Anyone else experiencing this?

[9mmfan]

...in Texas you are not supposed to shoot reloaded ammo for CHL qualification.

I have never heard this before, nor have I seen in in the statutes. Are you sure it wasn't just the policy of the instructor or range?

 

[GEM]

Yep - BTW Academy has had plenty of 45 ACP and 9mm. You just have to drop in every once in awhile. I do - and I don't camp out every morning at 4:00 AM. Bass Pro works also.


It would not be a problem to find the ammo for a CHL around here.

 

[Ignition Override]

KimberUltra: Some of us buy the ammo Before we look for a specific type of gun.

The only possible future ammo panics which are predictable will be presidential elections, as is always the case.

 

[GlowinPontiac]

last time I went to the range it was packed. Yet there was almost no .22 being shot. Typically the firing line is covered in spent .22's.

I believe the fact that many online suppliers will no longer do business with CT has people cleaning out the brick and mortar stores.

 

[Steve CT]

It's really hard to find .22 lr in CT these days. I'm pretty lucky, just before the ammo crunch here I had gotten a 5K piece of a bulk purchase with some friends. I also have managed to walk into some .22 lr just hitting the shelf at Cabela's a couple of times (Federal Auto Match, one of my all time favorites), but I have seen NO .22 lr locally for at least two months.

 

[Gaucho Gringo]

MagnumDweeb what kind of load for the Mosins? I am working on black powder loads based on surplus ammo, pulled down and reloaded as a primed case, black powder and a 105 gr wadcuter. Am waiting for better weather to try it. This ammo shortage all the obscure ammo has been mostly available. Since it started I have bought 7.62 Nagant, .32 S&W, .32 S&W Long, .32 Auto & .38 S&W in either 500 or 1000 round buys for almost normal prices. Of course to find .22, .38 spl, 9 mm, .357, .45 Colt or .40 has been a exercise in futility to find any and at a decent price in quantity. Thank God for less popular calibers

 

[KimberUltra]

Larryh....I live in Manchester, so I make the trip to hoffmans on a regular basis. Haha.

Ignition....I also have a few boxes of .223 and .308, neither of which I own. Lol

 

[hammerklavier]

Maybe Wal-mart should impose some more restrictions beyond the three box limit on .22 and 9mm. Such as:

1) Only one box of bulk pack
2) Sign an agreement you won't sell it or transfer it and will not transfer it to someone who will sell it. (Sam's Club used to do this with wine, but decided it was not such a good idea.)
3) Stock at random times during the day and refuse to bring any out from the back room before it's stocked.
4) Attest that you own fewer than 5,000 already.

 

[zorro45]

I was able to buy 3 boxes of 50. rounds .22LR at Dick's in CT, they also had .223 in 500 round boxes for a decent price. The .22 was $2.59 per box, they also had 9mm and .40 and .45 available. Cabella's gets intermittent shipments of .22LR, I have not been there when they are in stock, they have a good supply of most "sporting" rifle rounds but very little in bulk except 12 ga. buckshot in 80 packs. .223 is available in smaller boxes at about $1.00 per round.

Please don't flame me for the term "sporting" it means not your typical military pattern rifle round e.g. .223 or .308, I am not a fud.

 

[JTHunter]

Neither of the two WM stores near here (IL, near St. Louis) have not had .22 ammo on the shelf since Nov. 2012 that I have seen despite repeated visits. Over the last 4 months, they have gotten more rifle calibers and some pistol calibers in but .38 Spec./.357 is still in short supply. Even TulAmmo 5.56/7.62 has been showing up in fair quantities.

Of course, there has been NO SHORTAGE of 12 & 20 gauge shotshells.

 

[OldBrownDog]

.22 lr ammo is available around here but it is VERY expensive. $2.99 for a box of 50 standard velocity American Eagle. Limit of two boxes.

Less than $0.06/round? I think that is a pretty fair price for .22LR, leastways it is to me. But I'm a young guy, and I don't have any knowledge of ammo prices before 2003-2004 or so.

That's a brick for ~$29. I would've (and have) paid that.

 

[Mike1234567]

Maybe Wal-mart should impose some more restrictions beyond the three box limit on .22 and 9mm. Such as:

1) Only one box of bulk pack
2) Sign an agreement you won't sell it or transfer it and will not transfer it to someone who will sell it. (Sam's Club used to do this with wine, but decided it was not such a good idea.)
3) Stock at random times during the day and refuse to bring any out from the back room before it's stocked.
4) Attest that you own fewer than 5,000 already.

1. agree!!
2. people lie and no way to enforce it
3. agree!!
4. people lie and no way to enforce it

 

[Tirod]

During high demand, the ammo distributors sell according to how much their customers purchased in the past. If they handled a few boxes of ammo a day, then that's what comes in to stock on the shelf.

But - there are ten more guys for each box right now, and the first one buys it all if there is no limit. People who could go months without buying ammo are checking retail store shelves every time they walk in, those with more drive show up first thing in the morning and bring family members to assist in circumventing the limits. It's being reported nationwide there are lines at Boxmart at 7:30 on ammo day.

Most of what is being bought is getting hoarded back, not shot. A lot is getting used in private transactions to finance gun trades - at double or triple the price, some guns can be had pretty cheap.

Then there are the ones who attempt to get ahead in line by making large quantity orders - which are put at the back of the line for future delivery. When one does come thru, they cancel the other three. We saw that in the first panic and the tactic has become widespread. The only way the distributor can handle it is to allot sales to loyal customers and keep their shelves stocked with the normal amounts they used to buy.

Case in point - got an email up from last week specifying the delays in shipping ice melt, scrapers, tire chains, and which warehouses were completely shut down because of the weather. It's no different with ammo, high demand and short supply means everybody gets some, but no one customer gets it all. Not even Uncle Sam - who operates his own ammo plants anyway to keep from being strategically hampered by ammo shortages.

If there's a shortage, it's because demand has increased beyond the capacity of the supply chain. Too many customers are showing up in line at the gas station trying to fill up a tanker.

Good luck with that.

 

[Mike1234567]

Yeah... if the shortage goes on much longer I imagine some very decent .22LR firearms will be bought on the cheap more-or-less due to shooters getting out of that caliber. When ammo prices drop, increasing demand of firearms, then I suspect firearms prices will eventually climb back up.

Then, when the next ammo shortage occurs, the cycle will repeat itself: High ammo prices followed by low firearms prices. Ammo shortage ends... low ammo prices followed by higher firearms prices. Seems logical.

 

[Potatohead]

there must be huge inventories/stockpiles of this stuff building up somewhere.

Yea, everyone's basement.

 

[Phaedrus/69]

Twice while I was at the store a young and older couple bought a .380 for the wife's protection. When asked about ammo the store manager told them he didn't have any and we couldn't tell they where they could find any. I felt sorry for them. I drove home, got a couple boxes of .380 and gave it to them.

Very decent of you! It's nice to hear that the ammo shortage hasn't turned us all into Scrooges!

The ammo situation here is pretty good. Plenty of 9mm to be found, at prices higher than I'd like to see but at least availability is good. Lots of .45 ACP but spendy. 5.56 ammo is plentiful and not that inflated.

Of course the .22 LR situation is ridiculous! It used to be I'd luck into at least once a month, but I haven't seen any in several months now. Between my normal stock levels and buying when I could find it I have several thousand rounds on hand. Enough that I'm not afraid to go shoot some but not so much that I consider it a "stockpile". I could probably shoot my normal 200 rounds every other week for several months, but will I be able to find any more even by summer? I dunno.

 

[SC Shooter]

Keep in mind that big game hunting seasons in most states are pretty well over. That may be why we are seeing an increase in the larger calibers like 270 win.

 

[justice06rr]

I'm just frustrated. Wanting to buy guns but they ed up being safe queens because you can't find ammo. I have around 1000 rounds for my 10/22 but I don't wanna start shooting that up. And buying a several hundred dollar rifle that I can't find ammo for would piss me off. It's bad enough I got to drive 3-6 hours up north to shoot anything past 100 yards.

You're only other option is to overpay by purchasing from private sellers. I paid a guy $55 for a 550rd Federal 22lr which I've never seen at a big box store since Dec2012.

My LGS has some off-brand 22lr bulk 500rd packs, but its priced at a screaming deal of $75/box

 

[Tony k]

rimfire was generally available here in NE Oregon for most of this past fall. By December the 22LR and 22Mag was gone. Now even the .17 calibers are gone.

This kind of scarcity is a big part of the reason I got in to reloading.

Good luck!

 

[ridgerunner1965]

i hate to ask but did you guys notice this same thing happened in 08-09? then in 2010-2011 it became available. why didnt you just buy a bunch then like i did?history always repeats its self.i give up

 

[Dr. Sandman]

Tons of .308 here, and online.