Why does self defense ammo cost so much?

[mark77418]

Why is it that self defense ammo costs so much more than range ammo.

I can buy 45acp fmj ammo for less than 50 cents per round. All the self defense ammo I see costs $1 or more per round. I assume all components are the same except for the bullet. I see 230 grain fmj bullets available for $20.50 per 100. On the same website they have 230 grain Speer gold dots for $27.50 per hundred. If the cost if the projectile is only a seven cent difference why does self defense ammo cost more than twice as much?

[jchen76@gmail.com]

Quality control, better cases, usually nickel plated cases, powder charges are probably measure more accurately meaning more velocity consistency and HP bullets cost more to make than regular FMJ ammo.

[AAShooter]

Lower volume.

[gemoose23]

low flash propellent

captured high end market (someone buying SD ammo has no alternatives but SD ammo)

fabled do not Reload your own SD ammo mystique

[ElDub1950]

The truth is that they simply convinced people they're worth it and people will pay it.

Sure they are worth a little bit more due to (sometimes) better components and quality control, but people pay for hype

[Nick Justice]

The truth is that they simply convinced people they're worth it and people will pay it.

Sure they are worth a little bit more due to (sometimes) better components and quality control, but people pay for hype

Beat me to it! They charge what the market will bear.

[Kukuforguns]

Market forces. The market is willing to pay more because:
FMJ[1].jpg

HST147P_zps73440262[1].jpg

[ElDub1950]

Beat me to it! They charge what the market will bear.

AND ... if you add "Defense", "Extreme", especially "Xtreme" or "Zombie" to the box you can add 50 cents per round

[sholling]

Higher quality-better engineered bullets and better cases and low flash powder. With premium ammunition what you're paying for is reliable expansion while maintaining adequate penetration. Just 15 years ago expansion was a very hit or miss thing and was not something that you could count on. Unfortunately some manufacturers have a policy of reserving their best products for LE use, but if you can get your hands on some it's usually significantly cheaper than consumer grade premium ammunition. A perfect example is Federal's HST vs their Hydra-Shoks, the cheaper HST performs much better in heavy clothing tests but pre-panic was 1/2 the price when you could find it. It's a sad thing that some manufacturers choose to charge consumers double what they charge LE agencies. FWIW I choose my ammo based on what makes it to DocGKR's list of tested proven ammo.