When I was contacted by the folks at Lucky Gunner and asked to do a review, I was intrigued. I hadn't heard of them previously and I am normally a "go down to the sporting goods store and buy ammo" kind of guy. I am considered techie by most of my friends and am the technical support hot-line of choice for my family, but I have never ordered ammunition via the internet. Well after researching this business, I believe I am about to change my ways!
At their invitation, I was invited to shop the Lucky Gunner site and see what might be of use to me. The layout of the information is great so you can shop by brand or caliber and offer large and small quantities of most ammo. You can easily bring up the page, find the kind of ammo you are looking for, compare among the choices and order in the matter of a few minutes. They also have the web site properly formatted for mobile web surfing via your iPhone (a great idea when you are at the range and realize you need to order more ammo). Lucky Gunner competes by providing competitive prices, only advertises what they currently have in stock and guarantees shipping the same day or next business day or you get a 110% refund. Since the selection of ammunition only includes what they currently have in stock you may not always find the specific caliber or brand you are looking for, but if you have some flexibility and/or you can wait until they update their site with new inventory, you can easily find what you need.
This past summer I bought my first large caliber handgun (a 44 Mag) for bear protection while traveling in Alaska and discovered that ammunition for some handgun calibers can be difficult to find. I wanted to pick up some 44 Special rounds to shoot at the range (due to the lower recoil when compared to the magnums) and couldn't locate any ammo at the two major retailers I visited. I found that this site has a wide selection handgun rounds including both 44 Mag and 44 special rounds. I always like to plink with the 22s and there are an ample selection of rim fire shells with some great deals on the large quantity orders. Shot gunners aren't left out either. As my hunting buddy would tell you, my shell to dove ratio isn't very good and I am always in need of shells. I surfed their 12 gauge inventory and found there are plenty of options to pick from. I moved on to the rifle ammunition and was elated to see that Lucky Gunner had my favorite Remington Core-Lokt ammunition at that time, so I selected two boxes of 30-06 180 grain pointed soft point bullets for my order. A couple days later, my order had arrived as advertised. The ammunition was neatly packed, in great condition, and performed beautifully!
Pros
1. They offer a wide variety of competitively priced rifle, pistol, and shotgun ammunition.
2. Shipping is really fast and they guarantee it will be shipped the same day or next business day or you will get a 110% refund
3. They only advertise what they have in inventory, so it will never be back-ordered
4. They have free targets you can print off at home. Pretty nifty!
Cons
1. You may not find the exact brand you are looking for every time you shop with them, but they do appear to refresh their inventory often so if you are patient and/or flexible, you should be fine.
2. Although shipping is fast, some days you need ammunition on a spur of the moment, but with some pre-planning you can save some money and not have to travel from store to store to find a certain caliber.
The Skinny
Lucky Gunner appears to be a class act and will be getting my business in the future. Especially for those calibers that I am more brand flexible such as my hand gun, rim fire, and shot gun ammunition. I probably won't venture far from my tried and true rifle ammo brands, but if I plan ahead, I'm confident that I will be able to get what I need.
