Anyone else notice the ammo that is showing up isn’t our normal CCi, Hornady, Winchester, Remington? I was in cabelas last night and they had about 2-3 different brands of ammo I’d never heard of or seen before. Defense ammo loaded with a barns bullet. 5.56 in a shiny, black box. Same with 9mm. Can’t remember the name. Another store has some Buffalo cartridge companies 9-40cal. Seems strange all this new ammo is showing up.
Weird ammo showing up
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thewillweeks
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A lot of the "weird" ammo I've seen is either boutique ammo that was too expensive in the past but now it's right in line so they started carrying it. Or, it's the second tier or foreign imports that was formerly most just available online but the shops are scrounging further for ammo.
Riomouse911
Member
On Friday I got a “club member flash ammo sale” email from my local “chain LGS”.
They were advertising “ZQi ammunition” in 9mm 115 gr or 124 gr fmj persuasion for $24.98 box/50. I’ve never heard of ZQi.
All the rest of the ad was the usual suspects (Fiocchi, Aguila, Barnes, Nosler, Tulammo, Kent shotshells, etc.).
Stay safe.
They were advertising “ZQi ammunition” in 9mm 115 gr or 124 gr fmj persuasion for $24.98 box/50. I’ve never heard of ZQi.
All the rest of the ad was the usual suspects (Fiocchi, Aguila, Barnes, Nosler, Tulammo, Kent shotshells, etc.).
Stay safe.
John Joseph
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What's the head stamp on the brass?
IIRC "Z" and "ZZ" head stamp was indicates Sampson/IWI, which makes pretty good stuff
No idea about ZQi (if that's what the head stamp is)
IIRC "Z" and "ZZ" head stamp was indicates Sampson/IWI, which makes pretty good stuff
No idea about ZQi (if that's what the head stamp is)
Pelo801
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I cant say for sure but I'm pretty sure that ZQi is Israeli ammo. I've also seen some weird loadings showing up. For example, were in this 22 lr shortage and I see a bunch of 17 hmr on the shelf at Walmart. I also saw several boxes of 16 gauge target ammo on the shelf but not 12.
twarr1
Member
One of our LGS has had at least some ammo throughout this latest shortage but it’s different every week. One week it’s one brand, it sells out in a day then never seen again. Then a different unknown brand. It seems it never repeats.
illinoisburt
Member
Zqi used to have a reputation for hard primers and borderline +p pressures (think Uzi subgun ammo). I was at a local Walmart today and walked past their gun counter. No guns in sight. They did have the 350 legend ammo there, along with a few boxes of CCI 22lr, some 12 and 20 field loads and waterfall shells (less than 10 boxes total). There was a few boxes of federal premium rifle with $39.97 price tag but could.not read which cartridge. Our Academy stores have been consistently getting in shipments every week and some stuff is sticking on the shelves. The Bass Pro seems to have different Browning branded ammo like 22lr and 9mm is stock lately as well.
Deanimator
Member
I noticed the same thing in Rural King a couple of months ago when I was looking at semi-auto shotguns.
This should be boom times for people like Sellier and Bellot, Fiocchi, Prvi Partizan and Magtech.
Deanimator
Member
Sounds Chinese.
Two seconds on Google told me ZQi is Zenith Quest which is made in Turkey and is apparently pretty good ammo made to NATO spec.
Zqi used to be what Walmart would sell when they sold pistol and 5.56 and other semi auto rifle ammo. It is Turkish ammo it's good stuff. The brass is good to reload. Now they make and sell steel cased 9 mm ammo. With a very shiny nickel appearance. Shoots good but I wouldn't try to reload it. There's a good video about them on YouTube showing there factory. Good equipment.
Charlie98
Member
You beat me to it.
For a while ZQi 7.62mm was the hot cheapo brand to stock up on; this was some years ago. It's not bad, but it's not FGMM.
Another thing that's possible is distributors buying a specific lot of produced ammos, then boxing it and selling it under their name. That would explain the 'here today, gone tomorrow' happenstance.
FROGO207
Member
The problem with foreign ammo of any type as of late is the shipping of it. I wonder how many rounds are sitting in shipping containers on ships waiting their turn to unload. We may be in better shape than previously thought when all that lands on the dock. All this depends on the foresight of the ammo import companies as the pandemic started to ease up last spring and ammo makers restarted.
Riomouse911
Member
LA local news had a story that showed about 40 cargo ships sitting offshore awaiting unloading just last night. That is a big deal out here.
Stay safe.
Charlie98
Member
The shipping bottleneck has been going on for years, it's just peaked out recently because of the weird twist on demand... and that's across every industry and market.
FROGO207
Member
Hopefully things don't get destroyed waiting it out in those shipping containers. It can literally rain from the roof in one even if closed up with temperature changes.
Glad its not just me. Cabelas had a ton of the ammo but not knowing the brand and worrying about safety and corrosion issues I passed. The 9mm Barnes loaded defense ammo was some weird brand using Barns bullets. I found out the buffalo cartridge company is a local person with a license to make ammo and they have had some "issues". If it doesnt have a brand name on it they can keep it.
George Dickel
Member
I picked up some 9mm 123 gr hollow point named Phoenix MS at an LGS. Made in Romania. The shop had a huge supply of it at $14.99 a box. Not a great deal but considerably cheaper than the brand names at $29 to $39 a box.
entropy
Member
Sounds about like our store. So, what load is used for waterfalls? Not sure I'd want to tackle them with any load, TLC warned against that.
Ain't autocorrect fun?
22250Rem
Member
Not much of any ammo in the sporting goods dept. at the local Runnings yesterday. Only saw some 17 HMR and a few 20 round boxes of Tula 7.62x54R steel case for 16.99 a box, with just regular FMJ bullets. Primers non-existent and only a few pounds of various smokeless powders; none of which I currently want but at least they have some powder. Couple weeks ago they had none. They recently had 22LR ammo in stock but that sold out in a few days according to an employee.
Speedo66
Member
I figure that stores stuck with the typical American brands because they filled their needs.
Now, with an ammo shortage, they're looking at any ammo they can find and suddenly these foreign off brands are available and looking good to their buyers to fill the shelves and have something to sell.
These brands may have always been out there, just couldn't get a foothold in the US, now they can.
Now, with an ammo shortage, they're looking at any ammo they can find and suddenly these foreign off brands are available and looking good to their buyers to fill the shelves and have something to sell.
These brands may have always been out there, just couldn't get a foothold in the US, now they can.
I've also noticed all kinds of "never-heard-of-em" brands showing up, both at stores and gun shows. Truth be told, I've noticed that about both guns and ammo.
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