Ammo "hoarding is infectious"....

Kleanbore:
The OP also might have been planning very far ahead (right when he bought the ammo), partly subconsciously, realizing that having one-two boxes of ammo can make or break a gun deal if almost none is available for a potential buyer.

I feel like such a piker.

A while back, I was visiting a friend's workshop, and one of his cabinets was open, exposing impressive stacks of plastic reloaded ammo boxes. Jokingly, I asked if he thought he had enough. He just grinned and opened two more cabinets full, and noted that he liked to keep 10,000 rounds of each handgun cartridge he shoots.

It never occurred to me that that might constitute hoarding. It just seemed like a reasonable thing for a guy that shoots a lot to do. He was a Camp Perry champion after all.

JERRY said:

... things will really dry up then.

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Reloaders depend on buying powder, primers, bullets, and (sometimes) cases. I think there's going to be a market for people who want to: 1) make their own powder, 2) make their own primers, 3) cast their own bullets (in all cases, not just as a preference), and 4) fabricate their own cases. Are their any vendors working on developing a market and a supply for these needs? We might end up ALL being reloaders.

mnrivrat said:

I have a minimum amount I keep for each caliber gun I have. I have done this for decades. If I shoot down to my minimum ,I go shoot something else until I find some more to purchase. For a few decades I did cleaning, testing, and repairing guns for a local shop. During that period I picked up ammo at garage sales, gun shows, or where and when I found it cheap. I used it for test firing.
Now I hardly ever shoot. I am disabled in a wheel chair, no longer do gun work, and I moved from my 5.5 acre home near the river (nearest neighbor 1 mile) and there are no local ranges.
The last time I "stocked up" well over my minimum and needs, was at Cabela's. It was .22 LR Win white box. I still have at least one full brick (500 rounds) + some additional boxes from that 5 brick purchase. The cost was $7.77 per brick (on sale). They had a pallet full. I have other .22 ammo totaling about 3K rounds. About a month ago I stopped at Cabela's on my way to Mayo clinic they had exactly 5 boxes of 50 rounds ea. for sale. Browning .22 LR for $7.99 a box of 50.
The doctors indicated to me I will not need any more ammo. Not .22 , nor any other caliber either. I can now shoot up some of my minimum stash.

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That sounds like a good way to manage your ammo supply. Living on 5.5 acres down by the river with no neighbors sounds even better. I did that on the Skunk River in SE Iowa in the mid seventies but it flooded too often so I left. Sorry to hear your prognosis. It certainly puts the inconvenience of the ammo shortage in perspective. I hope you enjoy shooting up you stash.

wiscoaster said:

Reloaders depend on buying powder, primers, bullets, and (sometimes) cases. I think there's going to be a market for people who want to: 1) make their own powder, 2) make their own primers, 3) cast their own bullets (in all cases, not just as a preference), and 4) fabricate their own cases. Are their any vendors working on developing a market and a supply for these needs? We might end up ALL being reloaders.

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Other than castIng bullets, the machinery to make such endeavors worthwhile would be cost prohibitive. You’d be better off just buying a lifetime supply of the reloading necessities.

Even if you had all the equipment you’d still need a whole host of various supplies. If you’re missing any one item your out of luck. One of the pitfalls of reloading is that you need 4 separate items. Without cases, powder, primers and bullets you’re not going to make it far. For most people it’s much easier to just buy loaded ammo.

reddog81 said:

You’d be better off just buying a lifetime supply of the reloading necessities.

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Except if they're ALREADY unavailable. And if they were, too many people following that advice would certainly make them unavailable.

I don’t think buying 2 boxes is hoarding. Hopefully, you didn’t pay an exorbitant price.

I’ve always bought ammo when the price was right, i.e, on sale or priced low. Got enough ammo.

Buying ammo now at current prices would be counter intuitive to me. In fact I sold off 1000 rounds each of 9mm and .223 when the panic began, and just sold 100 rounds of .308 to a friend who needed some at what I’d paid for it years ago.

When I told him what I wanted for it, he looked at me funny and asked me if I knew what ammo was going for now.
Told him yeah, and I also know who my friends are and they’re more important to me than a quick buck.

And where exactly are you going to find the supplies to start making primers?

wiscoaster said:

Except if they're ALREADY unavailable. And if they were, too many people following that advice would certainly make them unavailable.

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Meeks36 said:

Just remember when hording you cannot eat bullets. Stash food and bullets. Bullets to protect that food. That is if things get really hairy. But we dont do those scenarios here. So delete of you must.

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Stashed food, bottled water, purification, lots of stuff. Still need to find room for 10 cases of Dinty Moore

SharpDog said:

Stashed food, bottled water, purification, lots of stuff. Still need to find room for 10 cases of Dinty Moore

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Just bought mylar bags for beans and dare I say long term storage of bullets. Going to seal up a few thousand rounds in mylar. Leave the rest in ammo cans. Just a experiment. Only sealing up .22 lr and maybe a box or two of 9mm. Unseal some a few years from now and see how they fire.

reddog81 said:

And where exactly are you going to find the supplies to start making primers?

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The time may come when you'll have to make them yourself. Start thinking outside the box.

Info here on various compositions used in priming compounds, but I doubt you can get many of these in an educational chemistry set these days

https://www.bevfitchett.us/chemical-analysis-of-firearms/priming-compositions.html

The last time I 'hoarded' ammo was when we stopped selling pistol ammo and .223 and 7.62x39. I did buy several 100 round boxes of .45 ACP, one 100 round box of 9mm (all that was left,for when I eventually buy one), and one box of 9mm Federal SD ammo. (ditto)

I have noticed it's a bit tougher finding some components, but I've been loading all the while-just heading back downstairs to keep cranking them out.

wiscoaster said:

The time may come when you'll have to make them yourself. Start thinking outside the box.

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Butterknife brigade might be a more reliable method of resupply at that point.

Um one can make them out of cap gun strips or the round one's. Not going into details as I have yet to do it. And dont want everyone to try it and blame me for missing finger. The info is out here. Google is your friend. Stay safe.

I would not call keeping what you feel enough as hoarding. I'm fairly new to reloading so my supplies are a little lower than I feel I would like to have. My local stores have limits on what can be purchased. Right before the election things were slowly starting to come back. I was lucky enough to find a few things. I have more on hand than I normally used to keep as buying locally was not a challenge.

I haven't been shooting as much or as often I used to As a result of all of this. I feel like if you can find it and it's what you need buy it. You won't find me paying .60 cents a round for 9mm reloads. I'm not a scholar by any means but there are a few terms I can think of i learned when I was in high school. Supply, demand and capitalism.

It might be a little while but I'm sure this will all blow over and the people overpaying will be sitting on an overpriced mountain of ammo and double or triple priced guns crying about it. Dig in and hold on.

I am almost embarrassed to admit that I was caught a bit short in a couple rifle calibers.

Because I assumed that the common hunting calibers would remain available, because I figured I had enough to get through hunting season and just wouldn't be shooting a lot of rifle (I admit, almost all of my shooting sessions these days are my duty pistol, carry guns and ARs), I didn't pay any attention. I had stockpiled a ridiculous amount of 9mm, .45 ACP and .223/5/56 prior to the 2016 election, but when I was getting ready for hunting season, it was like, "Hey, where's all the .30-06?"

Even .30-30 started drying up. I still see plenty of .25-06, .243, 7mm Mag, 300 Mag stuff out there, but who'da thunk that all the 6.5 CM and .270 would be bought up by all the hoarders? (Not me, apparently)

I confess to picking up the odd couple of boxes of whatever caliber (that I own guns in) might be on the shelves of my local stores when I wander through... Now, I won't pay stupid prices (I have one local rural chain store that charges pre-panic prices and has a two-box limit per caliber), but, yeah, I'll buy some.

"Infectious?" At this point, I don't feel as though I'm contributing to the madness (and the shortages), it just seems prudent.

(And a couple buddies say, "That's why we reload." I say, "I don't care, I have too many other hobbies already, my time is worth more than I can save reloading, and I don't wanna have to be tied up indoors doing something I frankly find tedious." I sorta get tired of the self-righteous trumpeting of the reloading crowd, as though they stand above those who have routinely bought commercial ammunition... well, okay, maybe they can crow a bit, at least in regards for those willing to pay the stupid prices.)

First off we are all adults here, and as such I presume every person possesses sound mental states and as such can make their own decisions in appropriate manner.

I will say this again, I told everyone I could in the last 3.75 years when the topic of firearms came up in conversation to buy everything they needed and stack it deep..... well here we are today with people being cry babies screaming your hoarding and you don't care about others.

You can't help stupid and procrastinators.

KY DAN said:

well here we are today with people being cry babies screaming your hoarding and you don't care about others.

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Where's this happening? I haven't seen it. Most folks I encounter are pretty pragmatic about shortages, not just the ammo shortages. "Cry babies?" What are we, grade-schoolers?

It's not stupid and procrastinators. Some folks simply have other priorities. For most, it's taking care of the children, home-schooling, food, trying to stave off the boredom of being mostly house-bound, getting enough sleep, going to work and staying virus-free. And, let's face it: most Americans are not single-mindedly focused on their firearms, if they even own any.

The ammo thing I get. Now, the toilet paper hoarding is another story ...

mnrivrat said:

I have a minimum amount I keep for each caliber gun I have. I have done this for decades. If I shoot down to my minimum ,I go shoot something else until I find some more to purchase. For a few decades I did cleaning, testing, and repairing guns for a local shop. During that period I picked up ammo at garage sales, gun shows, or where and when I found it cheap. I used it for test firing.
Now I hardly ever shoot. I am disabled in a wheel chair, no longer do gun work, and I moved from my 5.5 acre home near the river (nearest neighbor 1 mile) and there are no local ranges.
The last time I "stocked up" well over my minimum and needs, was at Cabela's. It was .22 LR Win white box. I still have at least one full brick (500 rounds) + some additional boxes from that 5 brick purchase. The cost was $7.77 per brick (on sale). They had a pallet full. I have other .22 ammo totaling about 3K rounds. About a month ago I stopped at Cabela's on my way to Mayo clinic they had exactly 5 boxes of 50 rounds ea. for sale. Browning .22 LR for $7.99 a box of 50.
The doctors indicated to me I will not need any more ammo. Not .22 , nor any other caliber either. I can now shoot up some of my minimum stash.

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mnrivrat, I wish you the best and I hope the doctors are wrong and you need a lot more ammo.

grammontS said:

I bought 1000rds of CCI standard velocity this morning at a LGS , $60 for the brick , I actually thought about going to get another one after I returned home. I see absolutely NO problem with buying as much as one pleases. Did I need the .22 rounds , the answer is no , but I wanted them , and I'm free to pirchase as many as I please.

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I'm with you. Reading where people tell me what I'm right to buy and what I'm wrong to buy just makes me stubborn and makes me go against their preachings. I also like selling my hoard for more than I paid for it, which the non-capitalists among us also disapprove of. I sold some .380 ACP (that I bought from fellow capitalist pigs at Walmart for $.10/round a few weeks ago) for a dollar a round. I'm not a bad guy, though, because I didn't force anyone to buy it. I just put it out on offer and someone said they'd trade me a dollar for each round. I said DEAL! I was more of a humanitarian with the 40 S&W that I sold. I let it go for only $.60 a round because I approve of their choice of a more powerful handgun round, and also because that was all the market would bear at the time.

Seen elsewhere on the web:

"Buying in times of plenty is NOT hoarding. Having extra and being prepared is the most moral choice. Because when shortages arrive, you can remove yourself from the supply chain. Which allows others a better chance to get what they need.

NOT having extra is incredibly selfish."

That's definitely not hoarding. Now what I did at Bass Pro a few days ago is. In my defense, they had a TON of ammo and I didn't even come close to making a dent in their stock. I only buy ammo for guns I shoot, except for the 6.5 creedmoor and I bought that because I plan on buying a 6.5 soon. I live in the country so it's just a matter of walking out the front door, therefore I shoot nearly every day and go through ammo fast. Here's a picture of the Bass Pro ammo haul.

“Infectious” maybe in the herd mentality aspect. Lots of obese folks to be found consuming more than they need, so there is plenty of company.

FWIW they wouldn’t be fat if they stuck the food in their closet like the folks buying ammo they don’t need.