Hey everybody,
New to the forum and kind of new to shooting. I'm thinking of picking up an AK platform as my next purchase. I'm basically deciding what model to get based on ammo prices and local (Big Island) availability. Cost of ammo is basically my biggest factor as 99.9999% of my shooting will be at the range having fun, so I want to pick one up in the round that has the lowest ammo cost. I've looked at some websites to get an idea but it's kind of a crap shoot. Some sites have .223, 5.45 and 7.62 at around the same price give or take a little bit, and some seem to have 7.62 at twice the price of .223 and 5.45 not even available. I've seen a lot of people say to get a 74 because 5.45 is way cheaper, but most places don't even seem to carry it. I quickly glanced at J. Hara yesterday and what I saw looked to be about a buck a round. Brands that were around 7 or 8 bucks for a box of 20 online, looked to be about 19-25 bucks for the same thing at J. Hara. I know we aren't gonna get on line prices here in Hawaii, but I've been buying all my 9mm there and it's always only a buck or two more than on line. So what's the deal, is .223 and 7.69 for some reason double the price it should be here? Anyway, long story short just wondering what everyone else's experience has been with availability and prices of .223, 5.45 and 7.62 here. What's my best bet, and what should I expect to pay price wise? I'm leaning towards 7.62 since it's the standard for an AK platform, but I also don't want to find myself rarely being able to shoot it because I can't afford to spend big bucks on ammo. Sorry to get lengthy there, lol, any help is much appreciated.
P.S. I do plan on starting to reload eventually, but for now I'm restricted to buying in store.