Alternative to Walmart for ammo purchase?

BlueHeelerFl said:

I'm planning on reloading, but my house is small and space is tight.

Not everyone has property big enough to have a workshop for reloading, especially if they live in an apartment. Doubly so if they have kids

Click to expand...

Try having cats running around your house and see how much they get into that is sitting safely ontop of tables and so forth. Even the top of your refrigerator is not safe. This means you must have a separate room for the reloading activity. Cats do not like closed doors.

BlueHeelerFl said:

I'm planning on reloading, but my house is small and space is tight.

Not everyone has property big enough to have a workshop for reloading, especially if they live in an apartment. Doubly so if they have kids

Click to expand...

I decided to reload in my new VERY old house. Until I could build a bench, I used a small machine tool type of stand from either Harbor freight or Northern Tool. The top is 18" square while the legs flare out to 24x24 making it stable. If you have several different presses, you mount them on aluminum cookie sheets and clamp each one on top while using it. It can easily fit it into a clothes closest

I don’t buy very much ammunition at retail stores due to the price. I watch for sales but sales are unpredictable so the Internet works best for me. Not because of Walmart’s declaration of war on my beliefs in self-defense...well maybe because of it I took the plunge today and signed up for Target Sports Prime with my first order being for 1k rounds of Federal M193. Target Sports will let me get the ammunition I want on a regular monthly basis at discount prices.

Just stopped in to my local Walmart. Wife wanted to do some shopping. Didn't have a sign up stating they are not continuing sales of certain ammo. Kinda surprised. Seemed very well stocked in ammo and firearms. Picked up 1,000 rnds of winchester.22 for $40.00. This will be my last purchase of ammo from them. And they screwed me out of a my back pack for a take down 10/22 I bought a while back. Empty box no pack, lock, or owners manual.

hso said:

Perhaps, but nothing is worse than Wal-Mart was because the Wal-Mart corporation extracted concessions from your local community to build a store there. Every Wal-Mart represented a loss in property taxes and zoning that other retailers didn't extract.

Click to expand...

That's not exactly correct.
While other retailers might not have asked for those incentives in YOUR city, its a pretty common practice.
I can name dozens of retailers and manufacturers that have received "concessions".

Believe it or not, but WalMarts often attract other business, even competitors because of the amount of traffic they generate.

22-rimfire said:

I am no expert on this, but I'm guessing that the big stores can buy directly from the manufacturer and cut out any middleman.

Click to expand...

My local WalMarts get their guns and ammunition from the same distributors I use.

hso said:

Perhaps, but nothing is worse than Wal-Mart was because the Wal-Mart corporation extracted concessions from your local community to build a store there. Every Wal-Mart represented a loss in property taxes and zoning that other retailers didn't extract.

Click to expand...

I disagree; where I used to live in central Florida, Walmart came into an intersection where there was nothing; after they built their store, 45 small business sprang up all around them. - I consider that to be an excellent way to help a community.

I was in Walmart tonight, getting food for my granddaughter’s rabbit.
They still had some 9mm, 40s&w, etc. and lots of .22 rimfire.
Also .223 Remington.

Virginia Jim said:

I was in Walmart tonight ... They still had some 9mm, 40s&w, etc. and lots of .22 rimfire. Also .223 Remington.

Click to expand...

Well yes because of the boycott by gun owners.

As boycott increases daily, at this rate, it may take years for Walmart to exhaust "existing inventory" of contracted orders with ammunition manufacturers. https://www.facebook.com/FMUSAOFFICIAL/

As of 9/8/19, Freedom Movement USA already had 193,000 signers and reached 4.1 million people on Facebook and growing with increasing number of protests planned - https://thewillcountynews.com/index...pD2yt2VG1LZUD87JLgNN284OutQJxV09vadlVbZXJN7iY

George P said:

I disagree; where I used to live in central Florida, Walmart came into an intersection where there was nothing; after they built their store, 45 small business sprang up all around them. - I consider that to be an excellent way to help a community.

Click to expand...

Similar situation for my community. Once we got our second Walmart, a completely undeveloped area suddenly turned into a shopping and dining hub.

We were all excited that we got a Target a few years ago.

Claus asked:
Alternative to Walmart for ammo purchase?

Click to expand...

1. Reload your own.
2. Local gun shop (may be a little more expensive, but now we all have an object lesson in why paying a little more to keep an LGS alive has a value all its own)
3. Academy
4. Sportsman's Guide
5. Target Sports
6. Palmetto State Armory
7. CDNN

... and the list goes on after a quick internet search

hdwhit said:

... and the list goes on after a quick internet search

Click to expand...

Like this for 22LR at cheaper than Walmart prices - https://www.thehighroad.org/index.p...15-20-500-shipped.853059/page-2#post-11226086

For those of us in CA this decision feels like one more taken away.

RA40 said:

For those of us in CA this decision feels like one more taken away.

Click to expand...

Good thing is ammunition, especially 22LR, are at their recent historic low prices and you can still buy online.

If ammunition was considered a traded commodity like fuel products, the price would float based on political events and supply and demand. The last presidential era was one of those events and we may be headed toward another such event. When prices went up especially at gun shops or small retailers, folks got upset.

dogtown tom said:

My local WalMarts get their guns and ammunition from the same distributors I use.

Click to expand...

You must be able to sell your stuff really inexpensively then. My guess is you don't try to compete.

hso said:

Perhaps, but nothing is worse than Wal-Mart was because the Wal-Mart corporation extracted concessions from your local community to build a store there. Every Wal-Mart represented a loss in property taxes and zoning that other retailers didn't extract.

Click to expand...

I would try to get tax consideration too. Look at Amazon. I have no problem with giving WM reasonable state and local tax concessions as I think overall, the stores and commerce was a big plus to most communities. Sure some of the small grocery stores got pushed out of business. Lowe's and Home Depot (to name two) did the same thing with hardware stores. But Ace still survives and seems to be flourishing.

22-rimfire said:

You must be able to sell your stuff really inexpensively then.

Click to expand...

Well no.
Don't confuse a small timer who buys from the same distributors as WalMart as getting products at the same price as WalMart, that just silly. Buying from a wholesaler/distributor (RSR, Davidsons, Sports South, Jerrys, Zanders, etc) doesn't mean all retailers pay the same price. Quantity=discounts.
WalMart, Academy, Cabelas, Palmetto, Bud's and other high volume retailers will get the best pricing tiers. Wouldn't you give a better deal to those buying thousands of Remchesters a month vs the retailer ordering twenty?

My guess is you don't try to compete

Click to expand...

Of course not. It's not that I don't "try to compete", it's that I'm smart enough to know not to compete. Often you hear of people accusing WalMart, Academy, etc putting a small LGS out of business.........thats not the fault of the big box, its the inability of that LGS to recognize their market. Any LGS that can't exist and prosper a block away from WalMart or Academy probably should be in business at all. It shouldn't be a secret to sell what WalMart or Academy don't. Offer services that big box stores don't.

I have an Academy about 30 minutes away and that's where I have made 2 of my last 3 ammo purchases. With my limited budget I can only buy maybe $50-$70 worth of ammo at any given time, so they work better than online.

I do need to save up some money to buy a large enough online order to make the shipping costs for buying feasible.