how did you fare through the ammo shortage .....

[97guns]

and what about the "next" ammo shortage. it didn't bother me at all, i have a boatload of 22lr, 9mm and 7.62x39. i remember i did try to buy primers and if they were in stock they were jacked up, i remember going to large stores and the ammo isle looking like a ghost town, i remember dumping bricks of 22lr for a nice little profit.

what ive taken away from the great ammo shortage is buy it cheap and stack it deep, the next ammo shortage could be far worse.

 

[Ryanxia]

Exactly, stock up while you can then you won't be like the rest of the sheep trying to scrounge when the time comes.

 

[Kendal Black]

It's an old lesson of preparedness: You can't buy what you need, when you need it.

I have a longstanding habit of buying a brick of .22's whenever I see a good price, writing the date on the box, and putting it aside for later. I wasn't exactly short on anything else but I had .22's in abundance.

Plus everything to handload the calibers I shoot.

Except primers. :banghead:

 

[MyGreenGuns]

"Ammo shortage" uggggh!

I think all the paranoids caused the ammo shortage.

I recall various times stopping to get some extra rounds, only to find some guy with a pallet of ammo at the checkout. I wanted a couple boxes for the day, this guy is stocking up for the end of the world. Sure enough, next week when I show up, he's there again buying more.

I know most of these boxes that were hoarded have probably never been shot. Next time we have an "ammo shortage", this guy who has 50,000 rounds stockpiled will be buying up everything on the shelf again.

EDIT: As for how I fared, I keep between 100-1500 rounds depending on the gun. The most ammo I have is for the .22, which I shoot a lot lately.

 

[Cosmoline]

Alaska got hit real hard because we rely on a few big barge shipments. Only this year have the retailers fully restocked. But the biggest problem I ran into was primers. When the shortfall in factory ammo a lot of folks stocked up for reloading, which swept the shelves of primers very fast. I had some stock, but nowhere near enough. Street prices went way up to double or more. And due to the mailing issues, it was almost impossible to get them shipped up individually.

Now I keep at least thousand of each primer type including some of the less common ones like the 7.62 CCI's and the benchrest magnums. If the US ever experienced that level of shortage as a whole, primers would function as a very good investment.

 

[MrOldLude]

I bought as I needed it, when it was in stock. The fear-mongers didn't cause me to go into panic-buying mode for fear of having ammunition taken from me.

 

[bergmen]

I have a temperature and humidity stabilized store room down at the barn (used to be a tack room for horse gear back in the day).

It stays cool and dry year-round. After the last ammo supply issue (some of it was real, much of it panic induced from wht I have learned) I began a steady process of stocking up on ammo and reloading supplies.

I stock at a rate of about 5-10 times my usage rate and have for the past few years. It continues today.

I'm good.

Dan

 

[MyGreenGuns]

I stock at a rate of about 5-10 times my usage rate and have for the past few years. It continues today.

So you either dont shoot much or you have a TON of stockpiled ammo. What are you going to do with it?

 

[bergmen]

So you either dont shoot much or you have a TON of stockpiled ammo. What are you going to do with it?

I have a saying regarding ammo, reloading supplies, horsepower or sex:

"A little is good, more is better and too much is just about right."

Whatever is left over can (and will be) inherited by my kids.

I've never bought too much gold, beer, guns or shooting supplies. I guess it is just in my genes (jeans).

Dan

 

[Tallinar]

I had to buy Wolf primers for the first time ever. Aside from that, I survived the "ammo shortage" just fine, I guess.

 

[788Ham]

I bought 1000 primers for each of my firearm needs,Lg rifle, sm rifle, pistol, pistol mag, etc., then bought a couple bricks of .22's each time I bought the primers. I was at a gun show, saw a very good deal on sm rifle primers again, picked up another 2000, stored away, might need later. I most generally pick up a brick of .22's when they have a sale, plinking never hurts anything, keeps eye sharp. Hoarding? Never.

 

[horsemen61]

shortage

I will be ready when the next one comes

 

[ColtPythonElite]

Over the past 20 years, I have always bought more than I shot. I picked up deals here and there and continue to do so. I don't do it out of fear. I simply do it because I know it isn't gonna get any cheaper and doesn't go bad. I've got ammo I bought for less than 10 cents a round that currently sells for 30+ cents a round. If hard times come, I can always sell it without much problem.

 

[ErikO]

http://www.guns.com/national-ammo-day.html

 

[doubleh]

I got pretty low on small rifle primers but they became available again just before I ran out. Other than that I didn't have a problem.

 

[M2 Carbine]

Although I always keep many thousands of rounds loaded (reloader) and many thousands of components on hand to load more, when I saw the way the politics was going, before the high prices and shortages hit, I stocked up on more bullets, primers and powder.
So for me and friends, that also planned ahead, there was on shortage or high prices.
I almost felt guilty blasting away with the likes of $4.00 a box .380 ammo when there was no .380 to be found or $60 a box.

At one point I was getting a little worried when there were no small rifle primers to be found and I was down to my last 10,000.


But, just like the last time, people won't plan ahead and they will complain when the price of ammo goes out of sight or Wal Mart is out of 9mm.



A number of times in the past I stretched the budget to buy ammo but I've never been sorry I did.
Like, I'm still shooting, $54.00/case 7.62x39 Wolf, $4.38/box WWB 9mm, $70.00/case 9x18 Barnaul, etc.

 

[bergmen]

There is one thing I have kept in mind over the past few years, and that is at the stroke of a pen (at least in this wacky state) mail order sales of ammo could be banned.

There isn't any way I could find ammo locally at the prices I do from gigantic internet suppliers. So, I order away...

Dan

 

[Hangingrock]

I visited one gun shop that has primers on the shelf marked at $45.00 per thousand. They’ll still have those primers a decade from now. One can buy at Wal-Mart’s in our area CCI primers at $3.17 per hundred. There is also an individual selling primers at $25.00 per thousand either CCI or Federal. He is also selling powder at a reasonable price. Personally I believe unless there is a dramatic improvement in the economy we’ve reached a saturation on disposable income. Even if Zero is re-elected as long as the Republicans retain control the House and regain control of the Senate we should not have another component scare for an election cycle at least.

 

[97guns]

.....and if i remember right the shortage came on like thieves in the night happening very quickly, i recall reading about it on forums and when i went to look every place had been hit already. it was eerie in a sense, makes you stop and think that it could happen to other things as well like food.

 

[Carl N. Brown]

I have heard that some companies only make the amount of, say, .30 carbine, they think they will sell for the next year, then switch production to another caliber they anticipate will be in demand. I have seen .30 carbine or even .45 ACP dry up in recent years, only to come back in about a year or so. Ever so often you will see an overstock of certain calibers.

 

[mljdeckard]

Not well. I was down to carry ammo and nothing else for several months, and I felt really stupid. I have rectified this, I now have a cushion of at least 500 rds for every weapon. I have started reloading, this really helps.

 

[threefeathers]

I stayed on the lucky gunner and ammunition to go sites and visited wally world twice a week. I stocked up on deals and ended with 5k stocked rounds. Now, I'm buying another 5K rounds as fast as I can reasonable do so. I have two reloaders and made another 5k of mixed calibers.

 

[jackpinesavages]

Never really had a problem but it did get me into reloading the primary pistol rounds we shoot, and buying those items needed at gun shows etc..

 

[heeler]

It actually made me acutely aware to try and NOT be put in that situation again after having to pay $165.00 for 250 rounds of WWB in .380 during the worst of that drought in early 2009.
I actually had a friend who went to several Wal-Marts and Academy sporting goods store to find a couple of boxes of 7mm Mauser to use to go on a spring hog hunt that same year.
He found some but went through enough hassle to locate that he later bought a case from an online retailer so he would not be faced with that again anytime soon.
I buy now at several online places that have deals on pistol ammo or rifle ammo.

 

[possom813]

One of my closest friends was working at Gander Mtn at the time. I wasn't exceptionally low on any ammo, but the stuff that some online bud's were short on I'd buy by the case/pallet, whatever I could get my hands on through my friend and sell it to the guys on the forum.

I didn't really gouge anyone, at least not intentionally. Most of the ammo I bought was .380 and .40 cal that the guys were having trouble finding and I'd make a dollar or two per box, it they picked it up. If I had to ship it or meet, it went up to cover time and fuel, but still within reason.

The non-intentional gouge--I did by 2 cases of 9mm range ammo at walmart(wwb)that no one seemed interested in, so I listed it on craigslist for about 25 bucks over what I paid for the case, I want to say I listed it for 240 per case. A guy emailed me not 15 minutes after I listed and said he'd give me 750 for both cases and be there in an hour. So he got to buy it.