Is anyone else having problems finding ammo (.40 & .45). I'm cheap and usually buy my target ammo at Walmart. The shelves have been empty for the last 2 months. The guy at the counter said they sell out as fast as they get it.

Anybody have a hookup for inexpensive factory ammo?

In one word, "YES!!!" I work right down the street for a Wally and I go check there every day before work and I would say in the past 3-4 months I have had a 1 in say 20 shot of finding any. And I don't hoard it all either, I will just buy like 3-4 boxes of .40 S&W Blazer Brass and that's it. The funny thing is they have tons of .22 ammo at the store I go to. I guess not many around me are interested in a little plinker or somethin =)

The only caliber that has been available in my part of the world is .357sig and .40 S&W.

My Walmart is out of everything but 222 Remington and shotgun shells. You'd think an organization the size of walmart could take an unpopular caliber from one store and send it to one where it is popular. Sounds crazy, I know, but just an idea.

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J.D. Roy

Everybody's got shotgun shells. Except those 20 ga. buckshot ones I'm sort of looking for.

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Regulate Banks, not guns

May as well ask if any of the fellas truly understand women...

I finally managed to snag some 9mm a week ago and found 1 lonely 50 round box of 45 a couple weeks ago for a friend. This has been the result of my last couple months of Walmart ammo hunting. 45 ACP seems to be near impossible to find, followed by 9mm, then 40 S&W. Usually all I find on the shelves are a couple boxes of 357 Sig, 44 Rem Mag, and 357 Magnum for handguns. Feel extremely lucky to have found the 9mm as I was completely out, so I bought the 6 box limit at Walmart and 3 boxes were left. Now I have enough ammo to get me through the summer. Hopefully I can find some more 45 for my friend who just bought an M&P full size, and only has two 50 round boxes to break it in. He has been waiting 2 months for some bulk 45 backordered from Cabelas.

Good luck to you all in your search, hopefully things start to quiet down soon.

Paul

My local Walmarts (both of 'em) have been out of ammo with the exception of the odd box or two in odd calibers for weeks. On March 24 I placed an order for .38 special and .357 magnum ammo with Midway Sales. I was told that the product was on backorder and to be patient. On May 1st I inquired about the order and they said delivery by May 15. Here it is, May 22, and no shipment. Also, Midway now has stopped accepting orders for nearly all ammunition. I have .357 magnum ammunition on backorder with Cabelas (they say 8 - 10 weeks but I ain't holding my breath) and 45 ACP on backorder with Bud's.

So, in a sentence, yes, there's not only a shortage of ammunition, there's a panic. What's happening with ammo sales is quite reminiscent of the gasoline panics of the 1970's. And, I suspect, it is a panic which -- like the gasoline panics -- is fueled by irrational reasons. Since the election there have been numerous rumors circulating widely about government restrictions on ammo sales, requirements that ammunition bear serial numbers, heavy taxes on ammo, etc. These have all been shown to be totally false or, in some cases, based on a grain of truth but not on any rational evidence that the feared event will come to pass (i.e., there are some state legislators who have introduced bills at the state level to require that ammunition have serial numbers. These bills have all died or gone nowhere). Moreover, they have flown in the face of evidence that our Congress is downright hostile to gun regulation (it just passed legislation allowing for concealed carry in national parks) and that the Administration is indifferent to it (notwithstanding a couple of comments made by a couple of appointees early in the Administration, neither the President nor any of his officials have asked Congress to adopt gun regulation legislation).

My guess is that this panic, like all others, will pass eventually. I can't predict when that will happen but, in the meantime all of us have to pay the price for the irrationality of others.

I was having similar thoughts regarding gun manufacturers - what happens to sales next year and the year after if everyone stocks up this year? The IT spending binge of the late 90s, driven by more imagined than real Y2K fears, lead to a downturn that sector still hasn't recovered from.

I have also see gun stores ammo destributors contribute to the problem. What hey put on their shelves is far lower then what they actually have. I think they like this in order to drive prices up.

I have been trying to sell a case of 45 ACP.

Ammo shortage? Really? First I heard of it.

I always seem to miss the opportunity to get the last box of ammo. at my Wally Worlds. They started having a limit as to how many boxes you can buy at once, in order to make it fair to all to have a shot, but it hasn't helped me. I just hope the ammo. manufacturers don't start messing with the price like the oil companies did and do.

Through patience and diligence I have managed to stock up on Wally World ammo these past few weeks. I'm at a point now where I can sit tight and ride this out. There are 3 WW's within a 30 mile radius of my house.

Whenever you're near one, go in; sometimes twice a day. The people will get to know you and realize that you are a serious shooter and not a looter.

Be patient; it will pay off.

We have 4 local Walmarts and none have had any ammo in stock for months. Everytime I go there I always check the ammo counter and this week had to do a double take... there were only 2 boxes of ammo in the entire case and I couldn't believe my eyes as they were "just my size" .40 S&W! Had to hunt down a clerk and when I told him I needed help with ammo, he said "We don't have any" and I said yes you do, follow me! Noticed they have a sign on the counter now, 6 box limit on ammo.

I don't normally shop there, but I stopped by Sports Authority this week and they had quite a bit of WWB in various calibers. I think they had .40 in quantity although I wasn't looking for that. They had lots of 9MM, and I saw .380 as well. No value packs of .45 or .38, which is what I was looking for. The 9MM was about 30% more than what Walmart charges, but as others have reported our Walmarts been dry for some time. This store is in Fairview Heights, IL.

Liamsw

I usually don't have too much trouble. I just stay ahead of the curve. Cheap ammo is hard to find though. I've learned to put Wallyworld on my speeddial. I called Sat. morning and they had plenty of 9mm and 40cal. I said I would be right there. Tem minutes later I was there and some guy bought 18 boxed of Blazer brass 9 mil. I was next in line, with a somewhat bewildered look on my face when I pointed down to the sign on the counter that said six boxes. Well the guy behind the counter was from the electronics dept about 20 feet over so he didn't know the rule. Long story short, he ran out of 9's and just before leaving I looked in a grocery cart behind the counter where there were several brown boxes and one said centerfire. I said what's in that? He opened it and BINGO more 9mm, so I got my six boxes.

Tex

I went to a gun show this weekend in Miami, and I'm starting to see more ammo available than in the last few months. Prices are NOT CHEAP, but most calibers were there if you needed it. One guy had one pallet each of 9mm (Federal) and .40 S&W (Fiocchi). Sales from this guy were brisk, by the case... not by the box. There was no shortage of .223 either, as long as you wanted FMJ bullets.

Georgia Arms (a reloader / manufacturer) was making money hand-over-fist when the show opened Saturday. The line to buy was 15 people deep. After a hour or so things settled down a bit, but sales continued.

Other vendors had smaller quantities of ammo, but had more regular factory-loaded (Remington, Winchester, etc.) calibers available.

All of the above being said, I still didn't see much 10mm, 380 ACP or 357 Magnum in the offerings, but I might have just missed it.

Best wishes everyone.

Roger a.k.a. Mr. Wonderful

I have plenty of my own reloads thanks to a habit I had of loading every brass case I had then sitting back all summer shooting till X-mas. I must have 8K of 38s, 40, 45s, the problem? I have backed off of shooting weekly because of wondering when I can get more componets and when some normality will return. I know people are stock piling, because I go to busy range, which has slowed to a trickle. But do you need enough on hand to fight a world war by yourself.

All local stores in this neck of the woods have very little on their shelves. What they do have is the odd stuff that no one wants. The local range had one box of Remington .357 range ammo for sale at $52. I reload, but I can't even find primers to buy. Everything is going, going, gone. There isn't any sense in buying a new gun if you can't find the ammo to shoot.

I placed a significant dealer order in March for 9mm ammo directly to the factory. I was told end of May it would be ready. I called again last week and now they are telling me August/September. According to the factory rep I spoke with, the common calibers (i.e. 9mm, 45, 380, 38 spl.) are back ordered out at least 12 months. Some are as far out as 18 months. The shortest wait was for .357 sig which he said was backordered almost 1 million rounds.

I live in Southern California. The ammo shelves here have been dry since December. I'm thinking it's the same chicken little hysteria that ran fuel prices to 4.35 a gallon last year, along with stupid speculators trying to cash in on limited supply. (Look at Gun Broker, 50 bucks a box for .380. Gimme a break) I actually found 2 lbs of Bullseye powder at a normal price (No Unique anywhere) and I bought them until Unique comes back into stock. Doesn't matter where you go down here, it's all gone. Even bass pro shops is down to only .22 magnum and rifle ammo along with shotshells.

My Dad was at his second home in Oregon, and I asked him to check on .380 along with 1000 primers in large and small pistol persuasion. He found the last 5 boxes of .380 95 gr FMJ for 25 bucks a box in Roseburg... but no primers. He's back at his other home in Carson City Nv. checking for primers in that area. I'm guessing they're out up there, too.

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Slow down and look around... you'll be suprised at what you've been missing.

I ordered 10 boxes (50 rounds each) from Cabellas around April 15th. I got 4 boxs in 3 weeks. 2 more came in today.the rest who knows when.I also noticed that 9mm at the gun show i went to on May 16th was almost $10.00 more per box then in April when I bought my gun.Glad I bought my 22a. At least I can find .22 most of the time.

I'm still waiting for the order I placed with Midway on March 24 to be filled. On April 24 I sent them an e-mail inquiry about the order's status and I received a reply advising me that they expected that my order would be filled by May 15. Yesterday, I sent them a followup inquiring about the status of my order. As of now, no response.

This, btw, is an on-line seller that advertises that 99% of its orders are filled on the day they are made.

A Walmart near me in Houston has about 40 boxes of Blazer Brass .40 S&W for 12.97$/50-rd box. The sales rep told me she has had this ammo on the shelf for three days with very little being sold. Gun shops around here sell this same ammo for more than 20$/box.

I guess McCain and Palin don't look so bad now do they?

I just threw up in my mouth a little.

I don't really get why people would "stock up" during a run on ammo... Pay top dollar to just to put in a shelf? Seems like a time not to buy. I haven't gone target shooting in a while, but I'll just wait til things calm down.

I just plain threw up!