Maybe just me.....but in my decades, many, of being a collector of firearms saw ammo of all calibers disappear as it did for the past few years, as never before.
My ammo inventory always focused on disposable shoot it up ammo for the range and always looking for deals.
Focus was never on a large tactical ammo inventory, because it had always "been there" available and pricey.
The shortage changed my perspective on this, and as a result of this reality, like it or not, significantly increasing inventory of tactical ammo as the availability has come back,
seems only prudent.

Ask some of the 22lr shooters that are still waiting. The situation is better, but you still cant walk in and buy your ammo of choice. I believe many tens of thousands will have stashes of many thousands of rounds, before they get stung again. BiggB

Something other than supply and demand is going on with 22LR ammo. I can't even guess what it is but I'm sure something is wrong. Some say the .22 ammo disappears as soon as it hits the shelf! WRONG because nothing is hitting the shelf. Others say the pipeline was emptied and I'm sure it was but after 5 years of nothing being delivered to the stores I'm quite sure the pipeline could have it's own filled pipeline twice over.

If I were a conspiracy type of person I would think the government wants to keep .22LR ammo out of the hands of the children so they don't learn to love shooting like we do. If you want to make real changes you have to get to the children...

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Freedom is never free!!
SWCA #3437

Ive bought at least 3-4000 rounds in the last year without really trying.Its sitting on a shelf in the closet so I can go shooting when the mood strikes.In the past,the most I would have would be a brick.I suspect most long time and new shooters are doing the same.Thats where the ammo is now.

Since the beginning of the year I've been able to find usable quantities of .22 LR at various online suppliers. The price had varied. A few times cost has been maybe $.07/rd. delivered. Mostly though it has run $.10-12/rd. delivered. At one time I'd have refused to buy such ammunition. But, I have a little 18-3 that I positively adore. It is to fine a revolver to be relegated to paperweight status. So, I buy the ammo and enjoy shooting my revolver. As well, when my daughter visits, she always wants to go to the range. I buy .22 LR ammo as I can afford it so that when she comes to visit, she can shoot the 15-22 to her hearts content! Last time she came down, she went through 1,200 rds. in two days. Cool. I will find more ammo. When she comes down again, I'll have the ammo and rifle ready along with various pistols.

Centerfire pistol ammunition was at one point virtually nonexistent. Nowadays one can find various types of centerfire pistol ammo but the prices are usually sky high. I have noticed 9mm ammo coming down a fraction in price. However .45 ACP and .38 Special are way up. If I did not handload I would not be able to shoot my centerfire pistols.

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I saw a lot of ammo, including a little .22, at Cabela's in Dundee last
weekend. A lot of shotgun shells and rifle ammo. I didn't look at
the handgun shelves too much as I reload most of that.

There was also a fair amount at Gander Mountain in Marquette.
The local gun stores have had centerfire ammo in good supply for a while. WalMart even has some on sale according to the latest flier.

I guess it's time for me to start buying a bit here and there again.

I have friends in a big .22 mfg company. They predict that it will take two years to fill the supply chain (warehouses, shipping points, store shelves) to the level of some years back (walk into a WM at 3pm and see every variety in "no limit" quantities) IF - IF no one buys another box between now and then.

I am seeing low but existing stock at Dick's of affordable .22, with a 2 box limit (1 if 100 rounds or greater). At Academy, there is now always something, but most often the expensive stuff, and the same limit. At my three local WM stores? Gone within a half hour of being brought from the truck with a 3 box limit. And at those stores, the manifest is available to see, so we can see if two cases came off the truck, two cases were opened at the counter.

Centerfire is sporadic in brand and price. Only .380 is missing.

In the past year I have been able to find 22 LR if i am at BPS or WM early in the morning. I refuse to pay more than .07 per round for plan old 22LR. For Stingers maybe .10 per round. I have 22 ammo in the closet that is 10+ years old and have enough that I can walk by some on the self if it is over .06 p/round.

Early this year I started reloading handgun rounds again and it has been tough trying to find handgun powder. Again if I call BPS early to see if they have a shipment that day, I have been able to accumulate enough powder to get me through this shortage and maybe the next one without paying twice the retail price.

Really the only place to find ammo around here is BPS and WM and for the past 3 months I have seen just about any handgun round that you want. Maybe not the brand you want but you can find SD loads and target loads.

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Ricky
Coastal GA

What the heck is "Tactical Ammo". Call me old and befuddled if you wish but I regard ammo by classical descriptions, such as Self Defense, Target, and Hunting. I've also found that reloading is be best solution for both exorbitant prices and demand caused shortages.

Whatever ammo you load your gun with when you have your security guard uniform on.

Guess The terminology confused a couple, and should have given the explanation that "Tactical" was in reference to a
Federal Premium selection of LE Tactical HST self defense
ammunition they offer.

In January 2013 like so many I had been caught short. My fault. As a result I was forced to cut my trips to the range to just once a month and limit my ammo usage to no more than 100 rounds total for pistol, rifle and shotgun. I also decided that the ability to reload must be an option to ensure I'm never caught short again. It's taken me 19 months to get to the point where I feel comfortable enough to return to some semblance of my former shooting schedule.

As to 22lr the problem is quite simple. Manufacture's just didn't have the capacity to meet the increased demand from both old and new incoming gun owners as a result of political actions. Several other factors played a role such as just in time delivery, the increased popularity of MSR's in 22lr, conversion kits for semi auto pistols and the practice of using 22lr as a way to deal with rising costs of center fire ammo. Plus what caliber of fire arm do we use to introduce new people to the sport. You got it. It's 22lr.

A gun owner today needs not only a stash of factory ammo but they also need the ability to reload those calibers they shoot. By doing this you insulate yourself from the worse impacts of any future troubles.

Federal HST is not exclusively my self defense round, but with ~200rounds of premium SD ammo in stock for each caliber I carry, I feel adequately stocked for the future.

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Stay protected my friends.

I bought along and along for many years,so I don't feel the NEED to buy any more of ANYTHING I shoot. With what I have now,THEY will get ME long before I've exhausted my supply.
f.t.

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South Carolina-God's country

Ouch, that's it??

I've done enough shopping, buying, and lugging 22 LR ammo home (oh that 9 years ago, bought the last full case 4 years ago). Now it is time to go to the range and reduce the inventory. I'm not getting any younger.

Last case of CCI Blazer (5,000 rounds) was $189 (still unopened), tax included at a gun show. Last case of Aguila match was $238 at CMP in Anniston, AL. In July 2014 Case lots of CCI Standard Velocity was available at Camp Perry matches for $455 / case with no limit.

I haven't bought 22 LR for 5 years so I didn't add to the shortage. I'm finally out of Clinton pistol primers, but have several cases of Bush primers ready to load. There was a "Shop Early and Shop Often Plan" in place at our house. Mr. Clinton did teach me to be never caught short of supplies again.

It is impossible to have too much powder, but buying enough can be a challenge.

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S&WHF 366

Since I found the In Stock ammo thread I have stocked up on plenty of 22's. Most have been for 6 to 8 cents per round, some lower. I gave up driving around looking in the big box stores for ammo. It's just a waste of time and gas. Unlike the beginning of the year when I would buy whatever brand I could find I only buy to replace what I shoot, and only if it's the brand that I like. I have no intention of getting caught short like I did in 2013 when I hardly went shooting since I couldn't find ammo. As far a SD ammo I still have to work on that since I have really don't have enough on hand.

I used feel bad paying $11.00 a box for ELEY Tenex .22LR for Benchrest shooting. Today I feel a lot worse paying $10.00 for a 100 rounds of CCI. In 5 years I'm sure I'll feel really bad about paying $30.00 for the same 100 rounds.

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CHL Instructor/NRA Instructor

Sitting in the gun shop looking at 11 brands and kinds of 22, including a few bricks, starting at $4.

Every.

Day.

I still refuse to spend more thanabout 5-6 cents per .22 round. I can readily get bricks of 555 rounds for about $25-$27--from adealer I know.

One thing I did notice at WM here--is that boxes of 50 rounds of federal .45 were about $13 bucks, I thought tht way a big typo=-=but apparanty not. Im surprised they werent all sold out. I didnt buy any because I needed the funds to go towards a new Crock Pot and some other stuff.

I once owned a John Norrell Ruger 10-22 full auto conversion. This was acquired back in the late 80's. As a result, over the years, I stocked up whenever .22 was on sale, typically $85.00 per 5K case. I sold the gun a few yr's back so I now have plenty to feed my other .22's until Cremation time.

Did the same for other caliber SMG's so I didn't get caught by the shortage.

Yep. That's it. I don't know how much SD ammo YOU deem adequate, but for ME...200 rounds is quite sufficient.

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Stay protected my friends.