Oh, my gosh, a box of standard bread and butter 30-30 ammunition is nearly $20 now. When I started deer hunting in 1971, my first rifle was a Winchester Model 94 in 30-30, and the ammo was $4 for a box of 20 rounds. Of course, I only paid $66 for the rifle new in the box. That same rifle is $300 or more today. Things have certainly changed.
For some years now, the 3-4 primary ammunition companies have been introducing entire lines of premium ammunition. It’s mainly for hunting, but it’s also handgun ammo for personal defense. This ammo is virtually hand-crafted, though obviously still on a high volume modern production equipment line.
They even use cool new names to market the ammo such as HyperSonic, HTP-High Terminal Performance, Ultimate Defense, Vital Shock, Fusion, Superformance, Critical Duty, Hammerhead, and Ballistic Silvertip, among others. For hunting big game and also for defensive work, I am entirely in favor of premium performance ammunition. It is the best ammo ever manufactured.
However, for standard everyday use by survivalists and preppers (especially those on tight budgets), this costly premium ammunition is simply not needed. Whether as a prepper you intend to hunt deer for food or patrol your property for poachers and unwanted intruders, then the gold standard ammo should stay on the shelf for other purposes.
When ammo starts to creep up to $40-50 or more dollars a box of 20 rounds, then one has to evaluate the additional expense in comparison to some vanilla ammo at half the cost. The ultimate irony of most primary brands of ammo manufactured today is that it is all really good stuff. It might not perform like a box of super-duper-buck-whacker, but it will get the job done.
So, when picking basic ammunition to purchase for survival or prep work, stick with the so-called “white” box ammo, though it probably is not always in a white box. Day in and day out, this ammunition will perform plenty well enough for general work.
For a 30-06 as an example, pick a basic ammo in a standard soft point bullet of 150 or 180 grains. Stay away from the specialty bullets. Same with a .223 or any other round you chose to use on a regular basis, including 9mm or 45ACP pistol ammo. Plain Jane ammo will work just fine and won’t break the bank.
