The price of ammunition

I've been doing some digging around on .22 ammo, primarily the high-grade match stuff, checking prices and reviews.

I once wrote about how picky some firearms can be about what they digest, .22's included. For every brand out there, from low-end to high, there are those who swear by it for their firearm, or swear at it. I wrote here about the results I got with Federal and Eley ammo in a Martini target rifle. I had some $3 and $4/box match ammo, and these two outshot them all. The Eley isn't match-grade, it's called 'Sport', and it's Eley primed and assembled in Mexico; the Federal is their baseline ammo. I can find the Federal around here for $.69/box, and the box of Eley I bought at a gun show cost $2.25; I recently found a place called Champion Shooters Supply that carries the Eley Sport for $1.30/box(yes, I ordered some). In this rifle I can't find any reason to buy the higher dollar stuff, but out of curiosity I went searching.

Damn! The top-grade Eley, Lapua and RWS match stuff is $10 and $11/box. SK Match and Wolf Match Gold are just under $10/box, and it goes down from there to the lowly stuff that goes from the aforementioned $1.30 to $3 and $4.

It is a fact that one thing you pay extra for in this stuff in consistency, each round in a box, and in the same manufacturing lot, being as close to identical as possible. This, by the way, is why you read the recommendation that if you find some your rifle/pistol really likes, you should buy all you can find of the same lot; the next lot may not be quite the same. And in some types of match shooting it may be worth every penny if that stuff is what your firearm gives the best result with; 'best result' meaning the closest to one-hole groups possible, every time.

That being said, the question you run in to is 'for my shooting is it necessary/worth it?'. From what I've read some silhouette shooters will choose an ammo that may not have the tightest grouping but has a bit more power, the better to knock the little steel animals over with, for instance. And some small-game hunters will pay more for a box or two of high-grade stuff because it makes it a bit easier to head-shoot the squirrel or rabbit. But for most purposes?

One lesson I tried to teach the kids was that if you actually get better results- a better meal, a better tool, whatever- for the money, then don't be afraid to spend more, and ammo definately counts. But if you can get the same or nearly identical results from less expensive stuff, then don't be worried about a fancy name. Yeah, I'm cheap in some ways. I stopped buying Levi's when the price went up and I could get Rustlers for ten bucks(I later found out about Levi's supporting various GFW groups, so that was a twofer); that name on the pants wasn't worth the extra money. Same holds for ammo, if I can get the results I want from inexpensive stuff, I'm not going to lay out dollars extra for a name on the box. If you've got kids, you know what that's worth; two kids at the range can go through a brick in a remarkably short time.

So try out various brands and types, including some of the more expensive stuff, and if your particular firearm likes one better, don't be worried about buying some of the high-dollar stuff when the result will be worth it. But you don't always need match-grade to get match-grade results.

Note: some of the really serious match competitors will only buy the match-grade their rifle likes, and then they do the rim-measuring, cartridge weighing routine. For them it's worth it, but it ain't to me.