What ammo didn't sell out?

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BCCL

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During the recent ammo shortage/crunch, I kept going around to several stores in about a 30 mile radius from my house and checking what they had and keeping track of what was virtually always "sold out" and what wasn't in my neck of So. Illinois and noticed a few consistent trends with the more common calibers.

Handgun ammo:

.38/.357, .45acp and 9mm were just gone.

.40 S&W and .44 magnum almost always were there, sometimes in small quantities in .40 S&W, but some, while .44 Magnum never really sold out anywhere.

Rifle ammo:

.223 and .308...poof, vanished.
.30-30 and .30-06 plenty in most stores.

Does this run about the same as other folks were seeing?
 
One was the one everyone tells you is you'll "never" be able to find....357SIG.

Every Walmart I went into usually had a couple of boxes, as well as a couple of value packs of 22-250 of all things.
 
Throughout the last year there was usually some .40 when I went to Wally world. That said my last trip there all they had in handgun ammo was .32 acp & .44 magnum.
 
Handgun:
.32, and .44Mag were usually available with smaller quantities in .40s&w and .25acp. Also, .380auto was non existent.

Rifle:
22-250, 25-06, 300WM always seemed to be in stock. 30-30 was non existent for a while there and so was 30-06.
 
The 357 SIG ammo is quite a puzzle for me. I had a rather good supply pre-November 08, so I did not need to purchase any during the "rush". Everytime I went to Walmart there was always two or more boxes of 357 SIG on the shelf. Well I had got some Christmas money and decided that I would go to Walmart and get some 357 SIG ammo. Zero 357 SIG ammo, zero! So I ask the lady when they may be getting some in, her reply was no time soon. Go figure! I guess I'll get some .223 Rem instead, shelf full of it.

Jimmy K
 
12 gauge birdshot. When I went to Bass Pro all last year, all the regular ammo shelves were BARE. They were never short on birdshot though, with cases you could have piled to the ceiling. This is probably because birdshot is for birds, and people wanted to buy up and store all the ammo used for larger targets, for a "rainy day".
 
All the local stores sold out of 9mm, .45, .380, plus the standard rifle calibers. They couldn't give away the 100-rd cases of Federal #8 12 gauge, though.
 
Good info...

Although I didnt write it down. I did notice it was the 9mm, .45, .223, 7.62x39, .308, etc. stuff that was out. I agree with the setiment above, that it very much seemed like it was for the "Larger" critters that people were stocking up for. For the most part that actually comforts me, because there are enough of my fellow Americans thinking about just in case.....
 
Too bad in Illinois you have to order ammo on line via a FFL. I buy everything on line and it comes to my front door. I can get most anything.
 
Just paying attention to pistol ammo, I saw .40 every week somewhere.

I saw 32 auto last week in Georgetown, SC for $47.00 a box. Still some outrageous prices out there. Everything in that shop was high.

Except the CCI Stingers, (which I haven't seen at wallyworld in a year at least) they were $5.75 or $5.79. On par with wallyworld pricing.
 
They WW I shop always seemed to have at least a box of .40S&W and .25acp they also had slugs and .30/30 up until hunting season now they are sold out, but pistol ammo is coming back sporadically.
 
the funny thing is that the ammo that was plentiful throughout the shortage started drying up just as everything else came back in. .357SIG and 7.62x54r are the two that I use, and that were around when everything else was, but are now hard to find.
 
9teenEleven said:
the funny thing is that the ammo that was plentiful throughout the shortage started drying up just as everything else came back in.
Click to expand...

Perhaps everyone took notice of the ammo still in stock and decided to buy guns chambered in those calibers so that they would have ammo available. Effectively reversing the ammo availability situation for the rounds in question.
 
rogertc1 said:
Too bad in Illinois you have to order ammo on line via a FFL.
Click to expand...

No we don't, I order ammo online from Sportsman's Guide and other places all the time. I just have to send them a scan of my Illinois FOID (Firearms Owners ID) card the first time, then they keep it on file and give me a customer number to use for future orders.

No FFL invovled at all.
 
My buddy said he never had any trouble finding .45GAP
Click to expand...
Well that's because no one else wants it. ;)

I always saw .40S&W available even when nothing else was. Also 7.62x25, but really, who's going to horde that?

The odd thing I always saw sold out was 9x18. I didn't realize it was that popular.
 
Re: Ammo Shortage

Ammo was hard to find up until a few months ago here in Cook County, the most gun-friendly area in the nation.:barf:

Now we have tons of 5.56/.223, .308, 9mm and .45, both at the department stores and the local gun shops. Cases and bullets are still a little slim, powder is making a comeback, and primers are now plentiful (though $35/1000 instead of $25/1000).

Hard to believe, but I've been buying lots of it lately.
 
I will say I saw .40 S&W more often than the others but it wasn't always in stock. For a while rifle ammo like 30-06, .270, .243 etc was usually sold out. However, it started becoming back before most of the handgun calibers seemed to. Then hunting season came around and it was sold out again or so it seemed. Now it seems to be coming back slightly. At the same time 9mm and others seem to be pretty easy to find too. I haven't seen too much .380 or all that much .45 acp though.
 
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