EVERY serious hunter should own an air rifle or a .22lr. I know this is a bold statement, but please hear me out. We all strive to be the best hunters we can be and this requires practice – lots of it. But practice comes with a price tag. Ammunition prices, even if you’re a hand-loader, have skyrocketed over the past few years. I looked up online price ranges of ammunition for the eleven hunting rifle calibres most often encountered in South Africa. In many cases the listed ammunition was not available, but for the purpose of this article, prices listed here are a good indication of what it costs to keep your hunting rifle fed if you are not a reloader.
While the cost of the cartridge used to kill your quarry is minuscule when factored against all the other costs of the hunt – travel, day fees, game charges, food and drink, skinning, taxidermy, tips, etc – much must happen before a hunter brings home a trophy or hangs biltong on the drying rack. There are the many trips to the shooting range, first to sight in your rifle and then
