Ammunition at Academy

D.B. Cooper said:

I don't put too much stock in that kind of talk. The government will not easily let go of its monopoly on violence. There will always be police. It may look different in a year, but it will be there. Militias will always be considered "extremist."

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Yes the end is always near and hysteria rules the news but it's the extremist talk that is driving the gun and ammo panic/shortage. On the bright side, gun manufacturers and their suppliers are working overtime.

The local Academys in central Texas are still mostly dry. Bass Pro is too but some items are available on what might be the worst web site/sales system on the planet. If it says "in stock," be ready to wait a week for it to ship to the local store.

So..here's a funny story. This one time, I was at Cabela's...

I was at Cabela's this evening just looking for things that might be useful in the future, maximize on what I can get, that sort of thing. A 20-something young man and a middle aged woman (mother & son I assumed) were in the ammo aisle, and the woman was reading from texts on a phone. "223556?" she said. I said forget it, it's all gone. Pretty much sold out nationwide. The young man said "really? why?"

I couldn't believe it. Had he been under a rock the past 10 days?

After I said, "the riots" the light came on.

The discussion continued. They had no idea there had been a run on guns and ammo.

On a side note, I noticed while there that even hunting rifle calibers are depleted as well. I got the last 4 boxes of loaded ammo for my moose rifle, and the last two lbs of powder for it. Almost all handgun ammo was gone, both autoloader and revolver. Only the really high end (i.e. expensive) stuff for 30 cal hunting ammo remained.

00 buck is another one that seems to be gone everywhere and when it does pop up online, it sells out the same day. Slugs are easier to find.

My advice is cruise Academy's website often and frequently click on ammo you are interested in ... especially late night/early morning.
if your nearby store has stocked something, you can order 5 boxes of it using the "pick up at store" option, pay for it online and they'll have it at the service desk the next day.
Yes, it's a lot of dry-hole clicks sometimes, but if you do have one near you, it's easier than stopping buy a ton of times.

Was in yesterday the only 9/40/45 was still just shot shells. They had gotten some 22LR in. Rifle selection was lean and shotgun too.

Not sure exactly why, but the Academy near me has had .22lr CCI Standard Velocity quite often. As it's become my favorite .22lr round, I've done a bunch of the order online and pick up the next day buys of five of the 50-count boxes.
Would I rather buy by the brick? Sure, but I'm just glad to find the stuff. Prints great through every .22 I own.

Went to my local Academy yesterday. Bare shelves. Some .22. No AR-15s, not even display versions. Some bolt guns, some shotties.

Seemingly plenty enough handguns.

A few weeks ago a employee told me they were getting bigger shipments.

Really?

I stopped in at mine yesterday and they were cleaned out of everything. Pretty much all guns short of a few bolt actions and some .380 pocket pistols. Ammo was in a similar way. Nothing on the shelf save a few speciality hunting rounds. My LGS was stocked a bit better, but Academy had been rushed. It LOOKED looted.

The irony is that while Academy looked ransacked, our town of about 150,000 had 2 or 3 incredibly peaceful protests that were monitored and fully embraced by the local police. Not a rock, not a bottle, not a blue line lined up against anyone. Just people observing the 1st and no one was causing any issues, which is the absolute norm around here. Im not sure why everyone panic bought so much.

I'm hoping they get some more ammo in soon. I bought a few extra boxes when the COVID lock down started. Havent shot since then, but i never would have imagined a social issue would have kept me from hitting the range.

Makes me think about going ahead and picking up a Charter Professional. Plenty of .32 ammo available.

One near me seems to get small shipments of various .22LR frequently, though it moves out fast. I grabbed 3 sleeves of MiniMags and a couple boxes of Federal Auto Match yesterday.
Common handgun rounds and 223/556 were both wiped out. Was some 300 blackout, .270 and 30-06 available. Shotgun game and clay loads available, but buck and slugs gone.
IMO, the 'rona scare kicked off Round 1 of the panic buying, now the protests have kicked off Round 2.

Bought my hand loader and 300 large pistol primers. That's all they had ammo wise. So waiting on my dies to arrive. Now I have to find some powder.

Mark1964:
The ammo anxiety “Bubble” could start to gradually deflate whenever the media tires of showing burning cars and shops.

But wait!
The flippers and even retail sellers will continue to Want to stoke anxiety about a possible “Tet Offensive” on your street...!!!
How else will many of them unload their products before the anxiety cools off?

“I heard...”, “They said they want to attack...”.
So it must be true—- $$. $$. $$$.

Ignition Override said:

Mark1964:
The ammo anxiety “Bubble” could start to gradually deflate whenever the media tires of showing burning cars and shops.

But wait!
The flippers and even retail sellers will continue to Want to stoke anxiety about a possible “Tet Offensive” on your street...!!!
How else will many of them unload their products before the anxiety cools off?

“I heard...”, “They said they want to attack...”.
So it must be true—- $$. $$. $$$.

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The media ain't buying up ammo at a mad rate. People who shoot ... or believe they may need to shoot ... are. As far as I'm concerned, if they're old enough to buy ammo, they're old enough to take responsibility for their behavior.
Personally, I don't sweat this much. After the years-long idiocy that began in November-December 2012, I said, "Next time get caught short or pay stupid prices, that's on me."
Bought it cheap, stacked it deep and still prowl for good prices. I've never flipped a box and have actually sold below cost and given ammo away. I want good people to shoot.
Re retailers who act as you describe, I just don't buy from 'em. Target Sports USA is a responsible outfit, IME. My experience with Academy has been fine. I picked up a couple thousand rounds of Eley Action .22LR the other day from Killough Shooting Sports for 5.5 cents a round.
Do I wish I could find my preferred rounds more easily? Sure. But I ain't exactly staying home and not shooting because of this situation.

TonyAngel said:

What do you think the odds are that once the panic is over, ammo prices stay high. I’m guessing that vendors, well most, are gonna stick with what the market will bear.

I sure am glad that i put those .22s together. Practice this week and likely for the near future, consisted of 100 rounds of 5.56 and a brick or so of .22. The .22 is good for trigger time, sight acquisition and transitions.

I’m fortunate in that my work has me in the road quite a bit. I often go out 100 miles or so a day so i hit Academys all over. I was in a town about an hour from home and checked them out online while waiting for the judge and picked up another 100 rounds of 5.56 and 200 9mm.

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All other things (makers' costs such as raw materials, for instance) being equal, when the demand slows and vendors can't move their stock, prices will dip.
We had a nice run re prices from about late 2017 way through February of 2020.
When market conditions change, prices will follow. But it's fair to say prices are going to ride high as long as the fear-based buying continues.

I went today after work. Was looking for, in this order.... powder, 32 pistol bullets, 209 shotgun primers, 30 carbine ammo, 32sw ammo, 38sw ammo. Totally struck out, but grabbed a couple $22 525 packs of Winchester western 22lr. I’m really getting frustrated with the powder and bullet selection. They did have plenty 9mm and 40sw but I reload and have buckets of brass and bullets.

Mark1964: Your points seem valid.

Before the election in '08 I stored a fair bit of 7.62x39, even though my Astute gun buddies knew that Obama could not risk his finite "political capital"/support on anti-gun legislation, as Obamacare was already his goal when he was elected.
Much more ammo had been stored by the time of the Newtown horror.

One enterprising guy about two months after Newtown finally dumped at least 50,000 rds. of x39 on Gunbroker (all at the same time-- I counted the Golden Tiger etc). He lived in Keene NH.

Mark1964 said:

My advice is cruise Academy's website often and frequently click on ammo you are interested in ... especially late night/early morning.
if your nearby store has stocked something, you can order 5 boxes of it using the "pick up at store" option, pay for it online and they'll have it at the service desk the next day.
Yes, it's a lot of dry-hole clicks sometimes, but if you do have one near you, it's easier than stopping buy a ton of times.

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I have done that myself and its not bad.

FYI, their inventory updates have a delay so you might order something that is no longer available.

They are very quick in getting back to let you know if the item is available

BlueHeelerFl said:

I have done that myself and its not bad.

FYI, their inventory updates have a delay so you might order something that is no longer available.

They are very quick in getting back to let you know if the item is available

Click to expand...

Academys in central Texas quit updating their website for any ammo in stock. Of course when I stop by the store, there is usually none in stock and if there is, it sells so quick it never gets put online.