Has the current market caused you to rethink how varied your ammo usage is?

[Captcurt]

The current market has not changed me because I changed back in the Clinton years and was glad I did in the Obama years. I got rid of most of my oddball calibers. I even dumped my 17 HMR, 17 Mach2, and 22 mag because the ammo wasn't available and I didn't shoot them much anyway. I also learned to always stock up on ammo and reloading supplies before an election year.

 

[LeftyRed]

Like others here, this isn’t my first shortage. I have learned from them all, and this one I have learned that primers are king!

I voted, consolidating calibers. And that has a lot to do with me getting older, medical retirement, shoulders getting replaced, and change in my tastes. And I sold off some reloading equipment and upgraded to better equipment.

My two main and popular calibers are 9mm and 38special. I will load them on a newly purchased progressive when I’m healed and primers are back to a more normal price. They are my main caliber for EDC, the 38 special, and main training caliber. I’m keeping the 45LC for fun. That is what my favorite wheelguns, SAA types, are chambered in. 45s will continue to be loaded on my T7, if I don’t break down and get a Lyman AABS-8 just because.

Im still up in the air about reloading 9mm. It’s basically just for training and hopefully for getting back into shooting matches. I hate trying to pick up my brass, and I have noticed some ranges here forbid it. I just bought it cases at a time and stacked it deep before I got hurt and couldn’t shoot much. I’m still shooting stuff that has $7.99 on the box! It’s steel cased anyways. So will see how the market recovers and what the new prices will be. Have time to wait and see.

I do cast for the above calibers and consolidated to some upgraded molds and went all 6 cavity molds, and bought multiple of those to keep the casting more efficient. WC molds for the 38, RN for the 9mm, and FN for the 45. And I got set up for powder coating just last week! So just waiting to heal.

I will add a rifle caliber for deer. Just moved to Ohio last year and looking forward to using and testing some of the new straight wall calibers. But it does look like 350 Legend is heading the pack.

I will look into buying and keeping more 22lr and 22mag on hand. I use 22mag in my 351c and find it being a great pistol for EDC when I’m out in the barn most of the day. And in my bolt action rifle for longer range critter control. Just like this round, and I do not have to waste primers on it!

I got out of 22lr shooting during the last shortage and never got back into it. Ammo afterwards was really bad! Seems they have gotten better. Want to pick up another Taurus TX22 and get them set up for trainers when I don’t want to mess with my Glocks and for rat popping! And their are other rimfire pistol I want to get. Missed them more than I thought. One thing I especially like about shooting 22s is that I don’t have to worry about picking my brass up to reload it later!

380ACP, will just keep a case or two of FNs on hand. It’s my other main EDC caliber, and I’m just not found or reloading it. I don’t shoot enough of it to worry about it.

 

[DTL]

I was hoping to add a .40 or .45 before the panic hit. I've stuck 1ith .22, 9mm, .223 and .380 for the time being. Just recently began restocking .380 a few boxes for range, severely limiting my defensive round practice time.

 

[375supermag]

No changes here other than not shooting quite as much the last couple of months.
Instead of shooting every weekend, my son and I are now shooting every other weekend, mostly because of rain and other bad weather plus the need to pursue other interests and tasks. There is only so much time in a day.

Apparently I am not consolidating any calibers. I recently purchased a Dan Wesson .357Maximum which is a new caliber for me.
This Saturday, I will be picking up a Ruger BlackHawk in .30Carbine, which is another new caliber for me.


So, basically no changes for me other than shooting every other weekend rather than every weekend.

 

[AK Hunter]

I cut back on the amount of shooting time I spend at the range & that equals to less rounds shot. I reload almost everything I shoot so it hasn't changed much for me. I just make sure I get all my brass picked up at the range before I leave & maybe a little more that was just laying there. LOL

 

[Legionnaire]

I haven't changed cartridges due to the current shortages. My only concession has been to start reloading 9mm which previously I had purchased in bulk. I'm good with components for my rifles for a while.

 

[GBExpat]

Has the current market caused you to rethink how varied your ammo usage is?

No. A direct result on sitting on a mountain of both ammunition & reloading components ... as well as being retired so that I have time to both shoot & re-/hand-load ammunition whenever I feel like it.

Now that the current Panic is showing signs of attenuating, I receive, as I am sure we all do, increasing numbers of sale emails with their @SUBJs touting increasing supplies of ammunition available and at "better" prices. Most of these I just nuke those without even opening them. Yesterday I opened one before deleting it. I have zero interest in paying 62¢/rd for steel-case TulAmmo 230gr FMJ .45acp ammo ... but I have no doubt that some do.

EDIT: After rereading the OP I decided that I needed to add a bit more to stay true(r) to the initial thrust of this Thread.

I never did get on the Cartridge Consolidation bandwagon. Mine was more of a Coasting to a Stop bandwagon.

The last cartridge that I added to my reloading bench was the .300Blackout ... 2 years ago for the one AR Pistol that I have built/assembled.

I am currently setup to reload ~20 cartridges ... but recently I have only been loading for a few.

My approach to new cartridges has always been to, as soon as possible, stockpile a minimum-comfortable quantity of all components required for, say, 500 rounds. After I have that established, I am always on the lookout for excellent deals on components and add to my assorted stocks as the deals become available.

I will only buy factory ammunition when I come across something like one of the Rebate Deals that used to pop up periodically. I still have scattered wind drifts of factory ammo in various locations downstairs from such deals. Just yesterday I noticed 4 150rd boxes of the Federal Black Pack 230gr FMJ .45acp under the bench. Remember those Black Pack Rebate deals? Ahhhh ... those were nice. Cheap, good-quality, consistent blasting ammo.

 

[DustyGmt]

Well one thing I have done, not so much by choice as much as being forced to from some difficulty in pursuing solo activities, for some reason when I go to the range and get all set up I lose all my wind and have to tear down and head out. Strange newish thing. So in that aspect I've saved alot of ammo since I avoid solo range trips for the time being.

Normally I would be going out every or every other weekend and bring a pile of 9mm and .223 and get to work. In this current market I suppose it's just as well, it's nice to know I have a good store on hand for when I can resume normal shooting again. One thing that I've sort of transitioned to is shotgun (trap) shooting, on Saturdays, some Thursdays when folks are around. Before the pandemic started I maybe shot 50-100 rds of shotgun in the last decade, now I shoot 100-125 per trip. It's a new kind of shooting, and I enjoy it and it's not quite as costly (yet) as my normal handgun/rifle shooting used to be.

I imagine that given my current predicament, rarely being able to go about my normal solo shooting activities, what I have on hand will last me a good while and I won't have to go scrounging for ammo anytime soon but I also won't turn my nose up at a good deal and I'm now always on the lookout for flats of 12ga target loads.

I'm sure I'm not the only one who may have transitioned to different guns or cartridges with the consistent unavailability of certain hot ticket cartridges, such as shooting .22lr more often in place of more popular centerfires.

I was considering a .223 bolt gun like a .223 RAP predator or something to continue shooting .223. AR's have a way of gobbling up ammo, but I never found my .223 predator and I decided that I would just exercise a lil trigger discipline and download my AR mags to 5-10 rds to conserve and take a slower approach and work on longer range precision shooting rather than the constant tap, rack, bang I was doing before. But of course there always needs to be a lil bit of that.....