Is it just me or...?

Theres been plenty of ammo around here for a month or two- but Im not paying $1 a round for 9mm or .357. I can survive off my pre-Covid stockpile for another year or two.

It is definitely better in my area (SE PA). Two LGS near me have a good stock now after having mostly bare shelves two months ago..

Plenty of ammo out there but prices are still high. Most LGS here still have 1-2 box limit per person.

We visited 4 different gun stores (including Cabela's/Bass Pro) in Idaho Falls yesterday, and the only one that didn't have at least some 9mm and .380, as well as some .223 ammo on the shelf was Cabela's/Bass Pro. It was still high priced, and there was a limit to 2 boxes per customer, but at least 3 or the 4 stores we visited had some.
On the other hand, my loving wife is addicted to concealed carry purses, and she's always looking for the "perfect" one - kinda like me and guns, I suppose. Anyway, only 1 of the 4 gun stores we visited yesterday even had a concealed carry purse, and Mrs. .308 Norma said the opening to the holster compartment was too small. She said, "The sights on my gun will snag if I tried to get my gun out in a hurry." So, she didn't come home with yet another concealed carry purse to hang in the closet along with all the others.

I'm not even wasting my time going into stores looking for ammo until I see costs on the internet back to normal levels. No point, I'm not paying more than the following below for ammo, I'll use what I have until price returns to normal:

Below is where I will start buying again:

9mm (brass) below $0.24/round
10mm (brass) below $0.30/round
45ACP (brass) below $0.30/round
556 (brass) below $0.34/round
7.62x39 (steel) below $0.22/round
308win (brass) below $0.60/round
22lr (CCI Minimags and SV) below $0.10/round

I went to a semi local gun shop last week. They had 9mm, 556, and 22LR on the shelf at not gouging prices. Went to a shop today, some ammo but not in the staple calibers. They had mostly hunting rifle ammo and obscure handgun rounds like 32NAA.

I have not had to look for ammo as I am one who buys it cheap and stacks it deep (and I reload), but have been following the situation. Someone on another forum I frequent said his gun shop guy told him that suppliers say things should be back to kind of normal by May. This was as far as availability, but expect 9mm at $15-17/50.
The big Remington plant is supposed to be hitting full capacity now too. They were calling some workers back a month or 2 ago but didn't have the materials to run full bore until recently. This was according to the head ammo guy at Vista Outdoors, the owner of Federal and now Remington ammunition
https://www.americanrifleman.org/ar...reen-is-back-remington-ammo-plant-working-247

NIGHTLORD40K said:

Theres been plenty of ammo around here for a month or two- but Im not paying $1 a round for 9mm or .357. I can survive off my pre-Covid stockpile for another year or two.

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Same here. I could stretch my 9mm a year, maybe, maybe 2. I can probably stretch my 5.56 another 4-5 years and .22lr probably at least a few years. When I find a box or two of 9mm and it's 0.50rd or less I will buy a box here and there just to cushion the stash a lil, but I'm not doing case quantity right now because it's just too big a hit.

I'm still waiting on a case of 9mm I ordered last May from Sportsman's Warehouse, the delivery date keeps getting pushed back, right now it has a June delivery date. It just seems so unlikely to me that they wouldn't have had a shipment of Wolf 9mm come in all that time but I guess.....

It seems to be easing-up a bit! Though, that is from various firearm forums, not from personal experience! I rarely go to LGS! memtb

When Whittakers takes down the limit sign on the common calibers I'll say the shortage is going away.

For many years I've been buying the majority of my ammo from local Academy. For the better part of a year, and after having just a trickle of ammo here and there, last month they began receiving decent shipments of many of the most popular calibers about every other week. They do limit you to two boxes per customer. Last month I was able to pick up 300 rds of 9mm Blazer Brass at $18 a box of fifty which is about $6 more than the pre Covid price.

Since then I have bought 300 rds of Remington/American Eagle .380 APC at $23 a box of fifty and two twenty count boxes of Sig Sauer Elite 120 gr .300 Black Out at $27 a box of twenty. Both were within $2 or $3 dollars of pre Covid prices and much better than anything on the internet and that's if you can find it.

Although I have not found any .38 Special or .32 APC on the shelf I am slightly optimistic that there might be a light at the end of the tunnel and maybe, just maybe, were looking at a permanent increase in ammo availability. My range time this past year has been almost nil as I was concerned I couldn't replace what I used. I'm not completely comfortable yet but I'm comfortable enough to hit the range a least once a month.

Maybe a little. I've noticed gun prices coming down a bit too (specifically shotguns). I think its starting to ease up a LITTLE.

BreechFace said:

I'm not even wasting my time going into stores looking for ammo until I see costs on the internet back to normal levels. No point, I'm not paying more than the following below for ammo, I'll use what I have until price returns to normal:

Below is where I will start buying again:

9mm (brass) below $0.24/round
10mm (brass) below $0.30/round
45ACP (brass) below $0.30/round
556 (brass) below $0.34/round
7.62x39 (steel) below $0.22/round
308win (brass) below $0.60/round
22lr (CCI Minimags and SV) below $0.10/round

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. I think you may be done buying ammo permanently. Better sell your guns.

Electricmo said:

. I think you may be done buying ammo permanently. Better sell your guns.

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Not necessarily. If I remember right, it was Sandy Hook that caused a MASSIVE run on AR’s and .22 ammo. Basic M&P Sports and Bushmasters were going for $1200 retail and up to $1800 private sale. .22 was where it is now. People swore we’d never see $.06 22 ever again. After the market was flooded for awhile, people stopped buying. Prices actually dropped below prepanic prices. It will all depend on what Biden and Congress do. If they don’t do anything, I expect in about a year or so, barring any major mass shootings like at a school (knock on wood for many reasons) you may see those prices again.

I'm seeing more on shelves at the local shops. Also seeing more brass and bullets available.

We got a pistol back we had sent back to S&W for feed issues the other day. It is a .380. I don't have a lot of that on hand so I went by Academy to see what I could find. The only .380 available was JHP. More expensive than I wanted to buy but I got it just to have more .380 around. They had a 2 box limit so I didn't get anything else but .40, 9mm, .45 acp, .357 among other calibers were on the shelves. I don't know about all calibers but just before I left to go to the store I looked at online sellers & they wanted about 80 cents a round for 9mm or .40.fmj. Academy was selling both calibers for 50 cents a round for fmj. Not back to pre-pandemic prices but improving. Oh & I went in the afternoon-not when they first opened in the morning.

Brubz said:

Is it just me or do you guys agree that the handgun ammo shortage seems to be lightening up a little bit?
In my area certain calibers of ammo are showing up again on the shelves of the LGS and the big box stores. Mostly 9 mm range ammo some 22 magnum and 22 long rifle.
I'm not talkin full shelves by any means and you still have to get there first thing in the morning but at least it's available. Still not seeing .38 Special .380 or 357 Magnum but at least I'm seeing some progress in this area what about where you guys live?

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Just saw some in LGS on Wed. No limitations on quantity. Price was .60 per round for a a box of 50 in caliber 9 mm

Here's a photo of the handgun ammo at Vances in Hebron Ohio yesterday when I went to pickup my new revolver. Mostly 9mm, some .45 ACP, .32 and can't recall the other (obviously it didn't matter much as they didn't have what I wanted or needed.) Can't remember the prices either, was too chuffed about the new wheel gun......

BreechFace said:

I'm not paying more than the following below for ammo. . .

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Unless you've got enough to outlast you, me thinks you speak too soon.

jag1954 said:

Here's a photo of the handgun ammo at Vances in Hebron Ohio yesterday when I went to pickup my new revolver. Mostly 9mm, some .45 ACP, .32 and can't recall the other (obviously it didn't matter much as they didn't have what I wanted or needed.) Can't remember the prices either,View attachment 996136 was too chuffed about the new wheel gun......

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Good to see that much in one place, but I'd be shocked if the prices aren't still quite high. Otherwise, there's little chance there'd be that much ammo on the shelves.

edwardware said:

Unless you've got enough to outlast you, me thinks you speak too soon.

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Then I won’t buy ammo, I’ll reload everything centerfire before I pay more than that.

I can still reload for under those prices so...I don’t think I spoke too soon

Phoenix area is still an ammo ghost town with 2 box limits.

I'm getting it online with regularity now. In fact, I've been able to get so much lately that I'm passing up in-stock notices that I've been getting.

I'm also seeing a lot more guns coming back into seller inventories. Ones that have been very hard to find are, while not plentiful, aren't impossible to find anymore.

My local shops have tons of ammo, but their prices are ultra high. Nobody here is buying at those prices.