What Are The Cheapest Airgun Slugs In The USA? HAM Investigates…
Slugs are the hottest thing in the airgun market right now. But what are the cheapest airgun slugs in the US today?
Of course, everyone likes a bargain, and that applies whenever we’re buying airgun ammo too. And “everyone knows” that NSA (Nielsen Specialty Ammo) slugs are the cheapest, quality airgun slugs. That’s a factor – largely – of their direct to customer sales strategy in the USA.
But is that actually true? To find out, HAM looked at buying a range of quality .22 caliber airgun slugs from a number of reputable dealers. Then we compared the prices with buying direct from NSA.
Here’s what we found out. Read on below for all the details…
| Brand | Dealer | Weight | Slugs/Order | Total Cost | Price/Slug |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| H&N | Pyramyd Air | 25 Grains | 3,200 | $189.00 | 5.9 Cents |
| JSB | Airgun Depot | 25.39 Grains | 3,200 | $167.88 | 5.25 Cents |
| FX | Pyramyd Air | 22 Grains | 1,600 | $179.88 | 11.25 Cents |
| Daystate | Airguns of Arizona | 20.3 Grains | 6,000 | $352.05 | 5.875 Cents or 5.33 Cents with "coins" |
| NSA | Direct from NSA | 24.8 Grains | 9,750 | $557.00 | 5.3 Cents |
Buying Background
For this investigation, we’ve looked at buying slugs in .22 caliber. Ideally, we were looking for slugs with a weight of around 25 Grains…
As you would expect, it’s cheaper if you buy in large volumes. Bulk buying slugs gives you savings just like bulk buying most other products. So we’re looking at buying large amounts in one order.
As is well-known, accuracy is of prime importance with any airgun ammunition. So the cheapest airgun slugs are not necessarily the best if your air rifle’s barrel “doesn’t like” that particular type of slug. But this investigation is about price only.
Note that we’re also ignoring the effect of Sales Tax as this varies widely across the country.
Cheapest Airgun Slugs – Choice One. H&N Slugs HP From Pyramyd Air
Above. 25 Grain H&N slugs won a HAM Gold Award. So we know the quality is outstanding!
The basic price for a tin of .22 caliber H&N slugs in .217 size and 25 Grains weight is $15.75. That tin contains 200 slugs. So it looks as if the price per slug is $15.75/200 = 7.875 cents each.
But let’s move things up a couple of notches…
Pyramyd Air offers free shipping on orders over $150. They also offer a “buy four, get one free” deal on airgun pellets and slugs. So obviously we’re going to take advantage of these offers and combine them together.
Let’s buy 16 tins of .22 caliber H&N slugs. Under Pyramyd Air’s “four for the price of three” program, we’ll actually be charged for just 12 tins. The other four are free.
16 tins of 200 slugs/tin = 3,200 slugs.
So by purchasing 16 tins of slugs, we’re only being charged for 12 tins. That means we’ll pay $15.75 x 12 = $189.00. Our purchase will also will qualify for free shipping.
This means that we have purchased 3,200 slugs for $189.00. That’s actually 5.9 Cents each. A very nice saving!
BUY FROM PYRAMYD AIR
H&N Slug HP, .217 Cal., 25 Grains, Hollowpoint, 200ct 0.22
Cheapest Airgun Slugs – Choice Two. JSB Knock Out Slugs from Airgun Depot
Above. These JSB slugs won a HAM Silver Award. They’re another high quality product.
25.39 Grain .217 diameter JSB Knock Out slugs sell for $13.99 for a tin of 200 at Airgun Depot.
However – as with Pyramyd Air – you can benefit from free shipping over $150 and a “four for the price of three” promotion.
So, again, we’ll buy 16 tins for a total of 3,200 slugs, but be charged for just 12 tins. This order value is $167.88 and we benefit from free shipping.
With this order, our JSB slugs work out to be just 5.25 Cents each. Wow!
BUY FROM AIRGUN DEPOT
JSB KnockOut Slugs .217 Cal 23.39 Gr
Cheapest Airgun Slugs – Choice Three. FX Hybrid Slugs from Pyramyd Air
Above. FX Hybrid Slugs gained a HAM Bronze Award.
Now we’re back to Pyramyd Air to buy .22 caliber, 22 Grain FX Hybrid Slugs. These are sold in sleeves of 100 for $14.99 a sleeve. That’s 14.9 Cents a slug. Ouch!
We can reduce the price again by using Pyramyd Air’s “four for three” and free shipping offers.
If we buy 16 sleeves, we actually pay for 12 and shipping is free. So this order cost us $179.88 for 1,600 slugs. Sadly that’s still a best price of 11.25 Cents a slug 🙁
BUY FROM PYRAMYD AIR
FX Hybrid Slug, .22 Cal, 22.0 Grains, Hollowpoint, 100ct 0.22
Cheapest Airgun Slugs – Choice Four. FX Daystate Howler Slugs From Airguns Of Arizona
Above. There will be a HAM test review of the Howlers coming soon!
Unlike Pyramyd Air and Airgun Depot, Airguns of Arizona does not offer free shipping. Nor do they offer a “four for the price of three” deal on airgun ammo.
But their price is actually very competitive!
Daystate Howler .22 caliber slugs are sold in tins of 375 for $19.95. Calculating $19.95/375 = 5.32 Cents a slug. And that’s for just one tin. That’s an outstanding price, even though the weight is a little lighter than the others we’ve chosen at 20.3 Grains a slug.
Now it gets a little complicated. We need to factor-in shipping charges. For this exercise, I again chose to purchase 16 tins of Howlers. The cost of the slugs is thus $19.95 x 16 = $319.20. The shipping charge for this order sent to the HAM offices in Upstate New York was $32.85. It would be lower if you live closer to AoA in Arizona.
That makes a total of $352.05. Our 16 tins contain a total of 6,000 slugs. So the cost per slug is 5.875 Cents each.
Or maybe less…
You see, each tin of Daystate Howler slugs includes a “coin” valued at $2.00 against future purchases of Daystate group products – including Howler slugs. So 16 tins gives us $32.00 value in “coins” against our next Howler slugs order.
If we apply those “coins”, the $32.00 value just about cancels-out the shipping cost for our next purchase. So when we order the same again from AoA, the cost will actually be just 5.33 Cents per slug – and we’ll receive another set of “coins”.
I’ll bet you weren’t expecting that price to be so attractive!
BUY FROM AIRGUNS OF ARIZONA
Daystate Howler Slugs .22 Cal, 20.3 Gr 375 Ct
Cheapest Airgun Slugs – Choice Five. NSA 24.8 Grain Slugs Direct From The Manufacturer
These 24.8 Grain slugs are sold in boxes of 325. NSA offers a “case price” if you order 30 boxes, so we’ll take that deal. The case cost is $550.00. For this you receive 9,750 slugs.
Shipping is not free with NSA. However they do offer a very attractive flat shipping rate of $7.00 to destinations within the USA.
So the total for this order is $557.00 for 10,500 slugs. Doing the math makes the price 5.3 Cents per slug.
BUY FROM NSA
24.8 Grain .22 Caliber Slugs
Cheapest Airgun Slugs – Summary
I bet you’re surprised at these results. I certainly was when I ran the numbers!
What we learned is that you can buy high quality slugs from JSB, H&N, Daystate and NSA for somewhere between 5 and 6 Cents each, if you order in bulk. That’s a pretty close range of pricing.
For the absolute lowest cost airgun slugs, it’s a very close run thing with JSB Knock Outs from Airgun Depot the cheapest. (Actually Pyramyd Air offers the same price, too). But Daystate Howlers with AoA tokens are very, very close behind!
We also found out that – while NSA prices are very good – buying direct from NSA is also not necessarily the absolutely cheapest option. And not necessarily by much.
And there’s one more wrinkle to think about! If you want heavier weight slugs in .22 caliber, both NSA and H&N provide a large range. The heaviest from H&N is 30 Grains, while NSA has 31.2 Grainers.
If buying by the case, the NSA 31.2 Grain slugs cost 6.19 Cents each. (Heavier slugs need more lead which costs more, so that makes sense). However H&N 30 Grain slugs are the same price as their lighter models. So the best price for 30 Grain H&N slugs is still just 5.9 Cents each. Now H&N is cheapest!
So by buying slugs in bulk, you can get some great prices on high quality airgun ammo. That has to be great news for all airgunners who choose to shoot slugs.
