This is why you always have enough on hand.

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SaxonPig

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An industry spokesman is reporting that the ammo companies are running at 100% production capacity and are turning out over a billion rounds per week. But it is not enough to meet demand. Military calibers are getting priority and that's why some calibers are not to be found at all.

The military orders are filled first, police orders go second, commercial orders are at the back of the bus. Primers and other components are used for ammo production before any are allocated for commercial sale. There are no primers being sold through commercial channels at this time.

At this point he is predicting a 6-9 month wait for this situation to improve.

Speaking for myself again, I understand the panic rush on guns and magazines that are under fire, but every round of ammo in every caliber vanishing from the dealers' shelves overnight baffles me. I guess once the panic sets in, they buy everything in sight.

Checking my shelves, I have about 20,000 rounds of centerfire ammo in all calibers; 5,000 rounds of 22 Long Rifle; and about 8,000 various primers. No idea if I will be able to find any bullets. Maybe cast lead will be available, but at what price is unimaginable, and any jacketed bullets are unlikely to be found for a while. In any event, I feel confident that I am good for at least a couple years (save possibly the bullet shortage) so I feel no desire to fight the current mass of humanity at a show (skipping one today) just to pay outrageous prices (I see $80 bricks of 22 ammo selling, not just asking).

This is why I have been saying for many years that one should always have enough ammo on hand to get through a prolonged shortage. It happened in 2008, and again 2012-13. We know the reason: political concerns. This WILL happen, again.
 
Or the alternative: a press, primers, powder and projectiles.

Four more people in line to learn how to reload. Gave a list of "things to buy and where to get them most inexpensively" to another fella at the range yesterday.
 
You still need to have enough components on hand. Reloading is great but right now there is a real problem in getting powder and primers. When ammo is in short supply so are reloading materials so my advice remains the same.
 
SaxonPig said:
You still need to have enough components on hand. Reloading is great but right now there is a real problem in getting powder and primers. When ammo is in short supply so are reloading materials so my advice remains the same.
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Powder and primers I have. What I can't find are bullets. I always thought those would be relatively easy to find.

Learned my lesson for next time.
 
I just picked up 400 primers last weekend. The store I was in had magnum pistol and rifle primers but not standard ones. I was shopping for magnum 209 primers for the shotgun and found them too. Just like the last four years, we are in the middle of a rush. Get what you can when its available but know that it will return to normal in due time. That's when I started resupplying things that were hard to find during the rush.
 
For once I feel sort of justified in having accumulated brass, bought powder, primers, and bullets beyond my actual need. I've been able to help out a few folks who needed something, I've gotten a couple of things in return.

Wasn't that a big part of how this great nation got off the ground?
 
I wanted to get started in reloading before this latest craziness began. But by the time I received the press I ordered, plus the dies and a few other items, powder and primers were no where to be found. I started this a few months ago, and just last week found a store that had primers and I bought two boxes of 1,000 each. They actually had five boxes and I was tempted to buy them all, and probably should have, but at the moment I felt like it would not be right to buy everything he had when I have not even started actually reloading yet. I guess by the standards of the readers of this forum I have almost no ammo, i.e., about 1,600 rounds of the three calibers I normally shoot plus about another 1,600 of 22LR. Just speculation, but I wonder if things would have been totally different had Romney been elected last November. It may turn out that Barack Obama is the best thing that ever happened for the ammo manufacturers.
 
One key benefit to reloading vs. factory ammo: Your stash of powders and primers can generally be used in multiple cartridges. Same with bullets, but to a lesser extent. This gives you a lot of flexibility when you need ammo. Of course, the more cartridges you need to feed, the bigger the advantage.
 
If this gets worse I'm going to start stocking up on charcoal, saltpeter (the stuff they put in your food in Basic Training), and sulfur. Might even have to melt down some toy soldiers.
 
Aside from reloading: Consider getting into bullet casting boys & girls.
 
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Lead bullets might remain available (but I bet the scalpers will try to jack their profits) but any jacketed bullets will be MIA for the time being.
 
Reloading is great but right now there is a real problem in getting powder and primers.
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I went to the "Nation's Gun Show" in Chantilly, VA yesterday. I think I may have purchased the last 1000 box of large pistol primers in the entire show. There was a huge line at the one table selling powder. I'm glad that at this point, I'm only reloading black powder cartridges (BP still being available from my source) but most other powders are gone from stores. I think all the new, panic buyers are buying up most of the exorbitantly priced manufactured ammo and all of us previous gun owners are unwilling to pay those prices and so are having to buy up the reloading supplies. Luckily I've been so busy recently, I haven't had as much time to go shooting so I'm burning through my supplies slower than I normally might.
 
I think if you shoot or likely to shoot firearms, you should maintain an adequate supply of ammunition on hand to weather any short term reduction in availability. But it is a free country and how much you choose to keep on hand or not is an individual decision.

Reminds me of people who buy the tiny bottles of aspirn or whatever when they can buy it so much cheaper per unit if they buy a larger volume.

So if you maintain an ammunition cache, do you also maintain a cache of over the counter medication, food, and perishables used daily like toilet paper?? I suspect the two go hand in hand.
 
Over the last 3 or 4 months, I've been able to procure some primers, a K here another K there, nothing like a year ago. The same scenario for powders, if 2 lbs. are available, I get it. One place I keep checking has gotten in some powder, I get called, I go get it, kept to one lb. purchases at this time, I can understand that, just so I can get mine. IF/WHEN things lighten up, those habits are going to change for me, 4 or 8 lb. containers from here on out, not getting caught with my knickers down again! :evil:
 
After the last stockout I made it a point to buy 1k worth of the primer types I use once every 4 or 6 weeks. And I began buying powder by the 8 lb jugs for the powders I use most.

I am seeing components make their way through the supply chain. Right now its just not meeting demand.
 
So if you maintain an ammunition cache, do you also maintain a cache of over the counter medication, food, and perishables used daily like toilet paper??
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Absolutely! Plus 5gal jugs of "wash" water and 1gal jugs of distilled.

... and I completed my primary ammo stock-up by ~2007, mostly case-lots of milsurp along with a decent supply of commercial ammo and reloading components.
 
I've got components for shotgun, ammo for my pistolas and 4k in .22lr (which is what I shoot the least) so life's good for me. Are competitive shooters hurting yet?
 
Excellent topic, near and dear.

There are caches of necessary materiel and there are piles of junk. Security, health/ sanitation/ sustenance, THEN comfort: in that order. As you fill the shelves of your load out closet and secure yourself against the impending zombie onslaught, consider what proportion of your investment has gone toward the above categories and adjust accordingly. Video games etc. will become instant shims.

It would be a real bummer to have 20k rounds put away and forget the water, the carbs and the bleach. Perhaps a small library of information specific to one's situation might also be helpful.
 
Some components are available at gunrunnerauctions dot com. I didn't look at specifics or price. Look in the '24-7' auction.
 
I'm OK on most stuff, including .22LR. I am mostly a recreational shooter and I have a fair bit of reloading stuff on hand. The only thing I am short on is .44 Magnum brass but I've been able to find some here and there.

I have enough 9mm and 9x18 to last me a while, and I have a good sized stockpile of .357 and .38 special. Plenty of stuff for the hunting rifles and shotguns as well.

Once things ease up a bit I will probably pick up a few more primers as they have pretty much disappeared from the shelves around here. I have enough for now but if this stretches out for more than a year I may have to cut back on my range trips.
 
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I have enough to withstand an attack, the problem with that is that we have no body armor, nor would my wife spend money on such a device without a divorce wiping out my ammo suppy first, Nor bullett proof glass, nor enough people to defend aginst very much. if the zombies come we would need to band together with our neighboors in order to get by.
This would not be the biggest problem.Ammo is coming down. I have whitnessed it the last few weeks, it's back around if you look, even at the peak I paid $22 for 45 caliber at the vero beach shooting range. It was $55 at the show The 40 caliber seems the hardest to find, good thing I only have 1 40, also 9mm is hard the ast few weeks, but the range is stocked. i have a couple boxes of 380, and 38, also I think a box of 32 silvertips i don't want and would trade it for 9mm or 40. or 45 if anyone is local, just PM me and I will look if you are intersted.I probablly will get a gun to fit the calibers lol, which is what usually whathappens, anyone else find 40 scarce?
 
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