It is hard to understand why anyone would buy anything larger than 223 or 9mm.

[becxltoo984]

After a while shooting 9mm and 5.56 gets real boring . Thats when FN Fal gets taken out and i start ringing that 400 yard gong target .

[cgseanp1]

Not to be rude, but .223 and 9mm are for noobs. Especially if you are buying all of your ammo at the store. Give it a couple of years and then come back and tell me how many calibers you have. Don't get me wrong here. I like them both. But they are both very limited in what they can do. I can reload some of my rifle cartridges for literally pennies a pop. And I can take anything on the continent with some of them. That .223 is only going to annoy a bear, and is outright illegal for deer in many states. So please don't come into a gun forum after admitting buying your first gun less than a year ago and try to lecture us on the folly of owning anything other than your two favorite cartridges. There are people on here that have shoes older than you. And some of us still shoot guns older than your grandparents. Either show some respect by not foolishly trolling, or get out. You ain't some font of wisdom pointing out something the rest of us don't know.

-Mb (who has little use for trolls)

tough guy

[a1fabweld]

I just got out of drag racing/hotrodding & sold my car a few weeks ago. Didn't have time anymore to enjoy it with work & family. THAT was expensive. To make a mistake & blow up your $10k engine, that hurts. Plus all the maintenance adds up. My guns/ammo/shooting hobby costs a fraction of racing. When I spend $200 a month on ammo, I hardly even notice it in comparison. Building up my inventory of the guns I wanted got a little expensive at times. But, maintenance cost almost nothing. Ammo is cheaper than $8 per gallon race fuel.

[cyrus]

Originally Posted by gun toting monkeyboy
Not to be rude, but .223 and 9mm are for noobs. Especially if you are buying all of your ammo at the store. Give it a couple of years and then come back and tell me how many calibers you have. Don't get me wrong here. I like them both. But they are both very limited in what they can do. I can reload some of my rifle cartridges for literally pennies a pop. And I can take anything on the continent with some of them. That .223 is only going to annoy a bear, and is outright illegal for deer in many states. So please don't come into a gun forum after admitting buying your first gun less than a year ago and try to lecture us on the folly of owning anything other than your two favorite cartridges. There are people on here that have shoes older than you. And some of us still shoot guns older than your grandparents. Either show some respect by not foolishly trolling, or get out. You ain't some font of wisdom pointing out something the rest of us don't know.

-Mb (who has little use for trolls)

uhh.... Question was retorhical. I would love larger calibers, but my wallet doesn't (especially with 2 babies at home.) Maybe I can afford them in the future.

No troll here.

Cheers

[gun toting monkeyboy]

dang are military is full of noobs, i guess me and every other AR owner are noobs to

That is one of the specific uses that 5.56 is good for. And exactly how many of you would spurn all other rifle cartridges and try to use your AR for everything? None of you? That would be because you know that it isn't the end-all, be-all cartridge for everything. What he was saying was that, as an admitted noob, the rest of us were wasting out time and money going with anything other than his annointed flavors. I freely admit that I don't know everything about guns. But to have somebody who got his first one less than a year ago come in and act like he knows all ticks me off big time.

[CSACANNONEER]

Try feeding a 3" Parrot Rifle. No, I don't own one but, I have live fired one of my friends several times. It's about $75/round right now. Or, I can cast .69cal round balls for about two hours and make a single load of canister shot for about $40 including lead, powder and a friction primer. Since none of us can afford to shoot it often, I downsized to 50BMG a few years back. Seriously OP, you are so new to the shooting sports, I don't understand how you can be so opinionated so quickly. I like .22lrs a lot! they are much cheaper to shoot than your wimpy 9mm! Oh, I also cast my own bullets so a box of .25acp, 9mm, .45acp, .44mag, .45LC, etc. all cost about the same (within $0.50/box). I prefer .45acp to 9mm and I don't understand why anyone would buy and prefer to shoot a 9mm. This is not really true, there are some forms of compition where 9mm has advantages. As far as rifle calibers go, haha! .223 is definately not the ultimate, do all, rifle caliber. In fact, it's one of the last caliber's I'd recommend to anyone who is learning to shot. First, I'd have a newbie get a .22lr and learn to shoot it properly. Then, it would really depend on his/her wants and needs before thinking of getting a centerfire gun to suppliment the rimfire one. For SD/HD, I'd probably not recommend any rifle. Instead, I'd push for a shotgun. For competitive shooting, the caliber and type of rifle would depend on the type of competition. For hunting, the caliber and type of rifle would depend on the intended game and type of terrain being hunted. For plinking, all bets are off and it's get whatever makes you happy.

BTW, surplus 30-06 was available through CMP until a week or two ago. It will be back and it will probably be still be cheaper than $0.40/round. I don't think it has ever been that high yet!

[cgseanp1]

That is one of the specific uses that 5.56 is good for. And exactly how many of you would spurn all other rifle cartridges and try to use your AR for everything? None of you? That would be because you know that it isn't the end-all, be-all cartridge for everything. What he was saying was that, as an admitted noob, the rest of us were wasting out time and money going with anything other than his annointed flavors. I freely admit that I don't know everything about guns. But to have somebody who got his first one less than a year ago come in and act like he knows all ticks me off big time.

Uhh, I don't think he was saying that at all. Maybe if you can get past his first sentence. What he should of said is it's hard to understand how anyone can AFFORD to shoot anything larger than 9mm or 223.

[CSACANNONEER]

dang are military is full of noobs, i guess me and every other AR owner are noobs to

You arre right! The military is comprised mainly of newbies! BTW, no one if all you have is an AR or two in .223, I'd probably classify you as a noob. Many AR owners own other guns an/or other caliber ARs as well. Don't be so narrow minded

After a while shooting 9mm and 5.56 gets real boring . Thats when FN Fal gets taken out and i start ringing that 400 yard gong target .

Hell, if you can't hit a gong at 400 with a .223, you need to practice more. BTW, out to 400, I prefer to shoot with irons, does your FAL have optics? If not, that's better shooting than many here can ever hope to do. I love plinking the 300 & 400 yard gongs at Angeles with cheap surplus rifles like Mausers and my K31. If the lighting is right, I've been taking them out to 600 lately.

[Beelzy]

Simple, penis size

The smaller the wang the larger the caliber. Remember this when someone is shooting a .44mag next to you.

Especially when it's a Hot Female.

Sounds like someone can't "handle" a large caliber yet..........

Poor you.

[dchang0]

Hmmm... I'd say 5.45x39 is the cheapest right now.

Yeah, that's what I thought. It might be time to build a 5.45 AR, though I'd heard that all of the 5.45 out there is steel core, ruling it out for use at the SoCal ranges most of the year. Are there copper+lead 5.45x39 ammo?

[bridgeport]

Here's the deal OP, Yes .. you are absolutely correct about sticker shock when looking at new ammo in the store. Most guys who shoot even .223 and 9mm
either reload, or buy surplus in bulk from places on the net, or buy it from
vendors at guns shows etc. Think of buying a case of wolf ammo or yugo
or milsurp combloc etc. It is possible to shoot even today larger bore rifles
without breaking the bank. You bought a rifle (M1-A) that is a bit pricy to feed now, by historical standards, with the ammo rush on and all that.
Look on the bright side though... you cant take it with you, so spend it on some ammo and enjoy yourself.

[ShelbyGT500]

My biggest problem is I'm busted up and old so I drive an old man's Cadillac that I still have to shift because I like having fun. a Cadillac CTS-V

If I had the money this is what I would buy, congrats

[freakshow10mm]

My caliber footprint. I've owned weapons in the following cartridges:

25 ACP
256 Win Mag
380 ACP
9mm
38Spl
357 Mag
357 Max
10mm
41 Mag
45 ACP
45 Colt
44 Mag
50 AE
223
22-250
250 Savage
7mm-08
308 Win
300 Win
8mm Mauser
8mm Mag
338-06
376 Steyr
375 H&H
45/70

Currently own 223, 9mm, 10mm, and 20ga. Have no real desire to have anything else. Might play with .300 Whisper and 50 BMG for a bit.

[Mr.Pickles]

I like all calibers especially rare ones I will always will love my 8x56r M95. for modern just like to mix it up with different guns and calibers. .223 and 9M like some other posters said would get boring really fast. I actually dislike 9mm because is says Europe too much to me and .223/5.56 says AR/tacticool mallninja(I like them, but not crazy for them, just K.I.S.S). give me .308 and a boltgun and I will be happy at long range. and for the cheap/plinking I break out this:

[tombinghamthegreat]

to the OP: maybe the problem is you are buying from the wrong source. I remember buying 30-06 surplus ammo for like .30 or .40 cents a round. Heck i got 440 rounds of 7.62x54r 2 years ago for like 70 dollars.

http://ammoman.com/ try this site