I recently read one of the blogs on my link list and saw that the other blogger had endorsed LuckyGunner.com as one of the good guys with decent prices on ammunition. That reminded me that, while I have checked out their prices over the past several months, they have had anything but what I considered to be decent prices on ammo that I needed. As a matter of fact, their prices seemed sky high to me and seem to be staying above those of other dealers. While the prices at many other dealers have come down a long way, the prices at Lucky Gunner still appear, to me, to be somewhere up in the stratosphere. For example, I recently bought (within the last week or two) a case of PMC Bronze 9mm, 115 grain, FMJ ammo from SGAmmo.com. The cost of a full case, 1,000 rounds, of this ammo was $299.50. They ship UPS ground. With shipping and optional insurance, the total cost was $318.50. That included the optional $3.00 cost for additional insurance to cover the whole purchase price, above the $100 insurance coverage that UPS offers for free.
Yesterday (or maybe the day before), I checked LuckyGunner for the exact same ammo. They offered it at $455.00 plus shiping. Today, when I checked again, they were offering it "Special Price" at $399.00 plus shipping and plus optional insurance if you want it. The shipping, to my neck of metroburbia (I just coined that one), is going for $17.63 by their least expensive offering, which is for FedEx ground. The optional insurance is shown at $7.98. That would come out to a total of $424.61. This was listed at: http://www.luckygunner.com/9mm-115-gr-fmj-pmc-1000-rounds
There is quite the difference, even when the "Special Price" is offered at Lucky Gunner, between their price and that of SGAmmo. That difference being: $106.11. The difference was greater, yesterday or the day earlier, before LuckyGunner.com put it on "Special Price". That pre-Special Price cost would have been an additional difference of $56.00, or in total a difference of $162.11 with the optional insurance (from LuckyGunner) or $154.13 without the added insurance fee. That is quite a big difference either way, and to me it appears to be nothing less than price gouging when the same exact ammo can be offered at a much lower and closer to (what was not so long ago) the normal price. All that is especially so in light of the recent article I read in which major manufacturers were quoted as saying they have not raised their prices, more than nominally, on ammo since the ammo buying frenzy commenced.
If you are wondering, is this merely a single instance of LuckyGunner charging much higher prices than other dealers, you could take my word for it that it is not a lone case. Then, who am I to expect anyone on the Internet to believe me without further examples of it. So here are more instances of it (all below highlighted ammo available and as priced at the time I typed this up):
Aguila .45ACP: 230 grain, FMJ ammo, brass cased, boxer primed
$449.90 at J&G Sales for 1,000 rounds
$505.00 at LuckyGunner for 1,000 rounds
That was a $60.10 difference, prices do not reflect shipping.
I have bought this ammo in the past but from AIMSurplus.com for $439.00 (back in April 2013), shipping not included in that price.
PPU (Prvi Partizan) .32 ACP: 71 grain, FMJ, brass cased, boxed primed.
$12.00 per box of 50 at Wiedners
$23.50 per box of 50 at LuckyGunner
That is an astounding difference of $11.50 per box - meaning it is almost double the price at LuckyGunner than it is at Wiedner's. Prices do not reflect shipping.
I bought this ammo from Wiedner's at the current price but back in May 2013. Surprisingly they have had it at that price, I think, continuously since then.
Prvi Partizan .308 Win: 145 grain, FMJ, Blue Box Ammo, brass cased, boxer primed
$312.25 @ $12.49 per box when ordering at least 25 boxes (500 rounds) at SGAmmo.com
$390 per case of 500 rounds at LuckyGunner
A difference of $77.75 per 500 rounds, shipping not reflected in those prices.
I ordered some of this ammo from SGAmmo tonight, but at $12.79 per box of 20 because I did not order 25 boxes of more. Still, an excellent price at the current time.
Spartan 12 Gauge: 00 Buckshot, 9 pellets, 2 3/4" shells
$109.90 for a case of 250 rounds at SGAmmo.com
$150 for a case of 250 rounds at LuckyGunner
A difference of $40.10 for a case of 250 rounds, shipping not reflected in those prices.
I never bought this particular ammo but I might have bought it tonight if I did not order the .308 Win. ammo.
Wolf 5.56x45mm (.223): 62 gr, FMJ, steel cased, Military Classic
$179.00 per case of 500 rounds at TheArmory.com
$240.00 per case of 500 rounds at LuckyGunner
A difference of $60.01 per 500 rounds, shipping not reflected in those prices.
In each instance shown, LuckyGunners prices are much higher. Granted, on some other ammo in the same calibers, LuckyGunner's prices do not reflect that much of a difference but they are, from what I have seen, usually higher priced than many other ammunition dealers when comparing the same brand, caliber and type of ammunition. On rare occasion, when I have checked their prices, I have found LuckyGunner to have the ammo I wanted or needed at the best price available. That seemingly was when ammo was even harder to get than it is currently, such as back in February 2013 when I ordered five boxes of PMC Bronze .308 WIN ammo from them at $25.00 a box of 20 rounds (I had to be out of my mind), if I recall correctly it was because it was just about all the brass cased .308 that was available at that time. They now show a price for that at $17.00 per box of 20 rounds but they are out of stock. Right now, I can get that ammo from PalmettoStateArmory.com, a dealer from whom I have made recent ammo purchases, for $15.99 per box, and it is in stock. I also can get it at a couple of dealers, with whom I have not yet done business, at an even less expensive price, such as for $13.99 per box of 20 rounds from Selway Armory and yes it is in stock there too.
If you are curious as to why I chose the calibers that I used as examples above, it was because I have ordered all of them fairly recently. In fact, I have ordered most of the brands, in the listed calibers, too but maybe not the same exact grain weight or bullet type. Each time I shopped around, for a specific caliber and type of ammo that I wanted, if LuckyGunner had it, and another dealer had the same exact thing as LuckyGunner, it was almost always less expensive at the other dealer. It also was usually much less expensive at the other dealer. Now don't get me wrong. I am not saying they are always higher priced - just that they have almost always been so relative to ammo I have been looking for, when I have been looking for it. For all I know, they could have the greatest prices in the world on other calibers of ammunition at other times. You would have to check on their prices yourself to determine that but I think it is doubtful that would be the case when and if you checked.
I have shopped at every dealer above, with the exception of two, those being TheArmory.com and SelwayArmory.com. I can vouch for excellent service from each of those where I previously have shopped. Lately I have been making a good amount of purchases from SGAmmo.com because they have had some excellent prices over the past month or two and have had ammo in calibers I have been seeking.
You may think I just went overboard in explaining why I am removing a dealer from my link list but I wanted to explain it so there would be no doubt about it. I do not appreciate dealers that charge inflated prices especially when it is evident, by prices found at other dealers, that the offering price both could and should be lower. This is the same reason I dropped my link to CheaperThanDirt.com. As part of the shooting community, I also feel somewhat obligated to help out other shooters in getting the best deals they can get and to avoid those who, in my opinion, price gouge or seem to routinely overcharge for ammunition - especially in these times when it has been tough to find ammo. Why do I feel a bit obligated? Because other firearms enthusiasts in the shooting community have done likewise for me in the past. Just being part of that community makes me want to spread the word about good deals and to do likewise about ones I believe are not so good too, when I come across them, especially when not an isolated instance. In that light, I feel I cannot, in good conscience, continue to leave a link, on my link list, to LuckyGunner.com.
By the way, remember that case of PMC Bronze 9mm, 115 grain, FMJ ammo I bought at SGAmmo.com. Well, the money I saved by buying it from them instead of from LuckyGunner was at least $154.13. (It would have been a difference of $162.11 had I got it from them and also purchased the additional insurance.) Guess what I used that money to purchase. I bought bulk exploding target mix, two boonie hats, and a 2 liter bottle of potato vodka - with a few bucks left over for lottery tickets. By shopping around, my money went a lot further than it would have had I not shopped around for a better price. To finish up, just let me say: An informed buyer is a well armed and well stocked consumer.
Oh one last thing, I do not receive any type of compensation from anyone on any of my link lists (unless you consider reciprocal links from other bloggers to be compensation, which I do not consider such). As for ammo dealers, I receive absolutely no compensation from them and I am pretty sure my link lists contain only those dealers with whom I have previously done business.
All the best,
Glenn B
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