells sitting around you tend to shoot more.