Budgeting ammo purchases: the lowest price doesn't always mean the best deal

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I don't consume a particularly immense amount of factory ammunition (at least in centerfire), as most of the shooting I do is with reloads. However, I still occasionally have to order / buy ammo for one reason or another. Balancing a reasonable hobby budget is a crucial part of any person's life- and here is how I make some of the expenses manageable.

 The easiest way I have found to budget these expenses is with gift cards earned from my credit card company. Sure SGammo, centerfiresystems or Aimsurplus have better prices- but it only takes me a couple billing cycles to earn a $100 dollar gift card to cabelas or dicks sporting goods. As this is all found money, the cost of buying ammo at a much higher per box price, actually works out to be much lower in actual financial impact on me.

 Here is what I do (many of you may already do this).

1. - make sure you have a credit card that has rewards and also has no annual fees. Many offer 1-5% back on purchases with no fees, though annual cards can earn you more. 
2. - I use my CC for every purchase I make. I pay my card off in full every month, so the interest rate is inconsequential as I never actually have to pay it. My is a variable 10.5%- not the greatest, but again, it totally doesn't matter. 
3. - I try to use vendors that earn extra points. As I accrue those points, I always take a gift card. I found that if I get a check or credit card paydown, I often use the money in other ways. Taking out gift cards forces me to apply the money in accordance with my predetermined budget. 

 This month, I ordered 400 rounds of 9mm - 350 were brass cased, and 1 box was WWB 115gr JHP (the 45acp JHP from WWB actually is a great performer for the money). Normally I would have ordered some steel cased ammo, but the sale that was going on this month had brass cased ammo at less than 10 per box. after I applied my gift card that I had earned over the last few months, total cost out of my pocket was an additional 5 bucks. Not too shabby, especially considering that overage also went to earn me points for my next ammo purchase. The other nice thing about the big box vendors is often you can get reduced price shipping at orders of 99 or more, so most of the 5 bucks I spent actually covered all of the reduced rate shipping that was being offered this month.

 This process has painlessly allowed me to build up a very respectable stash of 5.56 / 223, 7.62x39, 40sw, 45acp, and 9mm. By having a few calibers that I like to stock up on factory ammo, I just surf the sales when I have a gift card handy and buy whatever is cheapest. Like I said, it isn't the fastest way to build up a small stockpile, but it certainly is an efficient one.