Why the continuing ammo shortage?

[CosmicGrooves]

I just want some .357 magnum! But walmart sure has lots of 357 sig! Who gives a crap about that!?!?! j/k Nobody that goes to that walmart, I guess.

 

[Steve 48]

Obamma!!!!!! Everyone freaked and bought it all up. It is easing now!

 

[Roccobro]

But if you look at the major online suppliers, Midway, Natchez, Midsouth, NONE of them currently has a single pistol or rifle primer in stock. Until that changes I believe the fear factor will continue.

Primers are readily available. Just not from those three suppliers. Please look at the sticky thread in Reloading section to find where to buy them.

Justin

 

[Big Russ]

All 3 of the Walmarts in my area are short on ammo. I read somewhere on these boards that fear sells & people are buying. I think all the Bubba's (myself included) fell for it when we started hording ammo at the end of last year.

 

[Relodr]

Spoke to manager of local Wally mart one week ago. She still has a customer who arrives at 7:00 am, every day and buys every round of .22 lr, 9mm, and .380 delivered that morning. No explanation. No idea of total quantities or cost involved. She is beginning to suspect some sort of reselling scheme.

 

[scottaschultz]

Spoke to manager of local Wally mart one week ago. She still has a customer who arrives at 7:00 am, every day and buys every round of .22 lr, 9mm, and .380 delivered that morning. No explanation. No idea of total quantities or cost involved. She is BEGINNING to suspect some sort of reselling scheme.

Gotta love Wal-Mart! The hire the best and the brightest society has to offer!

Scott

 

[KJS]

All this hoarding that makes it a pain in the a** for us to get ammo, should end up biting some fools in the a**. I can just imagine some fools with every spare room stacked to the ceiling with ammo and then he finds that he's the greatest fool of them all when the ammo shortage comes crashing to an end and his ammo isn't worth anywhere near what he paid.

Before hoarding ammo these were probably the same morons buying houses for twice their true value and before that buying any stock ending in dot.com, where most blew up as dot.bombs.

Let's just hope ammo is one day as cheap as the dot.com penny stocks that were flying at hundreds of dollars a share exactly a decade ago.

 

[ol' scratch]

The idea that an ammo shortage, if it still exists, is in any way related to the wars does not make sense. As far as I can tell the one caliber that you can find anywhere is large supply is .223 and that's what the troops are using. I was at Dicks a few days ago and they had at least 6 different brands of .223. Remington has been selling for $8 a box for months.

The Military doesn't use .223. They use 5.56 x 45.

 

[KJS]

I wanted to ask why is this ammo shortage seeming to effect only handgun calibers?

One reason I hear for the shortage is fears that Obama & Co. will raise taxes on ammo. Well, wouldn't taxes effect ammo of all sorts? Yet if you want .223 to load up your AR-15, just trip in the ammo department at Cabela's and you're virtually certain to land on one of their massive piles of .223 Rem. Should you miss hitting a stack of .223, then you've likely fallen right next to their seemingly endless piles of 7.62x39 to load up an AK-47. Oddly, ammo that fits the most hated of all weapons, those evil "assault rifles" is quite abundant.

There doesn't seem to be any shortage of shotgun shells either.

Another reason I've seen given is that people are buying handguns for self-defense. That would explain a lack of things like .357 Mag and such. Yet, we haven't seen any surge in crime despite the economic downturn as some had expected. I've also noticed that calibers that would never be used in self-defense unless you're expecting a bear attack seem to be available -- things like .454 Casull.

 

[BlondC]

I was at my Cabela's yesterday. Saw a whole bunch of .380 - hardly any .357 magnum though. Of course I was there for some .357.

 

[Diocoles]

Ammo shortage....

Seeing more and more 9mm at Wally World, but it depends on the store.
Seems some managers will order it and others won't .

22lr abundent.
.380 seldom.
.45 I've seen more of lately.
.40 haven't seen any of since last year.

9mm is what I use daily. Practice and rifle.

I've got plenty of .223/5.56 and 7.62 ammo. Don't get to practice enough with those. Too far to ranges in the metro Denver area. Don't feel like spending $30 just to get to the outside range to practice. That's a hundred rounds worth just getting to the door. Screw that.

Still getting the 9mm for about $20 per 100 FMJ 115 grain.

But I can go through 300- 500 rounds per trip to range.

So lately just dropping in on Wally World and I've been lucking out. Always seem to either have the 9mm 100 round value pack or th 50 round value pack for just a few pennies more.

Stock up. Yes. Constantly.
Then when I go to the range, I can blow a few hundred rounds without depleting my supply too low.

Hording. No. I have just more than enough to defend my home and community in times of need.
Well... depends on what you call just enough.

 

[hometheaterman]

Here the Federal 9mm 50 round packs are cheaper to buy 2 than it is to buy 1 box of WWB 100 rounds. It's $22 a box for the 100 round packs of the WWB or $10 per box of the Federal 50 round boxes. I also like the Federal ones have a plastic thing in the box to hold the shells. They aren't just loose in the box like on the Winchesters. They both are priced decently and I woudln't hesitate to use either. I saw last night Wal Mart had 50 round boxes of WWB but I didn't see the price.

 

[wesessiah]

kjs, i think the initial surge may have spurred a lot of people to start back up into the hobby thinking they'd better get the calibers they like before they're gone.

 

[mustang_steve]

KJS,

My theory on that is some people are gun friendly, but figured with this political climate may as well get into it while it's not restricted or taxed to heck and back, as it seems "sin" taxes are the rage anymore.

 

[Redneck with a 40]

I don't have an ammo shortage, its called a reloading bench! Its also about prior planning, i.e stocking up on primers, powder, brass and bullets, over the last few years, BEFORE the Obamination got elected.

 

[D!rty H@rry]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnJxvb8pWDE


:banghead:

 

[trigga]

there is still a slight shortage but at least it's not as bad as last year... still a few boxes of random caliber, not a full stocked shelf but some. better than none.

 

[NinjaFeint]

Some of the bigger stores have been out of some calibers but you can find ammo here. There is a local store with just boxes upon boxes of winchester, blazer and american eagle 9mm. They also have Blazer .357 for 16.99 and American Eagle .357 for a little more.

 

[freakshow10mm]

The Military doesn't use .223. They use 5.56 x 45.

In MAKster's defense, 5.56x45 NATO is a chamber designation, not a cartridge. There is no dimensional difference between the .223 Remington cartridge and the ammunition that the soldiers use that is marked 5.56x45mm NATO. There is a difference in the chamber dimensions and that is all. 5.56 NATO pressure is held to 52,000 psi in M855 ammunition whereas SAAMI MAP for the .223 Remington is 55,000 psi.

Bottom line: Same cartridge, different chamber. That is fact.

 

[Warhawk83]

I haven't stocked up because it has always been gone,shops letting people buy 10 freakin cases at a time. Not only that, I'm a college student and the prices have doubled when they are in stock.

 

[HGUNHNTR]

I did all of my "hoarding" when 45 acp was 9.99/50, .22lr was 9.98/500, 38 spl was 8.99/50, .357 was 14.99/50 well before the election. If you didn't know a Democrat was going to get elected 2 years ago you must have been living under a rock. If ammo prices do come way back down, I will still be ahead.

 

[Uncle Mike]

I fear it'll be like gas prices...once elevated they wont come back down...by much anyway!

Why lower the price...people will buy it anyways....(corporate greed)

 

[X-Rap]

Maybe we need the gubmint to regulate ammo. Yea that would fix it.

 

[jcwit]

I fear it'll be like gas prices...once elevated they wont come back down...by much anyway!

Why lower the price...people will buy it anyways....(corporate greed)

Eighteen months ago I was spending $4.00 for a gal. of gas, today I filled up for $2.31.
I may be wrong but I think thats a drop in price.

 

[KJS]

I did all of my "hoarding" when 45 acp was 9.99/50, .22lr was 9.98/500, 38 spl was 8.99/50, .357 was 14.99/50 well before the election. If you didn't know a Democrat was going to get elected 2 years ago you must have been living under a rock. If ammo prices do come way back down, I will still be ahead.

You did indeed get excellent prices, so even if prices do fall they're not at all likely to drop below those levels. And as I've found myself by firing off some rounds that had to be at least as old as me ammo has a shelf-life of decades. In short, you're one luck guy.

I ,unfortunately, didn't get into shooting till just after Obama was elected. I'd been thinking about it for years, but didn't make the final leap to buying a Ruger .357 till just weeks after the election. My gun purchase was not a response to the election; I just finally decided after literally years of consideration. I'm a victim of bad timing.

I would never have imagined that an ammo shortage of this exceptional duration could happen. I saw the obvious -- that there would be a run on ARs & AKs -- given how Obama explicitly wanted to ban them just as they had been banned from 1994-04. He even had Holder state their desire to ban then back on February 25 of this year, though out of 535 members of the house & senate not one dared introduce a bill that would do so. I guess, despite their political views, they recognized that doing so is almost certainly a form of political suicide.

Ironically, the easiest to find ammo is that which fits ARs & AKs!!! While the left hate all guns, I would imagine that something that generally limited to only 6 shots by physical constraints, like a .357, would not suffer from such an extraordinary shortage. After all, .357 revolvers, lack the high capacity that they so love to complain about in handguns & rifles, with no .357 topping 8 rounds (with the exception of the Baby Eagle I suppose).