5 Best Cheap Ammo Brands That Still Perform

Shooting is fun, but it can get expensive! Isn’t there some way to keep costs down?

Your ammo budget likely eats up a fair bit of your entire firearm fund. Ammo isn’t cheap, and it doesn’t seem to be getting cheaper anytime soon. 

To help you shoot a little more and save a little money, I’m going to bring you the five best cheap ammo brands that still perform. These are the brands I turn to to test guns, compete, and have a little fun at the range.

Let’s save some money!

How We Chose the Best Cheap Ammo Brands

We do a lot of shooting around here, and it’s not always with expensive ammo. It’s important to know how guns perform with the kinds of ammunition you might use, and that includes defensive, match, and yes, cheap ammo.

For this article, we picked five of the best cheap ammo brands that save money but still shoot reliably and accurately. They may not set records for accuracy, but they’re great at giving you live reps without blowing the budget.

As always, your experiences may vary. If you have other cheap ammo brands you like, shout them out in the comments so we can all save some cash!

Best Cheap Ammo Brands

1. Blazer - Best Handgun Ammo

Best Handgun Ammo

Blazer Ammunition – All Cartridges

$11

at Ammunition Depot

Prices accurate at time of writing

$11 at Ammunition Depot

MidwayUSA (see price)

Scheels (see price)

OpticsPlanet (see price)

Meet the budget brand behind Federal, Speer, Remington, and, of course, CCI. Kinetic Group owns all of these brands and produces a ton of ammo. Somewhere in this premium-grade ammo sits the Blazer brand that falls under the CCI umbrella. 

Blazer produces brass- and aluminum-cased handgun ammunition. Aluminum is the most affordable option, but even the brass-cased ammo won’t eat your training budget up.

You can find hot aluminum-cased .44 Mag defensive and hunting ammo for less than $1 a round, which is downright impressive in this market. 

Aluminum-cased 9mm can get you into steel case prices without steel-cased wear problems. You can’t reload these cases, but they run cleaner and feed better than steel in picky guns. 

In the world of defensive ammo, Blazer produces jacketed hollow points for defensive use at a budget price.

2. AAC - Best Specialized Ammo

Best Specialized Ammo

AAC Ammunition – All Cartridges

$9

at Palmetto State Armory

Prices accurate at time of writing

$9 at Palmetto State Armory

AAC, aka American Ammunition Company, is Palmetto State Armory’s brand of ammo. Palmetto State Armory is the king of two things: acronyms for company names and affordable products. AAC gets a bit of both. 

If you’re shopping for bulk 115-grain 9mm or 55-grain 5.56 NATO/.223 Rem, you can often find better deals than AAC’s prices. They are about what you expect; priced fairly, but hardly a bargain. 

Where AAC shines is in specialized ammunition. For example, it’s the cheapest place to get 77-grain OTM ($0.50 per round at the time of writing).

I’ve been impressed with AAC 77-grain OTM. I shot a couple of five-shot groups under 1 MOA with a Sabre rifle. 

AAC is also my go-to brand for 10mm ammo. 

AAC 10mm 180gr FMJ

$114

at Palmetto State Armory

Prices accurate at time of writing

$114 at Palmetto State Armory

This isn’t the underpowered 10mm loads you’re used to seeing from brands like Winchester or Federal, that throw a 180-grain round at 1,080 feet per second. AAC 10mm ammo is close to full-power 10mm loads that reliably reach 1,200 feet per second.

At $20 for a box of 50 rounds, it’s the cheapest 10mm I’ve seen in years. As a Glock 20 enthusiast, I like being able to train without breaking my budget.

Defensive 10mm ammo with XTP hollow points costs $0.52 a round, which is a whopping $0.18 per round cheaper than Winchester white box ammunition.

Want more pew with less bang?

Subsonic 147-grain 9mm ammo costs $0.30 a round. Even 7.62x39 ammo isn’t too pricey, at around $0.50 a round. 

AAC might not produce the cheapest plinking ammo, but if you break out of the 9mm and .223 Rem world, there are bargains to be had. Not to mention the Daily Deals, which can save you a ton of money.

PSA is worth all those emails to catch the daily deals. 

3. Fiocchi - Best Uncommon Ammo

Best Uncommon Ammo

Fiocchi Ammunition – All Cartridges

$7

at MidwayUSA

Prices accurate at time of writing

$7 at MidwayUSA

Sportsman's Guide (see price)

Scheels (see price)

Palmetto State Armory (see price)

Show all prices

Fiocchi makes a huge variety of ammunition. The brand produces normal calibers and gauges, of course, but what’s most remarkable to me is the affordable oddities. 

Calibers like 9mm and .223 Rem aren’t where you’ll save money. Fiocchi makes some great budget-priced .38 Special, .44 Mag, .45 Colt, and more. It’s where you stray from the normal rounds and see some budget-friendly calibers. 

They also make some great, affordable defensive ammo. The Defense Dynamics rounds are fairly priced and often sold in boxes of 50 rounds for less than what most companies charge for a box of 20. I have to note that the Range Dynamics .32 ACP 73-grain FMJ is my favorite defensive load for .32 ACP pocket pistols. 

Fiocchi buckshot loads can be found super cheap. I just paid $99 for 250 rounds of buckshot. That’s nearly birdshot prices, but I’m getting 00 buckshot -- a real steal.

Defense Dynamics buckshot is a great load. It’s not Flitecontrol, but its patterns are good for home defense use. It’s a fairly tight pattern for home defense ranges and cycles reliably.

Fiocchi produces clean, well-functioning ammo for a variety of uses and does so at a great price point.

Mentally, I’ll always pronounce Fiocchi wrong (it’s fee-OH-kee). Fiocchi ammunition comes from around the world. The company is based in Italy, but Fioochi produces 80% of the ammo for the U.S. market domestically, which could help keep prices down.

4. Aguila - Best Hipster Ammo

Best Hipster Ammo

Aguila Ammunition – All Cartridges

$3

at MidwayUSA

Prices accurate at time of writing

$3 at MidwayUSA

OpticsPlanet (see price)

Scheels (see price)

Palmetto State Armory (see price)

Aguila ammunition comes from Mexico and is most famous today for shotgun mini shells. Those mini shells are fun and fairly priced. That’s not the only ammo they sell for a bargain, though. 

As a hipster, I like all sorts of weird cartridges, and Aguila offers a dose of weird with .32 S&W Long. They make these odd, older rounds and do it for less than $1.00 a round, which is fantastic. Unlike some bargain-basement loads, Aguila ammo will consistently function and fire. 

Cartridges like .25 ACP, .32 ACP, .38 Super (for those of you with an SK Customs 1911) and more are available at very fair prices. 

You can get more basic brass-cased cartridges for a decent deal. It’s not as cheap as steel-cased stuff, but it’s cleaner, faster, and typically more reliable. 

Aguila produces one of my favorite .22LR rounds, the Super Extra. This high-powered cartridge makes semi-automatic .22 LR firearms run like typewriters. These Super Extra loads are a fraction of the cost of the higher-end CCI loads. 

Aguila Super Extra .22 LR

$4

at Sportsman's Warehouse

Prices accurate at time of writing

$4 at Sportsman's Warehouse

Scheels (see price)

MidwayUSA (see price)

The company’s shotgun shells deserve a mention, too. Aguila .410 00 buckshot is one of the best-patterning loads that’s not hidden behind a premium price tag. A lot of .410 buckshot kind of sucks, but Aguila performs at the premium level. 

They don’t make my defensive or hunting ammo, but they are producing some excellent rounds for training and plinking at a great value.

5. Monarch - Best Sales & Coupons

Best Sales & Coupons

Monarch Ammunition – All Cartridges

$3

at Academy

Prices accurate at time of writing

$3 at Academy

As far all I can tell, Monarch is available exclusively through Academy Sports & Outdoors. 

It’s great training ammo; even the steel-cased stuff seems to work well and shoot clean. I shoot a ton of the steel-cased 9mm because it’s the cheapest 9mm I can find. At around $9.99 a box, the ammo is insanely cheap these days. 

Monarch .380 ACP and .38 Spl round out the cheaper side of pistol calibers. For shotguns, it’s the .410 that stands out. The downside to their birdshot is that the hulls are thicker and often lag when ejecting. 

If you have a local Academy Sports & Outdoors, it’s a good place to get budget-priced ammo. If you don’t, shipping prices are fairly affordable. They also have sales and coupons every so often that are worth catching.

How to Pick the Best Ammo Brands

So, these brands are all affordable. Great! But which one should you pick?

Cartridge Selection

Which ammo you choose often comes down to availability, and that doesn’t just mean finding it when it’s in stock.

Some manufacturers offer a wide range of cartridges, while others cater to the most popular ones.

Finding deals on 9mm, 5.56 NATO/.223 Rem, and .22 LR is easy. If you want to shoot uncommon revolver, shotgun, or rifle ammo on a budget, you’ll have to look a little harder.

Brass vs. Steel vs. Aluminum

Why is some ammo gold and some looks silver? It’s all about case material.

The most common is brass. It’s affordable, easy on firearms, and you can reload it. There are cheaper options, though.

Steel-cased ammunition is generally the least expensive option. While it can save you money, steel is harder than brass, so it will cause accelerated wear on the firearm components it contacts. That goes for reloading equipment, too, so most reloaders stay away from steel.

Read all about the brass vs. steel debate here!

Aluminum is cheaper than brass, but softer than steel. The tradeoff is that you can’t reload it, and you might experience some extraction or ejection issues due to the softer, lighter metal.

Training vs. Defensive Ammo

Want to save money at the range? Go for it! There’s nothing wrong with saving a few bucks on training costs. If you think about it, any malfunctions you encounter are an opportunity to train remedial action. That’s a win, too.

We don’t advise pinching pennies on defensive ammo, though. If you score a deal, great. If not, your life is worth spending a few bucks on quality ammo.

Meet the Experts

Heading up this article is Pew Pew Tactical author Travis Pike. Travis spent a lifetime shooting and hunting before joining the United States Marine Corps, where he spent five years as an infantryman. Travis is also an NRA-certified instructor and concealed carry instructor in the state of Florida.

Editing this article is Scott Murdock. Scott is a Marine Corps veteran who competed and qualified as a rifle and pistol expert while in service. In addition to shooting, Scott has written for a variety of publications, testing, researching, and evaluating guns and gear. He brings that knowledge and skillset to this article, editing and fact-checking for accuracy.

Editor-in-Chief Jacki Billings runs our experienced team of reviewers. She is a National Rifle Association Basic Pistol Instructor as well as a member of the Society of Professional Journalists, ACES: Society for Editing, and the Professional Outdoor Media Association. Jacki has a bachelor’s degree in journalism and has worked as a media professional for close to 20 years, specializing in gun media for almost 10 years. With 2,000+ articles to her name, she uses her professional journalism and editing experience to set testing protocols and editorial standards for Pew Pew Tactical.

Final Thoughts

These are my five favorite budget ammo brands. These brands have consistently performed well at a great price point.

Lower prices mean more training, and training is what counts. So what are you waiting for? Let’s grab some ammo and hit the range!

What’s your favorite brand for saving money on ammo? Share the wealth in the comments! Looking for a cheap blaster? Check out our guide to the Best Budget Handguns!