Bare shelves here, how about there?

[Isaac-1]

Around here it seems like the shelves at sporting goods stores are getting very bare. First it was ammo and now it seems to be guns also, last week I was in Academy Sporting Goods in a nearby city at about 2PM on a weekday and the ammo aisle was looking very bare, the only handgun caliber available was 45LC, rifle ammo was mostly limited to larger more obscure hunting rounds (300WSM, 7mm Magnum, etc.), shotgun shells were in ample supply, but only in target rounds, there were no slugs or buck shot available at the same time there were over a dozen people crowded around the gun displays doing NICS paperwork. Today I went to a local sporting goods chain store and the situation was similar, perhaps worse, the only handgun caliber they had was a couple of boxes of .32 auto, rifle ammo was much the same. This store normally has 250-300 long guns on display, and usually sell from stock in the back, not the display models. Today they had less than 30 long guns on display, Shotguns were limited to single shot only, rifles were either lever or bolt action and they had 1 handgun in the case that normally has a dozen or more (a long barreled Taurus Judge in stainless). While I was there today at least there were no people buying, but there were 3 or 4 looking and asking about layaway terms, etc.

Is this going on in other parts of the country too, are the only places with stock the LGS's that have marked things up to insane levels?

 

[Big_E]

I've been too afraid and busy to check.

Before I left to visit family in CA, ~Dec. 20th. All the magazines for popular firearms were gone. Ammo was still readily available and most of it for a fair price (at least at Cabela's). That was a month ago. I've been back for a week now and haven't bothered to check any sporting goods store or Walmart.

I may go later to ease my worries, because right now I'm just going to shoot .22's until I know whether or not I should buy other types to shoot.

 

[M-Cameron]

in MA, things seem relatively normal

at my local bass pro, they are completely sold out of handguns..... literally their handgun cabinets are bare.

rifles and shotguns seem to be in their normal 'non-panic' supply...

ammo seems to be normal 'non-panic' supply....little low on common calibers but nothing crazy.

and prices seem to be the same 'non-panic' prices.....

Walmart is lower than usual on ammo, but not bare shelves...and prices are about what they usually are.

 

[hso]

Some yes, but others not as much.

Gander is succeeding in keeping ammunition coming in weekly, but it flies out before restocking. ARs come in and are gone the same day (4 last week, 14 the week before, but it doesn't matter how many $2,000 Black Rain or Sig 716 models come in they're GONE in a day).

Academy Sports is cleaned out of ammunition every time I go in, but there's evidence of restocking. ARs trickle in, but are gone in a couple of days.

Walmarts have a variable supply of ammunition that is gobbled up right away.

Smaller shops sell ARs as fast as they have them to sell (which is really the same as the bigger national chains).

 

[Droid noob]

It sucks everywhere. I haven't gone shooting in 3 weeks. Mainly because I don't want to shoot my limited stash up.

 

[rugerman]

I was talking to a friend the other day and she said that her husband was in a gun store talking to some guys about the shortages and he told them that he had a AR and a few 30 round mags, the guys he was talking to started bugging him to sell them his mags and a bidding war started right there in the store. When he told them that he wasn't going to sell they got upset so he left. It's getting crazy out there!

 

[ngnrd]

My local Sportsman's Warehouse was a little crazy this morning. 50+ people crowded around the door to the back, and people buying stuff as it came out of the stock room. They had the customers take numbers, and were rationing stuff as they were unloading the truck. I just stopped by to see if they had gotten any powder in. They had - and the shelves still looked bare. Yeah... it's still crazy out there. But, it'll slow down eventually. I just hope I can make my jug of Unique last until it does. Because that's about all I have left...

On a side note. This morning, a co-worker who's retiring and moving out of state gave me an old box of Winchester .223 he had laying around. Said he found it in storage, and didn't have anything to shoot it in. (I bought his Mini-14 a few years ago, and he assumed I still had it.) Said he had a few bricks of .22 and "some other stuff" if I wanted it, too. Maybe I can keep shooting after all...

 

[pty101]

We have a Scheels here and they're hit and miss. Ive found decent prices on .223 once. The other day they a lot of 38 special and 40S&W. But, it goes fast you never know what youll find. We have a Cabellas too that usually has stock. Its expensive 14.99/American Eagle 20rds. But they have a decent amount of 9mm and most calibers. They seem to stock before close so thats the best time to go.

 

[TheDaywalkersDad]

I've been off for a couple of days and hit up a few gun stores while running errands all over town. The Bass Pro Shops in my area had six M1911's, One 24/7 G2, and a half dozen or so single action revolvers in the handgun case this weekend. They had a decent amount of .22's. Ammo in the popular calibers was gone.
The local Walmarts are out of just about every caliber that's popular. If you get in at 1am it's not hard to get a clerk to open a few boxes to see what came in on the truck. I did this a lot in 2008/2009. They don't seem to mind. Whatever comes in on the truck is gone by 9am.
One of the local indoor ranges is limiting ammo sales to 2 boxes per shooter.
A local gun store stopped selling ammo. They started off limiting ammo sales to 2 boxes. Then they decided to only sell to gun buyers. Now they're out of all of the best sellers.
So that's what it's like just outside of Richmond, VA.

 

[berettaprofessor]

I was in Cabelas KC today. What shocked me wasn't the absence of ammo...it was the absence of some types of guns and all the magazines.

Why, for instance, wasn't there a single Ruger Mark III or 22/45 or Single Six or any Browning Buckmarks? There was a Ruger SR22, a Ruger LCR-22 and several Beretta Neo's (proving once again that the latter are unpopular), but nothing with any real target-grade accuracy. There were plenty of SD's, 1911's, and Glocks, but fewer revolvers than normal.

I can understand the hi-cap mags being gone, but the entire magazine aisle was practically empty; no 1911 mags, no Ruger mags of any kind, no Beretta mags except a single PX4 40S&W mag, no Glock mags. The only thing that seemed to be abundance were Sig Sauer mags (need I say more?)

And ammo? No 223, 5.56 at all. 7.62X39 was represented by a single manufacturer at $1.00/round. No bulk pistol ammo at all. No 380 single boxes, no 9 mm. The only 45ACP was aluminum cased.

When I walked in there were 8-10 Federal Champion 22LR bulk-packs, so I initially thought that was a good sign. They were $23.99, the highest I've ever paid, but I thought, what the heck, I shot one up last month so I'll grab one to replace it while I can find it. Thought about it while shopping and went back 20 minutes later to get another....and they were all gone, even though the store overall was not very busy. I must have walked in right after they put a new shipment on the shelves. There was no Wolf, no CCI, no Aquila at all.

I ask again, why the absence of Ruger 22LR's and Buckmarks?

 

[Isaac-1]

I suspect some people are buying .22 semi auto pistols to keep in practice with (if they can find ammo) so as to not shoot up their stockpile of 9mm, .45ACP, etc.

 

[JVaughn]

Slim picking in East TN. Walmart out of all ammo but 30-06, 7mm, and oddly enough, .45ACP hollow points. No AR anywhere except Byrds in Jonesborough where you can buy one for more than twice the normal price. Glocks are almost gone too.

 

[nwilliams]

At the gun shop I work at we still have lots of guns and ammo but it's disappearing at an alarming rate and none of our distributors have much to order so we can't fill our shelves back up with new stock.

 

[Grassman]

Guess there are not many .17 cal shooters in my area, that can be had everywhere!

 

[Queen_of_Thunder]

Slim pickins here. One store is way over priced. They are basicly destroying their own business due such things as selling 22lr for $0.27 a round and selling guns on layaway to others at 3-4 times the value that the orginal customer had layed it away at. I'm hearing that one customer is going to take the shop to court.

 

[Isaac-1]

Until recently I was seeing .17HMR everywhere here too, now even that is mostly gone.

 

[herkyguy]

Wally World is slim pickings. i did manage two boxes of 22WMR a few days back at normal costs. oddly, there were 6 boxes of 7.62X39 sitting on the shelf which must have just arrived. everything else was more or less gone except the hunting calibers.....243, 30-06, .270.

some JHP in .45 and .357, but not what I need right now.

Haven't been into the LGS's in a week or so, but last I checked they were selling at higher costs.

 

[Ken70]

This is going to be a good year to develop some other hobbies. If you don't already have your guns and supplies, it's going to be a constant search, and when you find something, 2x or 3x or more what it cost in October. Between the people that are just starting with guns, and the people that are making money reselling, this is going to be a long year.

 

[enine]

Slim here too. I finally get to keep a little bit of my annual bonus by allocating some before it was scheduled for bills, was going to get our first pistol and can't find anything.
I can't even order online, I'd be happy to put the $ down and let someone back order but none of the sites will even do that the supply is so slim.
Started browsing used and I can hit refresh, see something new, call and its already been sold.

 

[Steve51]

My local Walmarts have very little ammo. Mostly shotshells. My LGS has a few rifles to choose from (mostly lever actions). They have a good stock of shotguns. They only had 25 lb of lead shot (size 4). Their ammo shelves were emptier than last week. They still had a good supply of powders. I bought 1 lb. of Unique - price was the same as the last time I bought it. They had primers but limit each customer to just 3 boxes. I bought 3 boxes of small pistol primers - the ones I use the most.

 

[Isaac-1]

I went to another LGS today, this one seems fairly well stocked, even had a used .50 BMG (no price tag), but the prices were a bit on the high side even though many had "reduced" price tags including a Sig P226 for the reduced price of $1,100, ammo was surprisingly available in most calibers, UPS had just delivered several cases which were not on the shelf yet, and they were limiting people to 1 box of ammo per person per day. I did not look at a lot of prices, but Winchester 9mm target ammo was $19.99

 

[Ehtereon11B]

Bare shelves everywhere. I went to my LGS to sell off some firearms I didn't want anymore and get a new hunting rifle. No Glocks, No ARs, very few bolt or pump hunting rifles. A few handguns that were collector pieces and a few that would be used for carry. Almost no ammo to speak of. Sold out of all popular calibers with obscure ones on the shelf for 22-250 and similar calibers. Their entire inventory could have fit in an old model S10. Making small talk with the owner and he said their distributor was backed up almost 4 weeks and up to 6 months on other weapons like ARs.

Same day went to Bass Pro that the wife wanted to look around. Almost no pistols of any kind. What they did have were a few Kimbers, a USP, a few XDs and about a dozen Ruger Mk somethings target pistols. Out of their entire reloading section the only dies they had were for .500 S&W Magnum. Out of powder they had 3 BOTTLES. 1 of Green-Dot and 2 for a shotgun clay powder, forgot the name. I joked with the guy and said it looked like they were moving stores. They are backed up a minimum of almost 5 weeks and selling firearms the moment they trickle in.

 

[FiremanJim]

Oh yea,

As bare as bare can be.

 

[sawdeanz]

At a relatively new store today on Ulmerton in Largo, Fl. One or two Ar-15s and aks, but plenty of SKS's in the $400 range which is typical around here. Not much in common ammo but plenty of french surplus for some reason.

 

[FitGunner]

The shelves are bare here for some shot shells in bird shot. They are rationing popular calibers. You can only buy one box at a time. There seems to be plenty of .40, .45 acp, .45 lc, and 7.62x39. The only handguns are .22, .357sig, and .40. There are still some revolvers available too.