He does plan to reload for this rifle, but he's like me-the first few boxes are usually factory for a "baseline" to compare against once handloading has begun. I thought the price he paqid for the ammo was a bit high myself(the last box I saw was more like $100), but thought it had actually gone that high. Either way, he got a steal on the rifles. Two rifles and two boxes of ammo were less than suggested retail for one 700 Safari, so even with high priced ammo he came out ahead.