Ammo Prices in 2026: What to Buy Before Deer Season, What Can Wait for the Holiday Sales

Ammo costs more than it did a year ago. Several of the biggest US ammo brands raised prices in April and again in June. Deer seasons open in a few weeks, and Black Friday is three months off. So the money question is simple: what do you buy now, and what can sit until the holiday sales?

Here’s how we’d split it. Every load below shows our listed price and what it works out to per round, using the round count on the box. Prices were current when we wrote this and they can change, so the product page always has the final number.

Ammo prices in 2026: what went up and why

On April 1, 2026, several major US ammo brands raised prices by 2 to 10 percent. On June 1 they added another 3 percent on their rifle and handgun promo lines. The costs they pointed to were copper, lead, zinc, antimony and propellant. Retailers passed on both rounds of notices, in March and in May. Tariffs on some imported ammo add to the pressure.

People noticed. Google searches for “ammo prices” hit 96 on Google Trends’ 100-point scale the week of March 15, 2026. That’s close to the five-year high of 100, set back in March 2022.

They kept buying anyway. In Southwick Associates’ market survey released in May, nearly half of consumers said they were cutting back on non-essential spending, yet many said they were adding to their ammo supply.

When will ammo prices drop?

Nobody can give you a date, and we won’t guess at one. What you can control is when you buy each kind of ammo.

Some ammo has a deadline. The load you’ll hunt with has to be in hand before your range trip, and the range trip has to happen before your opener. Other ammo has no deadline at all. The bulk box you’ll shoot at the range in January doesn’t care what month you bought it. Buy the first kind on your season’s schedule. Let the second kind wait for a sale, as long as you have enough to get there.

The ledger: buy now or wait, with cost per round

Per round is our listed price divided by the number of rounds in the box. The .22 LR goes to a tenth of a cent. Everything else is rounded to the cent.

Load	What it’s for	Our price	Rounds	Per round	Call
Hornady American Whitetail .270 Win 130gr InterLock	Deer	$25.00	20	$1.25	Buy now
Hornady American Whitetail .30-06 150gr InterLock	Deer	$25.00	20	$1.25	Buy now
Barnes Harvest 6.5 Creedmoor 140gr GameKing	Deer	$30.81	20	$1.54	Buy now
Barnes Harvest .308 Win 165gr GameKing	Deer	$30.81	20	$1.54	Buy now
Norma Wingstrike Steel 12 ga 3-inch #2	Ducks and geese	$15.95	25	$0.64	Buy before your opener
Norma Whitetail 12 ga 1 oz Slug, bulk box	Deer with a shotgun	$89.00	100	$0.89	Buy before your opener
Hornady Critical Defense 9mm 115gr FTX	Carry	$30.00	25	$1.20	No season clock
Federal Champion BYOB .22 LR 36gr CPHP bucket	Plinking and practice	$90.00	1,375	$0.065	Can wait
Norma 9mm 115gr FMJ Range & Training	Pistol practice	$129.00	500	$0.26	Can wait
Winchester .223 Rem 55gr FMJ	Rifle practice	$99.99	200	$0.50	Can wait
Fiocchi .223 Rem 55gr FMJ Boat Tail case	Rifle practice	$439.00	1,000	$0.44	Can wait

The rule behind the last column is short. If a season date is attached to it, buy it now. If you shoot it all year for practice, it can wait. Everything else we carry is in our ammunition section.

Buy now: the deer load you’ll zero with

Your scope’s zero belongs to one load. Switch loads and the point of impact can move, sometimes by enough to matter on a deer. That’s why the hunting load goes first. You need it early enough to zero, practice and confirm before opening morning.

Best deer ammo for .270, .30-06, 6.5 Creedmoor and .308

The best deer ammo for your rifle is a hunting load that groups well in your rifle. You find that out at the bench, and nobody can tell you in advance. What we can do is make sure the common deer calibers are covered:

• Hornady American Whitetail .270 Win 130gr, $1.25 a round.
• Hornady American Whitetail .30-06 150gr, $1.25 a round.
• Barnes Harvest 6.5 Creedmoor 140gr, $1.54 a round.
• Barnes Harvest .308 Win 165gr, $1.54 a round.

The Hornady loads use InterLock soft point bullets. The Barnes Harvest loads use GameKing hunting bullets. Those four calibers aren’t a random pick, either. Backfire’s February 2026 cartridge roundup, built from distributor sales, search data and a reader survey, put 6.5 Creedmoor and .308 among the most popular cartridges in the country, and its 880 readers named .270 their favorite for hunting. Shooting something else? Browse our rifle ammo by caliber.

Two or three boxes from one lot

Ammo is loaded in lots, and the lot number is printed on the box. Two lots of the same load often shoot close together. Often isn’t always. If you zero with one lot and hunt with another, you’re trusting a zero you never checked.

So buy all of this season’s hunting ammo in one go. When the boxes show up, check that the lot numbers match. If they don’t, shoot a group with the second lot before you carry it into the field.

How many rounds does deer season take?

Here’s a plan for one rifle and one season. Your own numbers may run higher or lower.

Job	Rounds
Zero at 100 yards: a first group, adjust, a second group, a final check	10
Confirm the zero a week or two before the opener	5
Practice from field positions: sitting, kneeling, off shooting sticks	20
The hunt, spares in your pocket included	5
Total	40

Forty rounds is two boxes of 20. A third box covers a rough day at the bench or a scope that got knocked in the truck. At $1.25 a round, two boxes of the Hornady .270 cost $50.00 and three cost $75.00. With the Barnes 6.5 Creedmoor at $30.81 a box, two come to $61.62 and three to $92.43.

Can you hunt deer with FMJ?

Not in Kansas. For deer, the state allows soft point, hollow point, hard-cast lead and other expanding bullets from a centerfire rifle or handgun, and full metal jacket isn’t on the list. Other states have similar rules. FMJ bullets are built so they don’t expand, which is the opposite of what you want on a deer. Check your state’s hunting regulations before you buy. Our post on FMJ and hollow points explains how the bullet types behave.

Buy early: steel shot and slugs before the openers

Shotgun hunting ammo runs on the same clock as your deer load. Federal rules require nontoxic shot for ducks and geese everywhere in the US, so lead is out for waterfowl. Early teal seasons open in September in a lot of states, with the main duck seasons after that. Buy your waterfowl shells before the first hunt, pattern them through the choke you’ll hunt with, and make sure that choke is rated for steel.

The Norma Wingstrike Steel 12 gauge 3-inch #2 is $15.95 for 25, or $0.64 a round. It’s a 1 1/4 oz load listed at 1,350 fps.

Hunting deer with a shotgun? In Kansas that means slugs, and slugs need a range trip too, especially from a scoped gun. The Norma Whitetail 12 gauge 1 oz slug bulk box holds 100 rounds for $89.00. That’s $0.89 a round, with enough in one box to sight in, practice and hunt.

Can wait: bulk range ammo

Range ammo has no deadline. If you have enough on the shelf to get through fall, this is the column where waiting makes sense.

• Federal Champion BYOB .22 LR 36gr copper-plated hollow point, 1,375-round bucket: $90.00, or $0.065 a round.
• Norma 9mm 115gr FMJ Range & Training, 500 rounds: $129.00, or $0.26 a round.
• Winchester .223 Rem 55gr FMJ, 200 rounds: $99.99, or $0.50 a round.
• Fiocchi .223 Rem 55gr FMJ Boat Tail, 1,000-round case: $439.00, or $0.44 a round.

Look at the .223 math for a second. The case costs more at checkout and less per round. Over a thousand rounds, that 6-cent gap is about $61.

If you’re down to your last box, buy what the next couple of range trips need and hold off on the big order. Running dry in October just to wait for November doesn’t save you anything.

Defensive ammo: buy once, rotate yearly

Carry ammo has no season, so give it a routine. Buy enough to fill your magazines, plus enough to run through your pistol and make sure it feeds and hits where you aim. Then, once a year, shoot the rounds that have been riding in your gun and load fresh ones. A round that gets chambered and unloaded over and over can have its bullet pushed deeper into the case, and range day is a good time to retire it.

Hornady Critical Defense 9mm 115gr FTX is $30.00 for 25, or $1.20 a round. Two boxes give you 50 rounds. That fills a 15-round magazine and a spare, with 20 left to make sure your pistol runs them.

When is the best time to buy ammo? September to December

Buy hunting ammo on your season’s clock. Buy practice ammo when the sales run. Here’s how the next four months line up.

Month	On the calendar	Buy	Can wait
September	Kansas youth and disability deer season Sep 5 to 13. Kansas archery and muzzleloader seasons open Sep 14. Early teal seasons in many states.	Your whole season’s deer load from one lot. Steel shot. Zero the rifle.	Bulk range ammo
October	Kansas pre-rut antlerless firearm season Oct 10 to 12.	One more box if zeroing ran long. Slugs for shotgun deer hunters.	Bulk range ammo. Carry ammo that isn’t due.
November	Firearm deer openers: Missouri Nov 14, Michigan Nov 15, Wisconsin Nov 21, Pennsylvania Nov 28. Thanksgiving Nov 26, Black Friday Nov 27, Cyber Monday Nov 30.	Bulk range ammo during the holiday sales. Kansas hunters: anything the Dec 2 opener still needs, early in the month.	Nothing. This is the month you waited for.
December	Kansas regular firearm deer season Dec 2 to 13.	Whatever the holiday sales didn’t cover.	Next season’s hunting ammo. Count what’s left first.

Season dates come from published 2026 listings and can change, so confirm yours with your state wildlife agency. If you hunt here in Kansas, check the current KDWP regulations.

Ammo sales on Black Friday: what to expect

Deal hunting peaks that week. In Google Trends data for 2021 through 2025, searches for “ammo deals” ran almost five times higher in November than in September, and in 2025 they peaked the week of Black Friday. Deal-tracking sites put up Black Friday gun and ammo pages, and plenty of stores run promotions.

We won’t tell you prices will drop that week, because nobody knows what any store will mark down. The pattern only says the week is worth watching, and that range bulk is the thing to shop for. Make your list ahead of time: caliber, round count, and the most you’ll pay per round. Write down today’s per-round price from the ledger above so you’ll know a real deal when you see one.

If you hunt Kansas, don’t let your hunting ammo ride on Black Friday. The rifle opener is December 2, five days later. That leaves very little time for delivery and a trip to the range.

Store what you buy

Buying early only pays if the ammo is still good when you shoot it. Keep it cool and dry, and keep each lot together. A steel military-style ammo can at $69.00 holds the boxes in one spot. Put a strip of tape on the lid with the load and the lot number, and you won’t be digging next fall. Our ammo storage guide goes deeper.

Check your state before you order ammo

Ammo laws aren’t the same everywhere. Some states require a background check, a permit or an ID card to buy ammunition, and some limit shipping it to a home address. Cities and counties can add rules of their own. Check your state and local law before you order.

Federal law sets a minimum age. A licensed dealer can’t sell rifle or shotgun ammo to anyone under 18, or handgun ammo to anyone under 21. Hunting rules sit on top of all that, like the bullet-type and nontoxic-shot rules above, so read your state’s regulations for the game you’re after.

Frequently asked questions

Are ammo prices going up in 2026? They already have. Several major US ammo brands raised prices 2 to 10 percent on April 1, 2026, then added 3 percent on rifle and handgun promo lines on June 1, pointing to metal and propellant costs. Our own listed prices can change too, so check the product page.

When will ammo prices drop? Nobody can give you a date, and we won’t guess. Plan around deadlines. Buy your hunting load before your season opens, and let range ammo wait for a sale if you have enough to get there.

When is the best time to buy ammo? Buy hunting ammo early enough to zero and practice with it before your opener, which for most fall seasons means late summer or September. Bulk practice ammo can wait for the holiday sales, when searches for ammo deals have peaked in past years.

How much ammo do I need for deer season? For one rifle, plan on about 40 rounds: 10 to zero, 5 to confirm before the opener, 20 for practice from field positions and 5 for the hunt. That’s two boxes of 20. A third box from the same lot gives you room for a rough day at the bench.

Can I use FMJ ammo for deer hunting? Not in Kansas. The state’s deer rules allow soft point, hollow point, hard-cast lead and other expanding bullets, and full metal jacket isn’t on the list. Other states have similar rules. FMJ bullets are built so they don’t expand. Check your state’s hunting regulations before you buy.

Should I wait for Black Friday to buy ammo? For bulk range ammo, you can, if you have enough to get through the fall. Buy your hunting load before that if your season opens first or right after. Kansas’s rifle season opens December 2, five days after Black Friday on November 27.